Category: Tennis

ROME: Novak Djokovic fought his way into the third round of the Italian Open on Friday, beating Tomas Etcheverry 7-5 (7/6), 6-2 in a surprisingly tight encounter.

A six-time winner in Rome, the world number one was made to work by the 61st-ranked Argentine, prevailing in one hour, 51 minutes to set up a third-round clash with Grigor Dimitrov who beat Stan Wawrinka.

Novak Djokovic, a 22-time Grand Slam title winner, has not been knocked out of an ATP Tour event at the first attempt since the Monte Carlo Masters last year.

Still nursing an injury to his right elbow he had to battle his way past Etcheverry, winning the first set via a tie-break before finally ensuring passage into the next round.

“I’ve said before that this surface requires more time for me than maybe for other players to get myself to a good level, move well and hit the ball well. Rome has always been a tournament that I need for Roland Garros,” said Djokovic who was plagued by 21 unforced errors in the opener.

Djokovic appeared unwell at 5-5 in the first set and took a tablet in the changeover.

“You act like you’re 100 per cent,” Djokovic said.

“Most of the times I guess you’re not, but you want to show your opponent that you’re out there trying to fight for every ball. I guess that’s what happened, it’s kind of cat-and-mouse always on clay.”

Novak Djokovic, 35, has made 12 finals in Rome and said Thursday that he was feeling good ahead of the tournament despite missing last week’s Madrid Masters.

Wearing an elbow brace he made a slow start, dropping his serve in the first game and struggling to deal with the Argentine’s powerful shots.

The first set hinged on a scrappy game six, in which Djokovic broke to level the scores following a battle at deuce.

From there, the set went with the serve until Djokovic won the final four points in the tie-break to take the lead.

Novak Djokovic then kicked up a level, breaking serve in the first and seventh games of the second set to give the match a more straightforward look than Etcheverry’s performance deserved.

World number seven Holger Rune marked his Rome debut with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Arthur Fils of France.

“He made it tough. He’s young, younger than me. It feels kind of crazy because I think this is the second time in my life I’m playing someone that’s younger,” said 20-year-old Rune.

World number one Iga Swiatek started her bid to win a third straight Italian Open WTA title by demolishing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-0.

Losing finalist in Madrid last weekend, Swiatek looked in great form in the tournament she won last year before going on to blitz the French Open even though she is shaking off a rib injury suffered at Indian Wells.

“I still may feel some discomfort, but it is really, really low. Even when I withdrew from Miami, the pain was low. It was just the risk of getting it worse that stopped me,” Swiatek told reporters.

The Pole’s path to another Rome title opened up on Thursday when world number two and third-ranked Jessica Pegula were knocked out.

Swiatek faces Lesia Tsurenko in the Italian Open last 32 after extending her winning streak in the Italian capital to 12 matches.

Last year’s losing finalist, fourth seed Ons Jabeur fell 6-1, 6-4 to Paula Badosa.

The 28-year-old Jabeur has had calf problems in recent weeks, an injury which caused her to retire in the semi-finals at Stuttgart and not defend her Madrid title.

Badosa will face world number 27 Marta Kostyuk in the third round.

Earlier, Jannik Sinner cruised into the men’s last 32 with a straight-sets win over Thanasi Kokkinakis, 6-1, 6-4.

World number eight Sinner took one hour, 18 minutes to deal with the Australian qualifier and will play Russian Alexander Shevchenko, who beat Argentine Sebastian Baez 6-3, 6-4.

Rome has not seen an Italian tournament winner since Adriano Panatta in 1976.

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MADRID: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz celebrated his 20th birthday on Friday by reaching the Madrid Open final, likening himself to “a bull” in his straight sets win over Borna Coric.

The world number two was at his best to defeat the Croatian 6-4, 6-3.

He will face Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, the world number 65, who had originally been knocked out in qualifying before winning a reprieve, in Sunday’s final.

Alcaraz said he called upon some of the inner motivation which helped him triumph at the US Open in New York last year when he captured his maiden Grand Slam crown.

“There was a moment when I repeated what I repeated at the US Open, that I’m a bull, and that I could do it, and it helped me,” he explained.

Carlos Alcaraz, reaching his fourth Masters 1000 final, broke for a 3-2 lead in a tight first set and served it out.

He broke for 2-1 in the second set and after world number 20 Coric immediately hit back, did so again for a 3-2 lead, which he consolidated.

Alcaraz sealed the match with another break when Coric went long, ensuring he reached the final only dropping one set en route, against Emil Ruusuvuori.

The top seed was able to celebrate with a birthday cake, offered to him by the tournament organisers after his victory.

The only dampener for Alcaraz was news that Spanish compatriot and 22-time major winner Rafael Nadal would miss next week’s Italian Open through injury.

Nadal hasn’t played since the Australian Open in January due to a hip injury and is now a serious doubt for the French Open in three weeks’ time and where the 36-year-old has been champion on 14 occasions.

“I hope to see him at Roland Garros 100 percent. The world wants to see him at 100 percent,” said Alcaraz.

Struff, 33, made only his second career final by defeating Russia’s Aslan Karatsev who had beaten him in qualifying last weekend.

However, having been allocated a place in the main draw after injury pull-outs, Struff avenged that loss in Friday’s Madrid Open semi-final.

He came from a set down to see off 121st-ranked Karatsev 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and become the first ‘lucky loser’ to go all the way to a Masters final.

Struff, whose only other final appearance resulted in a runner-up finish in Munich in 2021, claimed victory on a fifth match point.

He fired 37 winners including 15 aces in his two-hour 19-minute win.

“It’s amazing,” Struff said. “I played one final before in Munich but there was no crowd because of Covid.”

Struff and Carlos Alcaraz have met twice before — the German winning in straight sets at the French Open in 2021 before the flamboyant Spaniard claimed a five-setter at Wimbledon last year.

“We played an amazing match at Wimbledon and I was very close to beating him but he pulled off unbelievable shots,” Struff said.

“This is going to be different. This is in Spain, in Madrid. I think he is 20-0 on Spanish clay courts, so it is going to be very tough. I have to go for it otherwise I will have no chance.”

Struff, who upset fifth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals, was the third lucky loser to reach the semi-finals at a Masters 1000 event, joining Thomas Johansson in Toronto in 2004 and Lucas Pouille in Rome in 2016.

The Madrid Open women’s final between the world number one Iga Swiatek and number two, Aryna Sabalenka, takes place on Saturday.

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BARCELONA: Carlos Alcaraz brushed aside Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets on Sunday to claim a second successive Barcelona title and hammer home his status as likely successor to Rafael Nadal as French Open champion.

The 19-year-old world number two won 6-3, 6-4 to bag his third trophy of 2023, after winning in Buenos Aires and Indian Wells, and the ninth of his career.

With 14-time French Open champion Nadal sidelined since January with a hip injury and world number one and two-time Roland Garros winner Novak Djokovic struggling with an elbow problem, Alcaraz reinforced his credentials as a major contender to add the clay-court Grand Slam title to the US Open he captured last year.

On Sunday, his only blip was dropping serve in the third game of the match.

From that point on, Alcaraz powered to a 79-minute triumph against the world number five, his fourth win in four meetings with the Greek.

Tsitsipas has now lost three finals in Barcelona after losing to Nadal in 2018 and 2021.

“It is incredible,” Alcaraz said. “To feel this energy and lift the trophy in Barcelona in front of my family and friends, and most members of my team are here as well.

“Playing this level and to lift the trophy in front of them is a good feeling for me.”

After Tsitsipas broke for a 2-1 lead, Alcaraz won five of the next six games to take charge.

His flamboyant shotmaking delighted his home crowd before a solitary break in the fifth game of the second set proved decisive.

“Me and my team were talking before the match about staying relaxed,” said Alcaraz who raced to the title without dropping a set.

“To want to play the tough moments, staying relaxed is the most important part for me. To forget the mistakes, and everything and be myself on court. Not to think about all the people watching, but just me, the court, the racquet and the final.”

Alcaraz now heads to the Madrid Masters where he is also defending champion.

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MADRID: World number one Novak Djokovic pulled out of the Madrid Masters on Saturday according to the competition’s organisers.

“Novak Djokovic is unable to compete at the Madrid Open,” the organisers wrote on Instagram ahead of the tournament which starts April 26.

Djokovic’s withdrawal, thought to be related to an elbow problem he has been suffering from, is a blow to his preparations for the French Open, which starts at the end of May.

The Serb, 35, suffered a straight-set defeat by compatriot Dusan Lajovic in the quarter-finals at Banja Luka in Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday.

Djokovic was beaten by underdog Lorenzo Musetti at the Monte Carlo Masters earlier in April and said ahead of the Srpska Open that his elbow was “not in an ideal condition”.

Neither Djokovic or Rafael Nadal, joint record 22-time Grand Slam champions, will take part in Madrid, a key part of the preparation for Roland Garros.

Djokovic missed tournaments earlier this year at Indian Wells and Miami, over his refusal to get a Covid-19 vaccination.

“I was many levels below what I want,” said the two-time French Open champion on Friday, after his defeat by world number 70 Lajovic.

“Playing like that, I can’t win against opponents who are so solid on this surface. But what can I do? It’s simply sport. I was trying but it wasn’t working.

“I didn’t feel very good physically on court. My legs were slow, I missed a lot of balls. I played well at times, but generally well below standard.”

BARCELONA: Stefanos Tsitsipas eased into the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open on Friday, beating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-2 to stay on a collision course with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Tsitsipas claimed the lone break of the opening set and then reeled off five straight games in the second as he won for the ninth time in as many meetings with Australia’s De Minaur.

The Greek second seed will play Lorenzo Musetti on Saturday as he bids to reach the Barcelona final for a third time. He was runner-up to Rafael Nadal in 2018 and 2021.

Tsitsipas, the losing finalist at January’s Australian Open, is bidding for his first title of the season. He lost to Alcaraz in the quarter-finals in Barcelona last year.

Musetti advanced via walkover earlier in the day when fellow Italian Jannik Sinner had to pull out because of illness.

“Sad to have to withdraw from my match today in Barcelona,” tweeted Sinner, who beat Musetti in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals last week.

“I’ve been feeling unwell for a few days now. Today the sickness got worse and I’m not able to play. I’ll take some time to rest and recover.”

Top-seeded Alcaraz faces Spanish compatriot Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarter-finals later on Friday.

Alcaraz, 19, is looking for his third trophy of the season after triumphing in Buenos Aires and Indian Wells.

MADRID: Rafael Nadal said Thursday he will miss next week’s Madrid Masters as he continues to struggle to recover from a hip injury, dealing a significant blow to his French Open preparations.

“For the moment I’ve missed Monte Carlo and Barcelona. And unfortunately I won’t be able to be in Madrid either,” Nadal said on Instagram.

“The injury still hasn’t healed,” he added.

The 36-year-old Spaniard has not played since losing in the second round of the Australian Open in January.

Nadal is hoping for a record-extending 15th French Open title at Roland Garros in May, but his hip flexor problem he suffered in Melbourne has badly disrupted his run up to the tournament.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion — he shares the men’s record with Novak Djokovic — had originally thought he would be out for up to two months.

He pulled out of hard-court tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami, with his sights set on a return at the start of the clay-court season, but it did not come to fruition.

“In principle it was supposed to be a recovery period of six to eight weeks and now we’re around 14,” said Nadal.

“The reality is that the situation is not what we would have hoped for. All medical indications have been followed, but the healing has not gone as they told us initially and we find ourselves in a difficult situation.”

Nadal said he and his team have decided to try a different treatment and see if things improve, but that he was not setting a deadline for his comeback.

“I can’t work on what I need to compete. I was training but a few days ago we decided to change course a bit, to try another treatment and see if things improve to try to get to what comes next.”

“I can’t give deadlines because if I knew I would tell you, but I don’t know,” he added. “This is how things are now.”

Nadal’s fitness problems have become an increasing issue since he won his 14th French Open crown last year.

At Wimbledon last summer he was forced to withdraw from his semi-final because of an abdominal injury.

Last month he dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since 2005, and is currently ranked 14th.

The French Open starts on May 28, with Nadal now in a race against time to be fit for the Rome Masters — the last major tune-up event before Roland Garros.

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Novak Djokovic said Monday he has not fully recovered from an elbow issue which hindered him in his Monte Carlo Masters last-16 exit last week.

The world number one struggled with his serve before falling to Italian Lorenzo Musetti in Monaco.

“The elbow is not in ideal condition, but let’s say it’s good enough. Hopefully it will be fully ready for the first match,” said Djokovic, who had elbow surgery in 2018, ahead of this week’s event in Banja Luka.

The Serb won the Australian Open earlier this year to draw level with Rafael Nadal’s men’s record tally of 22 Grand Slam titles. He will be among the favourites for next month’s French Open.

The 35-year-old will face 87th-ranked French teenager Luca Van Assche, who ousted Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 on Monday, in the Banja Luka second round.

“I’ve never met this boy before, I don’t know much about him. I know he’s young, he’s just joined the top 100,” said Djokovic before the tournament which has been relocated from his hometown of Belgrade because of work on the venue.

“I sincerely thought that Wawrinka was going to win today, he was leading most of the match. So it’s indeed a surprise, the victory of this little guy, this Frenchman.”

Van Assche battled back against former world number three Wawrinka, 20 years his senior, who has dropped to 84th in the world.

“It will be incredible for me and I’m only 18,” he said of playing Djokovic.

“I know that the crowd will not be with me, I think, but I will enjoy it and I will try to win.”

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Russia’s Andrey Rublev dug deep to hold off Danish teenager Holger Rune and lift his first Masters 1000 trophy in Monte Carlo on Sunday.

The fifth seed rallied from 4-1 down in the deciding set to defeat sixth-seeded teenager Rune 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 after one hour 34 minutes on the red clay of Court Rainier III.

Rublev, 25, claimed the biggest win of his career after losing Masters finals in Monte Carlo and Cincinnati, both in 2021.

“I don’t know what to say. Trailing 1-4, 0/30, then saving break points, thinking there is no chance to win. But somehow I did it,” said the world number six, who blasted down 33 winners on the way to his 13th career title.

“I was hoping deep inside that I would have one chance,” he continued.

“Play until the end. I remember the previous finals and when I was losing I thought I’d have no chance and mentally I was going down.

“But today I thought, ‘Just believe until the end’, and this is what I was trying to do in the third set, hoping I would have an extra chance to come back and what a way to do it.”

Deprived of his national flag after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the player from Moscow thanked the crowd for their support.

“Coming from the country where I come from, to receive such international support, it is enormous,” he said.

Rune was aiming for his second Masters 1000 title after defeating five Top 10 players en route to the title in Paris last year.

But the 19-year-old conceded he did not have enough time to recover from his thrilling three-set win over Italy’s Jannik Sinner on Saturday.

“I didn’t have any more in me,” he said.

“I was definitely in control in the third set and also I would say mostly in the first set as well but didn’t manage to close it out.

“Disappointing, but the most important tournament of the clay season is the French Open, so if I can prepare myself as best as possible for that one, that’s what matters.”

The two players had previously played each other twice — the Dane won last year at the Masters 1000 in Paris in the quarter-finals before defeating Novak Djokovic in the final.

In January, it was Rublev who won their Australian Open clash after saving match points in the last 16.

On Sunday, the match between these two fiery big hitters failed to live up to expectations compared to the Australian showdown.

The Dane saved seven of the eight break points he faced in the first set, before benefiting from a big unforced error by Rublev on the last game’s break point.

The Russian immediately took the lead in the second set to lead 2-0, but Rune came back to 2-2.

In the process, Rublev chained four games to equalise at one set all. Rune seemed to be on a roll to victory in the third set racing to 3-0 and had a double break point to lead 5-1.

But it was the Russian who lined up three games in a row and then managed the break, taking advantage of the nervousness of his opponent, who notably missed two smashes in a row to lead 6-5 and serve for the match.

He gave himself three consecutive match points and concluded with an ace on the second.

Rafael Nadal, an 11-time winner in Monte Carlo, and Carlos Alcaraz missed this key French Open warm-up with injury while top seed Djokovic was knocked out in the last 16.

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PARIS: Novak Djokovic returned to number one spot in ATP rankings published Monday despite missing US tournaments last month because of his lack of a Covid vaccination.

Carlos Alcaraz had taken the top ranking from Djokovic after victory in Indian Wells, but the Spaniard bowed out of the semi-finals of the Miami Open on Friday to allow the Serb back for a record 380th week as No.1.

Djokovic has a 380-point lead over Alcaraz, with Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in third, more than 1,000pts behind the leading duo.

ATP Rankings

1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 7,160 pts (+1)
2. Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) 6,780 (-1)
3. Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 5,770
4. Daniil Medvedev 5,150 (+1)
5. Casper Ruud (NOR) 5,005 (-1)
6. Andrey Rublev 3,470 (+1)
7. Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 3,450 (-1)
8. Holger Rune (DEN) 3,370
9. Jannik Sinner (ITA) 3,345 (+2)
10. Taylor Fritz (USA) 3,065

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MIAMI GARDENS: Russian Daniil Medvedev claimed his fourth ATP title of the year with an emphatic victory over Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the final of the Miami Open on Sunday.

Sinner had upset world number one and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in Friday’s semi-final, but the 21-year-old struggled in the heat against the fourth seed Medvedev, who triumphed 7-5, 6-3.

The win was Medvedev’s 19th career ATP title and his fifth in a Masters 1000 event and confirmed his dominance on hard courts in 2023.

Sinner, also beaten in the Miami final two years ago and now with a 0-6 record against the Russian, said he had not been at 100%.

“We woke up this morning not at my best, I felt a little bit sick….unfortunately today I couldn’t play at my best,” said the Italian who, however said there had been no question of him pulling out of the contest.

“No, it was not that bad. But, you know, with the heat, when you run a lot, it gets a little bit worse and worse. Obviously the first half an hour we played in the sun also,” he said.

Medvedev, who had already won three titles in three weeks at Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai before losing to Alcaraz in the Indian Wells final, started confidently, holding serve to love while Sinner’s first service game was a real battle.

Sinner had to save a break point and fought through a 26-shot rally before coming through at the end of a 10-minute game.

In contrast, Medvedev again served to love but Sinner was showing signs of settling as he held his serve and then the Italian broke Medvedev to go 3-2 up, with a deft touch volley.

Medvedev immediately broke back, however, with Sinner’s effort clipping the net and going out and after the Russian held again, the Italian had attention from the ATP trainer.

Sinner, looking uncomfortable in the bright sunshine, took a pill along with a powder in his water in the 87 F (30.5 C) heat.

Medvedev, looking composed and confident, grabbed the first set when Sinner was serving at 6-5 down and the Italian’s poor shot into the net handed the Russian the crucial break.

Medvedev quickly got ahead in the second set when Sinner sent a forehand long but just as quickly handed the break back to Sinner.

But Sinner was making too many errors and when Medvedev broke again to go 3-1 up, the Italian was unable to turn things around and the world number five completed his first ever win in Miami.

“I’m really happy. Today was a tough match. It was probably the hottest day and the most humid during the day,” Medvedev said.

“It was not easy conditions. I don’t know if Jannik had a small injury or cramp. I was also struggling, tried not to show it,” he added.

– At home on hard courts –

Medvedev’s 19 ATP Tour wins have come at 19 different events, but he had not won a Masters 1000 event since Toronto in 2021.

“I haven’t won’t such a big title in probably a year and a half. At the end I was quite shaky,” he said.

“Not even tight, because I’m not scared to win. But still the hands get a little shaky so the serve is a little bit tougher… I managed to get myself together and close the match.”

The 27-year-old has now won five of the six hard-court ATP Masters 1000s and has also reached the final at both hard-court Grand Slams, winning the 2021 US Open.

Now he must turn his attention to the clay courts where he has had much less success.

“I love hard courts, If it would be my choice there would be only hard courts,” he joked.

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