Category: Tennis

CINCINNATI: Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to a semi-final showdown after both dismissed American opponents at the ATP and WTA Cincinnati Masters on Friday.

Top seed Medvedev fired 18 aces among 30 winners in a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 defeat of Taylor Fritz in their Friday quarter-final.

Tsitsipas, semi-finalist at the last two editions, weathered a brief first-set rain interruption on the way to his 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 6-3, the defeat of John Isner, playing here for the 15th time at age 37 and the oldest quarter-finalist since 1969.

In the bottom half of the draw, Croat Borna Coric crushed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-4 to set up a semi-final against Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who had to work for more than three hours for a 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (4/7), 6-4 defeat of Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz.

The tight battle ended just before midnight as Norrie completed what he called one of his best career wins.

He stumbled leading a set and 4-1 as Alcaraz pushed back, winning the second set to level the match.

“I was thinking too much about the finish line,” the winner said. “I got tight and he raised his level.

“I had to take my time or the match could have gotten away from me…I managed to turn it around.”

Greek fourth seed Tsitsipas was relieved to have passed his examination by Isner.

“It’s never easy to play him, due to all his variations of play,” Tsitsipas said. “The most important thing is to stay patient.

“The match came down to a few points. I was able to hang in there and make one more ball – he didn’t give me a lot to work with.”

Tsitsipas added: “Against Medvedev, I need to be concentrated and approach my game in a precise manner. “I will let my tennis do the talking.”

Medvedev, the 2019 tournament winner, strengthened his grip on the world number one ranking at the last major tune-up prior to the US Open, earning his victory over 11th seed Fritz in one hour, 40 minutes.

“The second set was much better than the first,” Medvedev said. “Taylor is a great player, from the baseline he didn’t give you much space. “He was hitting the ball strong, making a lot of good points. “But I’m happy with my level. If I can continue to play this way and raise my level during matches I can beat anybody,” added Medvedev, who leads semi-final opponent Tsitsipas 7-2 in head-to-head meetings.

In the women’s quarter-finals, Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina saved three match points before falling 6-2, 6-4 to Madison Keys.

The Kazakh, who lifted the All England Club trophy last month against the odds, exited the pre-US Open event in 92 minutes as she went down to the American titleholder from 2019.

“Elena is a remarkable player who can turn a match around at any moment,” unseeded Keys said. “I needed to stay out front.

“It felt like I needed 12 match points, so I’m very happy to get the win,” added Keys who on Thursday ousted world number one Iga Swiatek.

Keys next plays Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion who defeated Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2, 6-3.

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka ended the dream run of Zhang Shuai with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), defeat after the Chinese player had put out Naomi Osaka and second seed Anett Kontaveit.

Sabalenka plays for the final against qualifier Caroline Garcia, who defeated American Jessica Pegula, the winner over US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the previous round, 6-1, 7-5 in 74 minutes.

The French winner leads the Tour with 25 main-draw victories since June; she was the first from her nation to play a Cincinnati quarter-final since Marion Bartoli 12 years ago.

“I had the worst warmup of the week today,” Garcia said. “But that doesn’t mean you will play badly. “I was able to play the aggressive style that I like. I hit very freely against a solid opponent.

“I had to play my best today to beat Jessica. I did it and I’m very happy I got the win.”

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CINCINNATI: Rafael Nadal’s disaster comeback match on Wednesday at the Cincinnati Masters leaves the Spaniard lagging in the chase for the top ATP ranking.

Nadal was ambushed 7-6 (11/9), 4-6, 6-3 in his second-round start by Croat Borna Coric, ending his hopes of overtaking Daniil Medvedev for the world number one rankings.

Top seed Medvedev, who plays on Thursday for a quarter-final spot against Denis Shapovalov, can tighten his grip on his current top position heading into the US Open.

Third-ranked Nadal was rocked by his loss after six weeks away as he healed an abdominal muscle injury that forced his withdrawal from a Wimbledon semi-final against Nick Kyrgios.

Now Nadal goes into the US Open, which begins on August 29 in New York, with only one summer hardcourt match.

“In terms of New York, it’s a Grand Slam, a different kind of tournament,” Nadal said.

“I was only able to play two sets before this match in the last 40 days.

“I know that to gain condition. I will have to (be) on the tour practicing with the guys (other players).”

The 36-year-old Spaniard with 22 Grand Slam titles said he hopes to feed off fan energy at the US Open, where Nadal won titles in 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019.

“There is an energy the crowd gives me in New York. It’s a very special place for me,” Nadal said.

“I’ve had unforgettable moments there and I’m going to try my very best every single day to be ready for that.”

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CINCINNATI: Serena Williams bowed out of the WTA/ATP Cincinnati Masters at the first hurdle on Tuesday, losing in straight sets to US Open champion Emma Raducanu as the end of her glittering career looms ever closer.

Williams, who last week indicated that she is planning to retire after this month’s US Open, was no match for British teenager Raducanu, who romped to a 6-4, 6-0 win.

The 40-year-old Williams left the court swiftly after the defeat without speaking to television reporters and did not hold a press conference.

Raducanu broke Williams at the start of both sets to claim victory in what was her first and likely last meeting with the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion.

“I was nervous from the first point to the last,” Raducanu said. “Serena is dangerous and can come back from any situation.

“I had to stay focused. I’m so pleased I managed to keep my composure.”

Williams, the winner of titles here in 2014 and 2015, was competing in only her fourth match of 2022 after starting her season at Wimbledon due to injury.

Raducanu announced her intentions from the start with a break to love of Williams and never let up.

The young Briton improved to 14 wins, and 17 defeats since winning the Open last September from a qualifying start.

Raducanu meanwhile said she was honoured to be part of the spectacle on Tuesday in what was one of Williams’ final games as a professional.

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LAHORE: Pakistan’s ace tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq has been appointed as Goodwill Ambassador of the Punjab government by the provincial Sports Minister Malik Taimoor Masood, here on Wednesday.

Masood met the tennis star and extended his full support to Aisam’s newly launched initiative for the grooming and coaching of young tennis players.

During the meeting, Masood said that the provincial government would completely patronize Aisam’s Ace tennis academy and announced a special tennis talent hunt programme in the province in collaboration with his initiative.

“Aisam is the pioneer of tennis in Pakistan,” he said. ” We are working to revive tennis in the country.”

Furthermore, he assured the tennis star to provide training space to Ace academy players at Punjab National Tennis Stadium’s adjacent courts.

Meanwhile, Aisam expressed his gratitude to the Punjab government for appointing him the Goodwill Ambassador.

It is pertinent to mention here that the 42-year-old tennis player had earlier launched a talent hunt programme for tennis with trials held in four major cities across Pakistan: Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, and Karachi.

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MONTREAL: Pablo Carreno Busta seized his first ATP Masters title Sunday, spoiling Hubert Hurkacz’s perfect record in ATP finals with a Montreal Masters triumph.

The 23rd-ranked Spaniard beat eighth-seeded Hurkacz 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to become the first unseeded winner in Canada in two decades.

Carreno Busta notched his seventh ATP title, but his first in an elite Masters 1000 event in his first opportunity.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be a Masters 1000 winner,” Carreno Busta said. “It’s the best title of my career for sure.

“I know that during all the week we worked very hard, also the weeks before. It’s very important to be very positive all the time. It’s not my best season this year. I lost some matches that probably other seasons I didn’t lose, but I just tried to continue believing in my team, in myself and in my game.”

Carreno Busta became the first unseeded winner in Canada in two decades.

Poland’s Hurkacz had been unbeaten in five finals, Carreno Busta putting the first blemish on that record in just over an hour and three quarters.

He survived 18 aces from Hurkacz to become the first Canadian champion ranked outside the Top 20 since number 43 Andrei Pavel in 2001 at Montreal.

Carreno Busta is the third Spanish winner after five-time champion Rafael Nadal and Manuel Orantes in 1975.

The first two sets were mirror images with Hurkacz breaking in the sixth game on his way to winning the opener.

In the second Carreno Busta, who is projected to rise to 14th in the world, claimed a break in the second game and held his margin to leave the match hanging at one set each.

Two breaks in the final set sealed the win for Carreno Busta, who wrapped it up on his first match point as he broke Hurkacz for the win.

“I lost the first set, just one break, but you know when you play against these kinds of players who have a really good serve it’s really tough to be there,” Carreno Busta said.

“But I just continued believing because I know that I was playing better and better. I tried to be aggressive with my serves and I could make two breaks, enough to be a winner.”

Hurkacz said it was a deserved victory.

“Pablo was playing really, really well throughout the whole match,” Hurkacz said. “It just was tough to play against him.

“Maybe I wasn’t serving as good as I can. But definitely, Pablo deserved to win today.”

He added: “It’s definitely a good week, (I made) a lot of improvements. “I’ll learn a lot from that week and move on to the next one.”

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TORONTO: Simona Halep kept control against unpredictable Beatriz Haddad Maia on Sunday, beating the Brazilian 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to win a third WTA Masters 1000 title in Canada.

The former world number one from Romania added the trophy in Toronto to those she captured in Montreal in 2016 and 2018.

She needed two and a quarter hours to deny the South American lefthander the upset victory.

“Here there are many Romanians and they always come to support me. I’m really happy that I could win also here,” said Halep, who was backed by chants of “Si-mo-na!” from her vocal fans throughout the match.

She shrugged off nine double-faults and broke Haddad Maia five times from 10 chances as she became the third player with at least nine WTA 1000 titles, after Serena Williams (13) and Victoria Azarenka (10).

Halep, who was playing in her ninth final at the elite level as Haddad Maia tackled her first, won her 38th match of the season and claimed her biggest success since the Rome trophy in May 2020.

After a year outside of the world’s top 10 she is projected to rise to sixth this week with the start of the US Open approaching on August 29.

“I was there for many years but now I feel like it’s a big deal to be back in the top 10,” she said. “I’m really happy with this performance.

“When I started the year I was not very confident and I set the goal to be top-10 at the end of the year — and here I am.

“It’s a very special moment. I will enjoy it. I will give myself credit. I’m just dreaming for more.”

Haddad Maia, enjoying a breakout season that included grasscourt titles at Birmingham and Nottingham in June, had toppled world number one Iga Swiatek on her way to the final.

She struck first with a break on the way to a quick 3-0 lead. But Halep, a two-time Grand Slam champion, quickly responded, winning the opening set as she spun off six straight games to claim the opener 6-3, in 50 minutes.

Haddad Maia answered in the opening game of the second set with a break, consolidating through a double break for 4-0 before Halep stopped the rot to hold for 1-4.

The Brazilian delivered a huge serve on set point three games later to square the contest at a set each.

But Halep came out ahead after they traded three breaks of serve in the final set, wrapping it up on her second match point as Haddad Maia fired a service return into the net.

Haddad Maia said she was at times overwhelmed by the occasion.

“It was an emotional beginning, even when I was 3-Love up I couldn’t hold the emotions. I couldn’t control myself,” she said.

“Simona started to play better, to improve. I was trying to be more aggressive.

“Today Simona deserved it, she played better than me,” added Haddad Maia, the first Brazilian to reach the final of a WTA 1000 event. “She was more brave.”

“Sometimes we learn — today, it’s a day to learn.”

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MONTREAL: Hubert Hurkacz overcame 53 winners from Nick Kyrgios to halt the Australian’s nine-match win streak with a three-set quarter-final victory on Friday at the ATP Montreal Masters.

The Polish eighth seed managed 43 winners of his own in a rapid-fire 7-6(7/4), 6-7(5/7), 6-1 triumph that put him into his fourth semi-final at the Masters level.

Hurkacz will next face Norway’s fourth-seeded Casper Ruud, who crushed home hope Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-2, in 74 minutes.

Ruud will play his third Masters semi-final this season on Saturday, having defeated Hurkacz in their previous meeting in May at Roland Garros.

At the bottom of the draw, Dan Evans completed a comeback to defeat American Tommy Paul 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, needing two match points to overcome Paul in two and a quarter hours.

But the chance of an all-British semi-final at this elite level fell away as Jack Draper lost 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 to Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta after saving a pair of match points.

The 39th-ranked Evans, who managed only 15 winners, was decisively out-hit by Paul with 40.

Not surprisingly he said reaching his second career semi-final in the Masters tournament was a hard slog.

“I had to try and hang in, get a few scraps off of him,” he said. “If he made errors, take advantage, he was too good in the first set.

“You start to wonder if you can get into the match, so when I got the chance I took it to him. I was fired up – we had a good battle.”

For Hurkacz, it was the second win in as many matches against Kyrgios, the first played on grass in June at Halle, Germany.

Kyrgios, known for quick play, had several service games go by in less than one minute, with the Wimbledon finalist barely pausing between the end of one point and the start of the next.

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TORONTO: Brazilian outsider Beatriz Haddad Maia toppled world number one Iga Swiatek 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA Toronto Masters.

The South American ranked 24th in the world beat her third top-10 opponent this season, but notched her first career win over a world number one as she clawed out the victory in three hours.

Haddad Maia, who won titles at Nottingham and Birmingham in June, became the first Brazilian to reach the quarters at a WTA 1000 tournament.

She was the first from her country to face a number one since Telian Pereira lost to Serena Williams at Roland Garros in 2016.

Swiatek, whose six titles this season include the French Open, missed her chance at a 50th match win this year in the setback that comes two weeks before the start of the US Open.

Her run of 23 straight wins at the Masters 1000 level was snapped in difficult playing conditions.

“At the beginning I struggled to find my rhythm, probably because she’s lefty and I had a hard time adjusting to her serve,” Swiatek said.

“Without the wind I would manage. But it was pretty crazy out there.

“In the third set I knew (the mistakes) I’d made. So I know what I want to work on and what I want to improve before the next tournament, for sure.”

Haddad Maia put Swiatek on the defensive, forcing her to save 15 of 19 break points while committing nine double-faults.

She limited her own unforced errors to a dozen, backed up by 23 winners while Swiatek ended with 33 winners and 28 unforced errors.

“I’m happy and proud of myself and my team, it’s a special moment,” she said. “It’s not always easy to beat the number one on a huge stage and against all the crowd.

“I think I passed through very tough moments in my career to live this moment. I just want to enjoy a little bit.

“I don’t want to think about my next match,” added Haddad Maia, who will play Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic for a place in the semi-finals

Bencic followed up her victory over 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams with a brisk 6-1, 6-3 victory over Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.

In other third-round action, Coco Gauff survived 15 double-faults to squeeze out a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) win over Aryna Sabalenka.

The American teenager contributed just under half of the miscues in the error-strewn affair, with her opponent accounting for 18 additional doubles.

Tenth seed Gauff, who fell to Swiatek at Roland Garros in her first Grand Slam final this year, battled for three and a quarter hours against sixth-seeded Sabalenka.

Gauff finished with nine aces and saved 10 of 14 break points that she faced.

“The conditions weren’t easy today, a lot of wind,” Gauff said. “I think I hung in there mentally and that’s what I’m most proud of.”

Victory for the 18-year-old came a day after she beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the third round in a match that took two and three-quarter hours.

The American admitted that trailing 3-0 in the final set, she had to give herself a serious talking-to.

“I said if I was going to lose, I’m not going to lose like this. I had to change, and that’s what I did.”

Gauff will face off on Friday against two-time Grand Slam winner Simona Halep after the former number one from Romania defeated Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann 6-2, 7-5 in 91 minutes.

Seventh-seeded American Jessica Pegula advanced, beating defending champion Camila Giorgi of Italy 3-6, 6-0, 7-5.

Pegula will face Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, who beat Alison Riske 6-3, 7-5.

China’s Zheng Qinwen ended the hopes of home favorite Bianca Andreescu with a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 victory over the former US Open champion from Canada. Zheng will next face Karolina Pliskova, who ousted third-seeded Maria Sakkari 6-1, 6-7 (9/11), 6-3.

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TORONTO: Serena Williams, who said this week she will soon call time on her storied tennis career, departed the WTA Toronto Masters for the last time Wednesday with a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Belinda Bencic.

The second-round defeat by Switzerland’s reigning Olympic gold medallist was hardly unexpected, with the 40-year-old Williams competing in only her third match of 2022.

Bencic fired eight aces and broke Williams twice in the first set and once in the second, advancing on her first match point after 78 minutes.

But as Bencic herself said in the post-match interview on court: “Tonight is about her.”

Williams’s farewell on-court interview was threaded with emotion.

“I love playing here, I’ve always loved playing here,” she said, choking up as fans who cheered her throughout the match called out their appreciation.

“I wish I could have played better tonight, but Belinda was playing so well.”

Williams, who turns 41 next month, had beaten Spain’s Nuria Parrizas Diaz on Monday for her first singles victory since the 2021 French Open, 14 months ago.

But it sent shockwaves through the sport when she revealed in an essay in Vogue magazine and an Instagram post on Tuesday that “the countdown has begun” to her retirement from the sport.

Williams didn’t specify an actual retirement date but is expected to compete next week in Cincinnati before travelling to the US Open, which starts on August 29.

She has lifted the US Open title six times, including her first Grand Slam triumph at the age of 17 in 1999.

“It’s been a pretty interesting 24 hours,” said Williams, who remains one shy of the all-time record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles won by Margaret Court.

“Like I said in my article, I’m terrible at goodbyes,” she said, her voice breaking.

“But, goodbye,” she said, then adding with a laugh “Toronto.”

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MONTREAL: Nick Kyrgios rallied to topple world number one Daniil Medvedev at the ATP Montreal Masters on Wednesday as the top three seeds tumbled in the second round.

Australia’s Wimbledon finalist beat Medvedev 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-2 to produce his second career upset of a reigning number one after ambushing Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014.

Unseeded American Tommy Paul also came from a set down to send second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz of Spain packing 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 while unseeded Briton Jack Draper beat third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 7-5, 7-6 (7/4).

Kyrgios started the landslide. The mercurial Aussie produced his usual on-court antics, complaining about a high bounce, hitting a ball into the stands to draw a warning and bickering with his player box in moments of tension.

But after gathering his formidable resources, the 27-year-old ranked 37th finished off Medvedev in exactly two hours.

“I don’t go in looking at the rankings, just the guy in front of me,” Kyrgios said. “I had a clean objective today — play a lot of serve and volley and execute better.

“”Hopefully I can keep this rolling and keep on winning.”

Both players were coming off weekend title wins, Kyrgios at the Washington 500 on Sunday and Medvedev at Los Cabos, Mexico, on Saturday.

Kyrgios has won 14 of his last 15 matches to improve to 29-7 for 2022. Medvedev lost for the 11th time in 2022, but by reaching the final at Los Cabos — where he lifted his first trophy of the season — he is assured of taking the number one ranking into his US Open title defense later this month.

He was barred from Wimbledon as the tournament excluded Russian and Belarussian players over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Alcaraz, who like Medvedev enjoyed a first-round bye, fared no better in his opening match, with the teenager admitting pressure got to him.

Alcaraz came into the event with two prestige Masters 1000 titles from Miami and Madrid and holding a 42-7 record this season.

“It was the first time that I couldn’t handle the pressure,” Alcaraz said. “I felt the pressure (of being) the number two seed and number four in the world.

“It was the first time that I felt this pressure.”

The youngster added: “I had chances, I was a break up in the second set, had chances to win the match.

“He played really good in the tough moments. He played great, and I couldn’t show my best.”

The 34th-ranked Paul claimed victory on a volley winner after holding off the Spaniard’s charge from 5-2 down in the third set.

“It was nice to finish this match at the net,” said Paul, who fired 36 winners to Alcaraz’s 33. “I did a lot of things well today. “I played a good level of tennis, comfortable tennis.”

Tsitsipas completed the hat-trick of losses for the tournament elite.

Draper, 20, earned his first career win over a top-10 opponent as he reached the third round in just over two hours with five breaks of the Tsitsipas serve.

Fourth seed Casper Ruud made it safely through, backing up his defeat earlier this season of Alex Molcan with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 victory over the Slovakian.

The Norwegian with three trophies so far in 2022 had to work to win the opening set after dropping serve as he tried to close it out leading 5-4.

However, he sealed his third-round place in straight sets for his 36th win of the season.

Elsewhere, Italian Jannik Sinner needed three sets to get past Adrian Mannarino 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 while Alex de Minaur lined up an all-Aussie Thursday match against Kyrgios by defeating Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7/4), 7-5.

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