Tennis News

Whilst it was not the easiest of quarter-final meetings, Swiss superstar Roger Federer is through to the final four in the inaugural Istanbul Open. He is scheduled to face qualifier Diego Sebastian Schwartzman in the semi-final round of the tournament in what will mark the second time the two athletes will meet on the professional tour. Federer leads the head-to-head series 1-0 and will look to maintain that undefeated streak on Saturday.

Roger Federer found himself in a competitive battle on Friday afternoon when he needed three sets to defeat Daniel Gimeno-Traver. The contest lasted a total of two hours and 27 minutes and saw Federer close out the encounter 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-3.

For the first time in his career, Diego Schwartzman has advanced to the semi-final stage of an ATP World Tour event, where he will challenge one of the all-time greats for a spot in the final. It was a surprising win, particularly since Diego dropped the opening set 6-0 and was forced to rally back to win the match. During the second two sets, he only dropped a total of four games to finish the match in one hour and 51 minutes.

“I have advanced to the first semi-final of my career,” said Schwartzman. “I lost the first eight games. He started playing really well and maybe I was a little bit nervous. Sometimes it happens. The crowd was amazing for me. I hope tomorrow will be the same.”

Federer and Schwartzman have only crossed paths twice previously on the professional tour, with Federer leading the series 1-0. Their first meeting also took pace this season at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 event. While there is always the possibility for a staggering upset at such events, it is highly unlikely we will witness one in this particular match. Given his form so far this season, Federer will be looking to make a deep run in an important clay court preparation tournament ahead of the French Open.

Novak Djokovic has officially withdrawn from the Mutua Madrid Open, a Masters 1000 event that takes place next week on the ATP World Tour.

The world No. 1, who did not offer much of a reason for his decision to skip the tournament, revealed that he plans to return to the tour in time for the Rome Masters event, where he is the defending champion.

Djokovic, who already has a clay court Masters 1000 title to his name this season, has a 30-2 record so far this season and appears to be near-unstoppable on the tour.

Most recently at the Monte Carlo event, Djokovic overcame a determined Tomas Berdych in three sets to lift his third Masters 1000 title of the season. He won the match 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in a contest that was interrupted by a rain delay midway through the second set. Djokovic eventually won the match in two hours and 43 minutes to extend his winning streak to 17 consecutive matches.

No one has ever managed to win the first three Masters 1000 titles of the year in consecutive fashion, which is just what he completed on Sunday afternoon in Monte Carlo. To top that off, he also won the season-opening Grand Slam in Melbourne, which only serves as more proof that the Serbian star is in near-unstoppable form at the moment.

The Mutua Madrid Open is set to begin on May 10th.

Andy Murray took part in his first singles match as a married man on Thursday afternoon and needed only straight sets to begin his clay court season in solid fashion. He will continue his campaign as he crosses paths with Lukas Rosol once again. This is just the second time that they meet on the professional tour, with Murray leading the head-to-head series 1-0. However, this will also mark their first ever clay court encounter, which certainly adds a layer of intrigue to the otherwise straightforward encounter.

In trademark fashion, the British No. 1 managed to secure his first clay court win of the season on the ATP World Tour in straight sets. He defeated German qualifier Mischa Zverev 6-2, 6-2 in a contest that lasted one hour and 14 minutes to advance to the quarter-final stage of the event. Murray struck one aces, won 75% of his first service points and saved all six of the break points he faced en route to his 22nd tour-level victory of the season. He has only suffered five defeats on the tour this year, two of which took place in finals.

The Scot will next come up against Lukas Rosol, who reached that stage of the event with a victory over Sergiy Stakhovsky. It was his first ever win against the Ukrainian, after losing their first two meetings. The contest lasted 86 minutes and saw Rosol strike four aces, win 79% of his first service points and save five break points en route to the win in 84 minutes.

This is just the second time that Murray and Rosol will cross paths on the ATP World Tour with Murray leading the head-to-head series 1-0. He won that encounter last year at Indian Wells when he was yet to regain top form, and should be able to work his way past the Czech No. 2 this week as well.

Up against Jarkko Nieminen in his first match on clay, Roger Federer needed only straight sets to get past his Finish opponent. Federer struck nine aces, won 94% of his first service points and did not face a single break point on serve to close out the match 6-2, 7-5 in exactly one hour. It also extended his head-to-head lead to an impeccable 15-0 against Nieminen.

“I’m happy that I won my first match ever in Turkey,” he said. “In the second set Jarkko started playing better and I’m happy that I managed to close the match. I have a day off and I will enjoy and do a sightseeing trip by boat on the Bosphorus to see some more of this beautiful city,” he said.

Earlier that very day, Daniel Gimeno-Traver managed to get past Mikhail Kukushkin in straight sets to secure his spot in the quarter-final stage against Federer. He fired five aces , won 79% of his first service points and broke serve on four accoasions to secure the win in 70 minutes.

This is just the first time that Federer and Gimeno-Traver will cross paths on the professional tour. Federer looked fit, healthy and motivated to perform during the inaugural TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open event and that is unlikely to bode well for the Spaniard, even though he is on a hot streak himself. The two in-form players should make for an entertaining match on Friday evening.