Stefanos Tsitsipas’ hunt for a maiden grass-court title will next take him to the Mallorca Championships, after the tournament announced Thursday that the World No. 6 had received a wild card for the ATP 250 event.

Tsitsipas will make his debut at the Mallorca tournament, to be held from June 19-25, in a field that also includes World No. 1 and defending champion Daniil Medvedev. Tsitsipas played just one match on grass in 2021, at Wimbledon, but has already played four matches on the surface this year across the ATP 250 event in Stuttgart and the ATP 500 in Halle.

Tsitsipas is ✔️

🇬🇷 @steftsitsipas receives a wildcard and he will play in Mallorca.@atptour | @ATPTour_ES | #MallorcaChampionships pic.twitter.com/iHwOKh3Nz2

— Mallorca Championships (@MallorcaChamps) June 16, 2022

Tsitsipas’ entry into the Mallorca draw also raises the possibility of a rematch with Nick Kyrgios. The pair played out a thrilling second-round encounter in Halle on Wednesday, with the Australian prevailing in three sets. Kyrgios, who is set to face Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarter-finals in Germany on Friday, will also compete in Mallorca and will be making his tournament debut.

The 26-year-old has also signalled his intention to play doubles in Spain, posting “Anyone for dubs in Mallorca?” on his Twitter feed on Wednesday.

Anyone for dubs in Mallorca?

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) June 15, 2022

Kyrgios has enjoyed success on the doubles court in 2022, winning a maiden Grand Slam title at January’s Australian Open with Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic’s hunt for a maiden title at the Cinch Championships in London came close to ending at the quarter-final stage on Thursday, but the second seeds dug deep in a Match Tie-break to sneak past John Peers and Filip Polasek at the ATP 500 event.

Mektic and Pavic fended off a match point for their opponents at 8/9, reeling off three points in a row to seal a dramatic one-hour, 36-minute victory. The all-Croatian duo is chasing a third title on grass in the United Kingdom, having triumphed in Eastbourne and at Wimbledon in 2021.

Their semi-final opponents at The Queen’s Club will be Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, who completed a 6-4, 6-4 win against Alex de Minaur and Cameron Norrie.

Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara upset top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury for the second time this season in the other quarter-final played on Thursday. The British-Finnish pairing defeated the world’s top-ranked pairing in Rome in early May, and they proved too good again on the grass in London, running out 7-6(8), 6-2 winners to book a semi-final against Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov.

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Seeded Pairings Dominate In Halle
At the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, the top four seeded pairings all booked semi-final spots with straight-sets victories on Thursday.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos broke serve once in each set to overcome Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni. The top seeds are chasing their seventh tour-level title together in Germany, but are yet to lift a trophy on grass. They will next face the fourth-seeded pairing of Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek, after the Roland Garros finalists ousted Andrey Golubev and Maximo Gonzalez, 7-6(3), 6-2.

There was quarter-final heartbreak for home favourites Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, who fell to fellow German Tim Puetz and his partner Michael Venus. Puetz and Venus broke in the 12th game of each set to prevail 7-5, 7-5.

Puetz and Venus, the latter of whom won the Halle title in 2019 alongside Raven Klaasen, will take on the in-form second seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer. The Roland Garros champions extended their winning streak to eight with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Yannick Hanfmann and Jan-Lennard Struff.

New week, same result.

Six days after Daniil Medvedev defeated Ilya Ivashka in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, he earned the same outcome on Thursday at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle.

Top seed Medvedev came through another tough opening set against the World No. 42, but ultimately proved too strong as he sealed a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory at the ATP 500 event in north-west Germany.

Medvedev was pleased to prevail in another high-quality clash with Ivashka, who was aiming to reach his fourth quarter-final of the season on the Halle grass.

“He is a great player,” said Medvedev after he improved his lead in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series to 3-1. “He had a lot of bad luck with injuries at the beginning of the season. At the end of last season he was playing really great tennis.

“I’ve known him since I was very young, we actually played [each other] in Futures, Challengers, and on the ATP Tour. He beat me once in Davis Cup, which is a really important tournament. So he knows how to play tennis, he knows how to play well on grass, so I’m really happy that two times in a row I managed to pass a tough test.”

It was by no means plain sailing for the World No. 1. Ivashka showed intent from the start in OWL Arena, striking cleanly through the ball to hurry his opponent. Yet just as in his opening-round win against David Goffin, Medvedev’s ability to find big serves at key moments proved crucial. He fended off three set points at 4-5 to stay in the opening set before going onto to clinch it in a tie-break.

Things were more comfortable for Medvedev in the second set, when a series of finely-crafted passing shots were the highlight as he wrapped up a one-hour, 36-minute victory to improve his career record on grass to 30-15.

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Medvedev next faces seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut in his maiden quarter-final appearance in Halle, after the Spaniard defeated Dutch qualifier Tallon Griekspoor 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-2. Despite reclaiming the No. 1 spot in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday, Medvedev has not changed his approach stepping out on court in Germany as he seeks his second tour-level title on grass, even if his opponents might.

“I think it will depend on the player and the match, and on my level also,” he said when asked whether his opponents were likely to raise their game when facing the top-ranked player in the world. “Some are going to be a little bit intimidated that they are playing the World No. 1 and they have a tough draw. If they lose, maybe it is nothing special.

“And some on the contrary. Maybe they don’t have the best confidence at the moment and if they beat the World No. 1, that is where it starts.

“My goal is every time I go on the court just to be the best player possible, and if my opponent wins, congrats, and let’s go for the next one.”

It may have taken the best part of a decade, but Karen Khachanov was finally able to banish lingering grass-court demons against Laslo Djere on Thursday afternoon.

The 26-year-old recovered from a slow start to clinch a 7-6(4), 6-4 second-round win over Djere at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle. It was the pair’s second tour-level clash, but their first on grass since the Boys’ Singles at Wimbledon in 2013, a meeting Khachanov still remembers well.

“We played once [before] on a grass court at junior Wimbledon, I lost in three sets,” said Khachanov after his one-hour, 43-minute victory on Thursday. “I remember that match perfectly, what I did wrong in the third set. I think I was even a break up in the third and ended up losing 6-3. This time I took revenge on grass finally.”

The eighth seed rallied from a double-break down at 2-5 in the opening set in Halle, saving two set points on the Djere serve at 4-5 before clinching it via tie-break. An immediate break in the second set was enough to complete the turnaround for Khachanov, who was the more solid player despite firing just 19 winners to Djere’s 29.

“The first set was very tricky,” said Khachanov. “I was two breaks down and I don’t know how, but I managed to win the first set. I played a good tie-break, and it gave me a lot of confidence for the second set, from the beginning especially to keep pushing… I’m happy that I could turn it around, I could change the game and started to play better.”

The win takes Khachanov to a fourth quarter-final in Halle, where his best showing is a semi-final run from 2017. He next faces home favourite Oscar Otte, after the World No. 51 rallied to a 4-6, 6-0, 7-6(3) victory against Nikoloz Basilashvili to reach the quarter-finals on tournament debut.

Matteo Berrettini survived a scare at the Cinch Championships on Thursday to keep his title defence alive.

The Italian recovered from a slow start on a sun-baked centre court in London to rally past American lucky loser Denis Kudla 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 and extend his winning streak to six matches.

“It was a really tough match,” Berrettini said in his on-court interview. “We know each other really well. I am glad I am through. I think he played a really good match and most of the time I think he deserved to win, but I was there and worked hard and I am just really happy.”

The second seed, who lifted the trophy at the ATP 500 grass-court event last season, struggled to find his best level against the resilient Kudla in a hard-fought second-round battle.

The World No. 82 caused Berrettini problems with his intensity and consistency for large periods but was ultimately unable to prevail. Kudla broke back to level at 4-4 in the third set but then missed a forehand on top of the net to lose serve in the next game.

World No. 10 Berrettini, who fired 22 aces in the match, capitalised on his chance, fending off one break point to hold serve and advance after two hours and 45 minutes.

“I have felt a lot of support since the first match last year,” Berrettini added. “That is why I love to come here. The Club is great but the crowd is unbelievable, they helped me a lot today, so thank you.”

The 26-year-old now leads Kudla 3-2 in their ATP Head2Head series and will next play American Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals.

Berrettini has yet to lose since he returned to Tour last week following right-hand surgery. The six-time tour-level titlist soared to the trophy in Stuttgart, before he defeated Daniel Evans in his opening match in London.

Kudla was aiming to earn his first Top 10 win and reach the quarter-finals at The Queen’s Club for the second time, after enjoying a run to the last eight in 2013. He arrived at The Queen’s Club in good form, having defeated Andy Murray en route to the final at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Surbiton last month.

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British wild card Ryan Peniston continued his dream ATP Tour debut run by edging Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and one minute.

The 26-year-old, who upset top seed Casper Ruud in the first round, rallied from a break down in the third set as he demonstrated an abundance of grit and quality in front of a raucous home crowd to reach the quarter-finals.

“I don’t think I want to wake up from this anytime soon,” Peniston said in his on-court interview. “I took a lot of confidence from the last match against Casper [Ruud] and came out guns blazing. [The] second set didn’t go to plan, he kept fighting. Francisco is a great player. I just managed to fight in the third set and got over the line and I am pretty happy with it.”

Last year, when he was No. 375 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Peniston lost in the first round of qualifying in London. Following his win against Cerundolo, he is up to No. 145 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. The Briton will next face Filip Krajinovic after the Serbian downed American qualifier Sam Querrey 4-6,6-3, 6-4.

It is the first time Krajinovic has reached the quarter-finals at a tour-level event on grass. The 30-year-old, who enjoyed a run to the semi-finals in Montpellier on hard courts in February, is up to No. 38 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Tommy Paul advanced to his first tour-level quarter-final on grass on Thursday when he dispatched former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-4 in a dominant performance at the Cinch Championships.

The American backed up his first-round win over sixth seed Denis Shapovalov with another strong display on the lawns in London on debut at the ATP 500 event. The World No. 35 took time away from Wawrinka by taking the ball early on return, while he saved all five break points he faced to advance after 65 minutes.

“This week is my first couple of main draw wins on grass. If you had asked me two years ago, I would have said grass was my worst surface. But when I started working with my coach Brad [Stine], he said grass will end up being my best surface and I have tried to mould my game on that,” Paul said. “I feel very comfortable out there, hopefully if not this year but next it will be my best surface.

“I feel I serve and volley well but every time I went to do so today, I missed my first serve, so I didn’t get many chances. I saw Tim Henman just now and he is one of my favourites because of the style of tennis he played and I told him, ‘Sorry for all those volleys I missed’. I like coming to the net and rushing people on the grass.”

Paul, who had never won a tour-level match on grass before this week, has now levelled his ATP Head2Head series against Wawrinka at 1-1 and will next play reigning champion Matteo Berrettini or American Denis Kudla.

“Getting that win Wednesday [against Shapovalov] was a big confidence booster. I came out here today [and] played really well from the start and I relaxed a little bit and everything came a little bit easier,” Paul added.

Earlier this season, the 25-year-old reached the semi-finals on hard courts in Delray Beach in February, while he advanced to the last eight at two tournaments in Adelaide and one in Acapulco.

Wawrinka was making his eighth appearance at The Queen’s Club, with his best result a run to the semi-finals in 2014. The 37-year-old will compete at Wimbledon later this month after receiving a wild card.