Argentina Open: British number one Cameron Norrie battles back to reach semi-finals
British number one Cameron Norrie comes back from a set down against Tomas Martin Etcheverry to reach the Argentina Open semi-finals.
British number one Cameron Norrie comes back from a set down against Tomas Martin Etcheverry to reach the Argentina Open semi-finals.
Despite several challenges in Friday’s rain-hindered quarter-final in Buenos Aires, second seed Cameron Norrie prevailed to book his ticket into the Argentina Open semi-finals.
The World No. 12 had to rally from a set down against home hope Tomas Martin Etcheverry to claim a 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 victory. After the Argentine grabbed the opening set, rain halted play for a brief period before Norrie won 12 of the next 15 games to advance.
“I knew it was going to be difficult, he came out and played really well,” Norrie said. “It was so different today than the other day when I played Facundo [Diaz Acosta] when it was boiling. Today was freezing. Probably a bit warmer in London today than here in Buenos Aires!
“He played a really good first set and served well. I came out really strong after the rain delay and again after the second rain delay. I managed to scrape through in a pretty difficult match.”
The 27-year-old, who saved five of seven break points faced, turned the match around by adjusting his court positioning, taking a more aggressive stance to dictate play from the baseline. Despite another rain delay occurring with Norrie serving at 3-1 in the deciding set, the British No. 1 held his nerve in the closing stages to advance to his second semi-final of the season [Auckland].
The lefty will next take on Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas, who upset third seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-4. Varillas, 27, earned the second Top-20 win of his career [’19 Gstaad d. Bautista Agut] to advance to his first Tour-level semi-final. Following Friday’s victory, the Lima native is at a career-high No. 81 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.
On a roll on European indoor hard courts, Jannik Sinner will be tough to oust this week at the ABN AMRO Open.
The day after he dispatched top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets at the ATP 500 event, the World No. 14 returned to down Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-3 and reach the semi-finals in Rotterdam for the first time.
Sinner raced through the first set in Friday’s clash with 2015 champion Wawrinka and, despite the Swiss showing some late resistance to reclaim a break and level at 3-3 in the second, the 21-year-old Italian’s combination of consistency and power proved key as he frequently outlasted his more experienced opponent from the baseline.
Top-level Returning & into the Semi-finals for @janniksin
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The 72-minute victory extended Sinner’s winning streak to six matches, with Rotterdam victories against Benjamin Bonzi, Tsitsipas and Wawrinka backing up his run to his seventh tour-level title last week in Montpellier.
“I just try to play every match with a high intensity, try to play my game, try to adapt myself,” said Sinner, when asked about his good form. “The first round match here was very important for me, then I try to keep going, to get more rhythm. Today I think it was also a good match. It’s never easy playing against him, so I’m very happy.”
A lightning-fast start set from Sinner set the tone in the quarter-final clash. He broke Wawrinka’s serve in the opening game and then fended off three break points for the Swiss to move 2-0 ahead. Those proved to be the Italian’s most vulnerable moments in a first set in which he converted three of five break points.
A little @janniksin magic 🪄@abnamroopen | #abnamroopen pic.twitter.com/BuLXqaFLLQ
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Wawrinka appeared dispirited after dropping serve again in the fourth game of the second set but the former World No. 3 dug deep, deploying some heavy hitting of his own to level for 3-3. He was unable to cope with the relentless Sinner in the latter stages of the set, however, and the Italian broke again in the eighth game before holding serve to level his ATP Head2Head series with the Swiss at 2-2.
“It was for sure a tough match,” said Sinner. “We know each other quite well, we practise a lot together… I’m very happy to be in the next round. I tried to push him a lot, he defended very well. He made a couple of unforced errors in the first set, I tried to get the momentum going, then I made a couple of unforced errors at 3-1… [Overall] I think it was a good performance today.”
Sinner’s opponent in his first semi-final above ATP 250 level since October 2021 will be Tallon Griekspoor. The 26-year-old prevailed 6-4, 6-4 against countryman Gijs Brouwer to become the first Dutch player to reach the semi-finals at the Rotterdam Ahoy since Igor Sijsling in 2014.
Griekspoor hit 21 winners to Brouwer’s 26 in the pair’s 78-minute encounter, but he was clinical in converting both break points he had en route to a 78-minute win against his fellow wild card. With the win, the 26-year-old advanced to his maiden ATP 500 semi-final and just his second overall, after he lifted his maiden ATP Tour title in Pune in January.
Now up to 21 spots to No. 40 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, Griekspoor is set to reach a new career high on Monday regardless of his result against Sinner.
Lorenzo Sonego lost in the first round of this week’s ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam. But off the court, the Italian won big.
The song ‘Un Solo Secondo’, which Sonego created in collaboaration with friend ‘AlterEdo’, soared past the one-million listen mark on Spotify.
“We did some songs together when we were young for a hobby,” Sonego told ATPTour.com last year. “And then, we tried to do something together for enjoyment in the summer and only to enjoy the moment and do something different, not always [focus on] tennis.”
‘Un Solo Secondo’ is not the only song they have created together. They also published ’Swing’ last year. Would Sonego ever collaborate with one of his ATP Tour colleagues?
“One day, if Matteo Berrettini wants we could do something together,” Sonego said cracking a laugh. “Only with Matteo, because he’s my best friend on the Tour for sure.”
Matteo Berrettini is well accustomed to taking on the world’s best players on some of the most iconic courts in the world. Yet even after lifting seven ATP Tour titles, surging to a career-high No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and reaching a Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, the Italian sometimes still wonders how it all came about.
“My whole family plays tennis. They always told me, ‘Do what you love, and give your best’,” Berrettini said recently in an interview with the ATP Tour. “Growing up, I never thought about it. I was dreaming about playing maybe [in] Rome, [but] I was more like a child that is dreaming and saying, ‘I want to go to the moon’… And then it happened. Everything [happened] so fast.”
Netflix’s Break Point followed Berrettini’s stellar run to the semi-finals at the 2022 Australian Open in the second episode. Despite that Melbourne campaign ultimately ending in disappointment with a four-set defeat to legend Rafael Nadal, the 26-year-old remains grateful for every experience he has in his life as a pro. Berrettini believes that the more he gives, the more he gets back, no matter the result on court.
“It teaches you a lot about who you are,” said Berrettini of competing on the ATP Tour. “[When] I was a kid, I had idols. I want to be one of those players. I would like to have kids that are looking and are like, ‘I’m going to decide to play tennis or I’m going to improve this thing because I saw that Matteo is doing it’.
“When you think about that stuff, you just think that it’s worth it.”
Daniil Medvedev maintained his perfect record against Felix Auger-Aliassime in style Friday at the ABN AMRO Open, where the sixth seed took out the defending champion 6-2, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals.
The 27-year-old Medvedev was relentless from the baseline in the 83-minute quarter-final in Rotterdam, hitting just five unforced errors across the two sets to Auger-Aliassime’s 20. That consistency proved crucial in enabling the World No. 11 to break the Canadian’s serve four times en route to extending his lead in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series to 5-0.
“Today was my best match of the week, but I have to build on this,” said Medvedev post-match. “Usually, the best weeks you play, many times you’re going to play your best tennis in the last match, so that’s definitely a goal. But I’m happy with my level today, beating someone like Felix in straight sets.”
With the win, Medvedev advanced to the semi-finals in Rotterdam for the second time, having also reached that stage in 2019. His next opponent in the Netherlands will be Grigor Dimitrov, after the Bulgarian saved two match points to down Alex de Minaur 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6) in a dramatic opening quarter-final earlier on Friday.
Auger-Aliassime lifted his maiden ATP Tour crown at the Rotterdam Ahoy a year ago. The 22-year-old struggled to match the level he showed during that title run against Medvedev, yet many of his wayward groundstrokes could be attributed to the superb defensive skills of his opponent at vital moments.
Medvedev’s persistence forced the Canadian to push a forehand long for the first break of serve in the fifth game of the match, before more scrambling way behind the baseline earned the 15-time tour-level titlist a 5-2 lead with a double break after Auger-Aliassime’s forehand clipped the net and flew long.
Despite signs of resistance from Auger-Aliassime in the second set, when he took advantage of a rare below-par game from his opponent to reclaim a break for 2-2, Medvedev stayed dialled-in to clinch his eighth consecutive victory at ATP 500-level. The sixth seed broke again — and this time decisively — in the seventh game to extend his streak, which he began by claiming the title in Vienna last October.
Earlier on Friday, Dimitrov returned to the Rotterdam semi-finals for the first time since his 2018 run to the championship match by clinching a two-hour, 34-minute thriller against De Minaur.
Despite a mid-match lapse from the Bulgarian that allowed De Minaur to claim five games in a row en route to the second set, he had no such problems retaining his composure in the deciding-set tie-break. Facing two match points at 4/6, Dimitrov reeled off four points in a row, sealing his win with a wonderful forehand pass under pressure that just clipped the line.
Dimitrov is chasing his first ATP Tour final appearance since his Rotterdam run five years ago, and Medvedev was under no illusions about the scale of his task in Saturday’s semi-final.
“I kind of know the plan for the game,” said Medvedev when asked about his preparations for the Dimitrov clash. “The thing is, he is going to try to do the same, to make up a good plan. If we take the last two matches, it’s 1-1. So I always say a new match is a new match, no matter the head to head.
“I’m preparing for a tough one tomorrow, he’s such a great player and today was a great match from him, a great comeback actually. So I’m ready for the tough fight tomorrow.”
Lorenzo Musetti won his first ATP Tour title on the clay of Hamburg last July, defeating fellow Argentina Open seed Carlos Alcaraz in the final. In his first match on the surface in nearly seven months, the Italian eased back into the win column with a 6-2, 6-3 win against home favourite Pedro Cachin on Thursday in Buenos Aires.
Patient but aggressive in his tournament debut, Musetti opened the court time and again to earn his first victory since he won four straight matches at the United Cup. He created 10 break points, converting half, and sealed the win by claiming the final three games of the one-hour, 25-minute contest.
“It was not easy because Pedro was playing good. It was his second round and for me it was the first match here,” the third seed said. “I feel great. I felt great from when I arrived here. I feel at home even if we are in Argentina. I think Italian culture and Argentinian culture is really close. So I’m happy with the win because I played great tennis.”
Entering the week as World No. 20, Musetti is up two places to No. 18 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, a mark which would match his career high. He will meet qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas in Friday’s quarter-finals after the Peruvian defeated Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-4 earlier in the day.
“He beat Thiem so I think he’s playing pretty well,” Musetti said ahead of the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting. “I have to focus on my game and concentrate on myself and try to play, like today, really solid.”
In the draw’s top half, fifth seed Francisco Cerundolo cruised into the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-1 win against Spain’s Jaume Munar. One of two Argentines in the quarter-finals, alongside Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Cerundolo will next play Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
Zapata Miralles upset fourth seed Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 6-3 to close Thursday’s play at the ATP 250. It was a second opening-match defeat for in as many weeks for the Argentine, who was also knocked out in the Cordoba opening round on home soil.
