Daniil Medvedev leads the ATP Tour in hard court wins since the start of last season. But if his impressive three-set semi-final win over two-time Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell champion Kei Nishikori on Saturday is any indication, the Russian is plenty comfortable on clay, too.

Medvedev reached his first clay-court ATP Tour final with a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 triumph against Nishikori, battling from a break down in the decider to eliminate the World No. 7 after two hours and 25 minutes. He will face recent BNP Paribas Open titlist Dominic Thiem, who ousted 11-time champion Rafael Nadal, for the trophy.

“It almost [slipped]. He was up a break in the third and I felt that I lost the momentum. The match was going away from me,” Medvedev said. “I’m really happy that I managed to hold my nerves, to try to come back, and I managed to come back. I’m just happy to be in the final.”

Before last week’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, Medvedev owned just two tour-level wins on this surface (2-11). But after reaching the semi-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament and making the Barcelona final with the loss of only two sets, the 23-year-old has eight clay-court wins this year alone (8-1).

Medvedev leads the ATP Tour this year with 25 wins, six ahead of second-placed Stefanos Tsitsipas and Guido Pella, both of whom are 19-9. The Russian is also tied for the second-most tour-level victories overall since the start of 2018, joining Novak Djokovic with his 68th triumph. Only Alexander Zverev has won more matches with 70.

Most Wins Since Start Of 2018

“I think I’m getting more consistent on every surface and it’s good for me,” Medvedev said. “I hope I can continue improving every day. That’s my goal and I hope I can beat more players like this because that’s when you improve, when you beat these top players.”

Nishikori had won the pair’s only previous clay-court FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting last year in Monte-Carlo. But Medvedev showed his improvement on Pista Rafa Nadal, using his two-handed backhand well from deep in the court to neutralise Nishikori’s offence, at some points making it feel like he had an answer for everything the Japanese threw at him.

But late in the second set Nishikori began to dictate play with his forehand, stepping inside the court to strike the ball with interest as Medvedev was left retrieving from well behind the baseline. The two-time champion immediately broke in the third set, leaving Medvedev frustrated as errors began to creep into his game.

But the Russian locked in again, breaking back and breaking for a second time in the third set on his first match point when Nishikori hit an inside-in forehand into the net.

“I knew I just had to continue. Kei is all about this. He can have amazing moments, but he can have some moments in the match when he will miss something. So I needed to win as many games as I can when he was good. I managed to not go double-break down, otherwise I probably would have lost the match. That was the key.”

Did You Know?
Medvedev has only 30 ATP Ranking points to defend through Roland Garros.

Familar Foes To Meet For Doubles Crown
Second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares will play third seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah for the Barcelona doubles title. This will be the ninth FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting between the two teams, both of which qualified for the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals.

Murray and Soares have won four consecutive matches against the Colombians, including this year’s Sydney final and last year’s Cincinatti championship battle.

Murray/Soares beat Raven Klaasen and Joe Salisbury 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 on Saturday, and Cabal/Farah defeated Pablo Carreno Busta and Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 6-2, 12-10.

Portugal has had a place on the ATP Tour calendar since 1990, and the Millennium Estoril Open has continued that tradition starting with its inaugural edition in 2015. Last year, Joao Sousa became the first Portuguese-born player to celebrate a tour-level title on home soil. 

Sousa returns to defend his ATP 250 title in 2019, and will face competition from the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, recent Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion Fabio Fognini, Gael Monfils and Alex de Minaur.

Here’s all you need to know about the Estoril tennis tournament: when is the draw, what is the schedule, where to watch, who won and more. 

Established: 2015

Tournament Dates: 29 April – 5 May 2019 

Tournament Director: Joao Zilhao

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 27 April at 3:00pm

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Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday & Sunday at 12:00pm
* Main draw: Monday – Tuesday at 12:00pm, Wednesday – Friday at 1:00pm and 6:00pm, Saturday at 1:00pm
* Doubles final: Sunday, 5 May at 1:00pm
* Singles final: Sunday, 5 May not before 3:30pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: Clube de Tenis do Estoril ·
Main Court Seating: 3,700

Prize Money: €524,340 (Total Financial Commitment: €586,140) 

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Richard Gasquet, Nicolas Almagro, Pablo Carreno Busta, Joao Sousa (1)
Most Titles, Doubles: Scott Lipsky (2)
Oldest Champion: Nicolas Almagro, 30, in 2016
Youngest Champion: Pablo Carreno Busta, 25, in 2017
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 71 Nicolas Almagro in 2016
Most Match Wins: Pablo Carreno Busta (13)

2018 Finals
Singles: Joao Sousa (POR) d Frances Tiafoe (USA) 64 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: Kyle Edmund (GBR) / Cameron Norrie (GBR) d Wesley Koolhof (NED) / Artem Sitak (NZL) 64 62  Read More

Social
Hashtag: #EstorilOpen
Facebook: @millenniumestorilopen
Twitter: @estorilopen
Instagram: @estorilopen 

The BMW Open by FWU is the first of four German tournaments on the season’s ATP Tour calendar, contested in Bavaria’s picturesque capital city of Munich. Past winners include former World No. 1’s Roger Federer (2003) and Andy Murray (2015). Germans Michael Stich (1994) and Tommy Haas (2013) have also triumphed here.

World No. 3 Alexander Zverev will go for the three-peat at the 2019 edition of the ATP 250 event, and he will be joined in the field by three-time champion and fellow German Philipp Kohlschreiber, whom he defeated in last year’s final.

Here’s all you need to know about the Munich tennis tournament: when is the draw, what is the schedule, where to watch, who won and more. 

Established: 1990

Tournament Dates: 29 April – 5 May 2019 

Tournament Director: Patrik Kühnen

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 27 April at 11:00am

Are You In? Subscribe To Get Tournament Updates In Your Inbox

Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday & Sunday at 11:00am
* Main draw: Monday – Friday at 11:00am, Saturday at 11:30am
* Doubles final: Sunday, 5 May at 11:00am
* Singles final: Sunday, 5 May not before 1:30pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: MTTC Iphitos
Main Court Seating: 3,800

Prize Money: €524,340 (Total Financial Commitment: €586,140) 

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Philipp Kohlschreiber (3)
Most Titles, Doubles: Wojtek Fibak (3)
Oldest Champion: Tommy Haas, 35, in 2013
Youngest Champion: Guillermo Perez-Roldan, 17, in 1987
Lowest-Ranked Champion (since 1979): No. 111 Martin Klizan in 2014
Most Match Wins (since 1974): Philipp Kohlschreiber (33)

2018 Finals
Singles: [1] Alexander Zverev (GER) d [6] Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 63 63   Read & Watch
Doubles: [2] Ivan Dodig (CRO) / Rajeev Ram (USA) d [3] Nikola Mektic (CRO) / Alexander Peya (AUT) 63 75  Read More

Social
Hashtag: #BMWOpenbyFWU
Facebook: @bmwopenbyfwu 
Twitter: @BMWOpenbyFWU
Instagram: @bmw_open_by_fwu

Did You Know… The International Tennis Championships of Bavaria was first held in 1900, but the BMW Open by FWU was first staged at Munich’s Iphitos Tennis Club in 1974. 

Together they have played some of the most memorable matches of the past two seasons, and every time they stare across the net from each other, it’s blockbuster tennis.

Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem will meet for a 12^th time on Saturday in the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell semi-finals (Nadal leads 8-3; 7-3 on clay). The Spaniard has never lost a Barcelona semi-final (11-0) and is going for a record 12^th Barcelona title this week. Nadal remains the only man to have won a tournament 11 times (Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, Roland Garros).

Thiem, meanwhile, is looking to extend a streak of his own and join one of the most elite clubs in tennis. The Austrian has beaten Nadal on clay the past three seasons (2018 Madrid, 2017 Rome, 2016 Buenos Aires), and if he beats Nadal again on Saturday, he’ll become only the second player to have defeated the Spaniard four times on clay, joining a club of one: Novak Djokovic.

“It’s always one of the biggest challenges possible in tennis, to play Rafa on clay. To play him at a tournament which he’s won already 11 times, with his own crowd at his back, with his Spanish crowd. It’s going to be unbelievably tough,” Thiem said. “But we’ve had some great matches in the past, and I think we are both playing quite well, so I hope that’s the same case tomorrow and I think we could expect a good match.”

Both looked convincing in their quarter-finals. Thiem spent 63 minutes taking the first set from Brasil Open champion Guido Pella of Argentina, but then worked quicker in the second to advance 7-5, 6-2. Nadal was pushed in both sets by the big-hitting German Jan-Lennard Struff but moved on 7-5, 7-5.

The World No. 2 should be particularly pleased with how he’s improved throughout the tournament. Before Nadal lost his opening set against Leonardo Mayer, he had won 30 consecutive sets at the ATP 500 event.

He was disappointed with how he “competed” against Mayer, but, in straight-sets wins against David Ferrer and Struff, the Spaniard has upped his first-serve percentage and played with more energy, inviting the home crowd to roar behind him.

Thiem has looked close to flawless throughout the week, winning all six sets against No. 25 Diego Schwartzman, No. 57 Jaume Munar of Spain and Pella.

How well Thiem is able to dictate play – think blistering one-handed backhands and crosscourt forehand winners – should tell the story of their semi-final. The Austrian played two of the best matches of his life against Nadal in Rome in 2017 and Madrid last year. Thiem was the only player to beat Nadal on clay those seasons.

He’s catching up to Nadal on hard courts as well, as shown by their marathon five-set and four-hour, 49-minute quarter-final at last year’s US Open. But if Thiem is a shade off his best, and Nadal can raise his defensive game a notch, it could be the Spaniard, despite his slow start in Barcelona, moving onto his 12^th final.

“I will try the same tactics like I did in Madrid and two years ago in Rome, to be very aggressive, of course. That’s the only way to beat Rafa, to be very aggressive and to play a lot of winners,” Thiem said. “But of course here I think it’s a little bit tougher here than in Madrid. Madrid are great conditions for me, a little bit of altitude and I think even though he’s won it five times, it’s not his favorite tournament I guess. But I’ll try similar [tactics] tomorrow.”

It’s also tougher to beat Nadal in the Barcelona semi-finals because it’s never be done. In the semi-final and final stages of the ATP 500 event, Nadal is 46-1 in sets and 22-0 in matches.

Did You Know?
Nadal is 421-37 (.919) on clay during the past 18 seasons.

Entering the 2018 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, Kei Nishikori had won just four tour-level matches all year. The Japanese star was 36th in the ATP Rankings, still recovering from a wrist injury.

But Nishikori reached his second clay-court ATP Masters 1000 final at that tournament, defeating Top 5 players Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev along the way. That served as a springboard, as he qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals and returned to the world’s Top 10.

“Playing the clay-court season, I started getting more confidence and more feel for the ball,” Nishikori said in his ATP My Story delivered by FedEx. “I started playing better on clay. I think there were more rallies and more hitting. Beating Tomas Berdych, Cilic and Sascha, those great players [in Monte-Carlo], I got more confidence and since then I’ve been more confident and playing much better.”

Nishikori, who is into the semi-finals this week at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, has long been successful on clay. While he has won 10 of his 12 ATP Tour titles on hard courts, Nishikori has a higher winning percentage on clay.

According to his FedEx ATP Win/Loss Record, the 29-year-old has won 71.3 per cent of his clay-court matches compared to 68.2 per cent on hard courts. Nishikori currently ranks fifth among active players on the surface, and 25th in the Open Era.

“I played many matches before and I think maybe the clay courts helped a little bit with more time and more rhythm,” Nishikori said of his comeback last season. “From Monte-Carlo, I was a different guy.”

It’s easy to forget that 15 months ago, Nishikori was competing on the ATP Challenger Tour to try to find a rhythm. But last year’s clay season helped him find his best tennis and now, he is trying to make a splash on the red dirt again.

“I think I’m enjoying tennis a little more than before I got injured,” Nishikori said. “I’m really happy to be coming back with my tennis and coming back to this level. I’m really happy to compete with those great players.”

In his first meeting against Rafael Nadal, Jan-Lennard Struff had the right game plan – serve and volley and hit every ball as hard as he could. But Nadal weathered Struff’s most aggressive best, and is now two wins away from a record-setting 12^thBarcelona Open Banc Sabadell title.

The 32-year-old Spaniard made his 12^th Barcelona semi-final on Friday, overcoming the big-hitting Struff 7-5, 7-5 on Pista Rafa Nadal. Nadal has never lost in a Barcelona semi-final (11-0), but will have a challenge on his hands when he faces fifth seed Dominic Thiem. The Austrian battled past Argentine Guido Pella 7-5, 6-2.

“It was a pressure match because he’s a very aggressive player, difficult to be on rhythm with him. I’m happy for the victory, happy to find a way to win that match and I hope to be ready for the semi-finals,” Nadal said. “I’m trying to be focused every single moment because one mistake, and you lose the set against this kind of player. I’m happy the way that I managed it.”

Nadal leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Thiem 8-3, but the Austrian is the only player to have beaten Nadal on clay the past two seasons (2018 Madrid, 2017 Rome). Thiem also pushed Nadal to five sets during their epic US Open quarter-final last year.

“It’s always one of the biggest challenges possible in tennis to play Rafa on clay, to play him at the tournament which he won already 11 times, with his own crowd in the back, with his Spanish crowd. So it’s going to be unbelievably tough. But we had great matches in the past, and I think we are both playing quite well so I hope that’s the same case tomorrow, and I think we can expect a good match,” Thiem said.

Struff had made his second quarter-final of the season by crushing 31 winners, including 18 from his forehand, against last year’s finalist and No. 8 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. The German knew his quarter-final against Nadal would be short-lived if he tried to hang with Nadal from the back of the court, so every opportunity the 6’5” German had – while serving or facing a short ball – he raced forward.

Nadal broke in the fourth game with a first-serve return winner that landed just inside the baseline, but Struff broke back in the seventh game with an aggressive return down the line. Nadal, however, with the crowd coming alive, cranked up his level to break to love in the 12^th game and take the opener.

Struff wisely stuck to his strategy in the second, but he couldn’t find a way into any Nadal service games. The Spaniard landed 83 per cent of his first serves in the second set, winning 79 per cent of those points, and broke Struff once more in the 12th game.

Kei Nishikori on Friday kept alive his hopes of earning a third Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell title, battling past home favourite Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4, 7-5 to reach the semi-finals.

The 2014-15 Barcelona champion arrived in Spain on a three-match losing streak, but he has raised his level at the ATP 500 tournament with three straight-sets victories. The World No. 7 won all but six first-serve points (39/45) en route to his one-hour, 53-minute triumph.

Nishikori will face in-form Daniil Medvedev for a spot in Sunday’s championship match. The Japanese star has won two of the pair’s three FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, including their only match on clay last year in Monte-Carlo. But the Russian was victorious in their biggest battle, in the final of Tokyo last season.

It was not an easy quarter-final for the fourth seed, who was made to fight hard by Carballes Baena, the 2018 Quito champion. The Spaniard did well to neutralise Nishikori’s offence as best he could, taking any opening he could find to dictate play. But after saving the first eight break points he faced in the second set, Carballes Baena could not hold off Nishikori, who also made the 2016 final here.

Seventh-seeded Russian Medvedev lost just two of his first-service points and broke once in each set to stop the giant-killing run of Chilean lucky loser Nicolas Jarry 6-3, 6-4 in 86 minutes for a place in the last four. Jarry had beaten second seed Alexander Zverev and No. 13 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the two previous rounds.

“I think it was really tough conditions to play. It was dry and windy, so the balls were flying a lot,” Medvedev said. “I needed to win it. I needed to be in the semi-finals. I won it and I’m happy.”

Medvedev, who captured his fourth ATP Tour title at the Sofia Open (d. Fucsovics) in February, has a tour-leading 24-7 match record on the season.

Did You Know?
Medvedev had two tour-level clay-court wins entering the year, and he now has seven this season alone (including a run to the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters semi-finals).

Qualifier Filip Krajinovic broke down the serve of second-seeded Croatian Borna Coric on Friday in a 6-4, 7-5 victory to book his place in the Hungarian Open semi-finals.

Krajinovic fought back from a 2-4 deficit in the first set, at a point when Coric had lost just three of his service points in as many games. The 27-year-old saved three set points on serve at 4-5 in the second set, prior to breaking Coric in the next game.

The Serbian will now prepare to contest his first ATP Tour semi-final since February 2018 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, against France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who was a 6-3, 6-4 victor over Hungarian wild card Attila Balazs in Budapest. In November 2017, Krajinovic reached the Rolex Paris Masters final (l. to Sock).

“I’m really proud of myself to play the match that I played. It’s never easy to play in front of the home crowd. They were supporting him from the first until the last point,” Herbert said. “He was playing actually some great tennis this week, so I expected a tough match. That’s what it was.”

Later in the day, Italian Matteo Berrettini advanced to his third ATP Tour semi-final by beating Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in one hour and 52 minutes. He now plays fifth-seeded Serbian Laslo Djere, the Rio Open presented by Claro champion in February, who defeated fourth-seeded Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 45 minutes.