Tennis News

Kei Nishikori is closing in on a successful title defense at the Barcelona Open. He is through to the semi-final stage of the tournament, where he will next come up against intriguing foe Martin Klizan. This is just their second meeting on the professional tour, with the Slovak leading the head-to-head series 1-0. His win was a recent one – a straight sets victory over Nishikori in the opening round of the 2014 French Open, which sets up an intriguing berth for Saturday.

The Japanese No. 1 reached the final four in Barcelona with a three set victory over Roberto Bautista Agut. He defeated the Spaniard 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in a rollercoaster meeting. Nishikori struck five aces, 25 winners and converted four break points to finish the match in one hour and 41 minutes of court time.

“I’m really happy with the way I’m playing right now, especially in the third set,” said Nishikori. “It was a really tough match.”

Nishikori will next come up against Martin Klizan, who only needed straight sets to oust another Spaniard, Tommy Robredo. He defeated the 2004 champion 7-6(5), 6-4 in an impressive performance overall. He withstood eight aces, won 89% of his first service points and saved all six of the break points he faced to close out the match in one hour and 40 minutes.

This is just the second time that these two players will meet on the ATP World Tour and it is certainly set to be an intriguing encounter marked by a potential upset. Klizan holds a win against the Japanese No. 1 and US Open runner up at the clay court Grand Slam last season, and a dominant one at that. It will be interesting to see how Nishikori handles that memory as he attempts to avenge that loss and bring the head-to-head series to equal terms.

Following an entertaining encounter earlier this season, Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki and will meet for a spot in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix tournament in Stuttgart on Saturday afternoon. This is just the third time that the two top competitors will cross paths on the professional tour with Halep leading the head-to-head series 2-1.

In a seesaw encounter that saw a bizarre number of breaks, Simona Halep was able to maintain her form at the pivotal moments to secure the 6-4, 6-4 victory over Sara Errani. It was her second impressive clay court showing of the season, as she defeated Garbine Muguruza in her first match in the clay portion of the year.

“I’m happy because I need matches at the beginning of the clay season,” Halep said. “So, it was good that I had a tough opponent in the first round who was hitting the ball very strong, and today I had a different one.

“Errani’s balls are very heavy to play. I did a great job today with my return and I stayed very close to the baseline, and I just tried to open the court more and to finish the balls, to make winners. I couldn’t too many but it was a good match I think.”

In a far different encounter from her upcoming opponent, Caroline Wozniacki managed to breeze past Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-3 to secure her spot in the semi-final round in Stuttgart.

“I played well today. Ran a lot of balls down, played aggressively and went from offence to defense and back which is good. I was very pleased with my performance.”

Following a tied head-to-head series, Halep and Wozniacki faced off at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to determine who would win the rubber match. Wozniacki won their first meeting at this event three years ago, while Halep avenged that loss in New Haven in 2013. In the end, it was Halep who rallied back to close out the match in three sets. This marks their first meeting on clay and that only adds another layer of intrigue to the encounter.

Simona Halep managed to overcome her tough adversary on Wednesday evening to secure her spot in the quarter-final stage of the Porsche Tennis Grad Prix event. The Romanian will next come up against Sara Errani, whom she has encountered twice previously on the WTA tour. With the Halep v Errani head-to-head series tied at 1-1, this will serve as the rubber match to hand the rivalry lead to one of the two talents.

In her first clay court encounter of the season, Simona Halep was faced with another opponent who had defeated her in their two previous encounters on the WTA tour, Garbine Muguruza. This time, however, Halep overcame her rival in a tough three-set battle to secure her spot in the quarter-final round in Stuttgart. She lost the opening set, breezed through the second set, and fought hard to secure the pivotal break that led her to the 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory. The Romanian won 63% of her first service points and saved five break points to secure the victory in one hour and 48 minutes.

It was Halep’s 25th win on the tour this season, and was the first player on the WTA to reach that mark so far this season.

In a much easier match, Sara Errani cruised into the quarter-final round of the tournament with a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Zarina Diyas. She won 90% of her service points and broke serve five times to win the match in one hour and 15 minutes.

Halep and Errani will cross paths on the professional tour for the third time – a rubber match that will separate the 1-1 head-to-head record that they compiled over the past couple of years. After trading wins in 2013-14, the two Europeans will clash for the first time on clay to determine who will advance to the semi-final stage of the event.

Ten years ago, Rafael Nadal had compiled a 50-1 record on clay, and a 26-0 record on that same surface the following year. Less than a decade later, he found himself facing an 11-3 record on the surface. Two of those losses, including his most recent one in the third round of the Barcelona Open, were to Fabio Fognini.

“Today is a bad day,” said Nadal following his straight sets loss to the Italian. “But my challenge is to get back to my best level again and I will work until that happens. I have the conviction that it will happen.”

Although Fognini won the match 6-4, 7-6(6), Nadal held a break lead in the second set and looked comfortable en route to a decider. Then, everything went wrong.

“It was a disaster today. Fabio played better than me and he deserved to win. I didn’t deserve to win. Until I sort out the ups and downs I’m suffering from this season, I will continue to be vulnerable,” added Nadal,”I spent last week in Monte-Carlo full of good moments. It was the best week of the year. But this one has been the opposite. It’s been a very negative week. I thought I would be able to find consistency, but it hasn’t happened.

Nadal saved three match points in the second set tiebreak but was simply unable to stop the Italian’s momentum.

“I think today I played really solid tennis,” said Fognini. “I was hitting the ball really well in both sets. The key of course was winning the second set. It would have been difficult playing him at one-set-all, especially the way I would have lost the second set, having had three match points.”

After their shocking meeting at the Rio Open several months ago, where a momentous upset brought an end to the clay court king’s impressive semi-final win streak on the red dust, Rafael Nadal will have the opportunity to avenge his earlier loss to Fabio Fognini when they meet in the third round in Barcelona on Thursday. This marks the sixth time that the two competitors will cross paths on the ATP World Tour, with Nadal leading the head-to-head series 4-1.

Although faced with a less-than-ideal opening match in Barcelona, Rafael Nadal dispatched Nicolas Almagro in straight sets to start his campaign in solid fashion. He defeated his fellow countryman 6-3, 6-1 in an uneventful match that only saw a marathon final game before Nadal closed out the contest on his fifth attempt.

“I had a few mistakes in that game,” he said. “It was a strange finish, but a very solid performance, so I’m very happy for that.”

His upcoming opponent is Fabio Fognini, who defeated Russian youngster Andrey Rublev in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to reach the third round in Barcelona. He struck seven aces, won 70% of his first service points and converted six break points to close out the match in one hour and 43 minutes.

This marks the sixth time that Nadal and Fognini will meet on the professional tour, with Nadal leading the series 4-1. His only blemish came in their most recent encounter against the Italian, and to the surprise of many, it occurred on his beloved clay court surface. Fognini rallied back from a set down to defeat the Spaniard 1-6, 6-2, 7-5, thus putting an end to Nadal’s remarkable 52-match win streak in ATP World Tour level semi-finals on clay. The Spaniard will look to avenge that loss en route to the quarter-final round of the tournament.

The second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix continues to bring with it some enthralling match-ups, as this time three-time defending champion Maria Sharapova begins her campaign in Stuttgart with another encounter against Germany’s Angelique Kerber. It will marks the seventh meeting between the two competitors, as they have played on every surface in tennis. Sharapova leads the head-to-head series 4-2.

The Russian superstar was most recently seen in Miami, where she lost in straight sets to Gavrilova. The Russian wildcard took command of the contest early on, as she found a break while up 4-3 and closed out the opening set in one hour and eight minutes. Sharapova has not played a match since her surprising loss to Gavrilova and she later spent some time on the sidelines with a leg injury. Despite the turbulent couple of weeks, she is confident that she will be able to perform at this week’s event, where she is the defending champion.

‘Despite everything, it’s always a nice feeling to come back to an event where you’ve had a really good record. where you’ve had some great matches, great memories,’ Sharapova told the WTA website. ‘Some of the best matches of my career have been played on that court. But every year you come back to a tournament you start from the very beginning, and that’s what I’ll be doing this year to try and defend my title.’

The Russian will first come up against Angelique Kerber, who defeated Alexa Glatch in straight sets to set up the second round thriller. She defeated her American adversary 6-2, 7-5.

Sharapova and Kerber have crossed paths on six previous occasions on the professional circuit, with the Russian sensation leading the series 4-2. They have also met on all surfaces in tennis, including carpet in Paris. Kerber won their most recent meeting at last year’s Wimbledon Championships but has never defeated Maria on clay, including their Stuttgart meeting back in 2013. As a three-time defending champion at this event, Sharapova will look to confidently extend her win streak to 3-0 on clay against Kerber.