Second seed Ricardas Berankis booked a place in his first ATP Tour semi-final for more than two years on Friday after he recovered to beat fifth-seeded Japanese Yuichi Sugita 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 in two hours and 16 minutes at the Tata Open Maharashtra.

Sugita, who reached an ATP Challenger Tour final in Noumea (l. to Wolf) at the start of the 2020 season, came within a point of a set and 3-0 lead on three occasions, but Berankis battled back for a place in his first semi-final since October 2017 at the VTB Kremlin Cup.

The Lithuanian, who is through to his fourth tour-level semi-final, now faces Jiri Vesely, who lived to fight another day after saving two match points against Ilya Ivashka in a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(11) victory over two hours and 30 minutes. The Czech saved match points at 5/6 and 9/10 in the third-set tie-break.

Later in the day, fourth seed Soonwoo Kwon takes on eighth seed Egor Gerasimov, while sixth seed James Duckworth meets qualifier Roberto Marcora.

Twelve months ago, Juan Ignacio Londero was a relative unknown on the ATP Tour. The Argentine, No. 112 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, hadn’t won a tour-level match and received a wild card at the inaugural Cordoba Open.

But Londero won the ATP 250 and during the past year, he has proven his maiden title run was no fluke. Londero is at a career-high No. 50, and he returned to the Cordoba quarter-finals on Thursday night.

The 26-year-old beat countryman Pedro Cachin 6-3, 6-3 and will next meet Serbian Laslo Djere. Londero won 79 per cent (26/33) of his first-serve points and saved all five break points faced.

“I was a little nervous and that’s why I talked to myself a lot and that’s how I got in the game. The way I have to activate [myself] is by encouraging myself a lot. If I keep quiet, that doesn’t happen. It was a game with many nerves for me, and I am glad I won it in straight sets,” Londero said.

“For me, it is more a motivation than a pressure to play in Cordoba and try to defend the title. If I had to defend the tournament elsewhere, without having the support of my family, my friends who can see me live, the truth is that I think it would be more difficult anywhere else. I have been having a good time.”

Djere, the 2019 Rio presented by Claro champion, beat Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez 6-3, 6-4. The Serbian finished 2019 on a seven-match losing streak but ended that in his first match of 2020 in Doha. He will try to reach his first semi-final since July at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag (l. to Balazs). 

“The next match against Djere will be difficult, but I go game-by-game, point-by-point. I only think about the next one, to prepare well and be recovered,” Londero said.

Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas held off countryman Pablo Andujar 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4 to make his second quarter-final of 2020 (Adelaide). Ramos-Vinolas, a two-time ATP Tour clay-court titlist, broke Andujar at 4-4 in the third after a 20-minute rain delay.

Play resumed with Andujar serving at 4-4, 0/30. The 34-year-old recovered to deuce, but Ramos-Vinolas converted his third break point of the game and served it out. The left-hander broke eight times from 21 opportunities.

He will next meet the winner of top seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina and Spain’s Jaume Munar, who are playing the final match of the day.

Top seed Gael Monfils navigated a tough match-up against fellow Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the Open Sud de France in Montpellier for the fifth time in his seventh appearance.

The two-time champion earned 14 break points against the unorthodox lefty, converting five of his chances to advance after two hours and one minute. Monfils, the World No. 9, will face Slovakian Norbert Gombos for a spot in the semi-finals.

Mannarino has proven a tough opponent for Monfils, as they split their four previous ATP Head2Head meetings. But Monfils has now won two in a row, also defeating the 31-year-old World No. 45 last year at Roland Garros.

Monfils is off to a good start in 2020, having reached the fourth round of the Australian Open. Last November, he returned to the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time since February 2017, finishing inside the year-end Top 10 for the second time (2016).

The Frenchman has reached a tour-level final in 15 straight years, and he is now just two victories from extending that streak to 16 consecutive seasons. Monfils is trying to lift his first ATP Tour trophy on home soil since 2014, when he triumphed in Montpellier.

World No. 104 Gombos reached the last eight by defeating #NextGenATP Norwegian Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5, 6-4. Gombos converted all three of his break points to reach his first ATP Tour quarter-final since last year’s Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

Roberto Marcora arrived at the Tata Open Maharashtra without a tour-level win in his career. The 30-year-old Italian not only qualified in Pune without losing a set, but he defeated Lukas Rosol, who once conquered Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, and then ousted top seed Benoit Paire to reach his first ATP Tour quarter-final.

“It’s wonderful, but at the bottom of my heart I always knew that I have the tennis to play against everyone. Maybe not Roger or Rafa or Djokovic, but if I play my best tennis, I’m not scared to play against Paire or against a Top 20 player, because it’s just tennis,” Marcora told ATPTour.com. “We are all guys, tennis players. Everyone has problems or weakest points. We are humans, so these kinds of matches give me a lot of belief because of course you always dream to win matches like this. But then after you win matches like this, you realise that you can do it another time and another time again.”

Ironically, the only Top 100 player Marcora had beaten before this tournament was Paire, whom he defeated in an ATP Challenger Tour event last April when the Frenchman was World No. 69. Paire is now World No. 19.

“It was a totally different situation. It was a Challenger,” Marcora said. “But I like to play against him because I like to play against his backhand. But today it was a different situation in front of the crowd in a stadium like this.”

Marcora on Tuesday became the oldest player to earn his first ATP Tour victory since 34-year-old Jan Mertl did so in Gstaad in 2016. The World No. 174 is already projected to crack his career-high FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 171 next Monday, but his run isn’t over yet. Marcora will face sixth seed James Duckworth for a spot in the semi-finals.

“This is amazing for the moment. Two days ago my first victory in an ATP main draw, today first victory against Top 20, also Top 50,” Marcora said. “Everything is new for me, so at the beginning I was a little bit nervous. But I think I played my best tennis and if I’m able to play my best tennis I can play against everyone. I’m very happy.”

The Italian turned professional when he was 20, which is later than most. Marcora first cracked the Top 500 at 24.

“Tennis for me is not really work. I became a professional very late at the age of 20 after school and one year of university. So I always liked to play tennis and at 20 I said to myself, ‘Why not play professional?’” Marcora said. “I took a lot of time because I started with Futures and then Challengers and then surgery in 2016 with my shoulder, was out for one year, then I came back. I don’t want to become No. 1 in the world or Top 10, of course, but I want to enjoy the moment. I like to play tennis, travel the world and discover what is my limit. That’s why I’m playing.

“I’m 30, but I feel better now than when I was 20.”

The same year he turned professional, Marcora also began studying law. The Italian has taken 12 of what he says are 22 exams he needs to pass to earn a three-year degree to become a ‘consulenza’, or a consultant.

“The last exam I did was two years ago. It’s a bit tough when you’re travelling around the world to do exams. My goal one day is to finish and get the degree,” Marcora said. “If you do the quick degree, three years, you cannot become a lawyer. You can become a consulenza, but you are not a lawyer. Only if you study five years you can be a lawyer. Who knows [what will happen]? At the moment, I am a tennis player, so when I stop playing I will reopen the book and I will [do] the 10 exams I have to do.”

For now, the future looks bright on the tennis court for Marcora, who is hitting his stride. He hopes that will continue in Pune.

“I am not changing my goals after this victory [against Paire]. Of course it’s just part of the process. I wanted to play more tournaments like this because every guy who starts to play tournaments like  this dreams to play tournaments like this and not Challengers or Futures,” Marcora said. “Now that I tasted a little bit, I started to taste it at 30, it’s never too late. Now that I’ve tasted these kinds of emotions, I just want to stay in these kinds of situations as much as I can.”

Roberto Bautista Agut is slaying it on second serves to start 2020.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the Spaniard’s first month of the season identifies that he is leading the Tour in both second-serve points won and second-serve return points won.

Bautista Agut has played nine matches so far in 2020, going 8-1, including a perfect 6-0 at the inaugural ATP Cup.

Roberto Bautista Agut – January 2020
No. 1: Second-Serve Points Won = 60.66% (111/183)
No. 1: Second-Serve Return Points Won = 63.60% (152/239)

Impressively, Bautista Agut is the only player so far in 2020 to cross the 60 per cent threshold in either of the second-serve metrics.

Bautista Agut reached the third round at the Australian Open, defeating countryman Feliciano Lopez and American Michael Mmoh, before bowing out to Marin Cilic in a five-set thriller.

Performance around second serves was a key to all three of those matches. Combined, Bautista Agut won 57 per cent (57/100) of his second-serve points and 60 per cent (72/121) of his second-serve return points. Bautista Agut finished third highest in second-serve return points won at the Australian Open, and 15^th best for second-serve points won.

In the final of the ATP Cup in Sydney, Bautista Agut defeated Dusan Lajovic 7-5, 6-1 to give Spain a 1-0 lead over Serbia. Bautista Agut won an extremely dominant 67 per cent (10/15) of his second-serve points and an even higher 73 per cent (16/22) of his second-serve return points for the match. Nothing mattered more to the final outcome than this specific battleground.

Bautista Agut was also in positive numbers in both metrics in the ATP Cup semi-final against Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, winning 54 per cent (7/13) of his second-serve points and 53 per cent (9/17) of his second-serve return points in the 6-1, 6-4 victory.

The following directional breakdown identifies where Bautista Agut served second serves during the ATP Cup, and his win percentages.

2020 ATP Cup: Bautista Agut Second-Serve Direction & Win Percentages

In the Deuce court, Bautista Agut went primarily down the T with 26 second serves, winning 73 per cent (19). In the Ad court, he mixed far more, with 12 wide, 11 body and 11 down the T. Overall, Bautista Agut won 69 per cent (31/45) of his second serves in the Deuce court and 65 per cent (22/34) in the Ad court.

Bautista Agut is currently No. 12 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, with his career-high No. 9 coming last November.

In the next five months to Wimbledon, where he reached his first Grand Slam semi-final last year, he has only 695 points to defend, which represent just 29 per cent (695/2360) of his total ranking points. February through June represents a sweet spot in the Spaniard’s tournament calendar, where another push to a new career-high FedEx ATP Ranking is very likely.

Korean Soonwoo Kwon defeated India’s top singles player, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, to secure his place in the quarter-finals of the Tata Open Maharashtra on Thursday. The No. 4 seed clinched the 6-3, 7-6(5) win in one hour and 43 minutes.

Kwon, 22, will look to reach his first ATP Tour semi-final when he next meets Egor Gerasimov. The eighth-seeded Bulgarian rallied past Serbian qualifier Nikola Milojevic 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Italian Roberto Marcora recorded the upset of the tournament when he ousted top seed Benoit Paire of France 6-4, 6-4. The 30-year-old Marcora, currently No. 174 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, had not won a tour-level match prior to this week.

Marcora will next meet Australian James Duckworth, the No. 6 seed, who needed two hours and 52 minutes to defeat Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 6-3.

HUGE win for World No. 174 Roberto Marcora! ?

The Italian has defeated No. 1 seed Benoit Paire 6-4 6-4 at the @MaharashtraOpen.

?: @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/SBlZeYD5AJ

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 6, 2020

Paes/Ebden, Top Seeds Haase/Lindstedt Bow Out
Leander Paes’ farewell appearance at his home country tournament came to an end Thursday, as he and partner Matthew Ebden lost to Indians Purav Raja and Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-2, 6-1. Paes, 46, is playing select tournaments throughout the year as part of a farewell tour that he’s calling ‘One Last Roar’. He won this ATP 250 doubles title on six occasions, in 1997-99, 2002 and 2011-12.

The top seeds in the doubles draw also bowed out, with Robin Haase and Robert Lindstedt falling to Romain Arneodo and Andre Begemann 6-3, 6-3. Arneodo and Begemann will face Andre Goransson and Christopher Rungkat for a place in the final after the Swedish-Indonesian duo advanced with the same score against Frenchmen Antoine Hoang and Paire.

Third seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andrei Vasilevski made their way safely through to the semi-finals as they prevailed against Italians Paolo Lorenzi and Stefano Travaglia 5-7, 6-1, 10-8.

Roger Federer will play his great rival, Rafael Nadal, on Friday in the Match in Africa 6 to benefit children’s education in Africa.

Watch the match online for FREE at TennisTV.com

The match, which will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, will be the 38-year-old Swiss star’s first match in Sub Saharan Africa. This will be the sixth edition of this event, and the first to take place in Africa.

?? ?? #MatchInAfrica #CapeTown pic.twitter.com/E8Drm2DPNp

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) February 6, 2020

“This Match in Africa is a dream come true,” said Federer. “I will play in my mother’s home country against my toughest rival and friend Rafa Nadal. We share not only the love for tennis but also for the good cause of giving children a better start in education and in life. I feel privileged to have other leading philanthropists on board to entertain millions of people in the stadium and on TV. It will be a once-in-a lifetime moment for my family and I.”

There will also be a celebrity-pro doubles match pitting Federer and Bill Gates against Nadal and Trevor Noah inside Cape Town Stadium, which has a capacity of more than 50,000.

“Roger and I have shared so many magical moments on and off the court. Travelling with him to Cape Town and playing for the benefit of children is something I am very excited about,” Nadal said. “It will be my first time in the region with Roger as a tour guide – that will be fun.”

The Roger Federer Foundation has been actively helping kids get off to a good start in their educational journeys for more than 16 years, benefitting more than 1.5 million children with the disbursement of more than $52 million.

This event will be televised on ESPN networks and the ESPN App in North America, Brazil, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand. Other ways to watch around the world:

Global with registration: ATP/Tennis TV (free stream)
Africa: SuperSport
Bulgaria: A1
Europe, United Kingdom: EuroSport, La Chaine, Digi, SuperTennis
Japan: Wowow
Spain: Gol
Switzerland: RSI Sport, RTS Sport, SRF Sport

Did You Know?
Before arriving in South Africa, Federer visited Namibia to, “see our future education initiatives in this incredible country”.

Many thanks to President Geingob and our Namibian partners for hosting me.
It was such an inspirational visit. I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of a vibrant movement to enhance school readiness in the country.
Because children are tomorrow’s future. #CAFO #LLCL #WAD pic.twitter.com/GRHTn4QALv

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) February 5, 2020

Alexander Bublik pulled out all the tricks from his bag, including an underarm serve, but it was not enough against David Goffin on Thursday in Montpellier. The second-seeded Belgian star saved five set points in the second set to defeat the Kazakh 6-3, 7-6(9) and advance to the quarter-finals of the Open Sud de France.

Goffin was in danger of being pushed to a decider against the shotmaking 22-year-old, but he was clutch under pressure to triumph after one hour and 47 minutes. In the big moments, the World No. 10 had an answer for Bublik’s aggression, whether by threading the needle with a perfect passing shot or winning cat-and-mouse battles up at the net.

On Bublik’s final set-point opportunity, the Kazakh hit an underarm serve to try to catch Goffin off guard, but the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals runner-up took advantage by lacing a backhand down the line. Goffin will next play fifth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime or home favourite and close friend Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

The Belgian has enjoyed a strong start to his 2020 season, winning three of his four matches at the inaugural ATP Cup, including a victory against then-World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. Goffin is pursuing his first ATP Tour title since 2017 Tokyo.

Seventh seed Filip Krajinovic also advanced with a 6-1, 6-1 win against 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Mikael Ymer of Sweden. The Serbian earned 15 break points in his 78-minute triumph, converting six of those chances.

Krajinovic will next play Frenchman Gregoire Barrere, who upset former World No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov on Wednesday. It will be the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting.

The Rafa Nadal Academy Kuwait is now a reality. The facilities were inaugurated on Wednesday with an exhibition match between Rafael Nadal and former World No. 3 David Ferrer. More than 1,500 people watched as Nadal beat Ferrer 6-4, 6-3.

As Nadal maintained during his two-day stay in the country, the second Rafa Nadal Academy’s goal is to become a leading tennis centre in the Middle East and to support the Kuwait Tennis Federation in the development of a programme that drives the sport with a formative project led by ex-player and the Academy’s head coach Nuno Márquez and by the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar team of coaches in Kuwait.

“Although we opened two Rafa Nadal Tennis Centres in Mexico and Greece last year, this is the first academy we have opened outside of Manacor. It is a project that I am excited about and truly motivated by, as this is a region of the world that has potential for us to help grow the culture of tennis. We believe that from the academy we can help not only young talent here in Kuwait, but in the whole of the Middle East,” Nadal said.

“We have a great coaching team, the facilities are spectacular and we are working with Tamdeen, who have exceptional staff. Like in Mallorca, we’ll try to promote respect, determination and perseverance in the students. Although I would love great champions to come from here, the principal and most important thing is that they grow with strong values that help them in sport, but also in the future and in the development of their personal and professional life,” Nadal added.

^{Photo Credit: Rafa Nadal Academy Kuwait}
For the last 48 hours, Rafa has had the opportunity to visit the academy’s facilities, which include eight indoor courts, eight outdoor courts, the 1,500-seat open-air stadium in which he played Ferrer, and a covered multi-use pavilion with the capacity to house 5,000 spectators.

The World No. 2’s first coaching project came in 2016 with the inauguration of the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, his native city. International expansion came in 2019 with the creation of the “Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre” complexes at the Hotel Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres (Mexico) and the Sani Resort (Greece).