Tennis News

Tiafoe Moves Into Nur-Sultan Semi-finals; Millman Saves 2 M.P.

Frances Tiafoe booked a place in his first ATP Tour semi-final for two-and-a-half years on Friday at the Astana Open, an ATP 250 tournament in Nur-Sultan.

The 22-year-old American improved to 9-10 on the season with a hard-fought 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-5 victory over Egor Gerasimov of Belarus in two hours and 35 minutes. Tiafoe last reached a tour-level semi-final (or better) en route to the Millennium Estoril Open final in May 2018.

Earlier this month, Tiafoe lifted the fifth ATP Challenger Tour trophy of his career at the Internazionali di Tennis Emilia Romagna in Parma (d. Caruso).

Tiafoe will next meet fourth-seeded Australian John Millman, who completed a remarkable comeback to advance to his first ATP Tour semi-final since October 2019, when he reached the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships final (l. to Djokovic).

Millman saved two match points at 3-5 in the deciding set and recovered from 0/5 down in the third-set tie-break to complete at 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Paul in two hours and 51 minutes.

The 23-year-old Paul, who reached the Adelaide International semi-finals (l. to Harris) in January, hit a double fault at 5-4, 40/30 and a forehand long at Ad-In in the third set.

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Musetti's Newest Highlight: Landing The Esquire Italia Cover!

It has been a breakthrough year in more ways than one for Italian #NextGenATP sensation Lorenzo Musetti. Less than two months after bursting onto the ATP Tour with an impressive run at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where he reached the third round as a qualifier, the 18-year-old is on the cover of Esquire Italia’s November issue.

The teen began the season outside the Top 350 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. But even with the five-month suspension of the ATP Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Musetti has proven himself one of the brightest #NextGenATP stars.

After defeating Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori in back-to-back matches in Rome, Musetti maintained his momentum by winning his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Forli. In Sardinia, he reached his maiden ATP Tour semi-final. Those efforts propelled him to a career-high World No. 123 last week.

Find below a translated excerpt of Esquire Italia’s story and interview with the Italian. 

^{Photo Credit: Pietro Cocco}
At the age of 18 he is the future of Italian tennis. [He is] a talent with great strokes that likes rap but considers himself retro, doesn’t like clubs or TikTok, and is not into breaking rules at all.

Lorenzo Musetti has made a lot of promises to himself and one of them is to never open a TikTok account. At the age of 18 he became the first player born in 2002 to win a match on the ATP Tour, he won a junior Slam in Melbourne in 2019 and the tournament in Forlì this September.

Asked if sometimes all the discipline needed to succeed in tennis [becomes] too much, he says: “No, I wouldn’t say that. I’m not really tempted to go out dancing or to a pub. If I have time off, which isn’t often, I prefer to relax or go to the sea, which I love very much.” 

Q: How did everything start?
A: Thanks to my father who works in a marble company in Carrara. I started playing a bit with him at my grandmother’s basement when I was four years old. It quickly became more serious and when I was eight they took me to the club in La Spezia, where I took part in team matches. That’s where I met Simone Tartarini, who was first my teacher and then became my coach. It’s thanks to him that I became a player.

Patrick Mouratoglou’s academy has also been important since they often welcomed me for practice weeks there. But I have to say it again: If I become a great player, it will be a hundred per cent thanks to Coach Tartarini. 

Q: What other sports do you like?
A: I really like basketball. But it’s difficult to follow the NBA because of the time difference. LeBron James is one of my idols. 

^{Photo Credit: Pietro Cocco}

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Alexander Zverev denies allegation of domestic violence by former girlfriend

US Open finalist Alexander Zverev denies his ex-girlfriend’s allegation he was violent towards her.

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Nadal Goes For Paris Double; When Is The Draw & More

Rafael Nadal returns to Paris three weeks after his 13th Roland Garros triumph, and this time, the Spaniard has his sights on his first title at the Rolex Paris Masters. Nadal, a winner of seven different ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, enjoyed his best result here on his 2007 debut, when he finished runner-up to David Nalbandian.

With victory at the Rolex Paris Masters, the Spaniard would once again join Novak Djokovic atop the ATP Masters 1000 leaderboard with 36 titles at this level. Nadal would also become the fourth player in the Open Era to join the 1000-match wins club should he win his opening match.

World No. 3 Dominic Thiem is set to lead the bottom half of the draw. Thiem, the reigning US Open champion, reached the Paris semi-finals in 2018, falling to eventual champion Karen Khachanov.

The Masters 1000 field also includes Top 10 stars Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Diego Schwartzman and Matteo Berrettini. Rublev has won a tour-best four titles in 2020 (tied with Djokovic), while Zverev enters Paris following back-to-back title wins at the ATP 250 tournaments in Cologne. 

Here’s all you need to know about the Paris tennis tournament: what is the schedule, where to watch, who has won, how much is the prize money and more. 

Established: 1986

Tournament Dates: 2-8 November 2020

Tournament Director: Guy Forget

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 31 October

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

Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday, 31 October (10:00am start) – Sunday, 1 November (11:00am start)
* Main draw: Monday – Thursday from 11:00am; Friday from 2:00pm; Saturday from 11:45am
* Doubles final: Sunday, 8 November at 12:15pm
* Singles final: Sunday, 8 November at 3:00pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: AccorHotels Arena

Prize Money: €3,901,015 (Total Financial Commitment: €4,289,970)  

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Novak Djokovic (5)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan (4)
Oldest Champion: Novak Djokovic, 32, in 2009
Youngest Champion: Boris Becker, 18, in 1986
Last Home Champion: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008
Highest-Ranked Champion: No. 1 Stefan Edberg in 1990, Pete Sampras in 1997, Andre Agassi in 1999, Novak Djokovic in 2014-15, 2019
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 50 Tomas Berdych in 2005
Most Match Wins: Novak Djokovic (37)

2019 Finals
Singles: [1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) d Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 63 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: [7] Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) / Nicolas Mahut (FRA) d Karen Khachanov (RUS) / Andrey Rublev (RUS) 64 61  Read More

Social
Hashtag: #RolexParisMasters
Facebook: @rolexparismasters
Twitter: @RolexPMasters
Instagram: @rolexparismasters 

Did You Know…The ‘Tree of Fanti’ trophy, sculpted by Italian artist Lucio Fanti, bears the name of the winners on the trunk. The two branches show how the two sides of the draw played out. “When I was asked to create a work to commemorate the centenary of Roland Garros, the tournament organisers sent me the draws and results from down the years,” says Fanti. “When I turned one of the pieces of paper 90 degrees and by starting the players off at the top, you ended up with the winner alone at the bottom. Overall, it looked like a tree, so all I had to do was imagine it in 3D.”

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Gille/Vliegen Charge Into Nur-Sultan Quarter-finals

Top seeds Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen booked their spot in the inaugural Astana Open quarter-finals, while the second seeds Max Purcell and Luke Saville became the first team to reach the final four after an action-packed day in Nur-Sultan. 

The Belgian duo faced Americans Mackenzie McDonald and Tommy Paul in the second round, and had to fend off three break chances across both sets. But Gille and Vliegen responded emphatically, never dropping serve and breaking McDonald and Paul immediately afterwards each time en route to a 6-3, 6-4 victory in 64 minutes.

In the quarter-finals, Gille and Vliegen will take on Jonathan Erlich and Andrei Vasilevski after the Israeli-Belarussian duo defeated Mohamed Safwat and Denis Yevseyev 6-3, 6-3 to eliminate the last Kazakh player left standing in the doubles draw. Yevseyev’s countryman Mikhail Kukushkin has reached the singles quarter-finals after taking down top seed Benoit Paire in a rollercoaster three-set battle earlier in the day.

Gille and Vliegen are still on the hunt for their first trophy of the season as they seek to back up a breakthrough 2019 that saw the pair claim three ATP Tour titles, winning in Bastad, Gstaad and Zhuhai. Since the Tour’s resumption, the pair have picked up steam with a quarter-final run at the US Open and a semi-final at Antwerp in the lead up to Nur-Sultan.  

Second seeds Purcell and Saville continued to make their case in the FedEx ATP Battle For London as they defeated Luke Bambridge and Divij Sharan to capture the first semi-final spot at the Astana Open. The Australian Open finalists edged through in straight sets 6-3, 7-5 as Saville and Bambridge combined for seven double faults in the opening set. Purcell and Saville began the week in ninth place in the Battle as they pursue their first Nitto ATP Finals qualification.

Also in action in Nur-Sultan, fourth seeds Ben McLachlan and Franko Skugor joined Marcelo Arevalo and Tomislav Brkic in the quarter-finals after both teams needed Match Tie-breaks to advance. McLachlan and Skugor edged past Matwe Middelkoop and Hugo Nys 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 12-10, while Arevalo and Brkic came from a set down to oust Rohan Bopanna and Frederik Nielsen 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 10-5.

[WATCH LIVE 1]

Top Two Seeded Teams Out In Vienna

At the Erste Bank Open, the doubles field is wide open as the top two seeded teams bowed out after a day full of surprises in Vienna. 

Two-time French Open winners Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies came out on top in a battle between 2020 Grand Slam champions against Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares, who triumphed at the US Open earlier in the season. 

In a rematch of the 2020 Roland Garros final, Krawietz and Mies repeated the same result, breaking Pavic and Soares four times to record a 6-1, 4-6, 10-8 victory over the top seeds and book their spot in the semi-finals. 

The second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury also exited Vienna after Ram was forced to withdraw due to a leg injury, sending Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski into the semi-finals.

Third seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo dodged St. Petersburg champions Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 to become the lone seeds through to the final four in Vienna. The pair currently sit in 11th place in the Battle For London, and are hoping to make their fourth consecutive appearance as a team at the Nitto ATP Finals. 

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Medvedev Serves 17 Aces & Revenge In Vienna

Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev served a dose of revenge Thursday in Vienna, rallying past Canadian Vasek Pospisil 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 behind 17 aces to reach the Erste Bank Open quarter-finals.

“It was really tough and Vasek was playing some unbelievable tennis,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “I’m really happy that he didn’t finish the match [as strongly] and played a little bit worse. I took my chances. I’m really happy about it [and] looking forward [to] tomorrow.”

In February, Pospisil played lights-out power tennis to overwhelm the Russian in Rotterdam. Although the World No. 81 played inspired tennis again early in Austria, Medvedev made appropriate adjustments to wear down the Canadian after one hour and 58 minutes, taking a 2-1 lead in their ATP Head2Head series.

The turning point came with Pospisil serving at 3-4 in the second set. The 30-year-old was cruising to a service hold at 40/15, and he had not yet been broken in the match. But Pospisil made four consecutive errors — including three unforced forehand errors from the baseline — to let slip his grip on the match.

Medvedev took full advantage of that opening, stepping closer to the baseline to take time away from the former World No. 25. Pospisil became increasingly frustrated in the third set after he missed an inside-out forehand wide at 1-1 to give the Russian the break in the final set. In the first half of the match, the veteran was playing aggressively without missing much. But as time wore on he began misfiring from the baseline.

Medvedev, who is pursuing his first ATP Tour title of the season, kept his foot on the gas and broke again in his next return game when Pospisil missed a volley-lob long. The fourth seed did not face a break point in the third set, completing his victory with his 17th ace of the match.

The 24-year-old has been building momentum since the ATP Tour restarted in August. At the US Open, Medvedev did not lose a set en route to his second Grand Slam semi-final. He has already qualified for his second consecutive appearance in the Nitto ATP Finals.

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Dimitrov Weathers Tsitsipas' Storm In Battle Of Former London Champions

Former World No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov let slip a seemingly insurmountable 5/0 lead in the first-set tie-break against Stefanos Tsitsipas. But instead of allowing that tough moment ruin the rest of his match, the Bulgarian rallied for his first Top 10 win of the season.

Dimitrov battled past Tsitsipas 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 to reach the Erste Bank Open quarter-finals for the first time. The World No. 20 withstood 15 aces from the Greek and saved the two break points he faced to triumph after two hours and 14 minutes.

“It’s never easy to come out of a situation like that,” Dimitrov said in his on-court interview. “I was focussed, but he went for it. In the tie-break a few close calls here and there went his way. [There was] not much else I could have done, I felt. But I kept on believing and kept on doing the right things.”

In a battle of former Nitto ATP Finals champions, Dimitrov showed a willingness to go after his shots against Tsitsipas, who is known for his attacking tennis. The Greek defeated his veteran opponent 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-2 less than a month ago in the fourth round at Roland Garros. That made the first-set tie-break result appear even more pivotal.

For the most part, Tsitsipas earned his way back into the tie-break, with Dimitrov doing little wrong. Perhaps his most glaring error came at 5/3, when he stretched for and missed a forehand volley that appeared to be sailing wide. On the next point, Tsitsipas evened the score with a perfect forehand drop volley from his shoestrings. The third seed won seven consecutive points to take the first set.

“[I] stayed in the match, which I think was the most important thing. He’s such a great competitor,” Dimitrov said. “You always have to be ready. I was just focussing on the most simple things of the game.”

Dimitrov did not back off the baseline and he performed especially well behind his second serve. The unseeded righty won 60 per cent of his second-serve points, breaking the Greek’s serve once in the second set and twice in the third set. Instead of letting down after the tie-break, Dimitrov only got better, while Tsitsipas was unable to raise his level in the decider.

“Every good match that you play gives you a certain amount of confidence. Clearly today was very taxing on the body. Hopefully I’m going to have enough time to recover for tomorrow’s match,” said Dimitrov, who next plays Daniel Evans. “That was the second round of the tournament if you think about it. The rounds are getting tougher and tougher, which is normal. But I like my chances. Just very pleased to be here.”

Did You Know?
Dimitrov’s last Top 10 victory came at last year’s Rolex Paris Masters against Dominic Thiem.

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Thiem Sets Rublev Showdown In Vienna QFs

Dominic Thiem said before this week’s Erste Bank Open that triumphing on home soil in Vienna last year remains his second-greatest accomplishment. Based on his performance Thursday, the second seed is hungry to add another Austrian trophy to his collection.

Thiem cruised past World No. 22 Cristian Garin 6-3, 6-2 in 66 minutes to reach the quarter-finals at his home tournament for the third consecutive year and the fourth time overall. The second seed will play fifth seed Andrey Rublev in a big-hitting encounter for a spot in the last four.

The 27-year-old, who recently captured his first Grand Slam title at the US Open, was ruthless on the indoor hard court. Without overplaying, he overpowered Garin. Thiem did not face a break point in the match, winning 83 per cent of his first-serve points and only making 12 unforced errors.

Garin has won two ATP Tour titles this year in Cordoba and Rio de Janeiro, but both of those victories came on clay. The 24-year-old struggled to get the Austrian out of his comfort zone, making 24 unforced errors, including 15 on the forehand side.

The Chilean certainly tried to make an impact on Thiem’s game, even trying moving into the forecourt, where he showed good touch. But for the most part Thiem’s typical baseline shots were enough and he was never forced to go for too much.

Garin got off to a slow start, mis-hitting a forehand to lose his first service game. That set the tone for the match, as he later relinquished another break with a double fault.

Thiem will take a 2-1 ATP Head2Head series lead into his showdown against Rublev in the last eight. Rublev won their most recent clash last year in Hamburg 7-6(3), 7-6(5). The Austrian has already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, where he made the final last year. Rublev is making a push to earn his first season finale qualification.

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Vienna Open: Dan Evans beats Jurij Rodionov to reach quarter-finals

British number one Dan Evans beats Jurij Rodionov to reach the quarter-finals of the Vienna Open.

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Kukushkin Fights Back To Beat Paire In Nur-Sultan

Mikhail Kukushkin played with great pride on Thursday at the Astana Open, recovering from a set and 1-4 deficit against Benoit Paire for a place in the quarter-finals.

Kukushkin recorded his sixth victory of the season with a 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 6-1 win over Paire in two hours and 14 minutes at Kazakhstan’s first ATP Tour 250 event.

Kukushkin broke at 2-4 in the second set, played aggressively in the tie-break and won the first three games of the decider. The 32-year-old will next contest his first ATP Tour quarter-final for 13 months (2019 St. Petersburg Open) against Finnish qualifier Emil Ruusuvuori.

Ruusuvuori advanced to his first tour-level quarter-final by beating eighth seed Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in two hours and three minutes.

Third seed Adrian Mannarino needed just 62 minutes to sweep past Japanese qualifier Yuichi Sugita 6-1, 6-1 for a place in the quarter-finals.

Mannarino won nine straight games from 0-1 in the first set and will next face American Mackenzie McDonald, who knocked out Italian wild card Andreas Seppi 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in just over two hours. McDonald is through to his first ATP Tour quarter-final since February 2019 at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC (l. to Nadal).

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