Two-time champion Juan Martin del Potro won his fifth consecutive match on Wednesday at the Swiss Indoors Basel, beating Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. The Intrum Stockholm Open champion (d. Dimitrov) won 83 per cent of his first-serve points and saved both break points faced in the third set.
Delpo improved to 19-4 lifetime at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament. He also bolstered his chances of qualifying at the Nitto ATP Finals (2008-09, ’12, 13) for the fourth time. The right-hander is in 13th place in the Emirates ATP Race To London, with 2,160 points, 490 points behind Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who holds the final qualification spot.
But if Delpo wins his third Basel title this week and Carreno Busta loses his second-round match against Argentine Diego Schwartzman at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna, Delpo will climb into the final spot.
The Argentine might have a tough ask in the final, though: top seed Roger Federer, who is a seven-time champion and has a 29-2 record in Basel since 2010. Good news for Delpo, however: Both of those losses have come in finals against the Argentine.
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Seventh-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, this season’s finalist at the Antalya Open (l. to Sugita) and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 (l. to Goffin), withstood 18 aces from Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium to win 7-6(0), 4-6, 6-1 in two hours and three minutes. Mannarino now plays Canadian Denis Shapovalov, a Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier, in the second round.
Shapovalov’s fellow Next Gen ATP qualifiers had a mixed day. Croatian Borna Coric set a second-round meeting with countryman Marin Cilic by putting a first-set tie-break behind him to advance 6-7(8), 6-1, 6-3 against Swiss wild card Henri Laaksonen.
American Jared Donaldson, though, was outdone by Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics 6-0, 6-1 in only 56 minutes. Fucsovics saved five of six break points and won nearly 60 per cent of his second-serve points.
Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, winner of the Aircel Chennai Open (d. Medvedev) and Winston-Salem Open (d. Dzumhur) in 2017, defeated Ryan Harrison of the United States 6-3, 7-6(1) in one hour and 39 minutes. The Spaniard will next meet Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who beat Donald Young of the U.S. 6-4, 6-2.
A season full of highlights for Denis Shapovalov just keeps getting better.
Reaching the Coupe Rogers semi-finals, the second week of the US Open, and breaking into the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings as a teenager have made Shapovalov a household name in the tennis world. Now the 18-year-old Canadian is getting attention in the fashion world after joining supermodel Karlie Kloss on the cover of the November issue of VOGUE.
“I was really nervous heading there. I didn’t know what to expect from Karlie, I’ve never met a model that’s so famous before,” said Shapovalov of Kloss, who has more than 7 million followers on Instagram and has featured on 32 Vogue covers internationally. “But she was so nice and really cool, so it was really fun. She really made me relax and she helped me have a great time.”
With his trademark backwards ball cap and impressive flow of shiny blond hair, Shapovalov knows a thing or two about style, and he managed to hold his own with Kloss despite being more familiar with sets of tennis rather than sets of fashion shoots.
“It was funny, the makeup and the hairstyling… everything took her probably two hours to get ready, and then the stylist, she looks at my hair and she’s like, ‘Yeah I think that looks pretty good!’ recalled Shapovalov, with a laugh. “So they didn’t touch it up at all. Maybe it’s just natural, I don’t know!”
Despite many unbelievable on-court moments for the Canadian in a wildly successful season that even he could never have predicted, this off-court moment was perhaps even harder to believe – and not just for Shapovalov.
“I told my parents and my best friend. They really didn’t believe me!” said Shapovalov. “But they were really excited for me.”
Shapovalov will be among the world’s best eight 21-and-under players who will compete at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan from 7-11 November. Learn more about the event
Caroline Wozniacki thrashed world number one Simona Halep to reach the WTA Finals last four in Singapore.
Wozniacki, who beat Elina Svitolina in her first match, broke Halep’s serve five times in a victory that secured progress from Red Group.
The Dane is one of five players who could finish the year as world number one by winning the tournament.
Caroline Garcia won the last four games to beat Svitolina 6-7 (9-7) 6-3 7-5 in Wednesday’s other Red Group match.
The result means any one of Halep, Garcia or Svitolina could join Wozniacki in the semi-finals depending on the results of Friday’s last robin-round matches.
Karolina Pliskova has already qualified from the White Group, with Garbine Muguruza and Venus Williams playing for the second qualifying spot on Thursday.
Wozniacki, a former world number one, took the first set in 24 minutes against Halep, making only two unforced errors.
The Dane faced a break point in the fourth game of the second set, but Halep was unable to convert.
“Even if you lose the first match, you still have nothing to lose,” said Wozniacki.
“It’s just a nice cushion to have. I think that kind of motivates me to start off strong and just go for it.
“I just ran a lot of balls down and I played aggressive and I mixed up the pace. Everything I wanted to do was going my way.”
| WTA Finals line-up | |
|---|---|
| RED GROUP | WHITE GROUP |
| 1. Simona Halep (Rom) | 1. Garbine Muguruza (Spa) |
| 2. Elina Svitolina (Ukr) | 2. Karolina Pliskova (Cze) |
| 3. Caroline Wozniacki (Den) | 3. Venus Williams (USA) |
| 4. Caroline Garcia (Fra) | 4. Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) |
Swede helped Wawrinka to three majors and one Masters 1000 crown
Magnus Norman announced on Wednesday his decision to step down as coach to Stan Wawrinka, who continues his rehabilitation from knee surgery, after a four-year partnership due to personal reasons.
“After much thought I have decided to dedicate my future to my family,” said Norman. “With two young kids at home, now is the right time for me to be with them. I could not have had a better player to work with and this has been one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make.”
“I’m really honoured to have worked with Stan, who is a great tennis player, but more importantly a fantastic person. I want to thank the whole team behind Stan for all the work over the past four years. It’s been a teamwork and a privilege from the first day.”
Norman began to coach Wawrinka in April 2013, when Wawrinka was No. 17 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The former World No. 2 from Sweden helped Wawrinka to a 12-5 record in finals, including the 2014 Australian Open (d. Nadal), 2015 Roland Garros (d. Djokovic) and 2016 US Open (d. Djokovic) crown, plus one ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (d. Federer).
Wawrinka said, “I would like to thank Magnus for the amazing four years we had together. I will always be grateful for the work and the time he spent on me to make me improve and become a three-time Grand Slam Champion. He was not only part of my team but also part of the family.
“For now, I’m focusing on my rehabilitation and I will take time to decide with my team the necessary next steps.”
The 32-year-old Wawrinka finished his 2017 season with a 26-11 match record, including one ATP World Tour title in Geneva (d. M. Zverev). He also reached the finals of the BNP Paribas Open, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l. to Federer), and at Roland Garros (l. to Nadal).
During a nine-season professional career, which ended due to hip and knee injuries, Norman’s peak year came in 2000 when he won the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (d. Kuerten) and reached the Roland Garros final (l. to Kuerten). Overall, the Swede was 12-6 in tour-level finals.
