Grigor Dimitrov is one win away from his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final after a commanding 6-2, 6-1 win over Japan’s Yuichi Sugita Friday at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Dimitrov has now reached four semi-finals at the ATP World Tour’s premier tournament level, but is yet to reach a title match at the 1000s. The Bulgarian broke World No. 46 Sugita at the beginning of the first set to race to a 3-0 lead and twice at the beginning of the second set to surge ahead 5-0. He lost just five points on serve and did not face a break point. En route to victory, the seventh-seeded Bulgarian pulled off a spectacular diving hot shot...
Rafael Nadal remains on course to lift a record 31st ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown and second Cincinnati title on Friday by reaching the Western & Southern Open quarter-finals. The top seed and 2013 champion knocked out his Spanish compatriot Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(1), 6-2 in one hour and 38 minutes mid-afternoon at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. He will now rest and prepare to meet Australian Nick Kyrgios later today. Nadal leads 2-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, ahead of their first hard-court meeting. [GROUP POLL]67[/GROUP POLL] "I'm very happy to be in the quarter-finals," said Nadal. "It was a tough match this afternoon against Albert, and now [it will be] another very, very difficult match against Kyrgios....
Nick Kyrgios hung tough on Friday as he began a double shift at the Western & Southern Open. The Australian advanced to his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final (also Indian Wells and Miami) of the year by finding a way past Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in a 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 victory over one hour and 56 minutes. The pair began today with Karlovic leading 4-3 in the first set, following rain on Thursday. View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchups for the quarter-finals of the Western & Southern Open and vote for who you think will win! Nadal vs. Kyrgios | Thiem vs. Ferrer [GROUP POLL]67[/GROUP POLL] "It was tough, obviously," said Kyrgios. "Coming back today, I had a very...
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares battled hard to reach their second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final of the season (also Indian Wells) on Friday at the Western & Southern Open. The third seeds knocked out last year’s finalist Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 7-6(6), 6-4 in one hour and 38 minutes. Murray and Soares saved three set points from 3/6 in the first set tie-break, then broke at 4-4 in the second set prior to convert their third match point opportunity. Murray and Soares, with a 3-1 record in ATP World Tour finals this year (6-3 overall), have yet to win a Masters 1000 crown as a team. They will next meet second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo,...
Jared Donaldson recorded the biggest win of his career earlier this week at the Western & Southern Open when he upset World No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut. On Thursday, the 20-year-old American achieved another milestone, advancing to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final by defeating Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 7-6(4). The Californian was 0-13 in Round of 16 matches entering the match, including last week’s defeat to Diego Schwartzman in Montreal when he led 6-0, 2-0, and had been denied by Basilashvili in the final round of Roland Garros qualifying in 2015 and 2016. He turned the page Thursday, putting pressure on his opponent’s serve and going two for 12 on break point chances. After falling behind a...
