#NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev showed great maturity in reaching his first ATP World Tour final on Saturday at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag. He will now meet fourth seed Paolo Lorenzi. World No. 74 Rublev knocked out wild card Ivan Dodig 7-6(4), 6-1 in one hour and 41 minutes to become the second teenager (after then 19-year-old Alexander Zverev at the Open Sud de France in February) to reach a tour-level final this year. "I'm happy that I'm in my first final," Rublev said. "The key was staying strong mentally. I feel that both of us weren't feeling really well on the court and the conditions were tough. It was more mental." The Moscow native is into the final...
David Ferrer recorded his 25th match win at the SkiStar Swedish Open on Saturday, where he hopes to claim his third title at the beach resort tournament against Alexandr Dolgopolov. It will be Ferrer’s first ATP World Tour final since October 2015 at the Erste Bank Open 500, one of five titles he won that year. Former World No. 3 Ferrer, who ranks fifth in the active title-leaders list behind the ‘Big Four’ with 26 career crowns, takes a 9-4 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Dolgopolov into the final. Dolgopolov did, however, win their last clash 6-4, 6-4 at the Rio Open presented by Claro in February. Eighth seed Ferrer cruised into his fourth Båstad final – and his 52nd...
Second seed John Isner continued his bid to reclaim the Newport title, advancing to the semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over fellow American Dennis Novikov on Friday afternoon at the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open. The top seed fired 20 aces and did not face a break point in the 73-minute victory. "Just one of those matches on a surface like this, with two pretty good servers, that's how it can go – you just get one break and you try to hold onto it. That's what I did," he said. "I felt like in the second set I could have extended it to a two-break lead but a lot of times one break is all I need...
Ivan Dodig used home soil to his advantage, ousting top seed David Goffin 7-5, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag on Friday. The 32-year-old Zagreb native fired five aces to advance in 92 minutes. Goffin was making his Umag debut this week after missing the entire grass-court season due to an ankle injury. “I tried to be aggressive from the first point and tried to play shorter points,” said Dodig. “In the end, today was my day. I really felt good on the court and I was really aggressive.” Dodig will next face #NextGenATP’s Andrey Rublev, who entered the draw as a Lucky Loser and has now reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final....
Alexandr Dolgopolov saved two match points to oust fifth seed Karen Khachanov 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(2) and reach the semi-finals of the SkiStar Swedish Open on Friday. The 28 year old from Ukraine withstood 20 aces from his #NextGenATP opponent in the match, which clocked in at exactly two hours. "He was serving at 3-0 [in the third set] with a double break and my leg was troubling me a bit on serve," said Dolgopolov. "But the game went my way and I made a fast break and kept it to just one break. I was just playing my game, relaxed, not expecting anything because I was down a lot. I wasn't being too tough on myself and it just went...
