#NextGenATP player Stefanos Tsitsipas is through to his first main draw at Wimbledon after surviving a marathon final-round qualifying match on Thursday against Joris De Loore of Belgium 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. Three other #NextGenATP players also qualified, including American Taylor Fritz, Andrey Rublev of Russia and Christian Garin of Chile. “I’ve never felt so happy before in my life. I’m really tired right now, but this happiness is something I can’t describe,” said Tsitsipas. “It’s been my dream since childhood to compete at Wimbledon. I had my family here supporting me the whole match, so it felt like I was playing at home.” The 18 year old, currently No. 190 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, qualified for his...
Second seed Gael Monfils picked up two emphatic wins on Thursday at the Aegon International on Eastbourne, closing out his day with a 7-6(4), 6-0 victory over Bernard Tomic to reach the semi-finals. Monfils prevailed earlier in the day over local wild card Cameron Norrie and Tomic upset sixth seed Mischa Zverev. But after Monfils prevailed in a tight first-set, the Australian ran out of gas and the Frenchman found a new gear to storm through the remainder of the match. Monfils has dropped just 11 games in two matches. Awaiting him in the semi-finals is fellow seventh seed Richard Gasquet, who broke serve four times to cruise past third seed John Isner 6-3, 6-2 in 54 minutes. The Frenchman...
Top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan kept their status as the most dominant brother doubles duo on the ATP World Tour, defeating local favourites Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the semi-finals at the Aegon International in Eastbourne. The Bryan brothers saved all five break points they faced and won 82 per cent of their first-serve points to advance in 51 minutes. They’re seeking their first ATP World Tour doubles title of the season. Next up for them are Andre Begemann and Andres Molteni, who defeated Diego Schwartzman and Jiri Vesely 6-3, 7-6(6). Schwartzman/Vesely saved two match points at 4/6 in the tie-break but Begemann/Molteni hung tough for the win. [ALSO LIKE] Rohan Bopanna...
World No. 4 Novak Djokovic became the first player to reach the Aegon International semi-finals on Thursday as organisers of the ATP World Tour 250 tournament played catch-up due to rain. Djokovic, who has a 3-3 record in grass-court finals, overcame American Donald Young 6-2, 7-6(9) at Devonshire Park in one hour and 35 minutes. "I enjoyed it, especially in the second set," said Djokovic. "The first set went my way and I played well. I felt good on the court and had some break point opportunities early in the second set... I think Donald started playing with less unforced errors, playing with more variety and using his forehand very well from all over the court. "He served for the...
Former World No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis endured a fraught end to his Antalya Open quarter-final on Thursday. The Cypriot led 6/1 in the deciding set tie-break, and finally converted his sixth match point opportunity to beat qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-7(0), 6-3, 7-6(6) in two hours and 43 minutes. Baghdatis is attempting to win his first ATP World Tour title since Sydney in January 2010. He opened the year by reaching the semi-finals in Auckland (l. Sousa). Despite the loss, Ramanathan can be pleased with matching his best result at an ATP World Tour event. The World No. 222 also scored one of the biggest upsets of the year by ousting top seed Dominic Thiem in the second round. Awaiting Baghdatis...
