Say it with us: Mar-co Check-in-aah-toe, Ro-land Gar-ros sem-i-fin-al-ist. The 25-year-old Italian pulled off his biggest win yet on Tuesday, beating 2016 champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 7-6(4), 1-6, 7-6(11) to reach the semi-finals in Paris. Marco Cecchinato, No 72 in the ATP Rankings, becomes the lowest-ranked Roland Garros semi-finalist since No. 100 Andrei Medvedev in 1999. The Palermo native is also the first Italian man to make a Grand Slam semi-final since Corrado Barazzutti at the 1978 Roland Garros. Cecchinato will next face Austrian Dominic Thiem in their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. The seventh seed beat German Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 earlier Tuesday to reach his third consecutive Roland Garros semi-final. Thiem has never made a Grand Slam...
One year ago, Marin Cilic had never made the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in 10 previous attempts. He went on to become the first Croatian man to make it that far in Paris in more than a decade (Mario Ancic & Ivan Ljubicic, 2006). Yet just a year later, the Croatian now has a chance to go even further. Cilic battled past the resilient Italian, No. 18 seed Fabio Fognini, 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-3 on Monday to reach his second consecutive quarter-final on the Parisian terre battue. The victory not only gives him his 28th five-set victory, tying for second among active players with Novak Djokovic according to the FedEx ATP Performance Zone, but it ends Fognini's six-match winning...
For clay admittedly not being his favourite surface, Juan Martin del Potro is sure playing like someone very comfortable on the red dirt. The Argentine marched into his third Roland Garros quarter-final on Monday, beating American John Isner 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. “Being in the quarter-finals in a Grand Slam, in this particular Grand Slam, is very special, is something I'm very happy about and I'm playing well,” Del Potro said. The Argentine is through to his first quarter-final in Paris since 2012, and he'll next face Croatian Marin Cilic, who beat Italian Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-3. Del Potro's only trip to the Paris semi-finals came in 2009. “Marin is a great player. We know each...
Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez saved one match point to book their place in the Roland Garros semi-finals on Monday, defeating third seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(3). The 2016 champions moved one step away from their second final in three years at the clay-court Grand Slam championship, saving match point at 4-5 (30/40) in the deciding set before breaking serve and securing victory after two hours and 21 minutes. The Spaniards, who won their third team title at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in April, led by a set and a double break before the Nitto ATP Finals champions rallied to force a decider. Kontinen and Peers broke first, but the No. 12 seeds held their...
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal became only the fifth player in the past 50 years to record 900 match wins (900-187) on Monday for a place in the Roland Garros quarter-finals. The 10-time champion follows in the footsteps of Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl and Guillermo Vilas as one of the Top 5 Open Era match wins leaders. [ALSO LIKE] The Spanish superstar, who celebrated his 32nd birthday on 3 June, improved to 83-2 lifetime at the clay-court Grand Slam championship with a 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(4) fourth-round victory over one-time practice partner and German debutant Maximilian Marterer on Philippe-Chatrier Court. “The match in general terms has been positive,” said Nadal. “[The score] 6-3, 6-2 was a very positive 12...
