Stan Wawrinka settled into his game in time to reach the semi-finals of the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp on Friday. The second seed withstood some aggressive play and strong hitting from World No. 45 Kyle Edmund to advance 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 36 minutes. Edmund rolled through the tie-break, blasting an inside-out backhand to go up 5/0. But Wawrinka broke the Brit at 3-2 in the second set and to start the third set. The Swiss star saved 11/13 break points faced. “I want to win more matches here and not stop now,” said Wawrinka, who is looking to win a title in the first week of the season for a fourth consecutive year, following a...
World No. 1 Andy Murray continued his winning ways with a 7-6(4), 7-5 victory over Nicolas Almagro Thursday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The Scot’s win streak extended to 27 as he fought past the Spaniard and tricky conditions in two hours and nine minutes. In the semi-finals, Murray will face third seed Tomas Berdych, who saved all seven break points faced to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 6-3. “It was obviously very windy and it was blowing across the court a lot. That makes timing pretty difficult,” said Murray. “It was hard for everyone today.” Berdych was pleased with how he adjusted his game to the conditions. “Try to play a little differently and little bit more smart,” he said....
Roberto Bautista Agut remains on course to lift the fifth ATP World Tour title of his career on Thursday after he reached the Aircel Chennai Open quarter-finals. The World No. 14, who reached the 2013 final (l. to Tipsarevic) was solid on serve in a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Rogerio Dutra Silva. Bautista Agut goes on to face Mikhail Youzhny, the seventh seed and 2008 champion, who defeated Renzo Olivo 6-1, 7-5 in one hour and 33 minutes. Aljaz Bedene needed over three hours to upset fourth seed Martin Klizan 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 7-6(2). The Brit fired 14 aces to advance to the last eight, where he will face fifth seed Benoit Paire. The Frenchman advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 win...
Rafael Nadal will meet Milos Raonic on Friday for a place in the semi-finals of the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. The pair has not met since the 2015 Shanghai Rolex Masters and Nadal leads 6-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Looking ahead to the Raonic match, Nadal said, “He’s one of the toughest opponents on tour today, without a doubt. He's the World No. 3. His serve is huge, and he improved a lot from the baseline, too. It's a match that you cannot do too many mistakes if you want to really have any chance. You need to be really focused with your serve and then try to play aggressively on the return. I am going to...
Australian Next Gen start Thanasi Kokkinakis is set to play his first ATP World Tour singles match in more than a year at the Apia International Sydney next week after a confidence-boosting run to the semi-finals of the Brisbane International doubles. Kokkinakis is happy with how his right shoulder has held up in two doubles wins with fellow Australian Jordan Thompson in Brisbane this week, including Thursday’s 1-6, 6-4, 10-7 upset of top seeds and reigning Wimbledon champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. “The body felt good today,” Kokkinakis said. “I feel I am still five to 10 percent off. Getting the confidence back in the body is the biggest thing. “I’m excited (to take the Sydney wild card]. I...