Japan’s Taro Daniel shocked the tennis world at Indian Wells when he ousted Novak Djokovic in the second round. And now, two months later, he is into his maiden ATP World Tour final. Daniel defeated Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open in a gritty two-hour, 33-minute encounter that saw a combined 10 breaks of serve. Daniel got off to an emphatic start to the match, claiming the first set with two breaks of the Chardy serve, which wavered under the constant pressure of Daniel’s returning prowess. The second set was a different story, as Chardy upped his level and began dictating with his heavy forehand groundstrokes to even the contest at...
Defending champion Alexander Zverev reached his second successive BMW Open by FWU final on Saturday, defeating reigning Next Gen ATP Finals titlist Hyeon Chung 7-5, 6-2. "It was good," Zverev said. "Obviously didn't start off well, from the 0-3 deficit. Played a pretty good match and the tactics I had for the match worked well." The top seed, who won the third of his six ATP World Tour titles at the event in 2017 (d. Pella), hit eight aces and broke serve on five occasions to book his place in Sunday’s final after one hour and 31 minutes. The victory marks Zverev’s first win over the South Korean at tour-level, having lost both of their previous FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters...
Malek Jaziri is one match win away from reaching his first ATP World Tour final at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open. The 34-year-old knocked out seventh-seeded Czech Jiri Vesely 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 55 minutes on Friday. “It was a really important win, as I didn’t feel that I was playing good tennis,” admitted Jaziri. “I didn’t feel good or comfortable right from the start. He served well and played good tennis, so I was making more mistakes. I tried to put more balls in court and competed for every point. I began to feel better and when I broke back at the end of the second set the match completely changed.” The Tunisian, who recorded...
It appeared that #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas' run at the Millennium Estoril Open was coming to an end when he double-faulted to trail 0/3 in a final-set tie-break Friday against reigning Quito champion Roberto Carballes Baena. But Tsitsipas' confidence gained from recent results showed, winning the final seven points of the match to advance to his third ATP World Tour semi-final with a 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-6(3) victory. Prior to 2018, the 19-year-old had won just four tour-level matches, three of which came last year in Antwerp. But the Greek now has 14 wins this season alone, and is into his second semi-final in as many weeks, after reaching his maiden ATP World Tour final in Barcelona (l. to Nadal). His...
Two of the ATP World Tour's best young players - Alexander Zverev and Hyeon Chung - will square-off on Saturday for a place in the BMW Open by FWU final. World No. 3 Zverev, a winner of six tour-level titles, may be more highly touted, but Chung leads 2-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series with victories at the 2017 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and the 2018 Australian Open. Top seed and defending champion Zverev wrapped up his 19th match win of the year by hitting a second-serve ace to complete a 6-3, 6-2 victory over fellow German Jan-Lennard Struff in 62 minutes. It was a good match from start to finish," Zverev said. "I started off with an early...
