Third seed Grigor Dimitrov rallied from a set and a break down to reach the Chengdu Open semi-finals on Friday, battling past Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in just over two hours. Since the Rogers Cup in Toronto, where he joined forces with coach, Dani Vallverdu, Dimitrov has gone 11-4 on the ATP World Tour, enjoying a resurgence in form that has seen him reach the semi-finals in Cincinnati (l. to Cilic) and the fourth round of the US Open (l. to Murray). [ALSO LIKE] Dimitrov, who clinched his 200th tour-level win on Wednesday, will now look to reach his third ATP World Tour final of the season, but it was not without a fight that he got by Schwartzman....
Third seed Richard Gasquet is through to the Shenzhen Open semi-finals after edging qualifier Mischa Zverev 7-6(4), 7-6(2) on Friday. The Frenchman prevailed in just over two hours to claim his 28th win of the season. Zverev had not dropped a set in advancing to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final in almost a year, but came up just short against Gasquet, despite saving 11 of 14 break points. The German was looking to reach his first semi-final in six years. The 30-year-old Gasquet is chasing his second ATP World Tour title of the season, following victory in Montpellier in February (d. Mathieu). It has been, at times, a frustrating year for the right-hander, hampered by back, rib and abdominal...
Russian #NextGen star Karen Khachanov is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final after taking down his second seeded opponent at the Chengdu Open on Friday. The 20-year-old Muscovite defeated fourth seed Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4. In the first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting between the pair, it was the young Russian who outshone the Spaniard on serve, sending down 10 aces and conceding just six points on his first serve. He did not face a break point throughout. Lopez, a winner in Gstaad this season, was attempting to reach his fifth ATP World Tour semi-final of the season. He was broken once in each set and it was enough for the player 15 years his junior to close it...
Dominic Thiem ended a memorable run by one of China's top-ranked players at the Chengdu Open on Thursday. The top seed dismissed Di Wu 6-4, 6-4 in 67 minutes to move into the quarter-finals. Wu was going for more personal history at his home tournament. The Chinese No. 2 celebrated his first ATP World Tour or Grand Slam main draw match win during his 14th try on Tuesday (d. Kravchuk). Against Thiem, Wu was trying to earn his first Top 10 victory. But the Austrian won almost 80 per cent of his first-serve points and broke Wu four times to reach his 13th ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season. Wu fell to 0-10 against Top 10 foes. “He was...
Defending champion Tomas Berdych stayed undefeated at the Shenzhen Open on Thursday. The top-seeded Czech delivered 16 aces and withstood a tight contest from Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin to move into the quarter-finals 7-6(7), 7-6(4) in about two hours. Berdych and Kukushkin both won exactly 84 points during their second-round match but the Czech was more clutch when the match was on the line. Serving at 5/4 in the second-set tie-break, Berdych delivered his 16th ace. Kukushkin netted a backhand on match point to give Berdych his fifth consecutive win in Shenzhen. “It wasn't easy at all,” said Berdych. [ALSO LIKE] The 31-year-old right-hander is trying to reach his first final of the season. The nine-month drought is the longest Berdych...