Stan Wawrinka will try to win a career-best fifth ATP World Tour title of the season on Sunday when he faces #NextGen player Alexander Zverev in the St. Petersburg Open final. The top seed advanced to his fifth final of the year and 25th of his career by beating Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(8), 6-2 in one hour and 51 minutes on Saturday. The Swiss saved two set points in the first set before claiming the 18-point tie-break. He broke to start the second set and again at 4-2 to take his 10th victory in a row. Wawrinka also improved to a perfect 6-0 in sets in St. Petersburg. [ALSO LIKE] Both players fought for every big point in the semi-final. Wawrinka saved...
Marcos Baghdatis attended the draw ceremony for the inaugural Chengdu Open on Saturday. The historic Chinese city, capital of Sichuan province, will host an ATP World Tour event for the first time. The state-of-the-art venue in Chengdu boasts a centre court capacity of 6000, two additional show courts with 2000 seats each, and a total of 20 hard courts and 12 indoor courts. Main draw action at the ATP World Tour 250 event will kick off on Monday. “[Chengdu] is a great city and I am happy to be here,” Baghdatis said. “The environment is very beautiful here, the facilities are great and I am excited to get my tournament underway.” The luck of the draw did Baghdatis no favours,...
With the top four seeds in the semi-finals of an ATP World Tour event for the first time in 2016, a pair of enticing match-ups were on tap on Saturday at the Moselle Open. Top seed Dominic Thiem kicked off proceedings in Metz with a dramatic rally to overcome two-time champion Gilles Simon 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. The Austrian found himself with his back against the wall with Simon serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but he would not be denied his spot in the final. Thiem broke back with a massive down-the-line forehand and secured another break at 6-5 to force a decider with a cross-court backhand winner. Thiem continued to apply pressure on Simon's serve...
Watch Friday highlights as top seed Robin Haase leads the semi-final charge at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Sibiu, Romania. Video courtesy Sibiu Open.
Alexander Zverev will play for his first ATP World Tour title on Sunday after gaining his first win over Top 10 player Tomas Berdych on Saturday at the St. Petersburg Open. Zverev, a member of the ATP Next Generation, dismissed Berdych 6-4, 6-4 in their semi-final contest at Sibur Arena. The 19-year-old German saved all four break points and landed 66 per cent of his first serves to advance to his third ATP World Tour final of the season and of his career. He has yet to capture a title yet, though, falling in three sets to Dominic Thiem in Nice and to Florian Mayer in Halle. “I just needed to serve well in the first place, and I did....