Alexander Zverev earned his 50th ATP World Tour match victory of the season with a straightforward 6-4, 6-2 win over Fabio Fognini in 73 minutes on Thursday, advancing to the quarter-finals of the China Open.
“I thought in the beginning we both played pretty well, from the baseline especially. I think [it was] a pretty high level,” Zverev said. “I’m happy to get through.”
The German, who broke the Italian four times, continued his pursuit of a tour-leading sixth ATP World Tour title in 2017. He is currently tied with fellow Beijing quarter-finalist Rafael Nadal and 19-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer with five titles each.
Zverev’s 25th hard-court victory of 2017 was also his second win over Fognini this year, after beating the 30 year old on clay in Rome. The 20 year old is inching closer to securing his first appearance in the Nitto ATP Finals, currently sitting in third in the Emirates ATP Race To London.
Next, Zverev will face US Open quarter-finalist and #NextGenATP star Andrey Rublev, who upset World No. 20 Tomas Berych earlier Thursday. Their only previous tour-level meeting was in Monte Carlo last year, where Zverev won in straight sets.
“It’s obviously going to be an entertaining Next Gen match,” said Zverev, who competed both with and against Rublev many times in the juniors. “It’s obviously great to see young guys coming through, but tomorrow’s a match against him and I’m ready for it.”
Andrey Rublev overcame a set and a break deficit to defeat World No. 20 Tomas Berdych, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 48 minutes at the China Open in Beijing on Thursday.
The #NextGenATP star trailed the Czech 1-6, 1-3 before storming back to win 11 of the next 13 games, severely damaging Berdych’s London dreams of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals.
After the former World No. 4 saved a break point to hold for 3-1 in the second set, his 19-year-old Russian opponent broke his serve on three consecutive occasions to completely turn the tide of the match, winning 64 per cent of points in the third set.
For Rublev, Thursday’s victory was the third Top 20 win of his young career, after beating both Grigor Dimitrov (No. 9) and David Goffin (No. 14) at this year’s US Open. He is now into his fourth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season, after going on to win his first title as a lucky loser at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open in Umag this July.
Berdych was in pursuit of his first title of the season and was attempting to get back in the winners’ circle in Beijing after capturing the trophy in 2011. He was also sitting in 14th place in the Emirates ATP Race To London, and could have significantly increased his chances of qualifying with a strong week.
Rublev will now face the second seed, Alexander Zverev, who defeated veteran Fabio Fognini.
Gonzalez/Peralta to take on Japanese wild cards
Second seeds Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray reached the semi-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships on Thursday by beating Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner 6-3, 6-4 in 67 minutes.
As a result, Murray and Soares have moved to within 10 points in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London of No. 4-ranked Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (4,355) as teams battle to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.
Murray and Soares, the only seeds left in the field with a 3-2 in finals record this year (7-4 overall as a team), will next challenge Dominic Inglot and Daniel Nestor in the Tokyo semi-finals.
Japanese wild cards Ben Mclachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama held their nerve to delight local fans with a 7-6(2), 7-6(3) victory over top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in one hour and 37 minutes. Rojer and Tecau would have qualified for the season finale had they reached the Tokyo final. The Dutch-Romanian team is 16-4 in finals as a team (4-0 in 2017) and recently captured the US Open crown.
They go onto face Santiago Gonzalez and Julio Peralta, who saved two match points (from 7/9) in the Match tie-break for the second time in as many days when the Mexican-Chilean team edged past third seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 2-6, 7-6(5), 11-9 in 89 minutes. On Tuesday, Gonzalez and Peralta knocked out Marcin Matkowski and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 12-10 in a Match tie-break.
Klaasen and Ram are attempting to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, having reached the title match in 2016. They are currently No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London.
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Spanish world number one Rafael Nadal has reached the China Open quarter-finals with victory over Russian Karen Khachanov.
Nadal, who won his third US Open title last month, triumphed 6-3 6-3 in Beijing.
The 31-year-old broke Khachanov, ranked 42 in the world, in the fourth game and looked in total control thereafter.
Next he will face big-serving American John Isner, who beat Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 6-0 6-3.
Nadal had survived two match points in his opening clash against Frenchman Lucas Pouille.
Khachanov, 21, served seven double faults and was unable to convert any of his six break points.
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American will try for first win over Nadal
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal is through to the quarter-finals of the China Open after defeating Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday in Beijing.
The Spaniard is bidding to win his second China Open title, following victory on his debut in 2005 (d. Coria). He also finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the 2013 and 2015 finals.
Nadal is also looking to boost his lead over Roger Federer in the battle to finish year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Thursday’s win hands him another 45 points, which extends his lead over his Swiss rival to 1,950 points in the year-to-date standings. Federer returns to action at next week’s Shanghai Rolex Masters, where 1,000 points are awarded to the winner.
Nadal defeated #NextGenATP Khachanov for the second time this year (also Wimbledon R3) as he saved the six break points he faced. The left-hander, in turn, broke Khachanov three times to prevail in 89 minutes. Nadal leads the ATP World Tour with 58 match wins in 2017 and is chasing his sixth tour-level crown in what has been an outstanding season, featuring two major titles at Roland Garros and the US Open and two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns in Monte-Carlo and Madrid.
Nadal goes on to face sixth seed John Isner, who cruised past Leonardo Mayer 6-0, 6-3 in under an hour. The American struck eight aces and converted all four of his break points to earn the quarter-final clash with Nadal, whom he will be looking to beat for the first time in seven attempts.
The 32-year-old Isner has reached the quarter-finals on all five of his appearances at this ATP World Tour 500 tournament and is looking to go on and make the semi-finals for the second time (also 2010). The American is chasing his third ATP World Tour crown of the season this week, following victories in Newport (d. Ebden) and Atlanta (d. Harrison).
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