Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara advanced to their sixth tour-level semi-final of the 2022 season on Thursday at the Hamburg European Open. The British-Finnish duo earned a a 6-1, 7-6(0) victory against Germany’s Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz to back up an opening-round upset of second seeds Neal Skupski and Wesley Koolhof.

Glasspool/Heliovaara saved all three break points against them in the quarter-finals and won the final 11 points of the match as they held to love before claiming a shutout in the tie-break.

Three-time finalists this season (Montpellier, Dallas, London), the pair is seeking its first title of the year. The duo won its first title last season in Montpellier.

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Third seeds Tim Puetz and Michael Venus will provide their semi-final opposition after a 6-3, 6-3 victory against German wild cards Daniel Altmaier and Jan-Lennard Struff on Thursday.

In the top half of the Hamburg doubles draw, fourth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop will face top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the semi-finals. Bopanna/Middelkoop were 6-4, 6-2 winners against Serbians Nikola Cacic and Dusan Lajovic on Thursday, while Granollers/Zeballos advanced past Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev via walkover.

Top Seeds Out In Gstaad
Francisco Cabral and Tomislav Brkic saved two match points at 5-6 in the second set before completing a late charge to upset top seeds David Vega Hernandez and Rafael Matos on Thursday at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad. The Portuguese-Bosnian team claimed a 3-6, 7-6(3), 10-8 victory to set up a quarter-final meeting with Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan.

Goransson/McLachlan also saved a pair of match points in Gstaad in a comeback Thursday victory. The defeated Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Cristian Garin 6-7(4), 6-4, 11-9, winning the final four points of the Match Tie-break after trailing 7/9.

Two quarter-finals were also completed on Thursday at the ATP 250 event. Franko Skugor and Fabrice Martin claimed a 3-6, 7-6(3), 10-2 decision against Swedish brothers Elias Ymer and Mikael Ymer, while Lorenzo Sonego and Andrea Vavassori defeated Jonny O’Mara and Roman Jebavy 6-2, 6-3.

Carlos Alcaraz produced a burst of untouchable clay-court tennis Thursday at the Hamburg European Open to overcome a slow start in a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory against Filip Krajinovic.

While the Serbian matched the top seed blow for blow in the opening set and served for the set at 5-4, Alcaraz began to find his top level at the crucial moment. He saved four set points in that 5-4 game, then reeled off five straight points to win the tie-break from 2/4. 

“I had to play one of my best matches on Tour. I’m really happy with my performance,” Alcaraz said after the victory.

In a clean match from both sides, Krajinovic hit five more winners than Alcaraz, finishing with a pristine 27-to-15 winners-to-unforced-errors count.

“It was pretty tough. Filip was playing unbelievable. He played really well from the beginning until the end.”

Down 2/4 in the tie-break, Alcaraz went from defense to offense as he punished a floated Krajinovic volley to get back on serve. That escape opened the floodgates for a barrage of Alcaraz winners which sealed the set and shifted the momentum firmly onto his side.

The Spaniard raced to a double-break advantage at 4-1 in the second set behind more heavy hitting. Despite giving one break back, Alcaraz closed out the match with ease to set up a quarter-final showdown with Karen Khachanov — a rematch of their Roland Garros fourth-round meeting, which Alcaraz won in straight sets. The seventh-seeded Khachanov defeated Fabio Fognini 6-3, 7-5 earlier on Thursday in Hamburg.

“I know that Karen’s playing well,” the Spaniard said of his next opponent. “He has a great level, big serve, so it’s going to be a tough match. But I think with the performance today, I have the confidence to have a good match in the quarter-finals.”

With the victory, Alcaraz improved to 22-2 on clay this season, his 22 victories joint-most alongside Casper Ruud (22-7), who was victorious in Gstaad on Thursday. Alcaraz is seeking his fourth clay title on the year; he leads the ATP Tour with three such trophies to date (Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona, Madrid) in addition to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title on the Miami hard courts. Alcaraz’s four tour-level titles match Rafael Nadal’s four for the most overall in 2022.

Matteo Berrettini made a winning return to the ATP Tour Thursday, when he dispatched Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad.

Playing in his first match since triumphing at The Queen’s Club in June, the Italian showed little sign of rustiness against the Frenchman, improving to 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series.

“I have great memories here,” Berrettini said in his on-court interview. “My first ATP Tour title. I really like these conditions. Even though I was coming from grass and this is the complete opposite, I like when the ball is jumping like this. I think it suits my game and my serve. Also I have a lot of people coming to support me. A lot of Italians I heard, so I am really happy to be here and I am enjoying it.”

In front of a vocal crowd, the second seed fired seven aces and won 79 per cent (31/39) of his first-serve points to advance after one hour and 30 minutes, setting up a meeting with Pedro Martinez. The fifth-seeded Spaniard edged Elias Ymer 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in two hours and 49 minutes.

Berrettini, who missed Wimbledon due to Covid, has now won his past 10 matches. He lifted trophies on grass in Stuttgart and London in June after missing the spring clay swing in Europe due to a right hand injury.

The 26-year-old, currently No. 14 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, is making his second appearance in Gstaad, having not dropped a set en route to the title in 2018.

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Earlier, Casper Ruud started his title defence with victory, overcoming #NextGenATP Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.

The top seed dropped just one set en route to the title at the ATP 250 event last season and once again looked at home on the clay in Switzerland. The Norwegian saved all five break points he faced to advance after one hour and 39 minutes in their first ATP Head2Head meeting.

“I think it was a great match,” Ruud said in his on-court interview. “The conditions are quite challenging here with the altitude and the ball can fly. You need to serve and return well and I think I did that well all day. I started a little bit shakey, had some break points against me, but I was able to win that game and get going. It is nice to get a win again.”

Ruud, who suffered a disappointing opening-round exit in Bastad last week, will next meet Spaniard Jaume Munar.

“I have had great success here and in Geneva, so it feels very good to be back,” Ruud said. “It was a wish to play in Gstaad because we had great memories. This city is beautiful.

”It is nice to come back to a place where you have won before and hopefully I can do well at this tournament. It is a great atmosphere and I love playing in Switzerland.”

The World No. 5 is trying to win his third tour-level trophy of the season this week, having triumphed on clay in Buenos Aires and Geneva. Earlier this year, the 23-year-old also reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Miami and maiden Grand Slam championship match at Roland Garros.

Lehecka was aiming to reach his second tour-level quarter-final of the season in Gstaad after reaching the semi-finals in Rotterdam. The 20-year-old is sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Milan.

Did You Know?
Ruud now holds a 13-0 record in Switzerland, having also won the title in Geneva twice.

Francisco Cerundolo extended his winning streak to seven matches on Thursday, when he upset World No. 8 Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-2 at the Hamburg European Open to earn his second Top 10 win in as many weeks.

The Argentine captured his maiden tour-level title in Bastad last week and has backed that up in Hamburg. In a high-quality second-round match, Cerundolo rallied from 2-4 in the first set and fired 26 winners as he blasted the second seed off the court in one hour and 33 minutes.

“I think I played another great match. I felt really comfortable on the court,” Cerundolo said in his on-court interview. “I think in the first three games I didn’t play that bad, but he was really solid and didn’t miss many balls. Then I started feeling more confident and I think I was very solid today.”

The 23-year-old, who defeated World No. 5 Casper Ruud in Sweden last week, will next face Aslan Karatsev in the quarter-finals after the 28-year-old eliminated Colombian qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“It is really good to have this confidence at this level,” Cerundolo added. “It is the first time it has happened for me. I am playing against the top guys and I am playing well and it is unbelievable. I really happy with my game and my head, because I am keeping my concentration and playing the whole match well.”

Cerundolo, up to No. 27 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, has earned a career-best 19 tour-level wins this year, with 13 coming on clay. He reached the last four in Rio de Janeiro in February, before he advanced to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in Miami.

Rublev has captured three tour-level crowns this season and lifted the trophy on his last appearance in Hamburg in 2020. However, he was unable to cope with Cerundolo’s heavy hitting in northern Germany.

The ATP has issued updates to the 2022 ATP Tour calendar, including cancellation of the 2022 China swing and the inclusion of six additional single-year events.

ATP has today confirmed the Rolex Shanghai Masters, China Open (Beijing), Chengdu Open, and Zhuhai Championships will not take place in 2022 due to ongoing restrictions related to COVID-19. This marks the third year of cancellation for the ATP’s China swing, typically hosted in September and October and last staged in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

In parallel, ATP has announced six ATP 250 tournaments, issued as single-year event licenses for the 2022 season:

• Week 38 (19-25 Sep): San Diego, USA (Hard)
• Week 39 (26 Sep-2 Oct): Seoul, KOR (Hard); Tel Aviv, ISR (Indoor Hard)
• Week 41 (10-16 Oct): Florence, ITA (Indoor Hard); Gijon, ESP (Indoor Hard)
• Week 42 (17-23 Oct): Naples, ITA (Hard)

View The Full 2022 ATP Tour Calendar Here

Single-year event licenses were first issued by ATP in 2020, in response to pandemic-related event cancellations, to maintain playing opportunities and also enable tennis to explore new markets.

In addition, the Astana Open in Nur-Sultan, an ATP 250 event, will this year be staged as an ATP 500 alongside the Rakuten Japan Open in Tokyo. The Astana Open became a permanent ATP Tour member this season following two editions as a single-year event in 2020 and 2021, through the transfer and relocation of the St. Petersburg tournament.

All other events for the remainder of the ATP Tour season are currently set to proceed as scheduled, culminating at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman, said: “As a global sport we continue to manage the impacts of the pandemic. Event cancellations are an unfortunate reality, and we wish our affected tournament members and fans well. At the same time, it’s incredibly encouraging to have many great cities step up to host ATP Tour tennis this season. This shows the strong international interest in our product and validates the agile approach we’ve taken in responding to fast-changing circumstances. We would like to thank all stakeholders involved in this process and look forward to an exciting second half of the season.”

Dominic Thiem gained further momentum on Thursday at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad, overcoming Argentine Federico Delbonis 7-6(8), 6-3 to reach his second tour-level quarter-final in as many weeks.

The Austrian let slip a 5-2 lead in the first set, but took the opener after saving two set points in the tie-break. Thiem then opened his shoulders and hit through Delbonis in the second set to advance after one hour and 57 minutes.

“Every win is so important right now and I got a great energy from my box,” Thiem said in his on-court interview. “They also knew that first set was crucial and the key to the match. I am coming from [reaching] the quarters in Bastad and I really wanted to back it up here in Gstaad.

“I have won two matches which means a lot to me right now. I really need those ranking points. Every match win is something very special.”

The former World No. 3, who saved one match point in his first-round victory against Hugo Gaston, defeated Emil Ruusuvuori and Roberto Bautista Agut en route to his maiden tour-level quarter-final of the season last week in Bastad.

Thiem will be aiming to go one stage further at the ATP 250 clay-court event in Switzerland when he next faces Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas. In a rain-disrupted match, the World No. 115 Varillas upset third seed Bautista Agut 7-6(3), 7-5.

“The key moment was that set point save,” Thiem added. “I thought I was playing well the whole match. I was in control in the first set, but then I didn’t play a good game when serving for the set and it was close. He can play really heavy here, especially in altitude. Those two set points saved plus winning that tie-break was the key.”

The 17-time tour-level titlist Thiem has fond memories in Gstaad, having lifted the trophy on his previous appearance in 2015. The last time the 28-year-old won a tour-level crown was at the US Open in 2020.