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Tsitsipas, Ruud, Shelton sign up for doubles duty at Wimbledon

  • Posted: Jun 21, 2024

Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Ben Shelton lead a strong group of singles players who have signed on to play doubles at this year’s Wimbledon.

World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev has also entered but is two spots away from making the acceptance list cut with Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner. Andy Murray and Jamie Murray are eighth on the alternate list but would stand a strong chance of receiving a wild card if the two-time Wimbledon singles champion declares himself fit to play after undergoing a back procedure Saturday.

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Tsitsipas will team with his brother Petros Tsitsipas for the second straight major. At Roland Garros the brothers took out fourth seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek en route to the quarter-finals, where they were stopped by eventual champions Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic.

Ruud, No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will partner American William Blumberg. World No. 14 Shelton will partner Mackenzie McDonald. Other Top 20 singles players entered in doubles are Ugo Humbert (w/ Arthur Fils), Alexander Bublik (w/ Alexander Shevchenko), Sebastian Baez (w/ Dustin Brown).

Marcelo Granollers and Horacio Zeballos head the acceptance list along with Australian Open champions Matthew Ebden, a former Wimbledon doubles champion, and Rohan Bopanna.

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Andy Murray readies for 'back procedure' in quest to play Wimbledon

  • Posted: Jun 21, 2024

Andy Murray will undergo a back procedure Saturday as he races the clock to be fit for a likely farewell appearance at Wimbledon.

The former World No. 1 retired from his second-round match against Jordan Thompson at Queen’s on Wednesday and acknowledged that he had been struggling with an ongoing back complaint.

Murray’s management team issued a statement Friday that read: “Andy is having a procedure on his back tomorrow. We will know more after this has taken place and will update further as soon as possible.”

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His brother Jamie Murray, who this week is serving as tournament director at the cinch Championships, told the BBC on Friday: “He saw a specialist yesterday evening and he’s basically trying to decide what his next move is.

“I don’t think it’s right for me to go into that personally, that’s up to him, but I think he has got a few decisions to make.

“It’s obviously incredibly disappointing for him that this was potentially going to be his last Queen’s, last Wimbledon and Olympics, and there’s a potential that that might not be able to happen.

“I think he’s got to make a few decisions, and see where he goes from there.”

Murray, 37, who is currently No. 129 in the PIF ATP Rankings, played his 1000th match in the first round of Queen’s earlier this week before retiring against Thompson on Wednesday. The 2016 Nitto ATP Finals champion is 6-12 on the year. Earlier in the year he missed almost two months after injuring his ankle in Miami.

Murray is a two-time Wimbledon champion, two-time Olympic champion, US Open champion and a 14-time ATP Masters 1000 champion. He has won 46 singles titles during his career according to Infosys ATP Stats.

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Sinner survives Struff's clutch serving to snatch three-set win

  • Posted: Jun 21, 2024

In the face of a brilliant serving display from Jan-Lennard Struff, Jannik Sinner held firm Friday to advance to the Terra Wortmann Open semi-finals. Struff hit 18 aces and saved 16 of 18 break points — including all 11 in the second and third sets — but could not pull off the upset against the new No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

The Italian’s 6-2, 6-7(1), 7-6(3) result was his third consecutive three-set win in Halle, after earlier victories against Tallon Griekspoor and Fabian Marozsan. Sinner lost a tie-break in each of the three matches.

“It was a very tough match,” Sinner said. “I had chances in the second, had chances in the third, but couldn’t use them. It was 0/40 [in the first game of the third set]. I just try to accept these kind of challenges. Obviously it has been very tough, also mentally. I’m very pleased to be in the next round, I played a lot yesterday, I played a lot also today — two and a half hours on grass, it’s a long time. I’ll try to recover for tomorrow and hopefully show some good tennis.”

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Playing in his first event as World No. 1, Sinner has yet to meet a seeded opponent. That trend will continue in Saturday’s semis, when he takes on Zhang Zhizhen or Christopher Eubanks.

Sinner is bidding to become the eighth man in PIF ATP Rankings history to win the title in his first event as No. 1, and the first to do it since Andy Murray at the 2016 Nitto ATP Finals.

Against Struff, the Italian found early success by attacking his opponent’s backhand, breaking twice in the opening set. But Struff lifted his aggression in the second, particularly on his forehand, and stepped in on Sinner’s second serve to fight back. Sinner won 67 per cent of his second-serve points in the first set followed by just 36 per cent in the second set, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Two Sinner double faults at 2-2 in the third set helped Struff create his first break point as the match clock struck two hours, but the Italian fought it off and the set moved quickly toward a tie-break. The third-set tie-break was Struff’s 10th decisive tie-break of 2024 (5-5, including his Halle opener) and Sinner’s first.

The victory improved Sinner to 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head against Struff, whom he beat earlier this season in Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo. The Italian is through to his second tour-level semi-final on grass (Wimbledon 2023). He is on a 34-match winning streak vs. players ranked outside Top 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

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Paul ends Draper's run, reaches Queen's SFs

  • Posted: Jun 21, 2024

Tommy Paul reached his second tour-level grass-court semi-final on Friday at the cinch Championships, where he snapped Jack Draper’s seven-match winning streak.

The American played aggressively throughout the two-hour, five-minute encounter in west London, attacking the Briton’s second serve at every opportunity to earn a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory. Paul hit his flat groundstrokes through the fast conditions and won 51 per cent (18/35) of points on Draper’s second delivery to improve to 2-3 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“I played good tennis and I like the grass. I knew today was going to be a battle,” Paul said. “It is never easy against Jack, he has been playing such good tennis, so I am really happy to get through that one.”

The home favourite Draper lifted his maiden tour-level title in Stuttgart last week and then upset World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the second round at Queen’s for the biggest win of his career by PIF ATP Rankings. However, he could not battle to an eighth consecutive victory, with Paul fresher in the third set.

The fifth seed is now 25-10 on the season and will meet countryman Sebastian Korda. Paul’s previous best result on grass came in Eastbourne last year when he lost to Francisco Cerundolo in the final.

Korda, with a 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 result against Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata, became the first American to reach consecutive Queen’s Club semi-finals since Andy Roddick advanced that stage each year from 2003-09. He is up three places this week to No. 20 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, setting himself up for a new career high.

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Earlier, Lorenzo Musetti continued his impressive grass-court season by ending Billy Harris’ run. The Italian moved past the British wild card 6-3, 7-5 to reach his second consecutive semi-final on the surface.

Musetti, who advanced to the last four in Stuttgart last week, fired 20 winners and committed just six unforced errors according to ATP Infosys stats to triumph after one hour and 41 minutes in London.

 

 

Harris was competing in his first tour-level quarter-final, having upset Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard earlier this week. The 29-year-old is up 23 spots to No. 139 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

Musetti is chasing his third tour-level title and will next play Jordan Thompson after the Australian defeated fourth seed Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3.

Thompson, who did not face a break point against Fritz to improve to 1-1 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, arrived in London on a five-match losing streak. However, the 30-year-old has looked back to his best at the ATP 500, also defeating Holger Rune and record five-time champion Andy Murray.

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Fritz/Khachanov upset top seeds Bopanna/Ebden at Queen's

  • Posted: Jun 21, 2024

Singles stars Taylor Fritz and Karen Khachanov continued their run at the cinch Championships on Friday when they upset top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 7-6(1), 7-6(3) to reach the semi-finals in London.

Fritz and Khachanov saved one set point in the first set and were impressive in the crucial moments in the second set, saving all five break points they faced to advance after 80 minutes.

The eighth seeds are teaming for the first time this week, having beaten Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Martin Etcheverry in their opening match. They will meet third seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic or fifth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic in the last four.

In other action, Neal Skupski and Michael Venus clawed past second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 7-6(5), 7-6(6).

“I think we played very well and deserved it in the end,” Skupski said. “We can take confidence in beating a very good team in Joe and Rajeev. They have won Grand Slams together and are a very dangerous team on the grass.”

The seventh seeds won 85 per cent (39/46) of their first-serve points according to ATP Infosys Stats and embraced the reduction in time between points (as part of the doubles trial) to ride momentum and race through service games.

Competing in just their second tour-level event of the season together, Skupski and Venus will play Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in the last four after the Croatian-American team overcame Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Defending champions Dodig and Krajicek saved three match points in the Match tie-break to seal a 6-7(5), 6-3, 13-11 victory after one hour and 37 minutes at the Queen’s Club.

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Top seeds Bolelli/Vavassori reach Halle final
Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori moved past Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer 6-3, 7-6(6) at the Terra Wortmann Open to reach their fourth tour-level final of the season as a team.

The top seeds, who lost in the title match at the ATP 500 event last season, saved nine set points in the second set, before eventually triumphing on their first match point after 84 minutes. Bolelli and Vavassori are chasing their second trophy of the year.

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Lexus ATP Head2Head Challenge: Is Etcheverry or Tabilo the better cricketer?

  • Posted: Jun 21, 2024

Who is better at cricket: Tomas Martin Etcheverry or Alejandro Tabilo?

That question was answered in the newest Lexus ATP Head2Head Challenge, which took place in London.

The South American players joined England cricket stars Katherine Sciver-Brunt and Natalie Sciver-Brunt for a special tutorial and competition. Although they might not be the next Sachin Tendulkar, the tennis standouts picked up the sport quickly.

“It’s a tough sport. When I [made] the first swing, I didn’t hit any balls,” Etcheverry said. “I enjoyed it a lot, of course. I think I’m going to be a huge fan of this sport, cricket.”

Which player was victorious and who was left to pick up the balls? Watch the full video above to find out.

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