Tennis News

Korda cruises to Washington SFs, making most of new life in D.C.

After saving two match points at the Mubadala Citi DC Open against Thanasi Kokkinakis, Sebastian Korda earned a far more straightforward victory against another Aussie on Friday. With a 6-4, 6-2 result against Jordan Thompson, the fourth-seeded American advanced to his fourth semi-final of the season.

The victory saw Korda move back to. No 20 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, a mark that would match his career-high PIF ATP Ranking from June. The 24-year-old can move up to No. 18 if he matches his father, Petr Korda (1992), by winning the Washington title.

In his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Thompson, Korda hit 10 aces and saved the lone break point against him, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He awaits top seed Andrey Rublev or fifth seed Frances Tiafoe in the semi-finals.

The opposite semi-final will see second seed Ben Shelton take on 10th seed Flavio Cobolli.

Shelton led the resurgent Denis Shapovalov 7-6(5), 6-6(6-3), and had triple match point when the Canadian was defaulted after making a comment to a fan. By coming through the all-lefty battle, the American improved to 4-0 in quarter-finals on home soil and improved his season record to 26-16 — equalling his win tally from 2023, his first full year on the ATP Tour.

Cobolli was a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(2) winner against #NextGenATP American Alex Michelsen. The 22-year-old Italian, who competed at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF last November, saved five match points against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round to reach his first ATP 500 quarter-final. He is now through to his second tour-level semi-final overall, after reaching that stage in Geneva in May.

Cobolli is up six places this week to No. 42 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, setting himself up for a career high. He will crack the Top 40 with one more win and will enter the Top 30 with his first title.

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When is the Carlos Alcaraz vs. Novak Djokovic Olympic tennis gold medal match?

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will go head-to-head in the Olympic Tennis Event singles gold medal match on Sunday, with the match scheduled for not before 2 p.m. CEST/8 a.m. EDT.

Djokovic and Alcaraz, Nos. 2 and 3 respectively in the PIF ATP Rankings, recently met in the Wimbledon final, where the Spaniard defeated his older rival for the second consecutive year. Their Lexus ATP Head2Head series is level at 3-3.

Djokovic won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Alcaraz, who is making his Olympics debut, is looking to extended his rich vein of form, which as seen him win Roland Garros and Wimbledon coming into the Olympics.

View Alcaraz vs. Djokovic Lexus ATP Head2Head breakdown

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Raducanu knocked out of Washington Open by Badosa

Emma Raducanu is beaten by Paula Badosa in three sets as she is knocked out of the Washington Open in the quarter-finals.

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'Brilliant' Djokovic reaches men's singles final

Watch highlights as Serbia’s “brilliant” Novak Djokovic wins his semi-final match against Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti to reach the men’s singles final on day seven of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

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Two points from defeat, Machac & Siniakova rally to take mixed doubles gold

Tomas Machac and Katerina Siniakova rallied from the brink of defeat to claim the mixed doubles gold medal for Czechia at the Paris Olympics.

The Czechs trailed Chinese duo Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen 6/8 in a dramatic match tie-break but after clawing back to 8-all, welcomed a double fault from Zhang that set up match point. The former off-court couple sealed gold when Machac’s fierce service return drew a volleying error from Wang, who earlier in the set had made a number of clutch poach volleys for winners.

Both playing mixed doubles at the Olympics for the first time, Machac and Siniakova became the first Czechia team to win the mixed doubles gold with their 6-2, 5-7, 10-8 victory.

Siniakova collected her second gold medal, having won the women’s doubles gold in Tokyo with Barbora Krejcikova.

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/08/02/17/58/felix-mixed-doubles-bronze.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski on their way to collecting mixed doubles bronze at the Paris Olympics.” />
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski on their way to collecting mixed doubles bronze at the Paris Olympics. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Earlier in the day, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski won the mixed doubles bronze medal with a 6-3, 7-6(2) victory over Dutch duo Wesley Koolhof and Demi Schuurs Friday.

The Canadian pair looked headed for a comfortable win after leading 6-3, 3-0, before Koolhof and Schuurs rallied to extended the second set to a tie-break. But the Canadians steadied to become the second players from their nation to win an Olympic medal following the gold medal success of Sebastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor in Sydney in 2000.

Auger-Aliassime, who earlier in the day lost his singles semi-final to Carlos Alcaraz, No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will have a shot at a second bronze medal when he plays the loser of tonight’s Novak Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti semi-final.

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Djokovic tops Musetti to set gold medal match with Alcaraz

Novak Djokovic has set a blockbuster gold medal match with Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Olympics Sunday after defeating Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-2 in Friday’s semi-finals.

A 98-time tour-level titlist who has spent more than eight years atop the PIF ATP Rankings, Djokovic is guaranteed to improve upon his previous best Olympics outing, a singles bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing games. The 37-year-old fell on the red clay in relief when he secured his place in his first Olympic final.

“I have been waiting for this for almost 20 years,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “I’ve played four Olympic games, this is my fifth and I’ve never passed semi-finals. I lost three semi-finals in my first four Olympic games. I managed to overcome this big hurdle. I must be honest and say that I was thinking about all the semi-finals that I lost.”

Despite right knee injury concerns following Thursday’s quarter-final, Djokovic showed no obvious signs of hindered movement. The top seed wore the same grey knee sleeve he has been wearing throughout the tournament and at last month’s Wimbledon.

Djokovic and Musetti faced fierce opposition on serve throughout the match. The seven-time Nitto ATP Finals champion was pushed to deuce in his opening two service games and had four break points of his own at 2-1, but the 22-year-old Musetti held in a lengthy five-deuce game.

The Belgrade native later earned a decisive break at 5-4, tallying five consecutive points from 0/40 to win the opening set.

“I just tried to be in the present moment. I played against a player who is in great form and really came out firing from both ends,” Djokovic said. “I just tried to maintain the focus and do what I have to do.”

Novak WILL battle for gold! 🇷🇸😍@DjokerNole defeats Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 6-2 in #Paris2024 to reach his first Olympic tennis singles final ❗️#Olympics | #tennis pic.twitter.com/tQGg8cWiny

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 2, 2024

The first four games of a topsy-turvy second set featured as many breaks. An animated Djokovic grew frustrated with uncharacteristic errors, two of which came while down break point. Aiming for his first title of 2024, Djokovic won four consecutive games from 2-2 to advance.

“Second set, I started, I was very, very nervous just overall,” Djokovic said. “Before the match, during the match, just so, so nervous. But so glad to overcome this hurdle and secure a medal for my country.”

Alcaraz, who earlier raced past Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1, won his most recent meeting against Djokovic. The Spaniard downed the 24-time major champion in the Wimbledon final, a repeat result from 2023. Their Lexus ATP Head2Head series is tied at 3-3.

Djokovic is the oldest men’s singles finalist since tennis returned to Olympics in Seoul 1988. Alcaraz is the youngest to achieve that same feat.

“I’ve achieved a lot of great things in this sport, but never finals of an Olympic games, so I’m super thrilled,” Djokovic said. “I hope I brought the joy to Serbian fans and people around the world and in also in Serbia. Of course I’m going to think about Alcaraz in the final tomorrow, but I’m also grateful to have a day off. I’m going to need one.”

World No. 16 Musetti will face Auger-Aliassime in the bronze medal match Saturday.

Did You Know?
Djokovic is aiming to become the fifth player, male or female, to complete the career ‘golden slam’, winning all four majors and an Olympic gold medal in singles. Stefanie Graf, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams have achieved the feat.

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What next for Murray after his retirement?

On Friday, Andy Murray began life as a retired tennis player. BBC Sport looks at how he will spend the near future and what the longer term might hold.

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I'll miss Olympics the most – Murray

Sir Andy Murray sits down with Sir Chris Hoy to reflect on his historic tennis career ,which ended with defeat in the quarter-finals of the Paris 2024 men’s doubles on Thursday.

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'Maestro' Alcaraz reaches Olympic singles final

Watch highlights as Carlos Alcaraz beats Felix Auger-Alliassime to reach the final of the Olympic men’s singles at Paris 2024.

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Ebden & Peers beat Fritz & Paul to reach Olympic doubles final

John Peers and Matthew Ebden have advanced to the gold medal match in the men’s doubles at the Paris 2024 Olympics with a 7-5, 6-2 win over American pair Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul in the semi-finals. The Aussie duo will Saturday face American doubles specialists Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek, who defeated the Czech pair Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek on Thursday.

Ebden and Peers become only the second Australian pairing to reach a doubles final since tennis returned to the Seoul 1988 Olympics, following the success of Todd Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde, who won gold together at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. ‘The Woodies’ followed it up with a silver at the Sydney 2000 Games. Peers is guaranteed a second Olympic medal after winning bronze alongside Ash Barty in the mixed doubles at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Both teams have advanced to the final without dropping set.

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