Britain’s Dan Evans has reached the final of the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham after he fought back from a set down to beat Marcel Granollers.
Evans – who resumed his career in April after a year’s ban for taking cocaine – defeated the Spaniard 4-6 6-2 6-3.
The victory in one hour 11 minutes was Evans’ 16th in 19 matches and secured a place in an ATP Challenger final for the first since his comeback.
Evans will play Ilya Ivashka of Belarus or Aussie Alex de Minaur in the final.
The 28-year-old’s win over Granollers, 32, ranked 134 in the world, was his fifth against a player in the top 200 since he returned from the suspension.
Evans’ recent form saw him handed him a wildcard entry by the LTA for next week’s Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s.
Alex de Minaur bids for a second straight grass-court final appearance, while home hope Daniel Evans eyes his first on the surface
It is the largest public tennis facility in Great Britain and this week the Nottingham Tennis Centre plays host to one of the most prestigious ATP Challenger Tour events on the calendar.
The Nature Valley Open in Nottingham is the middle event of the three-week grass-court swing on the circuit. Last week, Aussie teen Alex de Minaur reached the final in Surbiton and this week the #NextGenATP star is pushing towards another appearance in a championship match.
De Minaur will face Ilya Ivashka of Belarus in Saturday’s semi-finals. The 19-year-old broke into the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings thanks to his run in Surbiton and World No. 115 Ivashka will look to do the same with a title this week. In search of his maiden Challenger crown, De Minaur would also move up to fifth in the ATP Race to Milan with a title.
In the other semi-final, home hope Daniel Evans looks to continue his hot streak against Spanish veteran Marcel Granollers. Evans is 9-1 on the grass with consecutive semi-final appearances in Surbiton and Nottingham. He claimed their lone previous encounter, rallying from a set down at the 2017 Sydney International.
Swiss won their last FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting in Miami
With the No. 1 ATP Ranking on the line, Roger Federer will face one of the best big-match players on the ATP World Tour. The 36-year-old Swiss and Aussie Nick Kyrgios will meet for the third time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series (1-1) on Saturday in the MercedesCup semi-finals in Stuttgart.
Kyrgios won their first matchup, saving two match points at the 2015 Mutua Madrid Open to beat Federer 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-6(12). The big-serving Aussie leaned on his first serve when in trouble and frustrated Federer by winning 83 per cent of those points.
At the time, Kyrgios was only 20 and just a year removed from stunning then-No. 1 Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon as the 144th-ranked player.
But last year at the Miami Open presented by Itau, Kyrgios was a known threat, and Federer gained revenge in their electric semi-final played under the lights. The Aussie again erased two match points in the second set and belted an ace at 10/9 in the second-set tie-break to even the contest.
Watch The Best Moments From Kyrgios-Federer at 2017 Miami
But the Swiss didn’t let another opportunity go by, clinching the semi-final on his racquet 7-6(9), 6-7(9), 7-6(5). He’d complete his third Sunshine Double the next day.
“We’ve had some brutal matches against each other, in Miami, in Madrid,” Federer said after his straight-sets quarter-final win against Argentina’s Guido Pella on Friday. “He’s always dangerous, especially on the grass. I think I will enjoy playing against him.”
Read More: Relive Kyrgios-Federer From 2017 Miami
Both Federer and Kyrgios have impressed in Stuttgart during their returns to the ATP World Tour. Federer’s hiatus was self-imposed; the Swiss skipped the European clay-court swing for a second year in a row after falling in his Miami opener to Kyrgios’ countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis on 24 March.
But he’s dropped only one set while extending his grass-court win streak, dating back to 2017 Wimbledon, to 14 matches against German Mischa Zverev and Pella.
Kyrgios missed the past two months of singles play because of an injured right elbow, but the 23-year-old Aussie has shown few signs of any lingering problems. He beat German Maximilian Marterer, who made the fourth round at Roland Garros, and 2017 Fever-Tree Championships titlist Feliciano Lopez of Spain to make his second semi-final of the season (Brisbane).
Kyrgios and countryman Lleyton Hewitt are the only two players to beat Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic in their first meetings. Kyrgios is also 8-7 against players ranked inside the Top 4 of the ATP Rankings.
If Federer wins, he’ll overtake Rafael Nadal for the top ATP Ranking on Monday. The Swiss currently holds the record for most weeks at No. 1 (309). This is Federer’s only opportunity during the grass-court season to return to the top spot. He can’t improve his points tally at his next two events, the Gerry Weber Open in Halle and Wimbledon, where he won titles last year. Federer was last No. 1 during the week of 14 May.
Zverev/Fucsovics Shining On Team Debut In Stuttgart
Jun152018
Klaasen/Venus to face Inglot/Skugor for ‘s-Hertogenbosch title
Marton Fucsovics and Mischa Zverev had never played doubles together before arriving in Stuttgart this week for the MercedesCup. Nevertheless, they booked their place in the semi-finals with a 6-3, 5-7, 10-4 victory over Jonathan Eysseric and Lucas Pouille in 74 minutes on Friday.
The Hungarian-German team will now challenge Robert Lindstedt and Marcin Matkowski on Saturday. Fucsovics has never reached an ATP World Tour final in doubles, while Zverev has triumphed three times — twice with Mikhail Youzhny in 2008, and once last year with younger brother Alexander Zverev.
The winner of that semi-final will meet Philipp Petzschner and Tim Puetz in the final. The Germans advanced to the championship match by beating top seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer 7-6(2), 6-3 in a big-serving 79-minute encounter.
Petzschner, the 2011 Stuttgart titlist (w/Melzer), will now compete to capture his eighth tour-level doubles crown (7-7 overall), while Puetz contests his first ATP World Tour final. Together they have teamed up to capture two ATP Challenger Tour crowns at Wroclaw in 2015 and Aix-en-Provence earlier this year.
Inglot/Skugor Beat Defending Champions In ‘s-Hertogenbosch Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor will attempt to capture their second ATP World Tour team trophy in the final of the Libema Open.
The third seeds knocked out top seeds and defending champions Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, who needed to play two matches on Friday, 6-4, 6-7(3), 10-6 in 89 minutes. Earlier in the day, Kubot and Melo overcame Dutchmen Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 in 81 minutes.
Inglot and Skugor will next meet second seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, who first beat Matthew Ebden and Malek Jaziri 2-6, 6-4, 10-4 in 70 minutes in the quarter-finals and then fourth seeds Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak 6-3, 6-2 in 52 minutes.
Inglot and Skugor will now look to add to the Gazprom Hungarian Open trophy (d. Middelkoop/Molteni) they won in April, while Klaasen and Venus triumphed at the Open 13 Provence (d. Daniell/Inglot) in February.
Andy Murray will decide on Saturday morning whether he is fit enough to return to the ATP Tour at Queen’s Club next week.
The former world number one, 31, played some practice sets with fellow Briton Cameron Norrie on Friday and was due to decide afterwards whether to play.
But he has put back that decision, before the draw taking place at midday.
The Scot, who has not played since Wimbledon last year, had a hip operation in January.
Queen’s, which starts on Monday, is set to have the strongest line-up in its 128-year history with 16 of the world’s top 30 taking part.
Murray, who was forced to pull out of this week’s Libema Open in the Netherlands, still hopes to play at Wimbledon, which starts on 2 July.
But last week, his mother Judy told BBC Sport that Murray would not risk playing at Wimbledon unless he was fully fit.
“The most important thing is he gets fit again for the long term and any top athlete would tell you they would not come back until they felt they could give 100%, especially in a major like Wimbledon,” she said.
Roger Federer is one match away from regaining the world number one ranking following his quarter-final victory over Guido Pella at the Mercedes Cup.
The Swiss beat world number 75 Pella 6-4 6-4 in 67 minutes in Stuttgart.
Federer dropped just 12 points on serve and saved both of the break points he faced against the Argentine to claim his 14th consecutive grass-court win.
He will face Nick Kyrgios in Saturday’s semi-finals, after the Australian beat Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-4 3-6 6-3.
Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion, needs to reach the final to replace Rafael Nadal at the top of the rankings.
Elsewhere, Australia’s Bernard Tomic reached his first ATP semi-final for two years with a win over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco at the Libema Open in s’Hertogenbosch.
Tomic beat the fourth seed 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to set up a meeting with either France’s Richard Gasquet or Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
In the men’s doubles, Britain’s Dom Inglot and Croatia’s Franko Skugor reached the final with a 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 10-6 win over Pole Lukasz Kubot and Brazil’s Marcelo Melo.
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