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Nadal made to work for 17th straight win on clay

  • Posted: Apr 27, 2018

Rafael Nadal continued his clay-court domination with a 6-0 7-5 win over Slovakian qualifier Martin Klizan in the Barcelona Open quarter-finals.

The Spanish world number one, 31, extended his Open Era record to 42 successive sets won on his favoured surface.

The 10-time champion will play Belgium’s David Goffin in the semis.

Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, 19, beat world number seven Dominic Thiem 6-2 6-1 for the biggest win of his career.

World number 63 Tsitsipas punished an error-strewn display to set up a semi-final against Spanish world number 11 Pablo Carreno Busta, who also caused an upset by beating second seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-3 7-6 (7-4).

Goffin beat Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 in a match that lasted two-and-a-half hours.

Nadal saved three set points against Klizan, who beat Novak Djokovic in the second round.

Klizan, ranked 140th in the world, was bidding to become the first player to beat Djokovic and Nadal in the same clay-court tournament.

After winning only 13 points in a 31-minute opening set, Klizan rallied in the second and became the first player since Thiem last May to take five games off Nadal in a set.

But he could not hold on to the advantage when attempting to serve out the set as Nadal broke back for 5-5 and won the next two games to seal his 17th clay-court win in a row.

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Federer Reflects On First Trip To Zambia

  • Posted: Apr 27, 2018

Federer Reflects On First Trip To Zambia

Swiss legend spent the week working on the Roger Federer foundation

Roger Federer only just left Zambia after a visiting programmes supported by his self-named foundation this week. But he’s already looking forward to returning to the African nation.

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Federer visited educational programmes and talked with students and parents who benefit from foundation-funded projects. He also made time for some fun, kicking around the football and dancing with boys and girls.

View More Photos From Federer’s Visit To Zambia

“The welcome here in Zambia has been wonderful. The people have been super, super, friendly. They could have not been nicer to me and to the team of the Roger Federer Foundation,” Federer said. “So when you feel this way, of course, you want to come back as soon as possible.”

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Top seed Halep suffers surprise quarter-final defeat in Stuttgart Open

  • Posted: Apr 27, 2018

World number one Simona Halep suffered a surprise defeat at the Stuttgart Open as opponent Coco Vandeweghe reached her first WTA Tour semi-final on clay.

Romania’s Halep, who will still retain her ranking, lost 6-4 6-1 to the 26-year-old American.

Vandeweghe lost to Halep in her only previous clay court quarter-final, but was untroubled in a comfortable display on her least favoured surface.

The world number 16 will play France’s Caroline Garcia in the last four.

Garcia, ranked seventh in the world, fought back from a set and 3-0 down to earn a 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-2 win over Ukrainian third seed Elina Svitolina.

Former world number one Karolina Pliskova meets reigning French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko later on Friday, with Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit facing Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the other quarter-final.

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Nadal Forced To Rally In Barcelona

  • Posted: Apr 27, 2018

Nadal Forced To Rally In Barcelona

Spaniard will meet Goffin or Bautista Agut in SF

Rafael Nadal endured his most serious test of the young clay-court season on Friday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. But the Spaniard fought through – coming back from a break down in the second set – to reach his 11th Barcelona semi-final (11-1 in QF).

The No. 1 player in the ATP Rankings extended his clay-court sets win streak to 42 and his clay-court match-wins streak to 17 against Martin Klizan of Slovakia. Nadal saved three set points in the second set and ousted the left-hander 6-0, 7-5 on Pista Rafa Nadal.

The 31-year-old Spaniard, with a chance to play for his 11th Barcelona title on the line, will next face fourth seed David Goffin, who beat Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2. Goffin has come back from a set down in all three of his matches this week in Barcelona. Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1, but Goffin won their most-recent contest at the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals.

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Read More: Goffin Stuns Rafa In London

Nadal dominated the opener against Klizan, breaking the left-hander three times and dropping only four points on serve (12/16). The Spaniard was racing all over the court and attacking the Slovakian, who had beaten Novak Djokovic and Feliciano Lopez of Spain to make the quarter-finals.

But in the second set, Klizan, a three-time clay-court titlist, found his form, breaking to start and mixing in drop shots against Nadal. At 5-4, Klizan had the set on his racquet.

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That alone marked an accomplishment: Not since the 2017 Rome quarter-finals last May, when Dominic Thiem beat Nadal 6-4, 6-3, had someone won so many games against Nadal during a set on clay.

But Klizan couldn’t force a decider. Three set points came and went, and Nadal delivered a series of fist pumps and shouts after Klizan lifted a forehand wide on break point. The Spaniard raced through the final two games, prolonging his streaks and his stay in Barcelona.

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Cecchinato Reaches First Semi-Final In Budapest

  • Posted: Apr 27, 2018

Cecchinato Reaches First Semi-Final In Budapest

Seppi, Bedene, Millman compete later on day five

Marco Cecchinato pumped his right fist in celebration after hitting a smash winner to wrap up a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 victory over seventh-seeded German Jan-Lennard Struff on Friday at the Gazprom Hungarian Open. The Italian lucky loser is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final, where he’ll face eighth seed Andreas Seppi of Italy or Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.

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