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Williams knocks out Muguruza to reach WTA Finals last four

  • Posted: Oct 26, 2017

Venus Williams beat Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza in straight sets to reach the last four at the WTA Finals, ending the Spaniard’s hopes of finishing the year as world number one.

The American, 37, won 7-5 6-4 in Singapore to secure second place in the White Group behind Karolina Pliskova.

Czech Pliskova had already qualified, but ended the round-robin stage with a 6-3 6-1 loss to Jelena Ostapenko.

Williams will play Caroline Wozniacki or Caroline Garcia in the semis.

Denmark’s Wozniacki has guaranteed a semi-final place with two wins, and will win the White Group with victory over French eighth seed Garcia on Friday.

World number one Simona Halep of Romania then takes on Ukraine’s fourth seed Elina Svitolina, with both women still able to reach the semi-finals heading into the final group matches.

Williams makes amends for Wimbledon defeat

Muguruza proved too strong in the Wimbledon final in July. but three months later it was Williams who prevailed in straight sets.

Both players struggled to hold serve in a see-saw opening set which was eventually won by Williams.

Leading 6-5, the American took advantage of a loose game from Muguruza in which the Spaniard drove a forehand long with the court wide open.

Before the second set, Muguruza’s coach Sam Sumyk urged her to commit more to her shots, instructing the Wimbledon champion to “miss on your terms”.

The words seemed to have an effect on Muguruza, who stepped inside the baseline to break in the opening game of the second set.

Muguruza could not sustain her advantage, however, and was pegged back instantly.

Williams took advantage of further errors from Muguruza to seal the match and reach the fifth WTA Finals semi-final of her career.

“I played an amazing opponent who has had an amazing year so I was so happy to win the last point,” Williams said.

White Group Matches W-L Sets W-L Games W-L
Karolina Pliskova (Cze) Q 2-1 4-2 28-20
Venus Williams (US) Q 2-1 4-3 37-38
Garbine Muguruza (Spa) 1-2 2-4 25-32
Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) 1-2 3-4 36-36

Ostapenko thrashes in Pliskova in dead rubber

Earlier on Thursday, French Open champion Ostapenko convincingly overcame Pliskova, who produced an error-strewn display.

Ostapenko said: “It was my last match here today. I really tried to enjoy every moment. I think I was playing quite relaxed, and I just showed my best today.”

Pliskova hope to regain the form she showed in her opening two matches when she takes on the runner-up from Red Group in Saturday’s semi-finals.

Red Group Matches W-L Sets W-L Games W-L
Caroline Wozniacki (Den) Q 2-0 4-0 24-4
Simona Halep (Rom) 1-1 2-2 14-18
Caroline Garcia (Fra) 1-1 2-3 25-27
Elena Svitolina (Ukr) 0-2 1-4 17-31

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Tsonga, Paire Make Sweet Treats In Vienna & Basel

  • Posted: Oct 26, 2017

Tsonga, Paire Make Sweet Treats In Vienna & Basel

It hasn’t been all about tennis for players this week. ATPWorldTour.com provides a recap of the highlights.

Follow all the latest off-court action on MyATP! Download the app for iPhone or Android and visit MyATP.com. 

Swiss Indoors Basel – Basel, Switzerland

Benoit Paire took some time off ahead of his second-round clash against Roger Federer at the Swiss Indoors Basel. The Frenchman visited the “Läckerli House” in Basel’s old town and prepared the famous cookie specialty. The Basler Läckerli is a traditional hard, spice biscuit made of honey, hazelnuts, almonds, candied peel and Kirsch. After a nice walk through the old town, Paire arrived at the shop and helped bake some Läckerli.

“This is a very nice experience. The biscuits are very tasty and it was fun to prepare them. It’s not easy, almost more difficult than playing Roger Federer. I will offer some of my biscuits to him on court tomorrow,” Paire said with a big smile.

“I know a lot of Swiss specialities, but this is the first time I tasted the Basler Läckerli,” the Geneva resident added. “Last night I had some Raclette, a dish I like a lot.”

Marin Cilic and Marco Chiudinelli participated in the Champions of Tomorrow clinic with junior players from all over Switzerland Sunday morning. The 20 junior players enjoyed the clinic with the two stars. Defending champion Cilic even gave them some advice in German.

Erste Bank Open 500 – Vienna, Austria

Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev took to the streets of Vienna on Saturday for some improvised street tennis in front of the famous landmark St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Zverev and Thiem also assisted with the draw ceremony.

“This city is amazing. I think it is an old fashioned, European city like we have in my home country, in Germany,” Zverev said. “It is such a beautiful place… I think we all enjoyed it.”

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Kevin Anderson, Sam Querrey, David Ferrer, Pablo Cuevas, Jamie Murray, Bruno Soares, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan took a cooking class in Vienna on Monday evening at “Plachuttas Gasthaus zur Oper”. After learning how to prepare Wiener Schnitzel last year, it was all about the Kaiserschmarrn (shredded pancake), a traditional Austrian dessert, this time around. After completing their own desserts the players were treated to a three course meal, which of course included the traditional Wiener Schnitzel.

“I usually don’t make a lot of food, but it was a blast. Last year, we made a Schnitzel, and this year we learned to make another dish, so I can make two dishes now,” Mike Bryan said. “I would say Jo was the strongest. He says he cooks a lot at home for his wife and baby. I was lagging behind. I was probably the worst…Bruno got the certificate for best forehand. He was the best whipper, but there was a lot of talent.”

Andrey Rublev celebrated his 20th birthday on Friday in Vienna, and was presented with a Next Gen cake and cake pops by Erste Bank Open 500 Tournament Director, Herwig Straka.

Moet and Chandon off-court news 

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Delpo Boosts London Hopes In Basel Opener

  • Posted: Oct 25, 2017

Delpo Boosts London Hopes In Basel Opener

Argentine going for his third Basel crown this week

Two-time champion Juan Martin del Potro won his fifth consecutive match on Wednesday at the Swiss Indoors Basel, beating Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. The Intrum Stockholm Open champion (d. Dimitrov) won 83 per cent of his first-serve points and saved both break points faced in the third set.

Delpo improved to 19-4 lifetime at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament. He also bolstered his chances of qualifying at the Nitto ATP Finals (2008-09, ’12, 13) for the fourth time. The right-hander is in 13th place in the Emirates ATP Race To London, with 2,160 points, 490 points behind Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who holds the final qualification spot.

But if Delpo wins his third Basel title this week and Carreno Busta loses his second-round match against Argentine Diego Schwartzman at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna, Delpo will climb into the final spot.

The Argentine might have a tough ask in the final, though: top seed Roger Federer, who is a seven-time champion and has a 29-2 record in Basel since 2010. Good news for Delpo, however: Both of those losses have come in finals against the Argentine.

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Seventh-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, this season’s finalist at the Antalya Open (l. to Sugita) and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 (l. to Goffin), withstood 18 aces from Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium to win 7-6(0), 4-6, 6-1 in two hours and three minutes. Mannarino now plays Canadian Denis Shapovalov, a Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier, in the second round.

Shapovalov’s fellow Next Gen ATP qualifiers had a mixed day. Croatian Borna Coric set a second-round meeting with countryman Marin Cilic by putting a first-set tie-break behind him to advance 6-7(8), 6-1, 6-3 against Swiss wild card Henri Laaksonen.

American Jared Donaldson, though, was outdone by Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics 6-0, 6-1 in only 56 minutes. Fucsovics saved five of six break points and won nearly 60 per cent of his second-serve points.

Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, winner of the Aircel Chennai Open (d. Medvedev) and Winston-Salem Open (d. Dzumhur) in 2017, defeated Ryan Harrison of the United States 6-3, 7-6(1) in one hour and 39 minutes. The Spaniard will next meet Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who beat Donald Young of the U.S. 6-4, 6-2.

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