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Zhang Is First Chinese Man To Qualify For Wimbledon

  • Posted: Jun 25, 2021

Zhang Zhizhen made history on Thursday at Wimbledon.

The 24-year-old beat Buenos Aires finalist Francisco Cerundolo 6-0, 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6) to reach his first major main draw and become the first Chinese man to make the main draw at The Championships in the Open Era.

This was the World No. 178’s fourth attempt to qualify for a Grand Slam. In his first three attempts, he did not advance past the second round of qualifying.

Zhang will be the fourth Chinese man to compete in a major singles main draw in the Open Era according to Wimbledon.com. Wu Di did it three times at the Australian Open (2013, 2014 and 2016), Zhang Ze played in Melbourne twice (2014 and 2015) and Li Zhe competed in the 2019 Australian Open.

Zhang did not lose a set in his first two qualifying matches, and he got off to a quick start against Cerundolo, losing just three games in the first two sets. The two-time ATP Challenger Tour titlist had to dig deep in the fourth-set tie-break to triumph after two hours and 20 minutes.

Did You Know?
The 24-year-old is the No. 1 Chinese player in the FedEx ATP Rankings at World No. 178. Last year, Zhang reached a career-high World No. 136.

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McDonald Rallies From Two Sets Down To Qualify For Wimbledon

  • Posted: Jun 24, 2021

Mackenzie McDonald made the fourth round on his Wimbledon debut in 2018. Now, the American will get another main draw crack at SW19.

The second seed in qualifying rallied from two sets down on Thursday to beat another former UCLA Bruin, Maxime Cressy, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The 26-year-old struck 54 winners to just 18 unforced errors to advance after three hours and 12 minutes.

McDonald had to go through qualifying, but he has been a force on the ATP Tour this season. McDonald is second among Americans in the FedEx ATP Race To Turin, only trailing Sebastian Korda.

Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor also came from two sets down to claw past Briton Arthur Fery 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-2. This will be Griekspoor’s second Grand Slam main draw and his debut at Wimbledon.

#NextGenATP American Brandon Nakashima will also make his maiden main draw appearance at SW19 after ousting former World No. 10 Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. The 19-year-old is the youngest player to come through qualifying.

Nakashima’s countryman, Denis Kudla, ousted Italian Federico Gaio 6-2, 7-5, 6-4. This will be the American’s seventh Wimbledon main draw. In 2015, he advanced to the fourth round.

China’s Zhang Zhizhen took out Buenos Aires finalist Francisco Cerundolo 6-0, 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6) to reach his first major main draw, and Australian Marc Polmans battled past 2018 Newport finalist Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2), 3-6, 11-9.

Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, who has earned wins this season against Jannik Sinner and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, moved past Serbian Nikola Milojevic 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2. His countrymen, Gregoire Barrere, Benjamin Bonzi and Antoine Hoang, also earned their spots in the field of 128.

The other players who qualified on Thursday were Chilean Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera, German Daniel Masur, Australian Christopher O’Connell, German Oscar Otte, Argentine Marco Trungelliti and Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles.

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Thiem Withdraws From Wimbledon

  • Posted: Jun 24, 2021

Dominic Thiem on Thursday announced his withdrawal from Wimbledon due to a right wrist injury he suffered during his match Tuesday at the Mallorca Championships. 

“I’m going to do everything the doctors say in order to recover as quickly as possible,” Thiem said. “They’ve informed me that I might be out for several weeks, but I will do my best to be back on court soon.”

Tests in Barcelona found that the Austrian star has a “detachment of the posterior sheath of the ulnar side of the right wrist”. He will wear a splint for five weeks, and Dr. Angel Ruiz Cotorro and his team will monitor Thiem’s progress.

The 27-year-old is 9-9 on the season and the No. 5 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings.

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Medvedev Races Past Ruud To Reach Mallorca SFs

  • Posted: Jun 24, 2021

Top seed Daniil Medvedev has reached the third grass-court semi-final of his career after taking down Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-1 at the Mallorca Championships on Thursday.

The Russian bounced back emphatically after his opening-round defeat at the NOVENTI OPEN in Halle (l. to Struff) to move into the last four without dropping a set. Medvedev has previously reached this stage at The Queen’s Club in 2019 and Eastbourne in 2017. 

“I feel like it was a funny match. Maybe [it was] not the highest level, but I’m really happy to win and be in the semi-finals here. I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” Medvedev said in an on-court interview.

Medvedev served up a great performance against Ruud with eight aces and 87 per cent (26/30) of points won behind his first serves. He didn’t face a break point in the first set, where he only lost one point behind his first serve (17/18). 

The top seed had Ruud under pressure, and he finally broke through late in the opening set. Medvedev broke the Norwegian’s serve five times in a row to take the first set and romp through the second, winning nine of the last 10 games. He sealed the match with a drop shot and a put-away volley to move into the semi-finals after one hour and 17 minutes.

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“I don’t think grass is his best surface, but in the first set he was playing top level and I couldn’t get any break points,” Medvedev said. “But as soon as he started serving a bit worse and making some errors, I tried to use it as fast as I could. It was important to win the first set and not in a tie-break, this gives me a boost of confidence.”

Medvedev will next face home favourite Pablo Carreno Busta, the fourth seed, for a place in his first grass-court final. Medvedev has won 10 ATP Tour titles, all of them coming on hard courts.

Carreno Busta saved all three break points he faced as he edged past Jordan Thompson 6-4, 6-4. He is through to his first semi-final on the surface since Antalya in 2019 (l. to Sonego). The Spaniard trails Medvedev 1-2 in their ATP Head2Head.

Sam Querrey and Adrian Mannarino will meet in the second Mallorca semi-final after scoring big wins over Spanish opponents on Thursday.

The 31-year-old American took down third seed Roberto Bautista Agut, firing a head-turning 25 aces on the way to a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory. Querrey saved all three break points faced, including a set point late in the second at 5-6 to send them into a tie-break and reach his second semi-final of the grass-court season (also Stuttgart). Mannarino halted Feliciano Lopez’s milestone Mallorca run with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the Spaniard. The Frenchman weathered 15 aces from Lopez, breaking serve twice en route to victory.  

Querrey and Mannarino are tied at 3-3 in their ATP Head2Head, with Mannarino winning the first three matches of their rivalry and Querrey the three most recent; all their previous meetings have come on hard courts.

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Djokovic, Gomez-Herrera Win Mallorca Doubles SF

  • Posted: Jun 24, 2021

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Gomez-Herrera toppled another seeded team at the Mallorca Championships as they as they defeated third seeds Oliver Marach and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-3, 7-6(4) in the semi-finals on Thursday.

But their run was cut short as the wild cards were forced to withdraw later in the day, with Gomez-Herrera citing an ankle injury. Fourth seeds Simone Bolelli and Maximo Gonzalez will take on second seeds Philipp Oswald and Marcus Daniell in Saturday’s semi-final clash, with the winner going on to lift the ATP 250 trophy.

“All around, everything clicked quite amazingly in the last several days for us,” Djokovic said in an on-court interview. “I’m just super thrilled to share the court with him and to reach our first final together.”

Djokovic and Gomez-Herrera reached the final in the first tournament of their partnership. For World No. 1 Djokovic, it was his first doubles final since winning at The Queen’s Club in 2010 with Jonathan Erlich, and for the 31-year-old Spaniard it was his career first. 

At the Viking International Eastbourne, top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic saved five match points and recorded two victories on Thursday to move to the final.

Firstly, the Croatian pair, who have won six titles this year including three ATP Masters 1000s in Miami, Monte-Carlo and Rome, took down Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan 6-3, 7-6(3). They then edged past wild cards Harri Heliovaara and Lloyd Glasspool 6-4, 6-7(5), 18-16 in one hour and 40 minutes. Mektic and Pavic hit eight aces and saved five match points in the decider to advance. 

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They will face third seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the championship match after the American-British team also won twice on Thursday. Ram and Salisbury cruised past John Peers and John-Patrick Smith 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals, before beating second seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-0, 6-7(0), 10-6.

The Colombian duo took down Hugo Nys and Jonny O’Mara 7-5, 6-4 in their quarter-final earlier on Thursday. However, Cabal and Farah, who were aiming to reach a fourth ATP Tour final of the season, could not replicate this against Ram and Salisbury. 

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