French Open 2020: Britain's Alfie Hewett into wheelchair men's singles semi-finals
Britain’s Alfie Hewett progresses to the semi-finals of the men’s wheelchair singles with a straight-set win over Stephane Houdet.
Britain’s Alfie Hewett progresses to the semi-finals of the men’s wheelchair singles with a straight-set win over Stephane Houdet.
Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas reaches his first French Open semi-final with a commanding straight-set victory over Andrey Rublev.
Petra Kvitova reaches the French Open semi-finals without dropping a set, while Sofia Kenin is also through to the last four.
On Wednesday, Frances Tiafoe will get his rematch.
Two weeks ago, the American met surging 18-year-old Lorenzo Musetti for the first time at the ATP Challenger Tour stop in Forli, Italy. They would battle for more than two hours with Musetti eventually getting the better of the World No. 67, en route to his maiden title.
Tiafoe will have a chance to avenge that defeat when they roll it back on Wednesday. This time, the stage will be the Internazionali di Tennis Emilia Romagna in nearby Parma.
This Week’s Draws: Parma | Barcelona
“He’s a nice kid and he’s playing really great tennis, so it’s going to be a nice match,” said Tiafoe after defeating Blaz Rola on Tuesday. “Hopefully we can play like we did last time. He’s coming up and I need to get my ranking back up, so it will be an exciting match.”
It was in the second round in Forli that Musetti fought through a tight three-setter against Tiafoe. The Italian was coming off a breakthrough performance at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome and he would carry the momentum back to the Challenger circuit. Musetti would lift his first trophy after claiming four straight Top 100 wins, becoming the youngest to do so since 2000.
In total, 10 players inside the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings are competing in Parma. Former World No. 16 Philipp Kohlschreiber meets Italy’s Marco Cecchinato in the second round, with Rio de Janeiro finalist Gianluca Mager and two-time ATP Tour champion Federico Delbonis also in a stacked top half of the draw with Tiafoe and Musetti.
In the bottom half, #NextGenATP stars Alexei Popyrin and Tomas Machac join third seed Laslo Djere, India’s Sumit Nagal and the top Italian in the draw, Salvatore Caruso. Caruso faces Machac third on Center Court on Wednesday, preceding Tiafoe vs. Musetti.
Teen Titans
| This Week | FedEx ATP Ranking |
Post-Restart Record | |
| Lorenzo Musetti (18) | Parma | No. 138 | 11-3 (title in Forli) |
| Carlos Alcaraz (17) | Barcelona | No. 189 | 10-3 (title in Trieste) |
Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Spaniards Carlos Alcaraz and Jaume Munar headline at the Sanchez-Casal Academy. The third edition of the Challenger 80 event is the first of three Challengers in Spain in the coming weeks. Tournaments in Alicante and Marbella will follow in October.
Alcaraz is seeking his second ATP Challenger Tour crown since the COVID-19 restart in mid-August. The 17-year-old lifted the trophy in Trieste, Italy, to become the youngest Spanish champion since Rafael Nadal in 2003. He faces countryman Mario Vilella Martinez in the second round in Barcelona, following a straight-set win over third seed Pedro Sousa to open his campaign.
“These are very difficult conditions and it’s windy here, but I know I can play at a high level,” said Alcaraz.
Top seed Munar, meanwhile, is seeking a return to the Top 100 after first-round defeats at the US Open (l. to Thiem) and Roland Garros (l. to Tsitsipas). He sits at No. 109 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Facundo Bagnis, who lifted the trophy in Biella, Italy, on Monday, is also in the draw, as is Australia’s Christopher O’Connell and #NextGenATP star Brandon Nakashima. Lorenzo Giustino, who won the longest match at Roland Garros (thus far) – 18-16 in more than six hours – returns to the court in Barcelona.
On Wednesday, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will meet for a coveted spot in the Roland Garros semi-finals. The stage doesn’t get any bigger for the 22-year-olds, who have been battling ever since they first announced their arrivals in 2017.
It was that year that Rublev and Tsitsipas met for the first time as professionals and made their debuts in the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. At the time, they were just teenagers looking to establish themselves on the scene. From battling in the first round of a Challenger to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, what a difference three years can make.
We open the vault ahead of the biggest encounter of their budding rivalry, going back to 2017 when they battled on the ATP Challenger Tour in Quimper, France.
Rublev was the defending champion at the Open Quimper Bretagne Occidentale, having lifted his lone Challenger trophy one year earlier. He would triumph 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7), saving two match points after one hour and 55 minutes.
Rafael Nadal defeated Jannik Sinner in straight sets in the Roland Garros quarter-finals, but the 19-year-old Italian proved that he belonged against the 12-time champion on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
“I don’t [worry] about records. I know who is on the other side. I have a lot of respect for him. At the end you want to win. You go on court to play your tennis with your personality,” Sinner said. “You go on court trying to play your tennis, trying to win, obviously.
“You have to have, for every player, the right respect on court and especially off court as well. I think he’s a great example for everyone. He’s a nice guy. I’ve practised a little bit with him. It’s good.”
The reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion was only competing in his fourth Grand Slam main draw. But he came out firing against the Spaniard, leaving impressed commentators and fans worldwide raving about his potential.
“I’m a person who looks not in the future and not in the past, always in the present,” Sinner said. “At the end you have to show everything. I didn’t win anything until now… It’s just [about keeping my] head down and trying to improve, trying to play hour after hour on court, which I need to do. I have a great team behind me.”
Under the tutelage of veteran coach Riccardo Piatti, the teen showed not just talent, but strategic awareness. He stepped into the court whenever possible to take time away from the legendary lefty. Sinner made 44 unforced errors, but it was that unrelenting aggression that positioned him to serve for the first set and lead by a break in the second set.
“You go on the court with the right mindset, with knowing or having a plan to play against him,” Sinner said. “I had actually quite a great plan. It worked quite well.”
Nadal was certainly impressed. The lefty advanced to his 13th Roland Garros semi-final, but it wasn’t easy.
“Sinner is a very, very young talent with a lot of power, great shots. For two sets it was tough, especially at the end of that first set. I was lucky to be back from 5-6, having to break him back. The conditions here were a little bit difficult because he was hitting every ball very hard,” Nadal said on court after his victory. “For me it was difficult to pull him out of position. I think in the third set I did much better and I finished playing much more aggressive. That was the only way.”
Sinner departs Paris with a wealth of experience after becoming the first player to reach the quarter-finals on his tournament debut since Nadal in 2005. The teen lost, but still enjoyed the best run of his young career.
“I had chances in the first and second set. Unfortunately I didn’t use them,” Sinner said. “He deserves where he is. Congrats to him.”
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