Fernandez ends Keys' title defence to reach Eastbourne final
Leylah Fernandez beats defending champion Madison Keys to reach the Eastbourne final, where she will face Daria Kasatkina.
Leylah Fernandez beats defending champion Madison Keys to reach the Eastbourne final, where she will face Daria Kasatkina.
Britain’s Dan Evans expects to be ready to play Wimbledon after injuring his knee in an on-court slip at Queen’s earlier in June.
#NextGenATP Shang Juncheng has climbed one spot in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah after reaching the quarter-finals at the ATP 250 event in Eastbourne.
The Chinese lefty advanced through qualifying to reach his second tour-level quarter-final of the season at the grass-court event and is now third in the Live Race To Jeddah. Shang is aiming to make his debut at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF in December.
[ATP APP]PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah
| Player | Points |
| 1) Arthur Fils | 815 |
| 2) Jakub Mensik | 544 |
| 3) Shang Juncheng | 482 |
| 4) Alex Michelsen | 472 |
| 5) Luca Van Assche | 353 |
| 6) Joao Fonseca | 268 |
| 7) Henrique Rocha | 164 |
| 8) Gonzalo Bueno | 147 |
| 9) Coleman Wong | 137 |
| 10) Vilius Gaubas | 134 |
Czech Jakub Mensik and American Alex Michelsen also tasted success on grass at tour-level events this week. Mensik, 18, defeated Christopher Eubanks and Fabio Fognini en route to the last eight in Mallorca, with 19-year-old Michelsen falling to Sebastian Ofner at the same stage of the ATP 250.
Mensik, who is second in the Live Race To Jeddah, is now set to make his Wimbledon debut and will play 23rd seed Alexander Bublik in the first round. Fourth-placed Michelsen takes on South African qualifier Lloyd Harris at The Championships, with Shang facing Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin.
Arthur Fils remains top in the Live Race To Jeddah and faces Switzerland’s Dominic Stricker in his opening match at the grass-court major.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Britain’s Emma Raducanu is drawn against Russian 22nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round of Wimbledon.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray talks through his tennis journey.
Tennis’ world governing body is exploring a concept that could radically change the design of tennis balls and the materials used to make them.
Andy Murray has accepted a wild card to play doubles alongside brother Jamie Murray at Wimbledon.
The former World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings and two-time Wimbledon singles champion remains hopeful of also playing singles following a back procedure.
[ATP APP]The 37-year-old said on Wednesday: “I feel that I deserve the opportunity to give it until the very last moment to make that decision. It’s complicated and it’s made more complicated because I want to play at Wimbledon one more time.”
Last week Murray’s back forced him to withdraw midway through the first set of his second-round match against Australian Jordan Thompson at Queen’s.
The Wimbledon singles draw is on Friday, with matches starting on Monday. Murray holds a 61-13 tournament singles record.
Murray has played doubles at The Championships just twice, according to Infosys ATP Stats. In 2005 he and David Sherwood lost in the first round. In 2019 he fell in the second round with Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
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Briton’s Billy Harris and Paul Jubb reach their first ATP Tour semi-finals with brilliant wins at Eastbourne and the Majorca Open.
Northern Ireland tennis player and coach Michael Blease believes that NI will “definitely” have players at Wimbledon in the near future.
Taylor Fritz continued his quest for an Eastbourne hat-trick Thursday at the Rothesay International, where the top seed ousted #NextGenATP Shang Juncheng 7-6(5), 7-6(5) to reach the semi-finals.
A two-time champion at the grass ATP 250 (2019, 2022), Fritz dropped just four points on serve (50/54) and saved all four break points he faced to advance after one hour, 46 minutes. Despite failing to convert his five break chances, the American held his nerve in two tie-breaks by relying on his first-strike tennis.
“With the wind and everything, that was a very miserable match to play, honestly,” Fritz said in relief. “I definitely feel well here. It’s tough to take too much from today. You’re never really going to feel great hitting the ball as windy as it was. But if I can serve as well as I did today, even in this wind, I’m pretty happy about that.”
Fritz in the final 4️⃣@Taylor_Fritz97 continues his dominant record in Eastbourne with a 7-6(5) 7-6(5) victory over Shang!@the_LTA | #RothesayInternational pic.twitter.com/S2zaORN6Ax
— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 27, 2024
Into his fourth semi-final of the season, Fritz is aiming to be the tournament’s first three-time champion. The World No. 13 in the PIF ATP Rankings is yet to be broken this week.
The 26-year-old will face Aleksandar Vukic in the semi-finals after the Aussie’s 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) win against Yoshihito Nishioka. Fritz holds a 1-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head record against Vukic, who the seven-time tour-level titlist defeated in the Atlanta final last year. A lucky loser, Vukic will be competing in his his first ATP Tour semi-final since that Atlanta final run. He has matched his personal-best from last season with 11 tour-level wins this year.
British wild card Billy Harris, fresh off his run to his first ATP Tour quarter-final at The Queen’s Club, has gone one better in Eastbourne by reaching the semis. The 29-year-old improved to 3-3 against Top 50 opponents with a 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-2 victory against Flavio Cobolli.
Harris claimed the only two breaks of the match in the final set and saved all three break points against him, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He is just the fifth British semi-finalist in Eastbourne tournament history, joining Greg Rusedski (six times), Tim Henman (1997), Kyle Edmund (2019) and Jack Draper (2022).
He will meet Max Purcell on Friday after the Aussie’s 6-3, 7-6(4) quarter-final victory against Miomir Kecmanovic. The qualifier is through to his second tour-level semi-final (Eastbourne 2021).
Skupski/Venus ride hot-streak to Eastbourne final
Fourth seeds Neal Skupski and Michael Venus extended their winning streak to seven after rallying past Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic 6-7(5), 6-2, 10-8 to reach the Eastbourne final. The British-Kiwi duo last week won the ATP 500 event at Queen’s.
Skupski and Venus will face third seeds Matthew Ebden and John Peers in Friday’s title match. The Aussies also needed a Match Tie-break, overcoming Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten 6-7(11), 7-6(4), 10-5.
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