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Berrettini battles past in-form Tabilo in Kitzbühel

  • Posted: Jul 24, 2024

Matteo Berrettini extended his winning streak to seven matches on Wednesday in Kitzbühel when he ousted second seed Alejandro Tabilo 7-6(4), 7-6(5) for a place in the Generali Open quarter-finals.

“Definitely a tough match. He’s having a great season. He’s playing good, he’s got a lot of confidence, a tricky lefty so for sure he likes to play in these conditions,” Berrettini said. “But I was confident with my level. I think I was serving really well apart from when I served for the match.

“But it can happen, it’s tennis and really happy how I held my nerves and again two tie-breaks so it means that I was pretty focused and I think I did the right things in the right moments.”

Last week’s Gstaad champion Berrettini relied on his first serve, landing 81 per cent of his first deliveries and winning 79 per cent of those points, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The Italian failed to serve out the match at 5-3 in the second set, but remained calm to take a 2-0 lead in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“Having the chance to just play, feeling good, feeling healthy, fighting for matches is just what I wanted for so many months,” Berrettini said. “So I’m enjoying it and I’m really looking forward for my next match.”

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The former No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings will next play American wild card Nicolas Moreno De Alboran, who eliminated fellow wild card Lukas Neumayer 6-4, 6-4. The 27-year-old reached his first ATP Tour quarter-final earlier this year in Marrakech.

Top seed and defending champion Sebastian Baez won an all-Argentine clash with Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 23 minutes.

Baez has already won two clay-court ATP Tour titles this season in Rio de Janeiro and Santiago and is trying to secure a third in Kitzbühel. One year ago, the Argentine defeated Dominic Thiem in the final.

In the first match of the day on centre court, German Yannick Hanfmann clawed past Brazilian lucky loser Gustavo Heide 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Hanfmann made the Kitzbühel final in 2020.

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Fritz/Gauff, Sakkari/Tsitsipas headline Olympics mixed doubles teams

  • Posted: Jul 24, 2024

Americans Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff are among the star-studded teams that headline the Paris Olympics mixed doubles field, which was announced Wednesday.

Gauff and Fritz are the second seeds, only behind top seeds Laura Siegemund and Alexander Zverev, who clinched Germany’s United Cup victory against Poland at the start of the season.

Other current or former Top 10 players in the PIF ATP Rankings who are competing in mixed doubles are Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (with Maria Sakkari), Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (with Gabirela Dabrowski), Daniil Medvedev (with Mirra Andreeva) and Kei Nishikori (with Ena Shibahara).

There are 16 teams in the event including four seeded pairs: top seeds Siegemund/Zverev, second seeds Gauff/Fritz, third seeds Matthew Ebden and Ellen Perez and fourth seeds Sakkari/Tsitsipas.

The draw ceremony for the Paris Olympics tennis events will take place on Thursday at Roland Garros. The full list of teams in the mixed doubles field is below:

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Laura Siegemund / Alexander Zverev (Germany) [1]
Coco Gauff / Taylor Fritz (USA) [2]
Ellen Perez / Matthew Ebden (Australia) [3]
Maria Sakkari / Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) [4]
Gabriela Dabrowski / Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada)
Sara Errani / Andrea Vavassori (Italy)
Sara Sorribes Tormo / Marcel Granollers (Spain)
Elena Rybakina / Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan)
Donna Vekic / Mate Pavic (Croatia)
Caroline Garcia / Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France)
Mirra Andreeva / Daniil Medvedev
Zheng Qinwen / Zhang Zhizhen (China)
Katerina Siniakova / Tomas Machac (Czech Republic)
Demi Schuurs / Wesley Koolhof (Netherlands)
Heather Watson / Joe Salisbury (Great Britain)
Ena Shibahara / Kei Nishikori (Japan) 

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Olympics Tennis 2024: Draws, Dates, History & All You Need To Know

  • Posted: Jul 24, 2024

Tennis’s history with the Summer Olympics stretches back to its inclusion at the inaugural Olympic Games in 1896. Despite being dropped in 1924 over regulatory disputes, its return in 1988 as a full medal sport has marked the significance of the Olympics within the eyes of tennis professionals, with Olympic gold in tennis considered a coveted accolade.

The Paris 2024 Olympics promises a thrilling week of tennis, featuring the world’s top players as they compete for this priceless reward.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the tournament:

What are the dates for tennis at the Olympics?
Tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympics is set to start with the opening-round matches on 27 July, the day after the Opening Ceremony, and run until 4 August, when the final medal matches take place, including the men’s singles gold medal match.

What is the schedule for tennis at the Olympics?
After the Opening Ceremony for the Paris Olympics on Friday 26 July, play will begin on Saturday 27 July with men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles first-round matches. Play will begin each day at 12 p.m.

The first medal matches — for mixed doubles gold, silver and bronze, men’s doubles bronze and women’s singles bronze — will be played on Friday 2 August. The men’s singles bronze medal match and men’s doubles final will be played on Saturday 3 August and the men’s singles gold medal match will be played on Sunday 4 August.

What is the format of Olympics tennis in Paris? What are the sizes of the Olympics tennis draws?
The Paris Olympics features draws for singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, with players able to enter multiple draws. The format is single elimination, with the singles draws consisting of 64 players, doubles draws consisting of a draw size of 32 and mixed doubles containing 16 pairs. Players that reach the semi-final of their draws will be in contention to win a medal and players that lose in the semi-finals will play the bronze medal match.

Which tennis players will feature in the Olympics?
The Olympics are set to feature a whole host of tennis’ elite. Italy’s Jannik Sinner, No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, and Wimbledon champion, Carlos Alcaraz, both make debut Olympic appearances. Germany’s current Olympic champion, Alexander Zverev will seek to claim his second gold medal, while Serbia’s Novak Djokovic searches for his first – an elusive accomplishment among his tennis accolades. There will be focus will be on two-time Olympic champion, Britain’s Andy Murray, who recently announced his retirement after the Paris Olympics.

When will the Olympics tennis draws take place?
The Olympic tennis draws will take place at 11 a.m. on Thursday 25 July.

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Which countries will participate in Olympics tennis?
Players representing 40 countries will compete in tennis at the Paris Olympics. Each country is able to nominate a maximum of four singles players per gender as well as two doubles teams per event, with a maximum of six players per gender for each nation. As well as strong sides representing the USA, Italy and Spain, players from Egypt, Montenegro and Colombia will compete in the Olympics. Lebanon will make its debut appearance in tennis at the Olympics with Benjamin Hassan in the men’s singles.

How do players qualify for the Olympics?
Qualification is based largely on ranking, with higher-ranked players gaining priority to represent their nation at the Olympics. The top 56 singles players (no more than four per country) gain automatic entry if they wish to participate with the remaining eight spots being given to winners or finalists of continental competitions in the Americas, Asia and Africa, as well as a universality place and places being reserved for Olympic or Grand Slam champions that failed to qualify via other criteria.

Where is tennis being played at the Olympics?
The matches will happen at the Stade Roland Garros, Paris, typically the location of the French Open Grand Slam. The courts will be the trademark red clay courts of Roland Garros, a shift from the hard courts used at the last Olympics in Tokyo.

Who won the last edition of the Olympics in 2021?
Alexander Zverev won the Tokyo Olympics gold medal with a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Karen Khachanov in the championship match. Nikola Mektic and Wesley Koolhof lifted the doubles trophy in Tokyo with a 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 triumph against Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev earned mixed doubles glory with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 13-11 triumph against Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev.

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McDonald upsets Nakashima in all-American Atlanta showdown

  • Posted: Jul 24, 2024

Mackenzie McDonald continues to round into form after a shoulder injury kept him out of ATP Tour action for several months earlier this season. Fresh off a quarter-final run in Newport — his best result of 2024 — the American scored an upset win against Brandon Nakashima on Tuesday at the Atlanta Open.

McDonald knocked out the seventh seed 6-2, 6-4, improving to 4-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. The 29-year-old converted on all three of his break chances and saved all three break points against him, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

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The win against the No. 55 in the PIF ATP Rankings is McDonald’s best victory by that measure since he beat World No. 40 Max Purcell last year in Tokyo. The former UCLA star earned a personal-best 33 wins in 2023; he is now 4-9 this year.

Yoshihito Nishioka awaits McDonald in the second round after his 7-6(4), 6-3 win against American Zachary Svajda on Monday.

Australian lucky loser Adam Walton also scored on upset on Tuesday, beating sixth seed Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 6-4. Like McDonald, Walton saved all three break points against him in his Atlanta opener.

In the most dramatic match of the day, French lucky loser Harold Mayot edged Borna Coric 7-6(9), 6-3. The Atlanta debutant picked up his second Top 100 in by beating the former World No. 12. 

Mayot saved two set points in the marathon first-set tie-break, after fighting off six break points in the opening set. Riding that momentum, 22-year-old broke twice in set two to seal the victory. He will next meet fourth-seeded Aussie Jordan Thompson.

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Rublev snaps skid with Umag victory

  • Posted: Jul 23, 2024

Andrey Rublev broke a four-match losing streak with a hard-fought opening win Tuesday at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag. The top seed beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-4, 7-5 for his first victory since he reached the third round at Roland Garros.

At the tournament where he won his first ATP Tour title in 2017, Rublev clinched the result with his fourth break of serve, hitting a rare drop shot winner on match point. He saved two of four break points against him in the one-hour, 46-minute match, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

“I think it was a great match. I think it was a lot of good points. Ugo played really well,” Rublev said after the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. “I think at the end of the match he started to feel confidence, he started to hit even harder because he had nothing to lose. During the match he raised his level.

“I think it was a good performance from me, as well. I’m happy that I’m here, I’m happy that I won the match, and we’ll see what’s going to happen next.”

The No. 9 in the PIF ATP Rankings will next meet Fabian Marozsan, who opened his week with a 6-2, 7-6(7) win against Thiago Monteiro.

Italians Luciano Darderi and Fabio Fognini rounded out the Tuesday winners in Umag. The fifth-seeded Darderi beat Duje Ajdukovic 6-1, 6-4, converting all four of his break chances, while Fognini defeated #NextGenATP Frenchman Luca Van Assche 6-4, 6-3. The 37-year-old Fognini improved to 8-0 in opening-round matches this season.

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