Portugal’s Joao Sousa entered the 2018 Millennium Estoril Open with a 0-3 record at his home tournament. 

On Saturday, he became the first Portuguese finalist at the event, beating #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4).

The home favourite booked a place in his 10th ATP World Tour final after two hours and seven minutes, converting his third match point in a final-set tie-break. Sousa has now won 14 of his past 18 tour-level matches, dating back to the beginning of March. He began the season with a 3-6 tour-level record.

Sousa will meet defending champion Pablo Carreno Busta or Delray Beach winner Frances Tiafoe in Sunday’s championship match.

Sousa secured the only break of the first set to take a one-set advantage, before the in-form 19-year-old levelled the match with two breaks of serve in the second set. The third set was dominated by serve, with just two of the 12 games reaching deuce and no break points on offer. Sousa raced out to a 4/0 lead in the decisive tie-break and, despite losing his first two match points, clinched his place in the final on his third opportunity.

Tsitsipas was bidding to become the first teenager since Juan Martin del Potro in 2008 (Los Angeles, Washington) to reach consecutive ATP World Tour finals.

Did You Know?
Joao Sousa has reached an ATP World Tour final in five of the past six ATP World Tour seasons dating back to his maiden title in Kuala Lumpur (2013).

Japan’s Taro Daniel shocked the tennis world at Indian Wells when he ousted Novak Djokovic in the second round. And now, two months later, he is into his maiden ATP World Tour final.

Daniel defeated Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open in a gritty two-hour, 33-minute encounter that saw a combined 10 breaks of serve.

Daniel got off to an emphatic start to the match, claiming the first set with two breaks of the Chardy serve, which wavered under the constant pressure of Daniel’s returning prowess. The second set was a different story, as Chardy upped his level and began dictating with his heavy forehand groundstrokes to even the contest at a set apiece.

The final set was a seesaw affair featuring four straight breaks, a run that was eventually stopped by the Japanese in the crucial ninth game. Daniel was able to fend off three break points to hold serve, before breaking Chardy one last time in the following game to claim the win.

“I’m very happy, but more relieved because there was a lot of tension in the last few games,” said the 25-year-old. “The first set I played really well; second set – maybe I could have finished in two sets because I was playing a little bit better than him today.”

“You never know what’s going to happen in tennis,” added Daniel on what he expects for Sunday’s final. “It could be a really easy match, I could lose easily, win easily; win tough, lose tough. It’s more important to think about how to recover the best I can for tomorrow.”

The World No. 114’s victory ends Chardy’s bid for his first tour-level title since 2009, while Daniel himself will look to become the first Japanese titlist since Yuichi Sugita in Antalya last season when he faces Malek Jaziri in the final, guaranteeing a first-time ATP World Tour champion.

Jaziri earned his shot at the title with a straight-sets win over Serbian Laslo Djere in Saturday’s second semi-final. The Tunisian earned the 6-3, 6-2 decision in one hour, 31 minutes, using his variety to reach his maiden ATP World Tour final

At 34 years old, Jaziri has put together one of his most noteworthy seasons in 2018. Earlier this year in Dubai, he claimed his first Top 10 victory over Grigor Dimitrov, which he followed up this week by defeating top-seeded Marin Cilic en route to the final.

Did You Know?

Four unseeded players advanced to the Istanbul semi-finals, the second time that has happened on the ATP World Tour this year (also Delray Beach).

With 11th titles in both Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, Rafael Nadal’s clay-court season already has a familiar dominant ring about it as the ATP World Tour turns to the Mutua Madrid Open. Victory in Barcelona over first-time finalist #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas handed Nadal his 19th straight match win on clay.

And the No. 1 in the ATP Rankings has now claimed 46 straight sets on his favourite surface, with his most recent defeat on clay coming to Dominic Thiem in last year’s Rome quarter-finals.

With big-name rivals Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka absent, who holds the best chance at standing between the Spaniard and a sixth Mutua Madrid Open trophy? Nadal must capture his 32nd Masters 1000 crown at the Caja Magica if he is to remain at No. 1.

Dominic Thiem
The Austrian has long been touted Nadal’s most likely successor as the man to beat on clay but since a foot injury suffered during Indian Wells, the 24-year-old is yet to really hit his straps. A runner-up to Nadal in last year’s Mutua Madrid Open final, Thiem went on to avenge that loss with a straight-sets dismissal of the Spaniard in the quarter-finals in Rome before Nadal turned the tables in the Roland Garros semi-finals. Thiem has already won a clay-court title this season at the Argentina Open (d. Bedene). In Monte-Carlo he salvaged just two games from Nadal in the quarter-finals – although it was his first tournament since Indian Wells – before a surprise defeat to Tsitsipas in the Barcelona quarter-finals.

Juan Martin del Potro
As the man with the weapons to beat any player on his day, much is expected of Juan Martin del Potro after his dominant stretch on hard courts prior to the clay-court swing. After winning 15 straight matches with title runs in Acapulco and Indian Wells before a semi-final finish in Miami, the Argentine took a break and named Madrid as his first clay-court event of the year. Del Potro’s record in Madrid stands at 14-6, with his best run coming in 2012 where he reached the semi-finals (l. to Berdych). Much will depend on how well the 29-year-old can hit through his opponents, particularly whether he’s feeling confident on his two-handed backhand.

Alexander Zverev
A first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown in Rome last season gives World No. 3 Alexander Zverev reason to believe he can make a third Masters 1000 breakthrough in Madrid. The German beat Fernando Verdasco, Marin Cilic and Tomas Berdych before falling to Pablo Cuevas in the quarter-finals on debut in the Spanish capital in 2017. Since pushing Nadal to five sets in the third round of the 2017 Australian Open, the 21-year-old has run into Nadal on two occasions – both on clay this season – where he has managed to win 11 games. Nadal won at home in a Davis Cup quarter-final rubber before romping past Zverev en route to his 11th Monte-Carlo trophy. 

Novak Djokovic
As the player with 30 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles to his name and arguably Nadal’s toughest opponent on clay over the years, it would be remiss to write off Novak Djokovic too soon. Coming off minor elbow surgery in February, the former No. 1 in the ATP Rankings is struggling to rediscover his form and after defeat in the opening round in Barcelona last week to Slovakian World No. 140 Martin Klizan, the Serbian admitted he hadn’t lived up to expectations. Djokovic fell to Nadal in straight sets in last year’s semi-final, having claimed his second Mutua Madrid Open title in 2016 (d. Murray). He defeated Nadal in the final to claim the 2011 title. 

David Goffin
After a freak eye injury forced David Goffin to retire from his ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament semi-final in February, it wasn’t until the clay-court season rolled around that the Belgian began to find his range again. A quarter-final loss to Grigor Dimitrov preceded a run to the semi-finals last week in Barcelona, where he recovered from a set down three times before a convincing 6-4, 6-0 defeat to Nadal, after which he conceded it “almost seems impossible” to defeat the Spaniard at his best on clay. It was Nadal who also ended his run in the Madrid quarter-finals in 2017. 

Defending champion Alexander Zverev reached his second successive BMW Open by FWU final on Saturday, defeating reigning Next Gen ATP Finals titlist Hyeon Chung 7-5, 6-2.

“It was good,” Zverev said. “Obviously didn’t start off well, from the 0-3 deficit. Played a pretty good match and the tactics I had for the match worked well.”

The top seed, who won the third of his six ATP World Tour titles at the event in 2017 (d. Pella), hit eight aces and broke serve on five occasions to book his place in Sunday’s final after one hour and 31 minutes. The victory marks Zverev’s first win over the South Korean at tour-level, having lost both of their previous FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters at the 2017 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and the 2018 Australian Open.

In a first set that featured multiple momentum swings, Zverev won five straight games from 0-3 down to earn the opportunity to serve for a one-set lead. But Chung responded, holding serve and breaking the German to reach 5-5. The World No. 3 did not let the disappointment affect him, however, immediately breaking for a third time before clinching the set on his fourth set point.

The German applied constant pressure to Chung’s serve in the second set, securing consecutive breaks of serve in the third and fifth games. Zverev continued to hold serve and moved one step away from clinching back-to-back titles in the Bavarian capital as Chung’s backhand return landed beyond the baseline.

The 21-year-old has now won 20 matches on the ATP World Tour this season and will meet three-time champion Philipp Kohlschreiber (2007, 2012, 2016) in Sunday’s championship match. Kohlschreiber leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1, while they have split their two matches on German soil.

Kohlschreiber won his 33rd match in Munich, defeating countryman Maximilian Marterer 6-2, 6-4 to reach his sixth final in Munich. The World No. 34 dropped only two points behind his second serve and converted four of his six break point chances to defeat Marterer in 65 minutes. Marterer had not lost a set en route to the semi-finals.

From 1-2 down in the first set, Kohlschreiber won 20 of the next 23 points to race to a one-set lead. The second set appeared to be following the same pattern, as the 34-year-old won three straight games from 2-2 to serve for the match, but Marterer battled back with two consecutive games of his own to force Kohlschreiber to serve for the match for a second time under heightened pressure. But Kohlschreiber, unfazed by the situation, reeled off four straight points to win his book a final meeting with Zverev.  

“It’s going to be a tough match,” Zverev said. “Philipp has been in multiple finals here, won the title multiple times as well, so it’s not going to be easy.”

Did You Know?
As a result of Alexander Zverev’s win over Hyeon Chung, the 2018 BMW Open by FWU will be the first event since the 2016 Gerry Weber Open to feature an all-German final. On that occasion, Florian Mayer defeated Zverev 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. The event is also guaranteed a fifth home winner in the past seven years and a ninth German champion since the tournament’s first edition in 1974.

The second of the season’s three clay-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, the Mutua Madrid Open, is set to get underway on Sunday. World No. 1 Rafael Nadal will look to extend his record of titles at the tournament to six. No. 4 seed Juan Martin del Potro, who won back-to-back titles at Acapulco and Indian Wells, returns to action for the first time since reaching the Miami semi-finals (l. to Isner), and he leads the field that will compete with Nadal for the trophy at the Caja Mágica.

View Draw

1) Fantastic Field: Monte-Carlo champion Rafael Nadal headlines a Madrid field that features 17 of the Top 20 players in the ATP Rankings. Seven different men have captured the past seven ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles for the first time since 2009 Montreal through 2010 Monte-Carlo. Not since 2001 Hamburg through 2002 Monte-Carlo have eight different players won eight Masters 1000 events in succession.

2) One of a Kind: Nadal has won 19 matches and 46 sets in a row on clay, including his 10th Roland Garros, 11th Monte-Carlo and 11th Barcelona titles. The Spaniard’s 46-set streak is an Open Era record on clay and three sets shy of the mark on any surface, set by John McEnroe on carpet in 1984.

READ Q & A: Nadal Says Fans In Madrid Help Him

3) Spaniard’s Standards: Nadal is 401-35 on clay with an ATP World Tour-best winning rate of 0.920. Since Madrid moved to clay in 2009, Nadal is 34-5 at Caja Mágica (0.872). He’s won five Madrid titles overall, including his only indoor hard-court championship in 2005. Nadal needs a sixth Madrid title this week to remain World No. 1. Otherwise, Roger Federer will return to the top spot in the ATP Rankings on 14 May.

4) No. 1 Contender: World No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro returns to action this week for the first time since John Isner ended his 15-match winning streak in the Miami semi-finals on 30 March. The Argentine is 21-4 this season, highlighted by his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells. Del Potro is attempting to reach a clay-court semi-final for the first time since Madrid in 2012 on the blue clay.

5) Comeback Trail: Two-time Madrid champion Novak Djokovic is 5-5 in 2018 as he continues his comeback from a right elbow injury. Djokovic remains responsible for 20 per cent of Nadal’s losses on clay, earning the first of seven FedEx ATP Head2Head clay-court victories over his Spanish rival in the 2011 Madrid final.

6) Close Calls: Djokovic will meet 2014 Madrid finalist Kei Nishikori in the first round. Nishikori is 0-4 lifetime in Masters 1000 finals. While Mardy Fish also went 0-4 in championship matches at the elite level, only former World No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov played more Masters 1000 finals without lifting a trophy (0-5). Nishikori has shown good form, finishing runner-up in Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal).

7) Mastering 1000s: World No. 3 Alexander Zverev won Masters 1000 titles in Rome and Montreal in 2017, then reached another final in Miami this year, all before his 21st birthday on 20 April. 

8) Tsitsipas Sizzling: Zverev could face #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round. Tsitsipas, a former World No. 1 junior like Zverev, broke into the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings after reaching his first final at Barcelona. He was rewarded with a wild card into Madrid.

9) Los Madrileños: Familiar faces Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco are also in the draw. Lopez has played in all 17 editions of the Mutua Madrid Open, while Verdasco only missed the first. Verdasco is one win shy of 500 tour-level victories. Lopez is not far behind with 462 triumphs.

10) 40-Love: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, who turned 40 on 29 April, have reached all three Masters 1000 doubles finals thus far in 2018. They’ve won 16 of their past 18 finals at this level, including Miami and Monte-Carlo this year. The Bryans are five-time Madrid champions.