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Paul eases past Wawrinka in Stockholm SFs, boosts Turin hopes

  • Posted: Oct 19, 2024

Can a repeat title run in Stockholm turbocharge Tommy Paul’s bid to reach the Nitto ATP Finals?

The American on Saturday booked his spot in the BNP Paribas Nordic Open championship match with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph against Stan Wawrinka. Bidding to return to the final at an event where he lifted the trophy in 2021, Paul converted three of seven break points he earned en route to an 81-minute semi-final victory at the indoor hard-court ATP 250.

“Stan is an amazing player. He’s had an amazing week. It’s been really fun watching him and it was really fun playing against him today,” said Paul, who now leads Wawrinka 2-1 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. “It took a serious level from me to get past him, so I’m really happy with the battle we had today.”

After reaching his fourth tour-level championship match of 2024, Paul jumped above Grigor Dimitrov into 10th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, although Dimitrov will move back ahead of the American if he defeats Tallon Griekspoor in the second Stockholm semi-final later on Saturday.

Paul is now 9-1 in Stockholm, where he lifted his maiden ATP Tour crown three years ago. The 27-year-old will play for his third tour-level trophy of the year on Sunday in Sweden, following his victories in Dallas and at the Queen’s Club.

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Diallo dreams on! Canadian sinks Cerundolo to reach maiden Tour final in Almaty

  • Posted: Oct 19, 2024

Gabriel Diallo racked up a double milestone on Saturday at the Almaty Open.

The Canadian sunk Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 6-2 at the indoor hard-court ATP 250 to reach his maiden ATP Tour championship match. With his comprehensive 68-minute triumph against the fourth-seeded Cerundolo, Diallo also guaranteed he will on Monday break into the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time.

“A lot of joy, a lot of excitement. A lot of relief as well,” said Diallo, when asked about his emotions after his semi-final win. “I’ve been playing some good tennis and I’m very happy to see that the results are going my way. It means the world to me, especially here. I’ve got family members here that I’ve never met before, so obviously it’s pretty cool that they came and I’m having a great week here. I’m extremely happy.”

Diallo converted all three break points he earned against Cerundolo, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The big-serving 23-year-old, who had not reached an ATP Tour quarter-final prior to this week, has risen 31 spots No. 87 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his Almaty run so far.

“It’s super special. Obviously the Top 100 is something that you try to break. It’s a pretty big milestone,” said Diallo. “It gets you into the bigger events and the Slams, which is always more fun, more stimulating. I’m super happy for myself and for my team. We’ve been working really hard to get where we are right now, and hopefully it can be the beginning of something special.”

After becoming the seventh Canadian to reach an ATP Tour final this century, Diallo will take on third seed Karen Khachanov or Aleksandar Vukic in Sunday’s championship match in Kazakhstan.

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Zverev meets #NextGenATP Schwaerzler in Vienna opener, retiring Thiem plays Darderi

  • Posted: Oct 19, 2024

The Erste Bank Open draw has thrown up a host of intriguing storylines as a host of top names arrive in Vienna for the indoor hard-court ATP 500.

Alexander Zverev, the 2021 champion and this year’s top seed, will be unlikely to count on the support of local fans for his first-round clash at the Wiener Stadthalle, where he will take on #NextGenATP home favourite Joel Schwaerzler. It will be a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash between World No. 2 Zverev and the 18-year-old Schwaerzler, whose only previous tour-level match came in Kitzbuehel earlier this year.

Alongside Schwaerzler, there is another Austrian in the top half of the Vienna draw. Former World No. 3 and 17-time tour-level champion Dominic Thiem is competing as a wild card in the final event of his pro career. The 31-year-old will take on Luciano Darderi in the first round, with the winner set to meet seventh seed Jack Draper or wild card Kei Nishikori.

Third seed Grigor Dimitrov, who will contest his semi-final against Tallon Griekspoor in Stockholm on Saturday evening, begins his Vienna campaign against Zhang Zhizhen. The Bulgarian will know that a deep run in the Austrian capital could be key if he wants to make a late surge towards Nitto ATP Finals qualification.

Dimitrov is currently 10th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, one spot behind the second seed in Vienna, Alex de Minaur. After reaching the Antwerp quarter-finals this week, De Minaur will aim to make a fast start in his opening match against Jan-Lennard Struff in Vienna. His fellow Australian Alexei Popyrin, the eighth seed, is a potential quarter-final opponent for De Minaur.

Another member of the chasing pack in the Live Race, Tommy Paul, will play Brandon Nakashima in an all-American first-round clash. Paul’s potential quarter-final opponents in the Austrian capital include Matteo Berrettini, who opens against a qualifier, and fifth seed Frances Tiafoe, who starts against Cameron Norrie.

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Diallo dialled in during breakout Almaty run

  • Posted: Oct 18, 2024

Gabriel Diallo won’t soon forget this week’s Almaty Open and it’s not only because of what the Canadian has done on court.

Yes, Diallo reached a maiden ATP Tour quarter-final and now semi-final to move closer to the sought after Top 100 in the PIF ATP Rankings benchmark. But the newly turned 23-year-old also got to meet an older family member on his mom’s side for the first time.

“Here I met my cousin that I never met in my life before,” he said. “My cousin lives here in Almaty and has been coming to my matches, so it’s pretty special. And I think it’s something that helped me throughout the week.”

Diallo even intends to do some sightseeing with his cousin after his last match.

That could still be a couple of days away, since the 6-foot-8 big server beat Alejandro Tabilo 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 amid Almaty’s high altitude on Friday to land in the last four.

A hip injury affected the Montrealer earlier in the year to halt the momentum garnered from the end of 2023.

But the former University of Kentucky standout said that winning the Chicago Challenger in late July without dropping a set proved pivotal in his upturn. In all matches since that Challenger began, Diallo sports a 27-7 record.

Having been as high as No. 103 in the rankings in September after a third round showing as a qualifier at the US Open, Diallo’s live ranking eclipsed the Top 100 immediately following victory against the Canadian-born Tabilo.

“Would be nice to keep going, keep climbing the rankings but we keep a big focus on the process for sure,” said Diallo.

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It was a measured reply from the well-spoken Diallo yet he admits that he does spend his share of time glancing at the rankings.

“I do, especially after last week. I had to defend points and I managed to defend a big chunk,” said Diallo, who won the Bratislava Challenger 12 months ago. “So I knew I was getting there. Before starting in Almaty I was 118, now I’m just inside (the Top 100) but there are guys behind me that are hungry, playing just as well, that are trying to make a move as well. So I got to keep focusing and doing my part.”

In his still young ATP main-draw career, Diallo achieved another personal best Friday by tallying 70 per cent of his second-serve points against the second seed.

“It’s good for sure because you don’t want to be one dimensional to the point that if you don’t make your first serve, you know you are in big trouble,” he said.

He is the type of player that likes to celebrate career milestones without going overboard when his tournament wraps up. That might mean eating a little cake, having one beer, a glass of wine or when he is at home, enjoying poutine.

What he has accomplished in Almaty no doubt merits a treat, even if Diallo loses Saturday versus fourth-seed Francisco Cerundolo. The tournament hotel might be the starting point.

“The view is insane from the hotel,” said Diallo. “We got the mountains.”

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Inspired Gaston beats De Minaur for maiden Top 10 win, reaches Antwerp SFs

  • Posted: Oct 18, 2024

Hugo Gaston produced more than just a box of tricks on Friday at the European Open in Antwerp.

The Frenchman dug deep to overcome one of the ATP Tour’s most renowned battlers, Alex de Minaur, and reach the semi-finals at the ATP 250. Gaston did not earn a break point between the fourth game of the opening set and the final game of the match, but he found a late charge on return to seal a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory.

“It was really close. Alex is such a great player, playing unbelievable tennis this year and in the past few years,” said Gaston after notching his first win in five attempts against an opponent from the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings. “When you play against Alex, you have to be ready to play a lot of rallies. I have a little bit of pain in my body, but I tried to stay focused on the game and on my shots, and it was a good one today.”

Although his ability to go toe-to-toe with De Minaur in extended rallies was the key to his quarter-final win, Gaston nonetheless found time to sprinkle some of his trademark creative magic on Friday’s encounter. The best example of that came in the sixth game of the match, when he produced an outrageous no-look overhead from behind the baseline.

Gaston won 85 per cent (17/20) of points at the net against De Minaur, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to reaching his third ATP Tour semi-final. He now leads the Australian 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, after he also prevailed in the pair’s clash at Roland Garros in 2022.

Standing in Gaston’s way of a spot in his third tour-level championship match will be Roberto Bautista Agut. The Spaniard earlier upset third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(6) to reach his first ATP Tour semi-final since June 2023.

Quarter-final defeat in his first tournament since the US Open was a blow to De Minaur’s hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. The 25-year-old is ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, 275 points behind eighth-placed Andrey Rublev.

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Wawrinka seals Stockholm SF berth, dents Rublev’s Turin hopes

  • Posted: Oct 18, 2024

Stan Wawrinka is surging in Stockholm.

The Swiss star on Friday delivered a classy display to defeat top seed Andrey Rublev 7-6(5), 7-6(5) and reach the semi-finals at the BNP Paribas Nordic Open in the Swedish capital. Wawrinka held firm in a pair of tie-breaks to seal a one-hour, 52-minute triumph and defeat an opponent from the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time since August 2023.

“The key was to stay focused and positive with myself,” said Wawrinka, who let slip a 2-0 lead in the second set before completing his win. “Andrey is such an amazing player, but I was feeling good on the court, I was moving well. I could start to dictate a little bit, and with so much support from the crowd, it is easier to fight on the court.”

The former World No. 3 Wawrinka sent 14 aces past Rublev, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to opening a 3-2 lead in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Awaiting the three-time major champion in Saturday’s semi-finals will be fourth seed and 2021 Stockholm champion Tommy Paul, who earlier battled past Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6(9), 6-2.

By reaching the last four for the first time in four Stockholm appearances, the 39-year-old Wawrinka became the third-oldest semi-finalist in ATP Tour history (since 1990), behind Jimmy Connors and Ivo Karlovic.

“I cannot change my age, but most important for me is that when I enter the court, I always try to fight,” said Wawrinka. “I try to improve and enjoy what I am doing. The reason I keep going is to play matches like this, with so many people giving me good energy on the court, and I’m super happy to have the chance to play one more match tomorrow.”

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Friday’s defeat to Wawrinka was a setback to Rublev’s hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for fifth consecutive year. The World No. 7 remains eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, but the four players below him are all still competing at ATP 250 level this week.

One of them is the 11th-placed Paul, who saved a set point at 7/8 in the first-set tie-break against Kecmanovic before completing his Stockholm quarter-final win. The American, who is chasing a debut appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, is 645 points shy of Rublev in eighth.

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Cerundolo sinks home hope Shevchenko for Almaty SF spot

  • Posted: Oct 18, 2024

Francisco Cerundolo served up some swift revenge on Friday at the Almaty Open.

The fourth-seeded Argentine downed home favourite Alexander Shevchenko 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at the Kazakhstani ATP 250. Cerundolo, who fell to an opening-round defeat to Shevchenko in Shanghai just 13 days ago, converted three of six break points he earned to set a last-four meeting with Gabriel Diallo.

“I’m super happy. I knew it was going to be a really tough match,” said Cerundolo in his on-court interview. “We played last week in Shanghai and he beat me in a really close match. I knew he was playing super good, I told him that at the net. I knew what I had to do and I think I did it really well. I served well, and I’m really happy to get to another semi-final, and my first on hard courts this year.”

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Cerundolo won 92 per cent (24/26) of points behind his first serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to his 65-minute triumph against Shevchenko. The 26-year-old, who won his third ATP Tour title in Umag in July, will now prepare for just his second tour-level semi-final on hard courts following his breakout run at the 2022 Miami Open presented by Itau.

His next test in Kazakhstan is a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Diallo, who earlier upset second seed Alejandro Tabilo 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The 23-year-old Canadian Diallo, who has risen 19 spots to No. 99 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run in Almaty so far, will be competing in his first ATP Tour quarter-final.

“I haven’t watched [Diallo] a lot,” said Cerundolo. “We warmed up today together, but I don’t think I’ve seen many of his matches. I’m going to watch a little bit of him [on video] and learn how he plays. I think it’s going to be a tough match. He’s huge, he serves really well, hits the ball really well. Here in these conditions, he’s going to be super tough.”

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