Is this the week Stefanos Tsitsipas captures his first title of the season?

The Greek maintained his perfect record against Alex de Minaur on Friday when he overcame the Australian 6-4, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

Tsitsipas was in control throughout the one-hour, 21-minute clash at the clay-court ATP 500, taking large cuts at the ball on the forehand to overpower De Minaur and improve to 9-0 in their ATP Head2Head series.

“I would say that my shots were heavy,” Tsitsipas said. “I was able to control most of them and navigate him around the court on both my forehand and backhand. My patience was there. I knew that was the foundation of the match.

“I am satisfied with my return game, especially towards the end. I found myself in a very good position to press early on and look for the forehand and use my backhand when necessary as well.”

With his 19th win of the season, the second seed set a semi-final clash against Italian Lorenzo Musetti. The ninth seed Musetti received a walkover from Jannik Sinner earlier on Friday.

Tsitsipas holds fond memories in Barcelona, having advanced to the championship match in 2018 and 2021. The 24-year-old will rise to fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin if he lifts his fifth clay-court tour-level trophy this week in Spain.

De Minaur was aiming to reach the semi-finals in Barcelona for the second consecutive year. The 24-year-old is 14-8 on the season, highlighted by his run to the title in Acapulco in February.

Jamie Murray and Michael Venus squeezed into the Srpska Open semi-finals with a 6-4, 4-6, 13-11 win against Colombians Gonzalo Escobar and Diego Hidalgo on Thursday in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

The top seeds saved a match point at 9/10 in the Match Tie-break before clinching victory on their third match point. Each team broke once in the match, with Murray/Venus creating nine break chances to their opponents’ four.

The British-Kiwi pairing will face Andrey Golubev and Denys Molchanov in Friday’s semi-finals after the Kazah-Ukrainian team advanced with a 6-3, 6- win against Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan on Wednesday.

The second Banja Luka semi-final will see second-seeded Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen meet Francisco Cabral and Aleksandr Nedovyesov after both pairs scored straight-sets victories on Thursday. Gille/Vliegen beat Serbians Nikola Cacic and Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6(9), 6-4, while Cabral/Nedovyesov upset third-seeded Frenchmen Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 7-6(5), 6-1.

Glasspool/Heliovaara Score Barcelona Upset

The British-Finnish duo of Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara knocked off second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 7-6(7), 7-5 on Thursday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. The winners saved eight of 10 break points in an eventful match and converted on three of eight break chances on return.

Glasspool/Heliovaara will meet Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in Saturday’s semi-finals after the Argentines’ 6-4, 6-2 win against Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez at the ATP 500.

German Sucess In Munich
Two all-German teams advanced to the quarter-finals with Thursday wins at the BMW Open by American Express, setting up a showdown in the last eight.

Top seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz beat countrymen Yannick Hanfmann and Daniel Masur 6-0, 6-3, while Jan-Lennard Struff and Oscar Otte moved past Britons Julian Cash and Henry Patten 6-4, 3-6, 10-5.

Carlos Alcaraz fought off a late charge from countryman Roberto Bautista Agut to notch his second straight-sets victory this week at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. The 19-year-old continued his title defence with a 6-3, 7-5 win, looking at home on the Spanish clay in his first tournament since his hard-court run to the Miami semi-finals.

“Today was really tough. The conditions, it wasn’t easy,” Alcaraz said of the heavy winds that led to a combined eight breaks of serve. “Of course I had to adapt my game from the wind. It was really tough. Roberto’s a great player, a really solid player. I had to stay focussed all the time, be there all the time and try to take my chances.”

The victory improved Alcaraz to 9-1 against fellow Spaniards, with his only loss coming to Rafael Nadal in last year’s Indian Wells semis. Playing on the Barcelona centre court named for Nadal, Alcaraz is bidding to become the first repeat champion at the ATP 500 since the Spanish legend reigned from 2016-18.

He will face another Spaniard, 10th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, in Friday’s quarter-finals.

After going behind an early break at 2-3 in the opening set, Alcaraz rattled off six straight games to take command. He hit the shot of the match to bring up his third and final set point of the first set, sliding into a desperate backhand and floating a slice beyond a stunned Bautista Agut, who thought he had the point won with his overhead.

“It was lucky. Honestly I didn’t expect to make that shot,” Alcaraz said of the magic moment. “I just closed my eyes, [swung] the racquet. It was a lot of luck that I made that shot. Something like that is so special.”

Though he was broken twice midway through set two, Alcaraz powered through the finish line by winning the final 11 points from 4-5, 15/15. He wrapped up the win in one hour, 53 minutes after breaking serve on five of 10 chances, with Bautista Agut also doing damage on return with three breaks in seven opportunities.

Bautista Agut was stopped short of his third Barcelona quarter-final (2015, 2018) as Alcaraz denied him his first Top 10 win on clay. At 35, he was the oldest player in the last 16.

Taylor Fritz continued his strong start to the European clay-court season with a debut win on Thursday at the BMW Open by American Express. The American backed up his run to the Monte-Carlo semi-finals with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory against Marton Fucsovics to advance to the quarter-finals at the Munich ATP 250.

“First match, I had to get used to the conditions,” Fritz said of his performance. “Everything plays a bit different. It’s obviously very cold. I took some time to feel it out and I feel like I just played better as the match kept going.”

Fritz improved to 29-25 on clay courts with the win, with a 4-1 mark this season. The second seed will seek his 30th career victory on the dirt against either Dominic Thiem or eighth seed Marc-Andrea Huesler on Friday.

After dropping serve twice in the opening set against Fucsovics, Fritz faced just one break point across sets two and three, crucially saving it at 2-2 in the third. He scored his fourth break of the match on his seventh break point late in the decider and served out the victory in the ensuing game, wrapping up the win in just under two hours.

Fritz fired nine aces and won 83 per cent (35/42) of his first-serve points in the victory.

The American, who reached a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of No. 5 in February, entered Munich as the World No. 10. He is seeking his second title of 2023 after his triumph on home soil in Delray Beach.

The Thursday nightcap in Munich between Thiem and Huesler was suspended due to darkness with the Swiss leading 7-5, 3-3. Huesler defeated Kyle Edmund in three first-round sets while Thiem won the first set against Constant Lestienne in his opening match before the Frenchman retired with a calf injury.

Fresh off his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo last week, Andrey Rublev continued where he left off at the Srpska Open on Thursday when he defeated Juan Pablo Varillas 6-2, 6-2 in his opening match in Banja Luka.

The second seed opened his shoulders and dictated play at the ATP 250 clay-court event, overpowering the Peruvian with his destructive forehand to earn his sixth consecutive win in 70 minutes.

Rublev now holds a 19-8 record on the year and will next meet Damir Dzumhur in the quarter-finals after the 30-year-old clawed past Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(3).

Rublev arrives in Bosnia and Herzegovina off the back of winning the biggest title of his career in Monte-Carlo. The 25-year-old defeated seeds Karen Khachanov, Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune to clinch his 13th tour-level crown in the Principality.

Rublev is currently fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin and could climb to fourth if he lifts his second trophy of the season in Banja Luka, where Novak Djokovic is the top seed.

In other action, Dusan Lajovic beat Gregoire Barrere 6-3, 6-0, while Miomir Kecmanovic ended Abedallah Shelbayh’s run, overcoming the Jordan qualifier 6-4, 7-6(3).

A two-time finalist at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, Stefanos Tsitsipas moved a step closer to capturing his first title at the ATP 500 event on Thursday when he overcame 14th-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-2.

In a heavy-hitting clash, the Greek demonstrated great footwork to dictate on his forehand. The second seed saved both break points he faced and hit his groundstrokes with weight on the Barcelona clay, successfully targeting Shapovalov’s backhand to improve to 2-3 in their ATP Head2Head series and reach the quarter-finals.

“I tried to stay as aggressive as I could from the baseline,” Tsitsipas said. “Against Denis you have to keep up with the pace and be ready to attack when you can. It wasn’t easy out here but I did a very good job. I was responsible with my decision making. It was a good day.”

Tsitsipas is making his fifth appearance in Barcelona, with his best result runs to the final in 2018 and 2021. Chasing his first title of the season, he will next meet Alex de Minaur after the Australian received a walkover from Grigor Dimitrov.

With his 77-minute win, the World No. 5 moves to 18-5 on the season, highlighted by his run to the Australian Open final. Shapovalov started his clay-court season with a victory against Slovakian qualifier Jozef Kovalik on Wednesday. The Canadian was aiming to reach his second quarter-final of the year, after advancing to the last eight in Adelaide in January.

Earlier, Jannik Sinner survived a second-set dip to move past Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 and reach his seventh quarter-final of the season.

After Sinner raced to a one-set lead, Nishioka’s variety started to cause problems for the Italian, who was pulled from corner to corner at times at the clay-court event. The fourth seed found a way, though, breaking Nishioka’s serve three consecutive times in the third set to triumph after two hours and eight minutes.

Sinner advanced to the semi-finals on debut in Barcelona in 2021 and will aim to match that feat when he faces seventh seed Cameron Norrie or ninth seed Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals.

The Italian is 26-6 on the season and arrives in Barcelona off the back of a run to his third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final of the year in Monte-Carlo. He is currently third in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as he aims to qualify for the prestigious year-end event on home soil.

Holger Rune made a winning start to his title defence at the BMW Open by American Express on Thursday when he moved past German wild card Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-4 in Munich.

The 19-year-old was No. 70 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings when he earned his maiden tour-level title at the clay-court event 12 months ago. This week he returns to Munich at a career-high No. 7 after reaching the final in Monte-Carlo.

In the first ATP Head2Head meeting between Rune and Hanfmann, it was the Dane who quickly found his range in Munich, taking the ball early to hit through the German. He timed the ball cleanly off both wings and broke his opponent’s serve three times to advance after one hour and 25 minutes.

“It was a tough match,” Rune said. “I am happy with the way I played. It is difficult to play the first match, different conditions. Thank you guys for the support. I really love this tournament. I had made my breakthrough with my first title here last year, so it is special to be back.”

Rune now holds a 18-8 record on the season. The top seed is chasing his fourth tour-level title this week and will next face Cristian Garin or Lorenzo Sonego in the quarter-finals.

World No. 16 Alexander Zverev lost against Rune in his opening-round match in Munich last year and suffered an early exit at the ATP 250 event again on Thursday when he fell to Christopher O’Connell.

The Australian overcame the 19-time tour-level titlist 7-6(2), 6-4 to earn the biggest win of his season after one hour and 58 minutes. Into his third tour-level quarter-final of the year, O’Connell will next meet Flavio Cobolli after the #NextGenATP Italian defeated Oscar Otte 6-0, 3-6, 6-3.

German Zverev, who lifted the trophy on home soil in Munich in 2017 and 2018, will now head to Madrid, where he has clinched the title twice (2018, 21).

In other action, Aslan Karatsev clawed past Daniel Altmaier 4-6 7-6(2), 6-2, while American Marcos Giron overcame Alexander Ritschard 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.