Andrey Rublev recorded his first victory over Alexander Zverev in his sixth attempt Friday to move to within one win of defending his Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title.

The second seed, who saved five match points earlier this week against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, had not won a set in his five previous meetings against seventh-seeded German Zverev. However, Rublev flipped the script with a clean-hitting performance at the ATP 500 event, saving one set point in the second set to triumph 6-3, 7-6(9) on his sixth match point after one hour and 58 minutes.

“I was thinking it was going to be a third set. I was preparing mentally for the third set but I somehow saved a set point,” Rublev said. “I had a couple of match points but he played well but in the end at 9/9, I made a good return and then I said ‘Ok, let’s try to make it here’. I won a crazy rally and I was lucky. It was a super intense tie-break.”

Rublev is aiming to become the third repeat champion in Dubai, joining Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. The 25-year-old, who defeated Jiri Vesely in last year’s final, will face top seed Djokovic or third seed Daniil Medvedev in his first championship match of the season.

“We are really good friends, we have known each other since 10 or 11 years old. We have been together since juniors,” Rublev said of his relationship with Zverev. “He was always like an older brother to me and in all the previous matches he beat me. Today when I was going on court I thought I had nothing to lose. He always beats me, so why need to be tight.”

The World No. 6 arrived in Dubai off the back of a disappointing quarter-final exit in Doha last week. He has rediscovered his best form at the hard-court tournament, though, and played with confidence against Zverev.

Rublev flew out of the blocks, breaking in the first game as he took the ball early to force Zverev back. The second seed glided around the baseline to cleanly strike an array of winners down the line, while he committed just six unforced errors in the first set.

After moving ahead, Rublev continued to play aggressively and demonstrated good defence, soaking up Zverev’s heavy-hitting. He squandered one match point on the German’s serve at 5-6 before sealing victory on his sixth match point, after saving a set point at 7/8 in a mammoth tie-break.

Rublev will be chasing his sixth ATP 500 crown and 13th title when he competes in his 18th tour-level final on Saturday.

Zverev was playing in his first semi-final since he suffered his right ankle injury against Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros last year. The German is up two spots to No. 14 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings following his run in Dubai.

The top-seeded duo of Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski were the lone seeds to advance to the quarter-finals at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC. On Thursday, the Dutch-British team stayed on course for its first title of 2023 with a second straight-sets win on the week.

Koolhof/Skupski defeated Rio de Janeiro semi-finalists Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the last four in Acapulco. They did not face a break point in the match and won 83 per cent of their first-serve points in the win. Despite losing one of the points of the week, when a Reboul lob capped a defensive masterclass from the French team, the top seeds are through to their second semi-final of the season.

Their next opponents will be Austrians Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler, who beat William Blumberg and Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-3.

In the day’s most dramatic match, Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan edged Americans Mackenzie McDonald and Ben Shelton 6-1, 6-7(4), 11-9. The Swedish-Japanese team clinched victory on its fourth match point after missing out on two on serve at 5-4 in the second set. In the Match Tie-break, they fell behind 7/8 after holding leads of 5/0 and 7/2, but recovered to win four of the last five points.

SFs Set In Dubai
Two straightforward Thursday quarter-finals rounded out the last four at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Third seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara beat Indian lucky losers Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni 6-4, 6-3, while Maxime Cressy and Fabrice Martin defeated Dutchmen Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop 6-4, 6-3. Neither pair has dropped a set this week at the ATP 500.

Glasspool/Heliovaara will face top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the semis, with Cressy/Martin set to meet Belgian lucky losers Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.

Chileans Barrios Vera/Tabilo Down Top Seeds In Santiago
All three seeded teams in action on Thursday at the Movistar Chile Open were upset, with home favourites Tomas Barrios Vera and Alejandro Tabilo knocking off top seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

The Chileans scored a 6-1, 3-6, 10-7 victory to advance to the semi-finals. They will meet Italians Andrea Pellegrino and Andrea Vavassori, who upset third seeds Nicolas Barrientos and Ariel Behar 7-6(12), 6-3.

In the other half of the draw, Spaniards Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar downed fourth seeds Francisco Cabral and Nikola Cacic 6-4, 6-4, while Thiago Seyboth Wild and Matias Soto beat N.Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan.

In a Thursday matchup of the top two Americans in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Taylor Fritz underlined his status as the No. 1 man from the United States with a straight-sets win against Frances Tiafoe at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC.

The Acapulco third seed earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory in an entertaining match that crescendoed as it neared its conclusion. Tiafoe, playing to the crowd, turned on the style with an underhand serve and a slew of drop shots as he tried to recover an early break in the second set. But Fritz, who landed just 50 per cent of his first serves, finished the job to reach his third semi-final in as many events.

“I’m happy with how I played the big points,” said the 25-year-old, who saved all four break points he faced, including three in the second set. “It’s really easy to get frustrated with myself when I’m missing every first serve.

“It’s really easy to get down on myself for that, and I kind of just fought it out, accepted that I’m going to have to play and grind out all these points and I wasn’t going to be getting the amount of free points that I’m used to getting. I’m pretty proud of how I competed through a lot of those long games on my serve.”

Fritz scored an early break in both sets, in the fourth game of the opener and the first game of set two. While Tiafoe challenged the World No. 5’s serve, Fritz was able to erase each of those four break points — not with big serves, but by coming up with the goods in several dramatic rallies.

With Tiafoe trailing 2-4 in the second, he mixed in a well-placed underarm serve at 40/0 to spark a fun point that ended on a missed Fritz tweener, sparking smiles from both men and cheers from the crowd. But after missing out on two break points in the previous game, Tiafoe was not able to threaten on return down the stretch.

Putting on a show in Acapulco 🤩@AbiertoTelcel | #CelebratingTennis30 pic.twitter.com/SbQXy8P5Sk

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 3, 2023

Fritz earned his sixth straight win against Tiafoe, improving to 6-1 in their ATP Head2Head that dates back to 2016. He also extended his current winning streak to seven after his Delray Beach title last month, with just two sets lost in those seven wins.

Fritz will next face another American in seventh seed Tommy Paul, a 6-2, 6-2 winner against countryman Mackenzie McDonald earlier in the day.

“I’d say it’s similar to how I would play Frances,” Fritz said of the matchup. “He’s one of my close friends, we both know each other’s game really well. Tommy’s been playing well. It’s been a while since we’ve played each other and it’s going to be a good match.”

Fritz leads their ATP Head2Head 2-1, with their most recent meeting last year in Miami.

In Paul’s win against McDonald, both sets played out identically in terms of games won, with the seventh seed breaking serve in the fourth and the final game of each. After saving an early break point, Paul won 16 straight points on serve beginning in his last service game of the opening set. He finished with 19 winners and 6 unforced errors.

Eighth seed Alex de Minaur also advanced to the Acapulco semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Japan’s Taro Daniel. The Aussie will face Holger Rune or Matteo Berrettini on Friday.

De Minaur won the final four games of both sets in the victory and did not face a break point after he dropped serve at 2-0 in the opener. The 24-year-old was untouchable on his first serve, losing only one point behind it (21/22) in the one-hour, 37-minute match — though he landed his first delivery at a 42 per cent clip.

The World No. 22 has stormed into the Acapulco semis with the loss of just eight games in three matches. He defeated Mexican wild card Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez in the opening round and qualifier Jacopo Berrettini in the last 16.

Tomas Martin Etcheverry played one of the best matches of his career to defeat fellow Argentine Francisco Cerundolo on Thursday at the Movistar Chile Open. The 23-year-old earned a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory on his fifth match point in Santiago to reach his second ATP Tour quarter-final.

Fuelled by a strong serving day and aggressive hitting off his forehand wing, Etcheverry scored the second Top 50 win of his career by beating the World No. 32. The good friends shared a warm embrace at the net following the match.

“Francisco is one of my best friends on the ATP and in life,” Etcheverry said after his two-hour, 28-minute victory. “It was an incredible match for me. I think I started with pressure because it’s hard to play with a friend. We know each other a lot. I made the difference in the first set when I got the break, and the same in the last set.”

Both of Etcheverry’s quarter-final runs have come this season; he also reached the last eight in Buenos Aires two week ago. After recording three tour-level wins in 2022, he has already notched five this season, including his Santiago first-round win against Fabio Fognini.

Next up for the Argentine is Dusan Lajovic, who defeated Francisco’s brother Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(2) earlier in the day. In a dramatic conclusion to that match, Lajovic saved two break points at 4-4 in the third set, then missed out on a match point at 5-4 before losing serve to fall behind 5-6. The Serbian was able to break back to force a tie-break, in which he won all five of his return points to secure victory.

After Etcheverry edged Cerundolo, he was expecting another difficult test against the 32-year-old Lajovic: “Always here on the ATP Tour, all the matches are really tough,” he said, looking ahead to the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting.

Also on Thursday, third seed Sebastian Baez and sixth seed Laslo Djere advanced to set a Friday quarter-final meeting. Argentina’s Baez, a returning finalist, knocked off home favourite Cristian Garin 6-4, 6-3 to close the day’s play after Djere scored a 7-5, 7-5 win against Riccardo Bonadio in early action.

Baez and Djere are the lone seeded players remaining in the ATP 250 singles draw.

Novak Djokovic is one of the toughest puzzles to solve in sports. The World No. 1 frustrates the best players in the world and quickly finds an answer to every question they pose. Even when the Serbian is not at his best, he manages to stay in contact before delivering a heartbreaking blow in the most critical moment. The 35-year-old has shown that plenty in 2023 en route to his 15-0 start to the season.

But on Friday, in the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Djokovic will face a different challenge. The top seed will play the winner of 12 consecutive matches, Daniil Medvedev, the one man who consistently frustrates him like the five-time Dubai champion does everyone else on the ATP Tour.

Djokovic leads the pair’s ATP Head2Head series 9-4, but that record does not tell the full story of their matchup. The Serbian has enjoyed a legendary rivalry with Rafael Nadal, but that is a different clash of styles entirely. Nobody drives Djokovic crazy the way Medvedev does.

“Daniil is one of the best players in the world the last five years. Grand Slam winner. Former No. 1 in the world. Not much to talk about,” Djokovic said. “His quality is as tough as it gets when you are supposed to face someone on the hard court, particularly.”

Watch Medvedev Thursday Hot Shot:

In January, Medvedev fell to No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, just five months after sitting atop the standings. He won just two titles in 2022 — an ATP 250 in Los Cabos and an ATP 500 in Vienna — and was struggling as much as he has since exploding into the Top 10 for the first time in 2019.

The problem-solving magician was becoming his own toughest opponent. At his very best, Medvedev mows through service games and plays like a wall in return games, waiting out his opponents and making them uncomfortable. But suddenly, tough losses piled up and a loss of confidence made him more vulnerable.

The good news for fans around the world excited for Friday’s blockbuster showdown is that a lot can change in a month. And it has. Medvedev is back to World No. 7 and firing on all cylinders again.

After capturing back-to-back titles in Rotterdam and Doha, he carries a 12-match winning streak into his battle with Djokovic. Medvedev has faced just two break points in Dubai and his inimitable forehand — effective, if not pretty — is increasingly becoming a weapon again.

This is the true Litmus test for Medvedev. The third seed is back in form, but is he ready to defeat Djokovic and begin his pursuit to return to the very top of the sport? Is his level already among the two or three best players in the world?

“I’m playing good right now. But when you play Novak, Novak is always the favourite. He won probably, I don’t know, [his last] 50 matches and lost maybe four or five. So he’s huge. He’s playing great, moving great. You can never say that he’s 35 years old. But I always had some good fights with him, so I’m hoping for my best shape tomorrow because it’s the only way to beat him.”

Watch Dubai Thursday Highlights:

Medvedev’s memory is accurate. Since the start of Rome last May, Djokovic has won 50 of his 53 matches. Three times during that stretch, Djokovic has defeated Medvedev, including a straight-sets victory in Adelaide earlier this year.

None of those matches came with Medvedev in the form he is in now, but he still took a set in two of the three. And nobody will soon forget when Medvedev stunned Djokovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the US Open in 2021, when the Serbian was one match from completing a historic Grand Slam.

But even an in-form Medvedev will need to be at his very best to challenge the Serbian. The same way Medvedev frustrates Djokovic, it works the other way, too.

According to a TennisViz analysis for Tennis Data Innovations, Medvedev won an astonishing 43 per cent of points from a defensive position in Rotterdam and Doha. But it will be a far more difficult challenge to “steal” points at the same rate against Djokovic under the Dubai lights. The World No. 1 has also been a serving machine in 2023, according to an Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis. 

“I’m just really happy to be on a streak right now,” Medvedev said earlier in the week. “Streaks always finish. I will try to extend mine as long as I can.”

The question is, will it come to an end against Djokovic?

In another star-studded semi-final, two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev will try to continue his return to form against longtime friend and second seed Andrey Rublev.

Zverev began the week with a 3-6 record in 2023. He missed the remainder of 2022 after hurting his ankle last year in the semi-finals of Roland Garros against Rafael Nadal. But the German rallied from a set down against powerful Czech Jiri Lehecka to begin his week and has gained momentum since.

“I’m starting to play decent tennis, which is nice after nine months,” Zverev said. “I’m happy about that.”

The former World No. 2 owns a 5-0 ATP Head2Head advantage over Rublev, who has shown a great fighting spirit this season. He has saved at least one match point and gone on to win the match three times in 2023.

“I want to do my best. That’s it. I want to fight,” Rublev said. “I want to show [a] great match and we’ll see what’s going to happen. If he’s better, he will deserve to win. If I’m better, I will deserve to win. So it’s simple.”

Tennis United took on a new meaning Thursday. ATP player Bjorn Fratangelo and WTA player Madison Keys, longtime partners, announced their engagement on social media.

“Forever 🤍,” they wrote on Instagram with a picture of their hands, a ring on Keys’ ring finger.

 

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A post shared by Madison Keys (@madisonkeys)

Their friends quickly congratulated the Americans on their special moment.

“Yesssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Sloane Stephens wrote. “We are getting married!!!!!!!!!!! 💍💍💍💍💍💍”

“That ring is tuuuuffff,” Frances Tiafoe added.

Robert Lindstedt, the former doubles star who coached American Denis Kudla until earlier this year, spent time with Team United States during the United Cup. The Swede commented: “@bjornfrat the overachiever!! Congratulations to both of you but mostly to him. ❤️💘❤️”

Two years ago, Fratangelo and Keys joined forces by playing mixed doubles together for the first time at the US Open.

“He finally wore me down,” Keys said, cracking a laugh. “I was always just saying I was going to be so nervous and I was going to have to try so hard, but he finally said, ‘We’ll just have some fun.’ I’m very happy that we did it.”

They were so happy, they did so again at the 2022 US Open, reaching the second round.

Novak Djokovic is moving closer to his devastating best.

The World No. 1 answered all the questions fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz asked Thursday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where he defeated the Pole 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals. There will be a blockbuster showdown in the last four, with Djokovic set to face former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev for a place in the final.

“It was a challenging match as it always is against Hubert. One of the best guys on the Tour, definitely,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “Fantastic personality. Very lovable guy, a great relationship with everyone. He’s always respectful. I wish him all the best for the rest of the season.”

Hurkacz threw everything in his deep arsenal at Djokovic on centre court. From winning a point after hitting a tweener in the early moments of the match to putting pressure on the Serbian by moving forward, the Pole tried to take the 35-year-old out of his comfort zone.

It was to no avail. Djokovic dominated on serve — he did not face a break point — and chipped away to earn opportunities until he broke through. The top seed converted two of his eight opportunities to advance after one hour and 21 minutes and take a 5-0 lead in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series.

Hurkacz was closest to breaking through at 5-4 in the second set, when he took a 0/30 advantage. But after Djokovic served his way out of trouble, he seized the match in the next game.

The Pole fended off the first four break points he faced in the game, but Djokovic unleashed a trademark backhand down the line to claim his fifth chance, before successfully serving for his place in the semi-finals.

“I think he’s got one of the best serves in the game, so in the second set until that 11th game in the second set, I didn’t really have too many chances against his serve,” Djokovic said. “He was winning his service games comfortably. Fortunately for me, I also found the rhythm on my serve throughout the second set and held my serve.

“Love-30 at 5-4 for him, found a couple of good serves, good plays. Really one or two points can always decide [the winner] of matches like this. There’s not much that is separating both players. But I’m really, really glad with the way I played under pressure.”

Djokovic’s Best Starts To A Season

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Djokovic, who before arriving in Dubai had not competed since lifting his 10th Australian Open trophy, is now 15-0 on the season, marking his fourth-best winning streak to start a season.

In the first round, he needed a final-set tie-break to claw past Tomas Machac. Now Djokovic is two wins from capturing his sixth title in Dubai and his 94th tour-level crown overall. That would tie him with Ivan Lendl for the third-most titles in the Open Era.

Djokovic will be fully focused on the match in front of him though. He will face Medvedev, who ousted eighth seed Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in the last match of the day. The third seed won the final 21 points of the match to send a message to his next opponent.

“To win 21 points in a row, I don’t know if that’s my personal record on the ATP Tour,” Medvedev said. “I managed to hit some lines, I managed to play good. Borna was missing a little bit, but generally happy with my level, I’m happy with the ending of the match for sure.”

Medvedev will try to overcome a 4-9 ATP Head2Head deficit against Djokovic, who is not the only one bringing good form into the match. The 27-year-old has won back-to-back titles in Rotterdam and Doha, and is trying for a third in Dubai. He is on a 12-match winning streak and has not dropped a set this week.

“I’m playing good right now,” Medvedev said. “But when you play Novak, Novak is always the favourite.”

There is nothing quite like coming back from the brink to claim victory. Just ask Andy Murray and Andrey Rublev.

Both players have saved at least one match point en route to a win three times in 2023, a remarkable tally considering the season is just more than two months old. Between them, the pair is responsible for more than 27 per cent (6/22) of all such comebacks completed on the ATP Tour in the year so far.

Andy Murray & Andrey Rublev: Victories After Saving Match Point In 2023

The most recent of these unlikely comebacks took place on Wednesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where Rublev rallied from 1/6 in the second-set tie-break before defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in three sets. It is the third tournament in a row in which the World No. 6 has saved match points to prevail, and he later spoke of the unique emotions that such victories produce.

“These matches, when they’re over, and somehow you win them, it’s always special,” said Rublev after his second-round win. “I have no words to describe it.

“One time, maybe you feel lucky, you feel super tight and emotional because you almost lose, and somehow you win it. When it happens a third time, you think now there is no chance, it is impossible, now it’s over for sure.”

Save 5 match points in a row? Rublev sorts it in the second set tiebreak 😮‍💨⁰
The defending champion advances in Dubai, taking the win against Davidovich Fokina after a three set thriller 💪@ddftennis | #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/dXsWeRbux6

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 1, 2023

Rublev’s comeback victories against Holger Rune, Tallon Griekspoor and Davidovich Fokina will be especially welcome for the 25-year-old given that he has become more accustomed to being on the wrong side of such turanrounds in recent years.

Since 2015, Rublev has lost five matches in which he held at least one match point, most recently in 2021 against Adrian Mannarino in Moscow. In contrast, from 2015 until the start of this year, he saved a match point en route to a win just once.

“When it never happens, sometimes you hope, ‘Maybe I will be lucky today and I will make it’”, said Rublev in Dubai. “When you’re three times lucky, [in the] last three tournaments — Australian Open, Doha and Dubai — three tournaments in a row, it’s like, ‘How many more Christmas presents [do I have]’?”

In contrast, fans of Murray have long been accustomed to the former World No. 1’s penchant for heartstopping comebacks. Between 2015 and 2022, he saved at least one match point en route to a win five times. Only once since 2015 has he held match point and gone on to lose a match — the Briton let slip seven of them before losing against Dominik Koepfer at the 2021 Rolex Paris Masters.

Yet the Briton’s 2023 season has been dramatic even by his own standards. He fended off a match point to defeat Matteo Berrettini in five sets at the Australian Open and then downed Lorenzo Sonego and Jiri Lehecka in Doha after saving three match points and five match points, respectively.

What a week it has been for @andy_murray 🔥@qatartennis | #Qemo2023 pic.twitter.com/jbZgWlywcz

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 24, 2023

“I don’t know [how I won],” said a disbelieving Murray after his 6-0, 3-6, 7-6(6) semi-final victory against Lehecka in Qatar six days ago. “That was one of the most amazing turnarounds I’ve had in my career. You obviously had the three match points at 5-4, but also [two] when I was serving at 5-3, and then I don’t know.”

Murray’s extraordinary efforts certainly did not escape the attention of Daniil Medvedev prior to his match against the Briton in the Doha final. He acknowledged the 46-time tour-level titlist’s rare ability to stay focused until the very last ball.

“It’s unbelievable [what Murray has done this week],” said Medvedev, who ultimately prevailed against Murray in straight sets to lift the trophy in Qatar. “[It’s like] as soon as someone arrives at match point, that’s where the match starts.”