Daniil Medvedev set a blockbuster semi-final clash against Novak Djokovic on Friday at the Astana Open, where he raced past Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 6-1.

In one of his best performances of the season, Medvedev looked in complete control. He struck his flat groundstrokes with consistent power and depth, acting as a brick wall to force the Spaniard into errors and advance after 64 minutes.

“I am happy to play the right game, to be really solid and to do everything I can to make his life difficult and I am really happy to beat him,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “I tried to mix it up as it is not easy to play against Roberto. I tried to mix it up and surprise him a little bit and it worked very well.”

Bautista Agut entered the match leading Medvedev 4-1 in their ATP Head2Head series. However, the 34-year-old was unable to hit through the World No. 4 on the hard courts in Kazakhstan, with Medvedev dramatically turning the tables to earn his 40th tour-level win of the season.

The 26-year-old will next play Novak Djokovic after the former World No. 1 downed Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-3. Medvedev, who is seeking his second tour-level title of the season this week at the ATP 500 event, trails the Serbian 4-6 in their ATP Head2Head series.
Saturday’s semi-final clash will be the first time the pair has met since the Paris final last November, when Djokovic won in three sets.

“I am really happy to play against Novak,” Medvedev said. “I thought about it before the match and we have only played one tournament together this year, which was Roland Garros. This is the second one and we meet again and I am really happy.”

With his victory over Bautista Agut, Medvedev has further strengthened his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 13-20 November in Turin. The 14-time tour-level titlist triumphed at the end-of-season event in 2020 and is currently fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic found a hot streak just in the nick of time against Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos on Friday at the Astana Open, where the second seeds won the final five points of the match to clinch a 3-6, 7-6(4), 10-7 semi-final victory.

Mektic and Pavic trailed 5-7 in the Match Tie-break before their late heroics capped a dramatic one-hour, 44-minute triumph as the Croatian pair surged to their eighth tour-level final of the season at the ATP 500 event in Kazakhstan.

Mektic and Pavic, who are currently fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, will now bid for their fifth ATP Tour crown of the year against Adrian Mannarino and Fabrice Martin in Sunday’s final. The French pairing scored a narrow semi-final win of its own, taking out Hubert Hurkacz and Jan Zielinski 2-6, 6-2, 10-5.

It is the first time Mannarino has advanced to a tour-level doubles final.

“I didn’t even know it was my first doubles final. No, I won’t get emotional with this one,” said the left-hander, who has reached 11 singles finals, including when Astana first hosted an ATP event in 2020.

“I hope we’re going to make it all the way. Let’s try to build something out of this tournament.”

Martin, No. 54 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, reached his 19th career doubles final but first of the season.

“It’s super nice. I’ve had a tough year this year,” said the 36-year-old. “Trying to find a partner, and I felt I was playing great the whole year, physically well. Luckily, Adrian was keen to play doubles. We’re great friends and always have fun on court so that was a good option to finish the year well.”

Matos/Vega Hernandez Seal Final Berth In Tokyo
At the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez defeated Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 7-5, 6-4 on Friday to reach their fifth tour-level final since pairing for the first time together in March.

The third-seeded Brazilian-Spanish duo lifted their first ATP Tour hard-court trophy in Sofia last week. Matos and Vega Hernadez’s opponent’s in Sunday’s championship match will be Mackenzie McDonald and Marcelo Melo. The unseeded McDonald and Melo advanced to the final after a left knee issue for Nick Kyrgios forced the Australian and his partner Thanasi Kokkinakis to withdraw.

Novak Djokovic, playing with his usual uncanny precision, won his seventh consecutive match Friday night, defeating Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-3 at the Astana Open.

The Serbian star advanced to his sixth semi-final of the season, where he will play No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev for the first time this year. Should Djokovic back up last week’s Tel Aviv championship run with a second consecutive title (and 90th overall), he will qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals.

Djokovic served exceptionally well against Khachanov and, at the same time, one of history’s greatest returners converted three of five break point opportunities against the World No. 18’s formidable serve.

“I didn’t play as well from the baseline as I did in the first two matches, but still it was enough,” said Djokovic after the match. “I managed to produce some good tennis when it was the most needed in both sets.”

The two matches Djokovic played for Team Europe at the Laver Cup in late September were his first for three months following his triumph at Wimbledon in July. Yet the 35-year-old seems to be returning to familiar form on indoor hard courts.

Djokovic broke the unseeded Khachanov in his first service game and led 3-0, before Khachanov found an equilibrium and won the next three games. Serving to stay in the match at 4-5, a backhand error gave Djokovic set point. He converted it with a stunning backhand volley into the open court.

After failing to convert a break point against Khachanov in the second game of the second set, Djokovic managed it in the fourth. A forehand winner that may have clipped the line gave him a 3-1 lead. Djokovic’s steadiness in the long points ultimately proved decisive, and he wrapped his 88-minute victory with an emphatic ace to secure a semi-final berth on tournament debut.

“I always expect highs from myself,” said Djokovic said. “Hopefully I can elevate still the level of my game for tomorrow because it’s going to be needed, obviously, whoever I play against.”

Khachanov, who has now lost 20 straight matches to Top 10 opponents – nine in 2022 – has now fallen in seven of eight matches to Djokovic across his career.

Did You Know?
By winning Wimbledon in July, Djokovic is guaranteed to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals as a current-year Grand Slam champion who finishes within the Top 20 of the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin should he win the Astana Open. Victory at the ATP 500 would give Djokovic enough points to guarantee that he will be in the Top 20 of the Race on the Monday after the Rolex Paris Masters.

Denis Shapovalov and Borna Coric both entered their Tokyo quarter-final with perfect set records this week. The Canadian, a finalist last week in Seoul, kept his streak intact with a 6-4, 6-3 win on Friday evening to reach the semi-finals for the second time at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.

Shapovalov converted on three of his four break chances to earn his first ATP Head2Head win against Coric in his third try. The seventh seed dropped serve on the only break point he faced as he failed to serve out the opening set at 5-4, but he snapped back to secure the set on return.

After breaking again midway through the second set, he rode strong serving to victory in one hour, 17 minutes. The 23-year-old lost just three points on his own delivery in the second set, during which he enjoyed a run of 13 straight points won on serve.

“I think I played great today,” Shapovalov said in a post-match press conference. “In general, my level the last two weeks has been great, so I’m very happy to be back in the semis.”

Now 7-2 at the ATP 500 event, where he also reached the semi-finals in 2018, Seoul finalist Shapovalov will bid for his second championship match appearance in as many weeks when he takes on Taylor Fritz, against whom he owns a 4-1 ATP Head2Head record. This week’s success has lifted him two places to No. 20 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as he builds back toward his career high of World No. 10, achieved in 2020.

“When my serve is going well, the rest of my game, I can kind of relax and play pretty freely,” Shapovalov said. “Me and my team have put a lot of work into returns as well, so I think that’s an area where I’ve improved a lot, as well as the serve. I think those are the two most important shots in the game.”

Fritz earlier advanced to the semi-finals following the withdrawal of Nick Kyrgios due to a left knee issue. The pair had been due to meet in the night session at the ATP 500 event, where Kyrgios lifted the trophy in 2016.

“It’s obviously very disappointing,” Kyrgios said in a press conference. “It’s one of my favourite tournaments. I’ve had great memories here… It’s heartbreaking, but I’ll be here next year. That’s for sure.”

The Tokyo fifth seed also pulled out of Atlanta earlier this year with a left-knee issue before rebounding in time to reach the US Open quarter-finals.

“I’ve been playing amazing tennis all year and actually was dealing with a bit of a knee issue around the US Open time,” Kyrgios explained. “I got back home and probably didn’t take enough time off, to be honest. I went straight back into training.”

The 2016 Tokyo champion had been in fine form this week with singles wins against Chun-Hsin Tseng and Kamil Majchrzak in addition to a run to the doubles semi-finals alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis. The Australian pair has also withdrawn from the doubles draw as a result of Kyrgios’ injury.

“The Japanese fans are some of my favourite to play in front of,” Kyrgios said. “It’s been such an amazing week. Obviously playing four matches and winning all four, I’ve been feeling great. I definitely felt like I was a threat to win the tournament and go all the way in singles and doubles.”

Kyrgios plans to return to the ATP Tour later this month in Basel and Paris.

Third seed Fritz had not won a match in three previous appearances in Tokyo but has battled hard to advance through the draw this week in the Japanese capital. The American saw off both James Duckworth and Hiroki Moriya in three sets to set the quarter-final clash with Kyrgios. Those victories came off the back of the American spending a week in full quarantine due to testing positive for COVID-19 in Seoul last week.

Perseverance paid off for Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Astana Open on Friday. The Greek rallied to win a gripping first set, then broke late in the second for a 7-6(8), 6-3 victory against Hubert Hurkacz.

Tsitsipas powered into his ninth semi-final this season and improved his ATPHead2Head lead against Hurkacz to 7-2. This, however, marked a first straight-set result in their past seven duels.

Tsitsipas has yet to be broken in three matches at the ATP 500 in Kazakhstan, although it looked like he would concede his first set of the week when his fellow Top 10 star in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings held five set points in the first-set tie-break.

On the third one of those, the Greek looked in particular trouble. With Hurkacz serving, Tsitsipas threw up a defensive lob after the Pole’s forehand approach. But Hurkacz, so assured on smashes previously in the set, erred wide.

Two more set points came and went for the seventh seed before Tsitsipas capitalised on his lone opportunity when Hurkacz’s backhand passing shot strayed wide.

“Most of those situations, I was not the fortunate one serving,” Tsitsipas said post-match, referring to the set points. “I was still able to break through and get back fighting, and it was very, very emotional to get that first tie-break after having thrown my body on the court.

“It was a very good moment to finish it off and get the tie-break.”

His good form in tie-breaks in Astana thus continued, after Tsitsipas won both against Italian qualifier Luca Nardi in the second round.

Hurkacz had done well to force the tie-break given he saved all eight break points he faced in three successive service games. Clutch serving proved key, as the Pole produced seven first serves, which prompted seven returns that did not clear the net. On the other one, Hurkacz served and volleyed behind a second serve.

It countered Tsitsipas’ own service games. At one stretch in the first, the Greek won 11 straight points behind his delivery. Overall, Tsitsipas only lost 10 points on serve. Hurkacz was bound to be reeling early in the second but steadied early. At 3-4, though, he relinquished serve from 40/15 in the second set’s lone break-point chance.

“I got that break I was looking for in one of the very last moments of the match, which gave me such a relief after trying to break him for so long,” said Tsitsipas.

Tsitsipas then comfortably served it out, helped by a net cord on his first match point. In deep concentration, he initially did not know the match finished.

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Third seed Tsitsipas carries a 5-4 ATPHead2Head record into his semi-final clash with Andrey Rublev, who began quarter-final day by topping Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 6-2.

“He strikes the ball very hard,” said Tsitsipas of Rublev. “But I’m going to concentrate on my game. I’m going to be well prepared and visualise it before.”

Tsitsipas is bidding for a maiden ATP 500 crown, having lost all eight of his finals at 500s.

Despite the defeat, Hurkacz jumped one spot into eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin thanks to his run in Astana this week, as the Pole attempts to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the second time.

Hurkacz’s day is not over in Astana, where he and partner Jan Zielinski later face Mannarino and Fabrice Martin in the doubles semi-finals.

Nick Kyrgios was left heartbroken after a left-knee injury forced him to pull out of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships ahead of his quarter-final showdown with Taylor Fritz on Friday night.

“It’s obviously very disappointing,” the Australian said in a somber press conference. “It’s one of my favourite tournaments. I’ve had great memories here… It’s heartbreaking, but I’ll be here next year. That’s for sure.”

The Tokyo fifth seed also pulled out of Atlanta earlier this year with a left-knee issue before rebounding to reach the US Open quarter-finals.

“I’ve been playing amazing tennis all year and actually was dealing with a bit of a knee issue around the US Open time,” Kyrgios explained. “I got back home and probably didn’t take enough time off, to be honest. I went straight back into training.”

The 2016 Tokyo champion had been in fine form this week with singles wins against Chun-Hsin Tseng and Kamil Majchrzak in addition to a run to the doubles semi-finals alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis.

“The Japanese fans are some of my favourite to play in front of,” Kyrgios said. “It’s been such an amazing week. Obviously playing four matches and winning all four, I’ve been feeling great. I definitely felt like I was a threat to win the tournament and go all the way in singles and doubles.”

He later added: “When your body lets you down, it’s not a good feeling. I know in this case it’s probably overloading rather than not being fit enough. I think t’s almost being too excited to get on the court and maybe training a little bit too much. So it’s positive, but heartbreaking at the same time.”

Kyrgios plans to return to the ATP Tour later this month in Basel and Paris.

Fritz moved on to the semi-finals as a result of the Aussie’s withdrawal. The third seed had not won a match in three previous appearances in Tokyo but has battled hard to advance through the draw this week in the Japanese capital.

The American saw off both James Duckworth and Hiroki Moriya in three sets to set the clash with Kyrgios. Those victories came off the back of the American spending a week in full quarantine due to testing positive for COVID-19 in Seoul last week.

Through to his second ATP 500 semi-final of the year, this year’s Indian Wells champion awaits the winner of the evening matchup between seventh seed Denis Shapovalov and ninth seed Borna Coric.

Sporting an anime t-shirt, Nick Kyrgios was in great spirits as he walked onto the Ariake Colosseum court for an open practice on Sunday in Tokyo. Now deep into the draw in both the singles and doubles competitions at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, the Aussie remains all smiles.

Kyrgios is a returning singles champion in Tokyo, where he won his third ATP Tour title as a 21-year-old in 2016. He also claimed two junior trophies in Japan in Nagoya (2011) and Osaka (2012).

“I was obviously super excited to get back here into Japan,” Kyrgios said, referencing his past success. “I always play good tennis here. To play in front of the crowd is amazing, they’re so respectful. They just always love good tennis.”

He later added: “It’s always a part of the season and a tournament that I always play, because I genuinely love being here.”

With a Malaysian mother, Kyrgios feels a strong connection to Asia and holds a particular fondness for Japanese culture.

“I’ve always felt comfortable here,” he reflected. “I travelled a lot and I love Asian food. Eating sushi and sashimi and all this type of stuff, I eat that pretty much every day.

“I love the food, I love the culture, I love the people.”

Embracing the local traditions, Kyrgios and doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis visited the famous Sensō-ji temple in Asakusa before their opening match. Kyrgios, an avid gamer, also made sure to visit the Pokémon centre in Tokyo on his travels.

“I love anime, I love Pokémon,” Kyrgios said. “I still usually travel with my Nintendo Switch all the time, playing all these games… Things like Pokémon and stuff, that’s been my childhood, every day. So I had to go to the Pokémon centre and all that.”

With dominant performances in both singles and doubles at the Tokyo ATP 500 events, the fan favourite continues to add positive memories in Japan.

For the second straight week, Novak Djokovic is making a debut appearance at a tournament. And just like in Tel Aviv, the 21-time Grand Slam winner is enjoying his time at the Astana Open. Djokovic continues his quest for consecutive ATP Tour titles when he meets Karen Khachanov in Friday’s night session in the Kazakh capital.

When Djokovic featured in Israel — he claimed the title Sunday by downing Marin Cilic at the Tel Aviv Watergen Open — it was his first time playing in the country after a gap of about 16 years. In contrast, it has only been three years since he was last in Kazakhstan, where the Serb contested an exhibition match in the Kazakhstani capital against Rafael Nadal in October 2019.

“Last time I was in Kazakhstan it was only 24 hours, so I didn’t really have too much time to go around,” Djokovic said after his first-round 6-1, 6-1 win over Cristian Garin at the National Tennis Centre. “This time, hopefully a full week.

“People are very friendly to me, and I feel the positive energy from the people, so of course when you are in this kind of environment, you get more motivation and you get inspired to play good tennis, and that’s why I’m here.”

Djokovic’s schedule means sightseeing opportunities might still be limited. If he is to land a 90th tour level crown, the 35-year-old will have to play matches on five consecutive days in Astana. He has taken walks in a park near the National Tennis Centre, however.

“I really enjoyed it. It’s really nice,” said Djokovic. “I’m positively impressed with the amount of support, really. Not just for me but generally for the players and how much they know tennis. It is very impressive to see, their knowledge in general and the passion for tennis from the people of Kazakhstan.”

This year marks the third season of the Astana event on the ATP Tour and the first since it was bumped up to the ATP 500 category. Yet Djokovic noted that the field assembled — entrants also included the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas — made it feel like an ATP Masters 1000.

“The organization is very well done,” said Djokovic. “I have spoken to several players, and they all have good things to say so far about the tournament.”

He is friends with the president of Kazakhstan’s tennis federation, Bulat Utemuratov, and this week visited a center for autism in Astana, one of the projects run by Utemuratov’s foundation. Under Utemuratov, who is also a vice-president at the ITF, Kazakhstan has emerged as a presence in global tennis.

“I saw a little video presentation of all the things his foundation is doing in Kazakhstan,” said Djokovic, whose own Novak Djokovic Foundation helps children. “And it’s really impressive. It’s amazing to have a person like that who is successful and who could of course always do something different or some other sport, but he chose to support tennis, so of course for me it’s wonderful.”

After winning his 13th consecutive tie-break to advance to the Tokyo quarter-finals, Frances Tiafoe said he hoped to avoid such tight sets despite his success in clutch moments. The fourth-seeded American got his wish on Friday as he cruised to a 6-0, 6-4 victory against Miomir Kecmanovic to continue his career-best run at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.

In just more than 30 minutes, Tiafoe won the first eight games of the match to take command under the closed roof in the Ariake Colosseum. After getting on the board for 1-2 in the second set, Kecmanovic called for the physiotherapist and had his lower back worked on. He created a 15/40 opening with Tiafoe serving at 3-2, but could not convert as the American began a run of eight straight points on serve.

Stepping up to the line at 30/30 as he served out the match, Tiafoe overcame his opponent’s final push with a whipped forehand winner, hit sharply cross-court, and an ace up the ‘T’ — his sixth ace on the day.

With the win in this meeting of first-time Tokyo quarter-finalists, Tiafoe advanced to his fourth semi-final of the season following deep runs in Estoril, Atlanta and the US Open. He is seeking his first title of 2022.

The American has not dropped a set in his three matches in Tokyo, defeating Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama in the opening round and Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the second round.

By reaching the semi-finals, Tiafoe moved up two places to No. 17 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, which would set him up for a new career high. But several players just below the American can still finish the week above him, including Nick Kyrgios and Denis Shapovalov in Tokyo.

Kecmanovic was seeking his third semi-final of 2022 and the first of his career above the ATP 250 level. The Serbian saved six match points — including one with a tweener — to shock eighth seed Daniel Evans in the second round after knocking out Japanese No. 1 Yoshihito Nishioka in his opening match.

“We were both born with a tennis racquet,” #NextGenATP star Juan Manuel Cerundolo joked as he recalled his earliest tennis memory of him and his older brother, Francisco Cerundolo.

The Argentine brothers have inspired each other throughout their young careers as they’ve built upon their success. An important time for family support came this season, when Juan Manuel was sidelined with injuries.

“My brother and I keep motivating and learning from each other,” Juan Manuel told ATPTour.com. “We give advice and motivate like, ‘If I can do it, you can do it also’. His achievement this year inspired me to keep going, we keep in touch a lot.” 

This past week, Juan Manuel returned to the winners’ circle as he won the Buenos Aires Challenger to collect his first ATP Challenger Tour title of the season (fourth overall). In front of an energetic Argentine crowd, the 20-year-old defeated countryman Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in the final.

“I didn’t expect to win the tournament,” Juan Manuel said. “It was my second tournament coming back from almost two-and-a-half months and before that, I wasn’t competing regularly. Winning now, being healthy and playing in front of my people at home was really nice. It was relieving.

“It’s the best Challenger I’ve won, between the four. The atmosphere was incredible. Both me and Camilo had lots of people cheering for us. That’s something you don’t see in any other place than your home.”

Players from Argentina have combined for a season-leading 19 Challenger titles. Juan Manuel is the 14th different Argentine champion this year, tying a Challenger Tour record for the most different winners from a single country in a season (USA in 2006, France in 2011). The waiting and hard recovery work paid off for the Buenos Aires native.

“The injury was really frustrating because 2021 was amazing for me,” Juan Manuel said. “When I was starting to play ATP, I tore my psoas muscle [located in the lower lumbar region of the spine], also coming from a problem in my hip. Then we realised my hip was okay, it was more the tendon and muscle. All my results I got last year went away because I couldn’t play. It made me angry because when you play, you want to put your 100% in every match, and I wasn’t able to do that.”

In 2021, Juan Manuel was one of four players to claim a Tour-level and Challenger title. His three Challenger titles – Rome-2, Como, Banja Luka – all came after his initial breakthrough at the ATP 250 event in Cordoba. ‘Juanma’ advanced through qualifying en route to making his ATP Tour main-draw debut on home soil. He didn’t stop there.

The then-World No. 335 became the first Argentine to win a title in his debut and the youngest Argentine champion (19 years, three months) since Guillermo Coria (19 years, one month) won Vina del Mar in 2001. The lefty’s standout season booked him a ticket to the 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next ATP Finals in Milan, Italy.

“Cordoba was a dream,” Juan Manuel said. “I was playing qualifying and I was like, ‘If I can win one qualifying match, it will be a good tournament!’ Then I started winning and I couldn’t believe anything. When I was in the quarter-finals I was like, ‘Woah, what is going on!’ Then I just had the confidence and it happened.

“It was like everything I dreamed of since I was a kid, winning at home, all my friends and family were there. Now, looking back, I learned a lot from that week. It was like the beginning of my career.”

Juan Manuel Cerundolo captures the title at the 2021 Cordoba Open. Credit: Cordoba Open

This season, Francisco, 24, followed in his younger brother’s footsteps by claiming his maiden Tour-level title in July, when he triumphed at the ATP 250 event in Bastad, Sweden. Much like Juan Manuel’s achievement in 2021, Francisco also claimed a Challenger title (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) in January. The right-hander is one of six players who have claimed a Tour-level and Challenger title in 2022.

When Francisco, No. 29 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, lifted the trophy in Sweden, Juan Manuel was preparing for the Tampere Challenger. He made sure that he could watch his brother be crowned champion.

“When he [Francisco] was playing the final in Bastad, I was training in Finland,” Juan Manuel said. “My coach put TennisTV on between our trainings and I saw every point I could. It was a very important final for him and he was playing a friend of mine, Sebastian Baez. It was a really nice match, both are having an amazing year.”

Juan Manuel, World No. 148, has shifted his attention towards having a consistent run during the year-end South American Challenger swing as he looks to play a full season in 2023. The lefty is set to compete the next two weeks at the Rio de Janeiro and Coquimbo-2 Challengers.

“With all the injuries I’ve been through this year, now my only goal is to play regularly,” Juan Manuel said. “To play three tournaments in a row would be amazing for me and to have the regularity to win and try to play as much as possible is more important than ranking and tournaments right now.”