Cameron Norrie continues tear with second career Challenger title after Tiburon win - UBITENNIS
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ATP Challenger

Cameron Norrie continues tear with second career Challenger title after Tiburon win

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Norrie has had an excellent summer in the United States (Zimbio.com)

Young Briton Cameron Norrie’s excellent late summer has continued into the autumn. The 22 year-old surged to the Tiburon title with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-3 win over 2nd seed Tennys Sandgren. Norrie, who was himself seeded 8th in the tournament, won in exactly an hour and sixteen minutes. Norrrie broke twice in each set, saving five of the six break points he faced.

Norrie grew into the tournament after a pair of close matches to open his campaign. He edged young Swede Elias Ymer 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in the first round, before defeating Mitchell Krueger 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the second. Norrie did not drop another set from that point He defeated 4th seed Michael Mmoh 7-5, 6-2, and the unseeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-3, 6-2 in the semi-finals.

Norrie seems to enjoy American Challengers, as all four of his final appearances have come in the United States. He was the Aptos runner-up in 2016, before winning his first Challenger title in Binghampton this July. He was beaten 6-4, 6-1 by Kevin King in the Cary final, but after a week long break, took the title in Tiburon this week.

Norrie’s win sees him move up to a career-high ranking of No.136, a move of twenty-nine places.

Norrie was ranked as low as No.275 before the Binghampton tournament, but a strong run at Challengers and a good run at the US Open have seen him climb more than one hundred places in the last few months. His highlight run was his first successful qualification for a Grand Slam, followed by his first main draw win. He defeated veteran Russian Dmitry Tursunov before falling to eventual semi-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta.

Sandgren’s runner-up showing ensures he also reaches a career-high ranking. A move of 7 places was enough to put the American back in the Top 100 at No.97, one place higher than his previous best of No.98.

Both men feature in the Stockton tournament this week. Norrie, again seeded 8th, faces American wildcard Deiton Baughman. Sandgren, seeded 2nd, starts against Australia’s Christopher O’ Connell. The pair are in the same section, and could face each other in the quarter-finals.

ATP Challenger

Danielle Collins beats Caroline Garcia to reach the second semifinal of her career in Miami

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Danielle Collins beat Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-2 in 80 minutes to reach her second semifinal at the Miami Open. Collins became the first qualifier to reach the semifinal in the history of this tournament. 

Collins achieved her third win against a seeded player in five matches over the past seven days. 

Collins dropped just 11 points in nine service games against Garcia and hit 22 winners to Garcia’s 12. 

Collins earned a break in the eighth game and held serve to seal the first set 6-3. The US player broke serve in the third game of the second set and never looked back to close out the match in 1 hout and 19 minutes. 

Collins has extended her record to 4-0 in her head-to-head matches against Garcia and has not lost a set to her French opponent. 

Collins set up a semifinal match against the winner of Wednesday night’s match between Jessica Pegula and Elena Alexandrova, who beat world number one player Iga Swiatek in the fourth round.  

Collins won two WTA titles in Palermo and San José in 2021 but she has not reached a WTA Tour level final since losing to Ashleigh Barty in Melbourne in 2022. 

“I think Caroline Garcia comes out here and fights her butt off. She hits some really strong shots. I don’t think the set scores are a reflection of how close the match really is”, said Collins. 

Garcia beat Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff to reach the quarter finals in Miami for the first time in her career. The French player was troubled by an injury to her right shoulder and received treatment early in the second set. 

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ATP Challenger

Dominic Thiem To Return At Marbella Challenger, Joins Wawrinka In Stacked Field

Dominic Thiem will be joining Stan Wawrinka in making his return to action at the Marbella challenger next week.

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Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem (@SK_Tennis - Twitter)

Dominic Thiem will finally make his return to the ATP tour at the Marbella challenger next week.

The Austrian hasn’t played a tennis match since retiring at the grass court event in Mallorca last June due to a wrist injury.

Despite being scheduled to play at the Australian Open and at the Indian Wells-Miami swing, Thiem had to postpone his return as he wasn’t quite ready to compete in matches.

However now Thiem has decided to return as he will begin his clay court swing next week at the Marbella Challenger.

The former Roland Garros finalist took to Instagram to announce the news as he looks to climb back up the rankings.

The world number 50 will face tough competition with former Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka also making his comeback at the event in Spain next week.

At the blockbuster event there will also be the likes of Holger Rune, Pablo Cuevas, Jaume Munar and Lucas Pouille competing.

The winner of the event will receive 125 ranking points but much more importantly for Thiem and Wawrinka much needed match practice ahead of a busy European clay-court swing.

Thiem will be the top seed while Wawrinka will be unseeded with their being a possibility of the two heavyweights meeting in the opening round.

Play will start on Monday with Jaume Munar being the defending champion.

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ATP Challenger

Roberto Bautista Agut reaches his second career final in Doha

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Roberto Bautista Agut reached the second final of his career at the Qatar Exxon Mobil with a 6-3 6-3 win over defending champion Andrey Rublev. 

Bautista Agut broke serve in the fourth game with a forehand winner to open up a 3-1 lead and held on his next service games to close out the first set 6-3 after 29 minutes. 

The Spaniard started the second set with an early break. Rublev broke straight back in the second game and won his next two service games to take a 3-2 lead. Bautista Agut saved two break points to hold serve before getting two consecutive breaks to claim the second set 6-3. 

Rublev was playing his first match this week after two walkovers. The Russian player claimed the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam last week. 

“It was very difficult to play tennis today, with the windy conditions, but I put a lot of pressure on his second serve and played really good tennis. I played a long match yesterday against Dominic Thiem, but I felt fresh and I had a lot of power on the court. This is one of my favourite tournaments. I played one of my best matches here in Qatar two years ago, and I hope I can win one more match tomorrow”, said Bautista Agut.

Bautista Agut set up a final against Nikoloz Basilashvili, who beat Taylor Fritz 7-6 (7-3) 6-1. 

Basilashvili, who beat Roger Federer in the quarter final, rallied from one break down to win the tie-break of the first set 7-3. The Georgian player broke twice in the second and sixth games to close out the second set 6-1.  “To reach the final means a lot. I am playing well and I am relaxed. It’s great to play in front of a crowd and a nice atmosphere”, said Basilshvili. 

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