Dudi Sela Defeats Thomas Fabbiano To Capture 22nd Career Title At The Aegon Open - UBITENNIS
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ATP Challenger

Dudi Sela Defeats Thomas Fabbiano To Capture 22nd Career Title At The Aegon Open

Published

7 years ago

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Dudi Sela

Dudi Sela captured the 22nd title of his career rallying from a set down to defeat Thomas Fabbiano in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to win the ATP Challenger title at the Aegon Open.

After a close first set with few chances to break Fabbiano capitalised in the ninth game and served it out to move a step closer to a sixth career title. The fourth seed also had break points in the sixth game but Sela came back using all his experience to force a deciding set and swiftly established a 4-1 lead in the third. Fabbiano pulled two games back but the Israeli held his nerve and broke to love in the last game to seal the crown in Nottingham.

These two players had met once before in a semifinal on the ATP Challenger circuit in Suzhou back in 2015 and it was Sela who came out on top in three sets 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. Fabbiano got past Sam Groth in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 in his first match out on Centre Court in the last four, while Sela advanced following Marius Copil’s retirement when leading 7-6(4), 1-0.

The match was of a high standard from the start with both players hitting more winners than unforced errors as they battled it out in the heat at the Nottingham Tennis Centre with punishingly long rallies.

Both players were solid on serve and looked unlikely at being broken until the ninth game where Sela came under pressure. Fabbiano came out and hit two forehand winners to move to 0-30 and a double fault from the third seed left the Israeli facing two set points. The Italian fourth seed could not take the first but sealed the second after he forced an error from Sela to win the opener 6-4 after 34 minutes.

Sela faced further pressure down break point in his opening service game of the second set but out dropped volley his opponent at the net to survive the scare and level at one game all. Having faced the pressure himself the Israeli was able to get his first break of the match and begin his comeback , only for Fabbiano to break straight back in the fourth game after he squandered two chances to hold.

In the sixth game it looked as though Fabbiano may have been closing in on victory after gaining two break point chances but Sela responded to hold and then hit two superbly struck one-handed backhands to break his opponent once more. The break proved to pivotal as the third seed served it out to force a deciding set for the title.

With the momentum now with the Israeli he broke his opponent in the opening game of the final set after Fabbiano put a forehand wide and he quickly found himself in complete control up a double break at 4-1. Sela secured the double break with a stunning diving volley winner which wowed the crowd at the Nottingham crowd.

The Italian was not finished yet and pulled one of the breaks back with a cross court winner on the line to pull it back to 4-3, but Sela pulled away again to move one game away. Fabbiano appeared to be jaded in the final game as he dropped serve to love to seal the title for Sela, his second in Nottingham.

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ATP Challenger

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

Published

4 months ago

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27/03/2024

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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.

Published

2 years ago

on

24/03/2022

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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

Published

3 years ago

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12/03/2021

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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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