Tommy Haas and Denis Shapovalov given Wimbledon wildcards - UBITENNIS
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Tommy Haas and Denis Shapovalov given Wimbledon wildcards

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Tommy Haas (zimbio.com)

Two players at very different areas of their careers have been given Wimbledon wildcards. 18 year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who won the Wimbledon Junior Championships last year, and veteran German Tommy Haas are the two beneficiaries.

 

Shapovalov had advanced through Queen’s Qualifying and won his first round match against Kyle Edmund on Monday. He faces Tomas Berdych later today.

Shapovalov was involved in a controversial incident in the Davis Cup tie between his home nation Canada and Great Britain. He hit a ball that then caught the chair umpire in the eye resulting in an immediate default.

At the opposite end of the career spectrum is Tommy Haas. He has also been awarded a wildcard twenty years after he played in his first Wimbledon. Haas defeated good friend Roger Federer in a shock upset in Stuttgart last week, but was beaten by Australia’s Bernard Tomic in the first round of Halle.

The wildcards for Shapovalov and Hass means they both bypass qualifying and will feature in the main draw directly. If they had not been awarded wildcards, they would have been required to win three rounds of matches at Roehampton, an event that gets underway on Monday.

British players Brydan Klein, Cameron Norrie and James Ward have been given main draw wildcards, whilst Marcus Willis, who stunned the tennis world by qualifying and then reaching the second round, has been given a qualifying wildcard. Three more Men’s Singles wildcards have yet to be announced.

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Danil Medvedev is on a collision course for a potential quarter final against Jannik Sinner in Shanghai

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This year’s US Open finalist Danil Medvedev returns to the Shanghai Masters 1000, where he won in 2019, when the Chinese tournament was last held in 2019. Medvedev is aiming to win his sixth ATP Tour title after his triumphs in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai, Miami and Rome. 

 

Medvedev will take on either Cristian Garin or a qualifier in the second round. Medvedev is seeded to meet a potential fourth round match against 14th seed Felix Auger Aliassime. 

Medvedev is on a collision course for a blockbuster quarter final match against Jannik Sinner. Medvedev leads 6-0 in his head-to-head series against Sinner. 

This year’s US Open semifinalist Ben Shelton could face a possible third round match against 2019 Shanghai Open finalist Alexander Zverev in Sinner’s section of the draw. 

This year’s Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz will make his debut in the Shanghai Masters 1000 tournament against either Nuno Borges or Gregoire Barrere. Alcaraz is seeded for a fourth round match against this year’s Zhuhai winner Karen Khachanov and could face either Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe. 

Alcaraz will chase his seventh ATP Tour title this year after winning in Buenos Aires, Indian Wells, Barcelona, Madrid, Queen’s and Wimbledon. He will face Sinner in the semifinal at the China Open in Beijing. The Spaniard would arrive 315 points behind Novak Djokovic if he wins the title in the Chinese capital. 

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev have been drawn in the same half as Alcaraz. Tsitsipas will start his campaign against either Laslo Djere or a qualifier and is seeded to play against Cameron Norrie in the Round of 16. 

Rublev, who won his first Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo this year, will play against either Quentin Halys or Aslan Karatsev in the second round and is seeded to meet this year’s Australian Open semifinalist Tommy Paul. 

This year’s Monte-Carlo and Rome Masters 1000 finalist Holger Rune will play in the second round against either Brandon Nakashima or Bernabe Zapata Miralles. 

Casper Ruud is seeded to meet this year’s Toronto Masters 1000 finalist Alex De Minaur in the fourth round and Rune in the quarter final. 

The most interesting first round matches are Andy Murray vs Roman Safiulin, Stan Wawrinka vs Dusan Lajovic and Shang Juncheng vs Yosuke Watanuki. 

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Jannik Sinner beats Grigor Dimitrov to set up semifinal against Carlos Alcaraz

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Jannik Sinner overcame Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 3-6 6-2 to set up a blockbuster semifinal match against Carlos Alcaraz at the China Open in Beijing. 

 

Sinner converted his fourth break point in the first game. The Italian player saved the second break point with a forehand drop-shot. The Toronto Masters 1000 champion held on his next service games to close out the first set 6-4. 

Sinner missed the chance to close out the match in straight sets when he was unable to convert eight points across three games in the second set. He wasted four break points when he was leading 0-40 at 3-3. Dimitrov brke serve in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. The Bulgarian player saved two break-back points in the ninth game to hold serve for 6-3. 

Sinner broke serve in the second game of the third set with a crosscourt backhand winner and held serve at 30 with a passing shot. 

Dimitrov held his first service game of the third set for 1-3. Sinner saved a break point with a forehand to hold serve at deuce for 4-1. Dimitrov saved a break point at deuce in the sixth game. 

Sinner fended off two break points in the seventh game to hold serve with a passing shot. The Wimbledon semifinalist closed out the third set with a break at love to reach his eighth semifinal in 2023. 

Sinner clinched his 47th match of the season. 

“I had one game 15-40, one game 0-40 where I made some unforced errors and he also prayed quite aggressive. This is tennis. Obviously it’s easier if you take some chances. In the third set I thought I handled the situation well, when I was serving at a tough moment at 4-2. I am very happy to be in the next round”, said Sinner.  

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Iga Swiatek beats Sara Sorribes Tormo to reach the second round in Beijing

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Four-time Grand Slam champion and world number 2 Iga Swiatek beat Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4 6-3 on her debut at the China Open in Beijing. Swiatek broke seven times and hit 27 winners to 25 unforced errors. 

 

Both players traded breaks at the start of the opening set. Swiatek earned her second break in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. The Polish player fired 17 winners and won 15 of her 17 net points in the first set. 

There were eight breaks in nine games. Swiatek won 12 of the first 14 points of the second set to race out to a 3-0 lead with a double break. Sorribes Tormo broke three times in the second set, but Swiatek broke in all five of her service games.  

Swiatek set up a second round match against Varvara Gracheva.

“Today I felt really confident and comfortable because I have been practicing that a lot. I am pretty proud of my performance at the net because, technically, I feel like my volley has changed. I am really happy with that. I think against some players it’s necessary to go to the net. Today that was that kind of a match”, said Swiatek. 

Jelena Ostapenko reached the Round of 16 via walkover after Linda Noskova withdrew from the match due to illness.

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