By The Numbers: Novak Djokovic Seeks First Title Of 2018 Against Cilic In Queen’s - UBITENNIS
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By The Numbers: Novak Djokovic Seeks First Title Of 2018 Against Cilic In Queen’s

The figures behind today’s final at The Queen’s Club.

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Novak Djokovic (zimbio.com)

LONDON: Sunday will see former world No.1 Novak Djokovic lock horns with top seed Marin Cilic in the final of the Fever-Tree Championships.

Djokovic, who will be playing in his first final at the tournament since 2008, has a one-sided winning record against the Croat. Dropping just five sets against him in their 15 previous meetings. He progressed to the final of the tournament without dropping a set. Scoring wins over John Millman, Grigor Dimitrov, Adrian Mannarino and Jeremy Chardy. The run continues Djokovic’s upward surge on the tour. Prior to Queen’s, he reached the semifinals of the Italian Masters and the quarter-finals of the French Open. Elevating his win-loss record for the year to 18-8.

“It’s quite different playing him on grass. We have played at Wimbledon, but he’s a different player, I think.” Djokovic said about facing Cilic.
“In last couple of years he’s been in the form of his life and reaching his highest ranking in his career. Reaching the finals of Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
“He’s probably been playing the best that he’s ever played. Grass court suits him very well. Big serve. Just big game overall.”

Former US Open champion Cilic is looking to spoil Djokovic’s party. Currently ranked three places below his career high at sixth in the world, his route to the final has been more challenging. Battling past Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Muller, Sam Querrey and Nick Kyrgios. Muller was the only one of those players to get a set off him. It is his second consecutive final at Queen’s and his third consecutive on the grass overall.

“I think on grass he has been returning great throughout the week, and that’s one of his biggest weapons.” Cilic commented about Djokovic. “Obviously of course it depends all on him and how he feels on the court, if he feels that he’s at 100% physically, because of the elbow, things like that.
“But what he’s showing and what I’m seeing from the sidelines, he’s playing better and better, which is great to see.”

With a lot at stake for both players, here are some key numbers ahead of their final at The Queen’s Club.

Cilic

1 – The Croat has taken on the former world No.1 on 15 previous occasions, but was only successful once. That occurred when the two last clashed at the 2016 Paris Masters. He is 0-2 on the grass against Djokovic. Losing in five sets at the 2014 Wimbledon championships followed by straight sets at the same tournament a year later.

2 – Cilic is gunning for his second title at The Queen’s Club and his first since 2012. This year is his fourth appearance in the final of the tournament. He was also runner-up to Andy Murray in 2013 and Feliciano Lopez in 2017.

2 – It is the second final of the season for the 29-year-old. His first was at the Australian Open when he lost to Roger Federer. Should Cilic win, it would be his first trophy on the tour since the 2017 Istanbul Open.

45 – Cilic has won 45 out of 46 service games throughout this year’s tournament at Queen’s. He has won 90% of first service and 64% of second service points. A slight improvement on Djokovic’s 86% and 63%.

Djokovic

11 – Djokovic will play in his first tour final since starting his comeback from an elbow injury in January. The last time he contested a tour final was when he defeated Gael Monfils at the Eastbourne International almost 11 months ago.

36 – The world No.22 has been just as impressive as Cilic on his serve. In total he has won 36 out of 37 service games this week. Has has also achieved a higher first serve in percentage than his rival with 68% (135/200). Cilic’s is 65% (161/248).

99 – Djokovic will play in his 99th tour final and his seventh on the grass. In the Open Era only two players have contested more finals that Djokovic on the ATP World Tour. Rafael Nadal has featured in 115 and Roger Federer in 149.

801 – Number of tour wins Djokovic has. Earlier in the tournament he became only the 10th man in the Open Era to score 800 wins on the tour. Another victory today would move him ahead of Stefan Edberg to ninth on the all-time list of most matches won.

How the two have performed so far this week

Source – atpworldtour.com

The Queen’s final is scheduled to get underway at 14:30 GMT on Sunday.

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Miami Open Daily Preview: Elena Rybakina Plays Victoria Azarenka in the Semifinals

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Elena Rybakina on Tuesday in Miami (twitter.com/miamiopen)

The men’s singles quarterfinals conclude on Thursday, while the women’s singles semifinals will both be played.

2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina faces three-time Miami Open champ Victoria Azarenka on Thursday.  The other WTA semifinal sees Ekaterina Alexandrova, who has now taken out top five seeds in consecutive rounds (Swiatek, Pegula), play an in-form American in Danielle Collins,

Plus, the second two ATP singles quarterfinals will be contested.  2022 champ Carlos Alcaraz squares off against Grigor Dimitrov, who has been playing some of the best tennis of his career.  And 2018 runner-up Sascha Zverev takes on Fabian Marozsan, a red-hot Hungarian who is now 14-3 at Masters 1000 level.

Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule.  Thursday’s play gets underway at 1:00pm local time.


Elena Rybakina (4) vs. Victoria Azarenka (27) – Not Before 3:00pm on Stadium Court

Rybakina is 21-3 on the year, after surviving a stern test from an in-form Maria Sakkari on Tuesday night.  Elena has already claimed two titles this season (Brisbane, Abu Dhabi), and reached another final (Doha).  This is her seventh WTA 1000 semifinal since last March, and she’s 4-2 in this round.

Azarenka is 14-5 this season, and has now accumulated 44 match wins at this event, the most of any WTA 1000 tournament.  She defeated two seeded players to this stage (Zheng, Boulter), both in straight sets.  This is a fifth Miami Open semifinal for the three-time champ.

Rybakina is 3-0 against Azarenka, with all three meetings occurring within the last few years on hard courts.  She took the first two in straight sets, and then split sets with Vika last month in Dubai, before Azarenka retired.  Despite Vika’s great history at this tournament, recent form dictates Elena must be considered the favorite to achieve a second consecutive final in Miami. 


Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs. Grigor Dimitrov (11) – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court

Coming off his title run in Indian Wells, Alcaraz has been in stellar form.  He has not dropped a set through three matches, playing confident and composed tennis.  Carlitos is vying for a third straight semifinal appearance in Miami.

Until this week, this was the only Masters 1000 event where Dimitrov had failed to reach the quarterfinals or better, and he held a losing record of 11-12 in Miami.  But across the past six months, Grigor has been playing at a very high level.  Since the Shanghai Masters in October, he’s gone 28-7, and advanced to three tournament finals.  In the last round, he looked completely gassed at the end of a near three-hour match against Hubert Hurkacz, yet escaped in a third-set tiebreak.

Alcaraz leads their head-to-head 3-1, though Dimitrov’s only victory was their most recent encounter, six months ago in Shanghai when Grigor began this nice run.  But beating Carlitos again when the Spaniard is seemingly at the peak of his abilities will be an entirely different story.  And considering Dimitrov is just 2-8 in Masters semifinals, Alcaraz should be favored on Thursday.


Other Notable Matches on Thursday:

Sascha Zverev (4) vs. Fabian Marozsan – Zverev is yet to drop a set, and ousted Karen Khachanov in the last round.  Marozsan has now reached the fourth round or better in all four of his Masters 1000 appearances, and already took out two top 10 seeds during this fortnight (Rune, de Minaur).  This will be their first career meeting.

Ekaterina Alexandrova (14) vs. Danielle Collins – As per Diego Barbiani on Twitter, Alexandrova’s comeback win over Pegula was the first time she’s beaten a top 10 player after losing the first set, coming after 25 losses.  Collins has played ferociously to achieve her second WTA 1000 semifinal, taking 10 consecutive sets where her opponent has failed to win more than three games.  This is another first-time encounter.


Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Revitalised Grigor Dimitrov Targets Alcaraz Upset In Miami

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(credit Miami Open/Hard Rock Stadium)

Grigor Dimitrov says playing at this year’s Miami Open has been ‘kryptonite’ for his tennis after reaching the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 event for the first time at the age of 32. 

The 11th seed secured his place in the last eight with a dramatic 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), win over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz who uncharacteristically lost his cool in the closing stages. Tied at 2-2 in the deciding tiebreaker, Hurkacz slammed his racket on the ground after the umpire ruled that his foot touched the net which resulted in Dimitrov winning that point. The Pole demanded to see a replay but wasn’t allowed to do so as the umpire was certain that he did. A replay after the match confirmed that he did touch the net. 

“Grigor had hit a little bit of an unconventional return. I hit a good second serve and yeah, I was just trying to get to the ball and I slid,” said Hurkacz. “My coach told me after the match – because I was just sliding and I didn’t feel anything – but my coach told me that I touched the net at the end. So yeah, just a bit unfortunate.”
“I couldn’t feel anything because I was just sliding, so I wanted to see a replay,” explained Hurkacz. “But anyway, I tried to move on and keep playing, but Grigor came up with some good shots.”

As for Dimitrov, it is the second time he has beaten a top 10 player on the Tour during what has been a strong start to the season for him. He has won 18 out of 22 matches played so far in 2024 and has become only the ninth active player to reach the quarter-finals or better at every Masters event at least once. Dimitrov has reached the last eight in three out of the last four tournaments he has played in this category. 

Awaiting the Bulgarian next will be Carlos Alcaraz who won the Indian Wells title earlier this month. He has only beaten the Spaniard once in their four previous meetings on the Tour. However, the only time Dimitrov did so was in their most recent encounter at the Shanghai Masters last October. 

“It’s been like a kryptonite for me, this tournament,” Dimitrov said after his latest win.
“I’m looking forward to the (next) match. Everyone wants to challenge the best of the world. Clearly [Carlos has] been playing outstanding tennis, but so am I.
“I’ve been very consistent on a lot of ends. I think if I clean up my game a little bit it can be very interesting. I’m excited because these are the types of matches I want to play. First time in the quarter-finals here, I think it gives you an extra boost.”

A rejuvenated Dimitrov certainly can trouble Alcaraz who admits himself that he faces a stern challenge. The world No.2 sealed his place in the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-3, win over Lorenzo Musetti. 

“I know he’s a really talented player, a really tough one.” Alcaraz said of Dimitrov.
“Here with the court, I feel that the slice a lot is going to be difficult for me. I know that. But I try to play my best game and try to get the victory.”

Dimitrov is currently playing in his 94th Masters 1000 event. 

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Novak Djokovic Splits With Coach Ivanisevic

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Novak Djokovic has announced that he is no longer working with Goran Ivanisevic following a mutual agreement between the two.

The world No.1 had been working with the former Wimbledon champion since 2018 and won half of his 24 Grand Slam titles with the Croat in his team. Ivanisevic has been a key figure in the Djokovic camp in recent years and has spoken candidly about their collaboration on multiple occasions. He has described the tennis star as a ‘genius’ in the sport but admits that he isn’t always the easiest player to work with

Djokovic’s shock announcement comes after what has been a steady start to the season for the Serbian who is yet to win a title on the Tour. At the Australian Open, he reached the semi-finals before losing to Jannik Sinner, who went on to claim the title. More recently in Indian Wells, he suffered a third round loss to Luca Nardi. He then opted to not play Miami due to scheduling issues and is now training on the clay. 

“I remember clearly the moment I invited Goran to be part of my team. It was back in 2018, and Marian and I were looking to innovate and bring some serve magic to our duo,” Djokovic wrote on Instagram.
“In fact, not only we brought serve, but also lots of laughter, fun, year end No.1 rankings, record-breaking achievements and 12 more Grand Slams (and a few finals) to the count since then. Did I mention a bit of drama too? #Nolefam would know 
“Goran and I decided to stop working together a few days ago. Our on court chemistry had its ups and downs, but our friendship was always rock solid. In fact, I am proud to say (not sure he is ) that apart from winning tournaments together, we also had a side battle in Parchisi going on… for many years. And – that tournament never stops for us.
“Šefinjo, thanks for everything my friend. Love you.”

Ivanisevic, who has been ranked as high as No.2 in the world during his playing career, is yet to publicly comment on the split. Before mentoring Djokovic, he also worked with Marin Cilic, Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic.

There is yet to be any comment on who will be replacing Ivanisevic in Djokovic’s team. 

Djokovic, who will turn 37 in May, is scheduled to return to competitive tennis at the Monte Carlo Masters next month.

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