Marin Cilic battles past Marcos Giron in Cologne - UBITENNIS
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Marin Cilic battles past Marcos Giron in Cologne

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Marin Cilic battled past Marcos Giron 6-2 4-6 6-3 after 2 hours and 30 minutes at the bett1 HULKS in Cologne. The Croatian player hit 9 aces, but he had to save 15 of the 18 break points he faced. 

Cilic set up  a second round clash against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who knocked out Finnish qualifier Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5 6-4. 

Gilles Simon eased past Roland Garros fourth round qualifier Marton Fucsovics 6-0 6-3. Qualifier Lloyd Harris beat Kyle Edmund 7-5 7-6 (7-1). Henri Laaksonen came back from one set down to beat German wild card Daniel Altmeier 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5). 

Raven Klaasen and Oliver Marach knocked German brothers Alexander and Misha Zverev 2-6 6-4 10-6. Klaasen and Marach saved 11 of the 14 break points they faced. Klaasen and Marach will face either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Fernando Verdasco or Daniel Masur and Rudolf Molleker. 

Hungary’s Hubert Hurkacz beat lucky loser Marc Polmans 6-2 7-5 in the Round of 32 on Monday. Hurkacz converted his fourth break point at deuce in the fifth game and broke for the second time in a row in the seventh game to win the first set. 

Polmans broke twice in a row to take a 5-1 lead. Hurkacz came back by winning six consecutive games with three breaks to win the second set 7-5. Hurkacz and Polmans played a spectacular point. Polmans sent Hurkacz run to the baseline. Hurkacz hit a tweener, which Polmans reached. Hurkacz ran to the baseline and hit a forehand shot on 30-30 on Hurkacz’s serve. 

Hurkacz hit a volley at the net, sending Hurkacz running to the baseline. Hurkacz hit another tweener, but Polmans hit a drop volley winner. 

Hurkacz set up a second round match against Misha Zverev, who earned six breaks to beat John Millman 6-1 6-4.

Oscar Otte stunned Jan Lennard Struff 6-4 6-3 to secure his spot in the second round, where he will face Moldova’s Radu Albot, who edged past Pierre Hugues Herbert 6-2 4-6 6-4. 

Steve Johnson came back from one set down in his 3-6 6-4 6-4 win over Filip Krajnovic after saving seven of the nine break points he faced. The US player set up a second round match against either Kyle Edmund or Lloyd Harris. 

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Aryna Sabalenka beats Mirra Andreeva to extend her winning streak in Madrid

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Aryna Sabalenka beat 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva 6-1 6-4 in 1 hour and 20 minutes on Manolo Santana Stadium to extend her winning streak at the Madrid Mutua Open to ten straight matches. 

In last year’s edition of the Madrid Mutua Open Andreeva reached the Round of 16 in her WTA 1000 debut before losing to eventual champion Sabalenka 6-1 6-3 

Sabalenka has reached the semifinals at the Caja Magica for the third time in her career. 

Sabalenka is bidding to become woman to win the Madrid Mutua Open title after Petra Kvitova. 

Sabalenka set up a semifinal clash against Elena Rybakina in their ninth career head-to-head clash. 

Sabalenka won five games from 1-1 with two breaks of serve to seal the first set 6-1. The Belarusian player won three consecutive games from 1-2 down to go up a set and a break. Andreeva went up a 15-30 on Sabalenka’s serve in the eighth game. The Russian player then saved two match points in the ninth game to hold for 5-4 and clawed his back from 0-30 down to 30-30 in the 10th game. 

Sabalenka earned her third match point with her second ace of the match and served out the win the win when Andreeva hit the final ball long. 

Sabalenka improved her lifetime record to 16-3 in Madrid and 19-5 overall in 2024. 

Andreeva took out Marketa Vondrousova to win her second top 10 match of the season in the third round before beating this year’s Dubai champion Jasmine Paolini in her next round. “I am super happy with the level I played and with the win .Andreeva is an incredible player even though she is super young. Conditions suit me well, and hopefully I can just keep going the way that I am going”, said Sabalenka. 

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Elena Rybakina saves two match points to beat Yulia Putintseva in Madrid

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Elena Rybakina saved two match points to beat Yulia Putintseva 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 after 2 hours and 48 minutes reaching her sixth semifinal of the season and her ninth semifinal at WTA 1000 level at the Madrid Mutua Open. 

Rybakina has extended her winning streak to eight consecutive matches. The 2022 Wimbledon champion leads the tour with 30 match wins to only four defeats. The Kazakh player has won 16 consecutive matches on clay. She suffered her last loss on this surface to Anna Kalinskaya in the second round in Madrid in 2022. She won the title at the WTA 1000 in Rome and reached the third round at Roland Garros. 

Rybakina will take on either Aryna Sabalenka or Mirra Andreeva in the semifinal, as she bids to reach her sixth final of this season. 

Rybakina had never beaten Putintseva in their two previous head-to-head matches but she came back from 2-5 down in the final set to deny her compatriot a first WTA 1000 semifinal. 

Rybakina handed two-time champion her first defeat at the Porsche Indoor Grand Prix in Stuttgart in the semifinals before winning the final. The Kazakh player beat Lucia Bronzetti, Mayar Sherif and Sara Bejlek earlier in this edition of the Madrid tournament to extend her winning streak. 

Putintseva reached the quarter final at the Miami Open and beat two seeds Zheng Qinwen and Daria Kasatkina to reach the quarter final in Madrid. 

Putintseva earned the only break of the first set in the fifth game and served out the first set at love. 

Putintseva started the second set with an early break in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Rybakina broke straight back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Both players went on serve in the next games en route to the tie-break. Rybakina went up a mini-break twice, but Putintseva pulled back on serve both times. Rybakina earned two mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-4 to level the match at one set apiece. 

Putintseva saved two break points to hold serve in the fourth game of the third set.

Putintseva broke Rybakina on her third break point of the set and consolidated the break at love in the seventh game to open up a 5-2 lead. Rybakina reeled off the next four games. She won eight consecutive points to break at love and earned three match points. Putintseva saved all three chances but Rybakina earned a fourth match point and converted with a big serve. 

“It was a really tough match. I knew it was not going to be easy. I was hoping I would start the match better but I was having a lot of unforced errors. It was not easy to keep coming back and pushing through, but at 5-2 I already left all the emotions and frustrations to just keep playing. The momentum shifted. Yulia started to be a little bit more angry and some mistakes helped me. I am really happy”, said Rybakina. 

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Iga Swiatek beats Beatriz Haddad Maia in three sets to reach the semifinal at the Madrid Mutua Open

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World number 1  Iga Swiatek came back from one set down to beat number seed 11 Beatriz Haddad Maia 4-6 6-0 6-2 on Manolo Santana Stadium in a re-match of the 2023 Roland Garros semifinal after 2 hours and 29 minutes at the Madrid Mutua Open. 

Swiatek lost her first head-to-head match against Haddad Maia in the first round in Toronto 2022. The three-time Roland Garros champion beat her Brazilian opponent for the third time in a row after her previous wins in last year’s Roland Garros semifinals and at this year’s United Cup in Australia. 

Swiatek broke to love in the fourth game after a double fault from Haddad Maia and saved a break point to consolidate the break with a hold of serve for 4-1. Haddad Maia reeled off the final five games, as Swiatek made 13 unforced errors. 

Swiatek turned around the match by winning eight consecutive games, taking a bagel win in the second set and earning an early break at the start of the third set to build up a 2-0 lead. Swiatek did not face a break point and dropped only 12 points in the second set. 

Haddad Maia broke straight back in the third game to stop the eight-game losing streak. Swiatek broke for the second time in the fourth game and held serve to 30 to open up a 4-1 lead. Swiatek broke for the third time with a pair of heavy forehands to seal the win. 

Swiatek has reached her fifth semifinal in 2024 and the 15th of her career at WTA 1000 level, the most among active players since 2020. 

“I needed to stick to the tactics, because in the first set I started making too many mistakes. I started playing too fast. I just needed to really get back to basics and what I wanted to play today. It took me a while, longer than usual, but I am glad that it happened after the set anyway”, said Swiatek.

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