Gael Monfils and Marin Cilic cruise into the semifinals in Adelaide - UBITENNIS
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Gael Monfils and Marin Cilic cruise into the semifinals in Adelaide

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Gael Monfils cruised into the semifinals at the Adelaide International 1 with a 6-4 6-1 win over sixth-seeded Tommy Paul in 69 minutes. The Frenchman will face either Mikael Ymer or Australian wild card Thanasi Kokkinakis. 

 

Monfils converted his third break point in the second game of the opening set. Paul broke straight back in the third game and held serve at 15 to draw level to 2-2. Monfils closed out the first set 6-4 with a break in the 10th game. 

The second set started with a trade of breaks in the first two games. Monfils broke twice in the fourth and sixth games at deuce to close out the second set 6-1. 

“It was a tough match. I had a great and he broke me back. I think I was rushing a little bit on my first serve. I needed a little bit more timing on my first serve to have free points. The nit was just a battle. I felt great”, said Monfils. 

Former US Open champion Marin Cilic won 25 of his 29 first service points to beat Laslo Djere 6-3 6-2 in 68 minutes. Cilic earned his first break in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. Djere saved three break points to hold serve at deuce in the eighth game. Cilic served out the first set 6-3 at love in the ninth game. 

Cilic broke twice in the third and fifth games to seal the second set 6-2 in 68 minutes. 

“The match was very solid from start to finish. I served really well. The courts here are quite quick. I feel that’s good for my game. For me, these matches are incredibly valuable. I am hoping that I am going to keep going with wins. Definitely it can grow into my confidence”, said Cilic. 

Cilic set up a semifinal clash against olympic silver medallist Karen Khachanov, who edged past Egor Khachanov 7-5 6-3. 

The opening set started with a trade of breaks in the first two games. Khachanov earned his second break at deuce in the 11th game and saved five break points to hold serve at deuce in a long 12th game. Khachanov opened up a 3-0 lead with a double break in the first and third games. Gerasimov pulled both breaks back to draw level to 3-3. Khachanov won the final three games with two consecutive breaks in the seventh and ninth games.

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Jannik Sinner beats Danil Medvedev in the China Open final to clinch the ninth title of his career

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Jannik Sinner beat Danil Medvedev 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-2) after 2 hours and 1 minute earning the first match win of his career against his Russian rival in his seventh attempt. 

 

Sinner has won the ninth title of his career and the third of the 2023 season following his triumphs Montpellier and his first ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Toronto. The Italian player claimed the second ATP 500 title after Washington following his two wins over top 3 players Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal and Danil Medvedev in the final. 

Sinner has moved to number 4 in the ATP Live Ranking becoming the second Italian player to reach the top 5 after Adriano Panatta, who won the Internazionali d’Italia in Rome and Roland Garros in 1976 reaching a career high of world number 4. Sinner is aiming to qualify for the NITTO ATP Finals in Turin for the first time after playing as alternate in 2021.

Both players served well in the first four games of the opening set. Sinner saved a break point in the fifth game and held serve with a forehand. Medvedev fended off two break points in the eighth game. Sinner earned two mini-breaks to open up a 3-0 lead in the tie-break and hit two winners on serve to race out to 5-0. Medvedev pulled one of the mini-breaks back but Sinner closed out the first set 7-2 on his second set point. 

Medvedev saved three break points (the third with a forehand winner) in the third game of the second set to hold serve at deuce for 2-1. Sinner held serve to 30 at 3-4 and won the 10th game on serve at love to prolong the match. 

Sinner opened up a 3-0 lead with an early mini-break at the start of the second tie-break and forged to 5-2 with a service winner. Sinner earned four match points with a forehand and converted his first chance with a forehand winner to secure his 49th match of the season.  

“Danil, thanks for letting me at least one match. We have had some very tough battles, especially this year. Thanks for making me a much better player. I have been training a lot to beat you. My team are working a lot. Thank you very much and it is special this moment with you”, said Sinner during the award ceremony. 

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Iga Swiatek cruises past Magda Linette to reach the quarter final at the China Open in Beijing

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Iga Swiatek cruised past this year’s Australian Open semifinalist Magda Linette 6-1 6-1 to reach the quarter final at the China Open in Beijing. Swiatek has won her 60th match in 2023. 

 

Swiatek set up a match against Caroline Garcia or Anhelina Kalinina. 

Swiatek did not face any break points and dropped just eight points on her serve and hit 16 winners to Linette’s three. She broke twice in the first set and three times in the second set. 

Swiatek has won her 18th match this year for the loss of three or fewer games. 

Swiatek has improved to 3-1 in her head-to-head matches against her compatriots. She lost her only match via retirement against Joanna Zawadswa in the first round of the Warsaw ITF W25 tournament in 2018. 

Swiatek has reached her 14th quarter final in 2023 and her ninth at WTA 1000 level. The Polish player has become the fourth player since 2009 to reach seven or more WTA 1000 quarter final in the same season after Agnieszka Radwanska, Li Na and Serena Williams. 

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Dusan Lajovic beats Stan Wawrinka to reach the second round in Shanghai

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Dusan Lajovic beat Stan Wawrinka 6-4 7-6 (9-7) on Stadium  Court at the Masters 1000 tournment in Shanghai in their first head-to-head match since Roland Garros 2015. 

 

Lajovic, who won the ATP 250 title in Banja Luka last April completed the set of winning a main-draw match at each of the nine Masters 1000 tournaments. 

Lajovic broke Wawrinka’s serve in the first game of the opening set. The Serbian player earned a double break in the seventh game to open up a 5-2. Wawrinka pulled one break back in the eighth game for 3-5, but Lajovic served out the first set to love. 

Lajovic earned went up a break twice in the third and seventh games of the second set, but Wawrinka broke back both times. Lajovic saved a set point at 6-7 in the tie-break and won the final three points to close out the match in 1 hour and 53 minutes. 

Lajovic hit 16 winners to just 7 unforced errors. The Serbian player moved to 1-2 in his three head-to-head matches against his Swiss opponent. 

Lajovic set up a second round match against Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor. 

Brandon Nakashima beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-1 7-6 (7-3) to set up a second round match against Holger Rune. Nakashima won his first Masters 1000 match since last March in Miami. Nakashima broke twice in the second and fourth games and held his final service game at love to seal the first set 6-1. Both players went on serve with no break points en route to the tie-break. Zapata Miralles earned an early mini-break at the start of the tie-break to take a 2-0 lead. Nakashima won seven of the next eight points including three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-3. 

Thanasi Kokkinakis beat Fabio Fognini 6-2 6-4 in 1 hour and 20 minutes. Kokkinakis earned an early break in the first game of the opening set. Fognini did not convert two break-back points in the second game. Fognini saved a break point in the fifth game, but Kokkinakis broke for the second time in the seventh game and held his serve in the next game to seal the first set 6-2. Fognini made three unforced errors at 4-4 in the second set and Kokkinakis earned the break after Fognini made his third double fault of the match. 

Kokkinakis leads 4-0 in his head-to-head matches against Fognini. The Australian player will face Hubert Hurkacz in the second round. 

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