Novak Djokovic wins his third title of the season in Tel Aviv - UBITENNIS
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Novak Djokovic wins his third title of the season in Tel Aviv

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Top seed Novak Djokovic beat Marin Cilic 6-3 6-4 with one break in each set to claim the Tel Aviv Watergen Trophy on ind without dropping a set in the whole week. 

Djokovic won his third title in 2022 and the 89th of his career becoming the first player to win a title on hard court in Tel Aviv, on clay in Rome and on grass at Wimbledon. Next week he will be aiming to win his fourth ATP title of the season in Nur Sultan. 

“I played some good very tennis. I did not drop a set the entire week. I had not played a tournament in three months, so it was really extra motivation to really do well, especially because people have been so friendly of me throughout the week. I am taking some great confidence into next week”, said Djpkovic. 

The Serbian player did not drop a single set in Tel Aviv beating Pablo Andujar, Vasek Pospisil and Roman Safiulin in the run-up to the final. 

Cilic faced just four break points all week, but Djokovic put the Croatian’s serve under threat and broke serve in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Djokovic did not face a break point and he found under pressure at deuce, while he was serving for the set, but he held serve with back-to-back aces to close out the first set 6-3.

Djokovic broke for the second.time in the match in the first game of the second set with a deep return. The former world number 1 player held on his next service games to seal the second set 6-4. Djokovic faced just break point in the final. 

Djokovic has extended his lead to 19-2 in his 21 head-to-head matches against Cilic, who celebrated his birthday on 28 SSeptember. 

“It was a fantastic week for me, celebrating my 34th birthday. I did not have a chance to celebrate with so many people around, but next time I am buying drinks for everybody”, said Cilic. 

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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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