ATP

Madrid Open Daily Preview: The Women’s Semifinals

Published

1 year ago

04/05/2023

Matthew Marolf

Maria Sakkari on Tuesday in Madrid (twitter.com/MutuaMadridOpen)

The women’s singles semifinals will be staged on Thursday, featuring four of the top 12 seeds.

The top two players in the world, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka, are just one round away from a rematch of the Stuttgart final of two weeks ago. But first, they must respectively get past Veronika Kudermetova and Maria Sakkari.

Also on Thursday, the second two men’s singles quarterfinals will be decided. One features the fourth seed taking on a lucky loser, while the other includes two players ranked 99^th and 121^st in the world.

And the men’s doubles semifinals on Thursday feature four of the top eight seeds, as well as top singles players Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov.

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.

Maria Sakkari (9) vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2) – Not Before 4:00pm on Manolo Santana Stadium

Sabalenka is a superb 27-4 on the year, and has reached the quarterfinals or better at every tournament she’s played. Aryna won this event two years ago, and has dropped only one set heading into this semifinal.

Sakkari is 19-8 this season, and into her fourth WTA semifinal of the year. This is Maria’s eighth 1000-level semifinal, and she is 2-5 in her previous seven.

Semifinals remain a considerable stumbling block in Sakkari’s career. She’s also 0-2 in Major semis, and 0-2 in the semis of the WTA Finals. Sabalenka had similar issues earlier in her career, going 0-3 in Major semis, though that ended this year in Melbourne when she broke through and claimed her first Slam.

This is a rematch from the same round of the last joint-1000 tournament in Miami, when Aryna defeated Maria 6-2, 6-3. Overall Sabalenka leads their head-to-head 5-3, with all eight matches taking place on hard courts.

Based on 2023 form, as well as Sakkari’s history in semifinals, Sabalenka is the favorite on Thursday. But the Greek has been playing some of her best tennis of the season this fortnight, and should provide plenty of resistance to Aryna on this day.

Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Veronika Kudermetova (12) – Not Before 9:00pm on Manolo Santana Stadium

Swiatek is 24-4 in 2023, and 8-0 on clay. And in almost Nadal-esque numbers, is now 52-7 lifetime on this surface at tour level. Iga is 6-1 in WTA 1000 semifinals, but her only loss came in her most recent appearance, two months ago at Indian Wells, in a loss to Elena Rybakina.

Kudermetova was just 10-9 this season before arriving in Madrid, having lost six of her last seven matches. But she’s competed excellently throughout this event. Veronika has won all four of her matches in three sets, and even saved a match point against Daria Kasatkina. This is her first WTA 1000 semifinal.

Swiatek is 3-0 against Kudermetova, and has frankly dominated all three meetings, with set scores of 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1. And those sets were all contested on hard courts. On clay, Iga’s best surface, the World No.1 is a huge favorite to advance to Saturday’s final.

Other Notable Matches on Thursday:

Zhizhen Zhang vs. Aslan Karatsev (Q) – Zhizhen has become the breakout story of this fortnight, with consecutive victories over Denis Shapovalov, Cam Norrie, and Taylor Fritz. And most notably, all three of those wins were in a third-set tiebreak, saving three match points against Fritz. This is the farthest a Chinese man has ever advanced as a Masters event. Karatsev also defeated three seeded players to reach this stage: Botic van de Zandschulp, Alex de Minaur, and Daniil Medvedev. Last October in Astana, Zhang beat Aslan in three sets.

Jan-Lennard Struff (LL) vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (4) – Tsitsipas is 21-6 this season, and 9-2 on clay. He is playing for his 14^th Masters semifinal, and his third in Madrid. Struff has now accumulated 32 match wins this year at all levels, and has won three consecutive three-setters. Stefanos is 3-2 against Jan-Lennard at tour level, but Struff took their only meeting on clay, four years ago in Barcelona.

Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.

ATP

Tomas Machac Stuns Novak Djokovic To Reach Maiden ATP Final In Geneva

Tomas Machac is into his first career ATP final after stunning Novak Djokovic in Geneva.

Published

2 days ago

24/05/2024

Tony Fairbairn

(@atptour - Twitter)

Tomas Machac is into his first ATP final after defeating Novak Djokovic 6-4 0-6 6-1 in Geneva.

The world number one seemed to be struggling physically throughout the contest as Machac earned the biggest win of his career.

After trailing 4-1 in the opening set, Machac played aggressive tennis against a sub-par Djokovic to win five games in a row and take the opening set.

In the second set Djokovic was back to his brilliant best as he won six consecutive games to level the match at one set all.

However the Serb was clearly struggling with his fitness and conditioning as Machac secured the biggest win of his career, reaching a first ATP final.

Speaking after the match Machac was lost for words as he looks ahead to Saturday’s showdown, “I have no reaction right now, I just fought for every ball,” Machac told the ATP website.

“When you play against Novak you just hope. You just try to play your best and see what it looks like. I am looking forward to playing in a final for the first time.”

As for Djokovic, the Serb is yet to reach a final this year and will need to get his form back on track as he prepares to begin his Roland Garros title defence against Pierre-Hughes Herbert.

Meanwhile Machac will play either Casper Ruud or Flavio Cobolli in the final.

ATP

Novak Djokovic ‘Excited’ For French Open Showdown Between Nadal And Zverev

Published

3 days ago

23/05/2024

Adam Addicott

On Thursday Novak Djokovic learned his path to French Open glory but all the talk surrounds one particular match that doesn’t involve him.

In a first round blockbuster, 14-time champion Rafael Nadal takes on an in-form Alexander Zverev in what could be the last time he plays at the clay-court major. Zverev recently claimed his first Masters title since 2021 at the Italian Open. At the same tournament, Nadal reached the second round before losing to Hubert Hurkacz.

The clash will be a repeat of the 2022 French Open semi-final which the king of clay won in unfortunate circumstances after Zverev sustained a serious ankle injury. Overall, Nadal leads their head-to-head 7-3 but it has been two years since their last meeting.

Quizzed about the upcoming match following his quarter-final win over Tallon Griekspoor at the Geneva Open, Djokovic believes it will be an ‘interesting’ showdown.

“It’s going to be showtime and I’m excited to see that,” RTS quoted Djokovic as saying.
“I know Rafa won’t want it, but I think it can be a game scheduled for the evening… In any case, it will be very interesting because Zverev is in great shape. But on the Roland-Garros court, Rafa is Rafa…”

Djokovic is hoping to get a boost ahead of the French Open by winning the Geneva trophy to claim what would be his first title of the season. Earlier this week he became the third player in the Open Era to win 1100 Tour matches. Against Griekspoor he dropped six games during his 7-5, 6-1 victory.

“It was a great win. I thought the first set could have gone his way easily because I think he was a better player for most of the first set,” Djokovic commented on his latest victory.
“We could have been having a completely different direction of the match if he converted those set points.
“I was lucky to find some really good serves, and from that moment onwards I really, really played some good, solid tennis.”

Djokovic will next play Tomas Machac on Friday. The match takes place two days before the start of the French Open.

ATP

Roland Garros 2024: Rafael Nadal Faces Alexander Zverev In Blockbuster Opening Round

Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev will meet at Roland Garros in the first round with Andy Murray taking on Stan Wawrinka in the opening round.

Published

3 days ago

23/05/2024

Tony Fairbairn

(@UniversTennis - Twitter)

Rafael Nadal has been drawn against Rome champion Alexander Zverev in the opening round of Roland Garros.

The 14-time Roland Garros champion will most likely be making his last appearance at the event where he has such a great history at.

It’s been a mixed clay court season for Nadal who built gradual momentum in Madrid but suffered an early exit in Rome to Hubert Hurkacz.

Now the Spaniard has been drawn to take on the champion of Rome, Alexander Zverev, in the opening round.

The match is a repeat of the 2022 semi-final where Zverev broke his ankle losing almost a year of his career.

This contest headlines the second quarter of the draw which also features Karen Khachanov, Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev.

In the other quarter of the top half of the draw, defending champion Novak Djokovic will begin his Roland Garros campaign against Pierre-Hughes Herbert.

There is also a potential third round clash with either Gael Monfils or Lorenzo Musetti for Djokovic, who is currently in Geneva gaining extra match practice ahead of the second Grand Slam of the season.

The Serb could have a repeat of last year’s final in the quarter-finals with Casper Ruud as the Norwegian begins his campaign against Jakub Mensik.

In the bottom half of the draw Jannik Sinner plays his first tournament since suffering a hip injury in Rome as he takes on Christopher Eubanks in the opening round.

Sinner could face Cameron Norrie in the third round with the Brit taking on Pavel Kotov in his opening round before playing the winner of the battle of the Grand Slam champions between Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka.

Murray and Wawrinka will clash for the fourth time at Roland Garros with Wawrinka leading their head-to-head 2-1 in Paris.

This section also includes in-form players such as Hubert Hurkacz, Alejandro Tabilo and Rome finalist Nicolas Jarry.

Finally Carlos Alcaraz will begin his Roland Garros campaign against a qualifier before potentially playing Jack Draper in the second round.

Another exciting clash awaits Alcaraz in the third round in the form of Sebastian Korda with Andrey Rublev or Stefanos Tsitsipas being potential quarter-final opponents.

This is the full draw with Roland Garros beginning on Sunday.