Roberto Bautista Agut stands in the way of Stefanos Tsitsipas and his first grass-court title.
Making his debut at the Mallorca Championships, Tsitsipas sealed his maiden appearance in a grass-court final by cruising past Benjamin Bonzi 6-4 6-4 on Friday.
The world number six has now reached four finals this season, having lost two of the previous three – winning on clay at the Monte Carlo Masters.
It was the second meeting between the pair in as many weeks, with the Greek having also downed Bonzi at the Halle Open.
And Tsitsipas now has a chance to warm up for Wimbledon in winning fashion.
"It was a good match. I am very happy today," Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. "I have played a final a week before a grand slam before. It was the year I made the final at Roland Garros, in Lyon.
"It worked out pretty well to have that final and consistency of matches. It is different this time. We are talking about a different surface, so we will see."
Tsitsipas has now claimed a tour-leading 39 wins this season, but standing between the 23-year-old and silverware is Spaniard Bautista Agut, who reached a 20th career final by beating Antoine Bellier 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.
Like Tsitsipas, Bautista Agut is aiming for a second title of the season.
At the Eastbourne International, two Americans will vie for the title after Indian Wells Masters champion Taylor Fritz saw off a tough challenge from Alex de Minaur while Maxime Cressy defeated home favourite Jack Draper 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (2-7) 6-3.
Fritz, who triumphed at Eastbourne in 2019 – similarly against an American, in Sam Querrey – but has found his best form hard to come by of late, also needed three sets to get the better of De Minaur, eventually succeeding 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-3.
"It's amazing," Fritz said. "I was having a bit of a rough start coming back from injury to the grass season, and then I came here and the first day I was here I just immediately felt like I was playing good tennis again.
"I just have a lot of confidence being here, obviously great memories, so I'm really excited to come back out and play for the title again."
Tennis great Nadal confirms retirement
Rafael Nadal has confirmed his impending retirement from tennis.
The Spanish superstar will end his remarkable playing career after the Davis Cup Finals, which take place in Malaga in November.
Only Margaret Court, Novak Djokovic (24 each) and Serena Williams (23) have won more Singles Grand Slam titles than Nadal (22), but he has been plagued by injury in recent seasons.
In a message released on his official social media channels on Thursday, Nadal said: "I am here to let you know I am retiring from professional tennis.
"The reality is that it has been some difficult years, the last two especially.
"I don't think I have been able to play without limitations."
Nadal confirmed previously that 2024 would likely be his final year on ATP Tour circuit and he has featured in just seven tournaments this season.
He remarkably reached the Swedish Open final in Bastad, only to lose to Nuno Borges, after competing at the French Open for the final time.
Nadal has won a record 14 titles at Roland-Garros, with the last of those coming in 2022.
He will retire as a four-time US Open champion and a two-time winner at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Nadal has not featured in a singles match since he lost to old foe Djokovic at the Paris Olympics in August.
Along with Djokovic and Roger Federer, Nadal is one of only three players in the Open Era to have played and won over 300 men's singles Grand Slam matches. Nadal bows out with a major record of 314 wins from 358 matches.
His retirement, which comes on the back of Andy Murray calling it a day earlier this year, means that, of the "big four" that dominated men's tennis for over a decade, only Djokovic now remains.
Sinner downs Medvedev to reach Shanghai semi-final
Jannik Sinner marched into the last four of the Shanghai Masters by defeating Daniil Medvedev on Thursday.
Sinner beat the Russian 6-1 6-4 and could now face a reunion with Carlos Alcaraz, who he lost to in the final of the China Open last week, in the semi-final.
The world number one has now won six of his last seven encounters with Medvedev.
"Obviously, I'm very happy how I handled today and this match," said Sinner.
"It felt like he had a bit of shoulder pain and couldn’t hit his forehand as well as he wished to.
"Hopefully he can recover as fast as possible, but from my side it was a great match, a great battle, and let’s see what I can do now in the semi-final."
Sinner has clocked up 63 wins on the ATP Tour this season.
Data Debrief: Master Sinner
Sinner has now made five ATP 1000 semi-finals in 2024, which is the most of any player this year.
The Italian has also become only the second player since 2020 to reach as many semi-finals in the format since Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2022.
Since the format's inception in 1990, Sinner (77.3%, 51-15) only trails three players for win percentage on hard court at ATP 1000 events: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andre Agassi.
Gauff reels off eighth straight win to reach Wuhan quarters
Coco Gauff won an eighth successive match in emphatic fashion as she dispatched Marta Kostyuk 6-4 6-1 at the Wuhan Open.
Fresh from her triumph in Beijing last week, Gauff needed only 61 minutes to get the job done on Thursday.
Gauff, who is aiming to become only the second player to win in Beijing and Wuhan in the same year, will face Magda Linette in the quarter-finals.
"I'm really happy with how I played today," said Gauff.
"It was a pretty straightforward match. Marta and I always have some good battles. Today I was able to get through in straight sets."
Gauff's compatriot Jessica Pegula, meanwhile, was beaten by Wang Xinyu, who is the second Chinese player to reach the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open since the inception of the tournament in 2014 after Qiang Wang in 2018.
Data Debrief: Gauff brings up 70 WTA 1000 wins
Gauff has registered her 17th win in hard-court WTA 1000 events during 2024, with only Caroline Wozniacki in 2010 (25) and Bianca Andreescu in 2019 (19) managing more wins in such events before turning 21 since 2009.
The 20-year-old is also the youngest player to hit 70 match wins since the WTA 1000 formate started in 2009. She is only the fourth player to reach that milestone before turning 23, joining Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Swiatek.
Gauff's next opponent, Linette, is into her first WTA 1000 quarter-final.
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