A tremendous performance from Petra Kvitova saw her ease past Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets 6-3 6-2 to win the Eastbourne International on Saturday.

Reigning champion Ostapenko had not dropped a set on the way to the final, but could not halt Kvitova, who was making her first appearance in a final in 2022.

The former world number two – and two-time Wimbledon champion – made a strong start, breaking Ostapenko early on and racing to a 3-0 lead in the first set.

Ostapenko, the Latvian number eight seed, faced eight break points in the opening set, saving seven, but she was unable to force any of her own as Kvitova comfortably served out to move ahead.

Kvitova was hitting the ball with immense power, particularly on returns, but Ostapenko showed initial improvement in the second set with her first serve accuracy, which had been down at 55.9 per cent in the first.

However, it was not enough to keep her opponent at bay as some more fierce returning from Kvitova saw her break in the third game of the second set.

Ostapenko finally threatened to break the Czech's serve, but was unable to take any of the five break points she earned in a game that lasted more than 12 minutes.

Her first serve dropped off again, which allowed the relentless Kvitova to take full advantage, breaking for a second time before serving for the championship and sealing her first-ever Eastbourne title.

It was Kvitova's 29th triumph on the WTA Tour, but her first since March 2021. Her last success on grass had come in Birmingham four years ago.

Austin and Aaron Nola made MLB history on Friday – to the frustration of the Philadelphia Phillies pitcher.

The brothers faced one another for only the second time in their major league careers as the Phillies visited the San Diego Padres' Petco Park.

The first meeting, in 2021, had gone the way of Phillies right-hander Aaron, as three fastballs saw Austin struck out swinging despite a 4-3 Padres win.

Given the baseball Aaron threw for strike three made its way to Austin for Christmas, revenge could well have been on the agenda this time.

And Austin delivered and then some.

Another Padres win was settled in the battle between the Nola brothers, as Austin drove in the RBI for the only run in a 1-0 victory.

It was the first ever example of a major league player having an RBI off his brother in a 1-0 win.

"Of all the people... do it to somebody else," Aaron said afterwards, knowing he was in store for a tough evening.

"He'll talk about it obviously. It is what it is. Yeah, I'll hear about it tonight. He runs his mouth a lot."

The Phillies had plenty of opportunities to rescue their pitcher, with Kyle Schwarber finally flying out with bases loaded in the ninth.

"I'm beating myself up about that one," Schwarber said. "I can't believe I let his brother beat him. Gosh."

At least in front of the media, Austin was magnanimous in victory, saying: "I'm glad we got the win, but then your brother gets the loss.

"He pitched an unbelievable game. It's fun to watch him. There's no doubt about it.

"He's done it twice to us. He threw seven innings, threw eight innings last year. What a performance by him."

Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar was frustrated with side's 3-2 home defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Friday.

The Avalanche could have sealed the series with a win at Ball Arena, but a late Ondrej Palat goal secured a vital win for the Lightning to keep it alive.

Bednar was unhappy with a call in the second period that left his team facing a four-on-three power play, from which Nikita Kucherov scored after a tripping violation against Cale Makar.

"I didn't love that call, just because I don't think there was any intent there," Bednar said after the game. "I don't even think he was checking that guy [Palat]. Looked to me like he kind of tripped over his stick.

"It's a tough one. They got their only power-play goal on that one. So that hurt, stung a little bit. But it is what it is. You gotta roll with the punches."

Makar was also clearly displeased by the call against him, but like his coach, insisted his team have to put it behind them and think about Game 6.

"I'm not here to talk about the refs," Makar said. "We have to battle through that. It's playoffs, there's going to be discrepancies game to game with different people. It is what it is. You can't get your emotions taken into that.

"For me, that [tripping penalty] doesn't happen very often but at the end of the day you have to refocus."

It is the second game in a row in which the losing team has felt a crucial call went against them, with Lightning coach Jon Cooper walking out of a media conference following Game 4 in which he believed Nazem Kadri's overtime goal should have been chalked off for too many men on the ice.

Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog said Colorado should resist complaining about the officiating, suggesting that is something for their opponents to do. 

"I'm not getting into [the refereeing decisions]," Landeskog said. "It's something they [the Lightning] can continue to do; we're not doing that. We're focusing on our game.

"We'll watch some video tomorrow, make sure we're fine-tuning some things going into the next game here."

Freddie Freeman's emotions were "all over the place" when he faced the Braves for the first time in April – and it was more of the same in Friday's return to Atlanta.

Freeman spent 12 seasons with the Braves, earning five All-Star appearances and the NL MVP trophy in 2020, before signing a six-year, $162million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers this past offseason.

The first baseman's first two home runs for the Dodgers then came in a three-game series against the Braves in LA earlier this season.

But this week has brought Freeman back to Atlanta for the first time since helping to inspire the Braves' World Series success last year.

Friday started with Freeman struggling to contain his emotions as he fulfilled pre-game media duties, briefly leaving the interview room at Truist Park in tears and returning to say: "I don't even know how I'm going to get through this weekend, guys, if I'm being honest."

There were more tears as he received his championship ring from Braves manager Brian Snitker following a video tribute on the center-field screen.

"I know I have a different uniform on," he said to the crowd on Bally Sports, "but I still love each and every one of you guys."

Freeman then had to get to work, but the tributes did not stop. The Braves' organist played 'We Are The Champions' as he came to bat in the top of the first inning, earning another standing ovation.

"It's hard to put into words," Freeman told Spectrum SportsNet after two walks, one hit and two runs scored in the Dodgers' 4-1 win.

"I left everything I had on this field, every single night, and I think they understood that. I love them very, very much, and they showed me the love tonight.

"I'm so glad I got walked, because I couldn't feel my legs – I couldn't feel my legs for a few innings, to be honest with you. It was emotional, and I am worn out."

He added: "I tried to envision what tonight was going to be like, and this far exceeded my expectations. It was just a special, special evening."

Rafael Nadal is halfway to a calendar Grand Slam, a feat that would mark the crowning point of any player's career.

Yet the Spanish great does not have to look far back into history to see how quickly that dream can be scuppered, with Novak Djokovic having fallen agonisingly short of a sweep of all four majors only last year.

As perhaps the most grounded player in tennis, Nadal heads into Wimbledon well aware that winning the first two majors of the year is no guarantee of any future success.

At the age of 36, and with a foot problem that requires careful maintenance, it would be arguably the most remarkable feat in the Open Era if Nadal were to add the Wimbledon and US Open titles to his Australian Open and French Open triumphs.

Such dominance is scarce in tennis, and Rod Laver was the last player to scoop all four men's singles titles at the majors, all the way back in 1969.

Steffi Graf won all four on the women's side in 1988, and it seemed a knock-in that Serena Williams would do likewise in 2015 when she headed to the US Open with three majors already bagged.

But Williams famously came unstuck when she faced Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals, while Djokovic went even closer in 2021, losing to Daniil Medvedev in the final at Flushing Meadows.

Here, Stats Perform examines the daunting challenge of scooping all four slams consecutively.

WHAT THE GREAT CHAMPIONS SAY

Before tennis reached its Open Era, which marked the dawning of professionalism on the tour, Laver won his first calendar Grand Slam in 1962.

He said later, quoted by the Tennis Hall of Fame: "It was a thrill to come off the court knowing I had won all four majors in one year. But I never felt like I was the best, never felt that way. I just happened to have a good year."

His 1969 dominance came a year after Laver returned to the majors, following a five-year exile while he played professional tennis elsewhere. When the majors allowed professionals to compete alongside the amateurs, 'Rocket Rod' was again unstoppable.

Laver turned 31 in 1969 and did not win any further grand slam singles titles in his career after that astonishing season, but that second perfect season sealed his legacy as an all-time great.

Stefan Edberg won a boys' singles clean sweep in 1983, but Laver remains the only player to win the men's singles full set in a calendar year since American Don Budge captured all four in the 1938 season, the first time it was achieved by a man. Maureen Connolly and Margaret Court achieved calendar Grand Slams in women's singles in 1953 and 1970 respectively.

A non-calendar Grand Slam was accomplished by Djokovic, when he won Wimbledon, the US Open, Australian Open and French Open consecutively across the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Yet no man other than Laver, Budge and Djokovic has won all four singles crowns in succession.

It has been 11 years since Nadal himself went close. He went to the Australian Open in 2011 with the Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open trophies in the bag, looking to complete the set.

"I am sure it's going to be the only one opportunity that I'm going to have in my life," said Nadal that year. "I'm not going to have more of these opportunities to win all four in a row.

"I think it is almost impossible. It is very, very difficult, no? Tennis is a very competitive sport and there is not a lot of difference between players. So a lot of matches are decided in a few balls. So for that reason it is very difficult to have one player winning everything. That's the truth."

Nadal, hampered by injury, lost in the Melbourne quarter-finals to David Ferrer in 2011 and had not won back-to-back slams since, until this year's surprise double. 

REACHING PRESSURE POINT

It is too soon to think that Nadal has a glorious chance to land all four big ones this year. After all, although he has won Wimbledon twice before, those triumphs came in 2008 and 2010, and he has a chronic foot problem. He has required radiofrequency ablation treatment in the past fortnight, preventing nerves in his foot sending messages to his brain.

He fell to Djokovic in the 2011 Wimbledon final and has not been back to the title match since, suffering a run of disappointing early exits in London before reaching semi-finals in 2018 and 2019, his last visits to the tournament.

Djokovic is a heavy favourite for this year's title, but it would be bold to entirely rule out Nadal, particularly given that as the second seed he cannot run into Djokovic until the final. Particularly given that he is Rafael Nadal, and prone to doing stupendous things.

Serbian Djokovic, a year Nadal's junior, would be able to tell his great rival just how intense the strain can become when a calendar Grand Slam becomes a serious prospect.

Speaking in November last year, two months after Medvedev denied him in New York, Djokovic said: "I'm very relieved that the grand slam season was done, because I felt a tremendous pressure unlike anything I felt in my life.

"It was an interesting experience, and I'm very satisfied with the way I played in grand slams, three wins and a final. There are much more positive things to be grateful for and to look at than negative."

Like Djokovic, Serena Williams has managed the non-calendar Grand Slam before, with the American first achieving that from the French Open in 2002 to the Australian Open in 2003, and in 2015 she was aiming for five slams in a row when she arrived at the US Open, having begun her dominant streak at her home grand slam the previous year.

That would have meant Williams sealed each of the 2015 slams, and losing to Vinci led to stark frustration, underlined by a terse response to the question of how disappointed she felt by the result.

"I don't want to talk about how disappointing it is for me," Williams said. "If you have any other questions, I'm open for that."

Sometimes, players get ahead of themselves when looking at the season ahead, and Naomi Osaka had a calendar Grand Slam in her thoughts after winning the season-opening Australian Open in 2019.

She had also triumphed at the US Open at the end of 2018, and the Japanese star was beginning to think she might enjoy an invincible year at the majors, only to stumble to a third-round French Open defeat to Katerina Siniakova.

Osaka said: "I think I was overthinking this calendar slam. For me this is something that I have wanted to do forever, but I have to think about it like if it was that easy, everyone would have done it."

Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper said his side's 3-2 road win in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final typified the kind of championship pedigree that has delivered back-to-back Stanley Cups.

Trailing 3-1 in the series heading into the contest, the Lightning struck first after 15 minutes of action as Jan Rutta got on the end of a move by Corey Perry and Mikhail Sergachev.

It would be the only score of the opening period, before the Avalanche would tie things up five minutes into the second term through a Valeri Nichushkin strike.

Just three minutes later Nikita Kucherov put Tampa Bay back ahead with a power-play goal, but the Avalanche would not lay down on their home ice, squaring the ledger once again two minutes into the third and final period, with Cale Makar setting up a tense finish.

Ondrej Palat would be the hero, putting the Lightning ahead 3-2 with less than seven minutes to play, before a late penalty against the Avalanche for having too many men on the ice all but ended their chances of a comeback.

Speaking to ESPN after the result, Cooper said all his side has went through over the past two championship runs has prepared them for these situations.

"The resolve in the room – and part of this is that we've been here before," he said. "We know this feeling, we've been on both sides.

"We've been part of the cup-winning team when we had a chance to close somebody out, and you learn from those experiences. 

"We've not closed teams out, and we've closed teams out. Champions have a skillset like none other, but the greatest skillset they have is what's between the ears, and we used that tonight to our advantage. We're still alive."

Asked about what he appreciates most about this Lightning team, Cooper said it was their toughness.

"It's what the people don't see," he said. "You see everything that goes on the ice and all that – it's what you see in the locker room.

"These guys – it's like they're spent, and you think 'how are they going to get off the mat?' – and then they get off the mat. It's just amazing to see.

"I remember Wayne Gretzky saying once about when they lost in the Cup to the Islanders – when they got there, they got swept – and as his team walked off, nothing wrong with them, they looked into the Islanders locker room, and they weren't even celebrating, they all had ice bags and packs.

"That's what it takes to win, and I've always kept that with me. When you get these teams, you kind of have to have that attitude, and that's what this team has."

Cooper was also full of praise for star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy – who was named player of the game – calling him "the best in the world".

"I just sit here and think about sports in general, and the importance of somebody in sports," he said.

"You look at football, and how important Tom Brady is to his team, the quarterback. The quarterback in football is like the goaltender in hockey.

"You're the last line of defense, if that puck goes in the net, you're the one that has to sweep it out and turn the page because they're coming right back at you.

"Everybody's got their eyes on you, and all he does is deliver. You talk about a mental mindset of gamesmanship, that kid's got it, and that's why he's the best in the world."

Scorer of the winning goal, Palat said his side was confident coming into the contest, and that they did what was needed.

"I thought we played a good game – a great road game, we stayed on top of it," he said.

"[Vasilevskiy] was great, again, and we just find a way to win. A huge win, now we're excited to go back to Tampa.

"Right now we feel pretty good – we're excited to go back in front of our friends, it's going to be a great game. I felt great [before the game], everybody was pretty confident and excited. 

"We knew we had to just win this game and move on."

Now trailing 3-2 in the series, the Lightning will head home for Game 6, and if they win, the Game 7 decider will be back in Colorado.

A big performance from New York Mets star Francisco Lindor helped his side conquer the Miami Marlins and their ace pitcher Sandy Alcantara 5-3 away from home.

Lindor struck in the very first inning, grinding out an eight-pitch at-bat before connecting on a 404-foot solo home run to center-field.

It was also a poor beginning to the game for Mets starter Taijuan Walker, giving up four consecutive base hits to the Marlins' first four batters, but he was able to get out of the first inning only conceding one run to keep things tied. 

Alcantara, who is the favourite to win the Cy Young Award as most outstanding pitcher in his conference, found his footing through the middle stages, not allowing a baserunner through the second, third and fourth inning.

He only gave up two hits and no walks through the first five innings, but the second hit – courtesy of Mark Canha in the fifth – also travelled over the fence, giving the Mets a 2-1 lead.

Just like the first frame, the Marlins did not allow the Mets to finish the inning in the lead, tying it at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth through a Jorge Soler RBI groundout.

The sixth inning is where the Mets won the game, with an infield single to lead-off, followed by a bunt for a hit, and then a fielding error to load the bases with no outs.

Lindor cashed in, with a bases-clearing, three-run double to bust the game open, opening up a winning break that the Mets bullpen was able to defend.

Alcantara ended up pitching seven complete innings, giving up four earned runs from five hits and no walks, doing enough to remain as one of four starting pitchers with an ERA still under 2.0 this season (1.95, giving up 23 earned runs in 106.1 innings).

Walker was credited with the win, coming back from his rough start to work through six innings, giving up three runs and striking out five.

Astros snap Yankees' home streak

The New York Yankees lost at home for the first time in their past 16 games at Yankee Stadium as the Houston Astros got the job done 3-1.

Both teams finished with five hits, and both teams had all their scoring come from a single home run in the sixth inning, but while Giancarlo Stanton's homer was a solo shot, Kyle Tucker's was a three-run blast after a double from Alex Bregman and a walk to Yordan Alvarez.

It was a terrific outing for Astros ace Justin Verlander, pitching seven complete innings for four hits and one walk.

Devers, Pivetta and the Red Sox stay hot

The Boston Red Sox have now won 17 of their past 21 games after a 6-3 road win against the Cleveland Guardians.

Nick Pivetta shined on the mound, giving up two runs in seven innings, allowing nine hits, but no walks.

With the bat, AL MVP candidate Rafael Devers delivered with a 411-foot solo home run to put the Red Sox ahead in the second inning, before Carlos Arroyo's two-run shot in the seventh frame finally gave Boston some breathing room.

Paolo Banchero feels he is more than ready to meet the challenge of the NBA and the expectations that come with being the number one overall pick.  

In his only season at Duke, the 6-foot-10 Banchero averaged a team-best 17.2 points per game and grabbed 7.8 rebounds, while handing out 3.2 assists. He also didn’t shrink in big moments, scoring at least 16 points in all five of the Blue Devils’ NCAA Tournament games this year. 

Banchero was something of a surprise as the top selection in Thursday’s NBA Draft, with many having Auburn’s Jabari Smith pegged as the Orlando Magic’s top choice. He said he didn’t even know he would go first overall until about 30 seconds before NBA commissioner Adam Silver took the stage to announce his name.  

"It all happened pretty fast," he said. "I didn’t even have time to really think about it or anything. It just kind of happened. I can’t believe it, but I’m ready."

Banchero arrived in Orlando on Friday and will next begin a whirlwind of activity before starting workouts next week for the Magic’s July 7 opener at NBA Summer League.  

"There's going to be high expectations for myself that I'm going to hold myself to and that everyone is going to hold myself to," Banchero said. "But I feel like it's nothing I'm not used to.

"It was the same thing for me heading into college, throughout high school, a lot of expectations. It's been like that my whole life." 

The Magic did work out Smith, and listened to teams that called about obtaining the first pick in a trade, but Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said in the end, the team felt that Banchero was the best player at the college level this past season and would be the best fit. 

"There's things that you're grabbing from each [top player in the draft] that you're like, 'Oh, man, wow, that can be great for us','' he said.

"But then it ultimately comes down to, 'How does that fit for us? How do we jell with them in the locker room? How are they treating people when they're walking in?' – because all those pieces play a factor, and I think we've done an incredible job with those details." 

The Magic are a combined 43-111 in the past two seasons, have made the playoffs just twice in the last 10 years and haven’t won a round in the postseason since 2009-10.  

The Who famously sang "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" – and the Charlotte Hornets are taking that to heart. 

In one of the more surprising coaching hirings in recent memory, the Hornets are bringing back Steve Clifford for a second stint as head coach of the team.  

Clifford was Charlotte’s bench boss for five seasons and guided the team to two playoff appearances before he was fired following the 2017-18 season, and then hired a few weeks later by the Orlando Magic. He compiled a 196-214 record with the Hornets and is 292-345 in eight seasons as an NBA coach.

His best season in Charlotte came in 2015-16 when the Hornets went 48-34 and lost in seven games to the Miami Heat in the first round the playoffs. 

The Hornets initially offered the job to Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson, but he later told the team he was backing out due to family reasons. 

"I think [Atkinsons] would have been a good pick, but if he’s not comfortable here I would rather find out now then a year from now," Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak said Thursday night at the NBA Draft.  

This time, Clifford inherits a team that is more talented than any of his previous Charlotte squads with All-Star point guard LaMelo Ball, Gordon Hayward and Miles Bridges.  

The Hornets finished last season with the league’s eighth-ranked offense, but were weak defensively, and allowed 132 points in a 29-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in elimination game last season. Outgoing head coach James Borrego was also criticised for failing to play young, emerging talent, instead opting to give minutes to established veterans who lacked upside.

Defense has been the organisation’s priority in seeking a new leader, and Clifford has long been considered one of the NBA’s top defensive coaches. The Hornets finished sixth, 10th, ninth, 17th and 17th in defensive rating during his five seasons. They were 22nd this past season under Borrego, who was fired in April.  

Chun In-gee shot a three-under 69 on Friday to extend her leading score at the Women's PGA Championship to 11 under – six strokes better than anyone else through two rounds.

The South Korean, who is a two-time major winner, led by five strokes after the first round, and extended that by one more with five birdies and two bogeys in her second trip around the course. In doing so, she is the only player to shoot both rounds in the 60s.

Leading the chasing pack at five under is Australian Lydia Ko and American Jennifer Kupcho, with Ko's 67 tying for Friday's round of the day along with Lexi Thompson.

Thompson sits in a tie for ninth at three under, along with recent U.S. Open winner Minjee Lee and China's Xiyu Lin.

Heading into the weekend there are 26 women below par, including representatives from Thailand, Northern Ireland, Japan, Finland, England and South Africa.

Xander Schauffele shot his second consecutive 63 to head into the weekend at the Travelers Championship at 14 under – five strokes clear of the chasing pack.

Remarkably, Schauffele is yet to post a bogey in the tournament, with 14 birdies and 22 pars through his 36 holes.

He started beautifully in his second trip around TPC River Highlands, birdieing three of his first five holes, and capped off his round by birdieing the picturesque 17th hole for the second day in a row.

Schauffele was one stroke behind J.T. Poston and Rory McIlroy after Thursday's action, and tied for the round of the day on Friday along with Harold Varner III.

At 14 under, Schauffele has tied the TPC River Highlands 36-hole record, and it ties him with Justin Rose back in 2010 for the lowest 36-hole score at the Travelers Championship since 1984.

The five-man group tied for second place at nine under is made up of Americans Patrick Cantlay, Harris English, Nick Hardy and Kevin Kisner, as well as Australia's Cam Davis. Hardy and Kisner were the pick of that group on Friday, shooting 64s.

McIlroy and Poston sit one shot further back at eight under after the first-round leaders both shot even-par 70s, and are joined at eight under by a group including Lee Kyoung-hoon and Matthew NeSmith.

Webb Simpson is at seven under, rounding out the top-20, along with Michael Thorbjornsen, who is the only amateur to make the cut after rounds of 68 and 65.

World number one Scottie Scheffler is at five under, along with Varner, with the pair taking very different routes to that number. Scheffler has been consistent, with a 68 and a 67, while Varner has been the opposite, following his opening 72 with a 63.

With the cut-line at two under, Danny Willett and Mito Pereira were two of the players to miss out on the weekend despite being under par, while Sam Burns finished his week even, Jordan Spieth was one over, and the talented duo of Rickie Fowler and Joaquinn Neimann were at three over.

Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez was in bullish mood as he outlined his confidence of a knockout victory in his trilogy bout with Gennady Golovkin.

Alvarez and Golovkin have shared a heated rivalry since 2017, when the first meeting between the pair ended in a controversial split draw.

The Mexican won the rematch in 2018, but the mutual dislike still feels fresh.

"A knockout, that’s what I see," Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) said when asked in a news conference to predict the outcome at T-Mobile Arena.

The undisputed super middleweight champion is coming off a loss to Dmitry Bivol but insists he can handle Golovkin, whose record stands at 42-1-1, 37 KOs.

"I got tired as the fight went on, and as far as the loss, you take the loss and you move on," Canelo added.

"I'm more dangerous now than before. It's personal to me."

When asked if he wants to "punish" Golovkin in their third – and likely final – meeting, Canelo told Fighthype: "Yes, because he always talks about me, a lot of s*** about me."

Canelo also alleged that his opponent has been biding his time, focused only on another rematch and a final payday before the 40-year-old Golovkin retires.

"He's fighting a lot of C- and D-level fighters, and I'm staying busy fighting the best fighters out there. It doesn't make sense, right? I'm glad to be here," Canelo added.

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."