Casper Rudd set up a semi-final clash with Reilly Opelka by claiming a straight-sets win over Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Geneva Open, while Cameron Norrie made his third semi-final of 2022 at the Lyon Open.

World number eight Rudd, who claimed the title in Geneva last year with a straight-sets final win over Denis Shapovalov, overcame Kokkinakis 6-4 7-6 (7-3) on Thursday and will now face Opelka.

The American bounced back from losing the second set against Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor to claim a 6-4 3-6 6-3 win as he bids for his third title of 2022, and second seed Ruud said he was excited to pit himself against Opelka after securing his spot in the semi-finals.

"I expect it to be tough," Ruud said. "But I will do my best and see how I can do. I always enjoy playing against Reilly. He is a similar age to myself, and it will be another battle against him – hopefully it will be a good one."

Elsewhere, three-time grand slam semi-finalist Richard Gasquet followed up his shock win over Daniil Medvedev with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Kamil Majchrzak, and will face Joao Sousa for a place in the final after the Portuguese beat Ilya Ivashka 7-5 7-5.

At the Lyon Open, top seed Norrie battled to a 6-4 4-6 7-5 win over Sebastian Baez, spurning three match points before finally downing the Argentinian after a marathon two hours and 40 minutes clash.

The world number 11 will face Holger Rune in his semi-final contest after the 19-year-old came from a set down to beat Manuel Guinard 3-6 6-3 6-4.

The other semi-final in France will see fourth seed Alex de Minaur take on Alex Molcan after the Australian's quarter-final opponent Yosuke Watanuki withdrew after losing the first set 6-4, citing a back issue.

Molcan, meanwhile, downed Federico Coria 6-3 6-2 to reach the final four.

Daniil Medvedev was defeated on his ATP Tour return at the Geneva Open by a sparkling Richard Gasquet, a blow to the Russian ahead of the French Open

World number two Medvedev was making his first appearance since March after undergoing a hernia operation and fell to a 6-2 7-6 (7-5) defeat.

The Russian's rustiness was clear in the last-16 tussle as he racked up seven double faults and struggled to make inroads on Gasquet's second serve, with the Frenchman winning 61 per cent of points behind it.

It was the first time Gasquet overcame an opponent ranked in the top two since beating Roger Federer at the 2005 Monte Carlo Masters.

Next up for Gasquet will be Kamil Majchrzak, who beat Marco Cecchinato 6-2 6-3.

At the last-32 stage, Fabio Fognini went down 6-4 6-3 to Thanasi Kokkinakis and Albert Ramos-Vinolas succumbed to a 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 loss against Christopher O'Connell.

Johan Nikles, Nikoloz Basilashvili and Joao Sousa also advanced to the second round.

Top seed Cameron Norrie cruised into the quarter-finals of the Lyon Open by beating Francisco Cerundolo 6-4 6-4.

The Briton will face another Argentinian next in the form of Sebastian Baez, who came from a set down to beat Oscar Otte 5-7 6-4 6-2. 

Alex De Minaur also had to rally for a 1-6 6-3 6-2 win against Ugo Humbert, with Yosuke Watanuki awaiting in the last eight after the world number 263 beat Soonwoo Kwon 6-3 6-4.

David Goffin was impressive in his 6-4 6-2 win against Botic van de Zandschulp – earning a third round fixture against Rafael Nadal on the clay courts of the Madrid Open.

The Belgian was stronger both on serve and in the return game, winning 66 per cent of his service points compared to Van de Zandschulp's 53 per cent, and 47 per cent of his return points to the Dutchman's 34 per cent.

Goffin will face Nadal next for a place in the quarter-finals as the Spaniard searches for his first Madrid crown since 2017.

In a clash between two of the world's top-25 players, Italy's Jannik Sinner came out on top 6-4 6-1 against Australia's Alex de Minaur.

After a tight first set, which featured four consecutive breaks of serve, Sinner found another gear in the second.

He improved his service points from 53 per cent up to 80 per cent, allowing no break point opportunities for the Aussie and converting the two break points he created for himself.

Fourth seed Stefano Tsitsipas was rock-solid against France's Lucas Pouille, taking it 6-3 6-4.

The Greek won 94 per cent of his successful first serves and allowed just one break point – instantly breaking back to-love the following game.

Andy Murray swept aside Dominic Thiem in impressive fashion to secure his first clay-court win in five years as the Scot advanced to the second round at the Madrid Open on Monday.

The three-time grand slam champion was largely in control against his Austrian opponent, hitting nine aces and saving all three break points against his serve, while Thiem could only save one of the three he faced as Murray won 6-3 6-4.

He will now play 14th seed Denis Shapovalov after the Canadian beat Ugo Humbert 7-6 (7-1) 6-3.

The winner of that contest will have a last-16 meeting against the victor of Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils after the latter eased into the round of 32 to set up a clash with the Serbian.

Monfils defeated wildcard Carlos Gimeno Valero 6-3 6-0 in less than an hour, while Alejandro Davidovich Fokina also advanced with a 7-5 6-3 win against Lloyd Harris.

Dusan Lajovic set up a second-round match against fifth seed Casper Ruud, who defeated Borna Coric 6-3 4-6 6-4, and ninth seed Cameron Norrie will go up against John Isner, the Briton having overcome Soonwoo Kwon 7-5 7-5.

An interesting tie awaits the much-talked about Carlos Alcaraz after Nikoloz Basilashvili beat Fabio Fognini 7-5 6-4, with the Georgian to face the number seven seeded teenager next.

Jannik Sinner, the 10th seed, scraped through a hard-fought encounter against American Tommy Paul 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3, and will play Alex de Minaur next after the Australian beat Pedro Martinez 7-6 (7-2) 1-6 6-3.

Diego Schwartzman will take on Grigor Dimitrov in the second round. The Argentine 13th seed beat Benoit Paire 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-1, while Dimitrov overcame Maxime Cressy 6-2 7-6 (7-4).

Carlos Alcaraz's incredible season continued as he saved two match points before going on to beat Alex De Minaur in their semi-final tie at the Barcelona Open.

Alcaraz, who will become the first teenager since Andy Murray in 2007 to move into the top 10 of the ATP rankings when he does so next week, was staring down the barrel of an exit in Sunday's delayed tie when his Australian opponent had two shots of sealing victory in the second set.

Yet the 18-year-old salvaged both match points and then immediately broke back to take the set to a tie-break, which he won 7-4.

Alcaraz carried the momentum into the decider, breaking twice to seal a 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 success and progress to his third final of 2022. He has won the other two showdowns, in Rio de Janeiro and Miami respectively.

He will face fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who had a rather easier time against Diego Schwartzman, winning 6-3 6-4.

The players faced a short turnaround ahead of the final, which was to be played later on Sunday.

Carlos Alcaraz will chase a first home title on Sunday at the Barcelona Open but must do it the hard way after rain held up both semi-finals.

The tussle between Spaniard Alcaraz and Australia's Alex De Minaur was locked at 2-2 in the first set when play was abandoned for the day, and it was the same score in the last-four clash between Argentinian Diego Schwartzman and Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta.

Both clay-court semi-finals at the ATP 500 tournament are due to resume at 11:00 local time (10:00 BST) on Sunday, followed by the final not before 16:00 (15:00 BST).

Eighteen-year-old Alcaraz has won ATP titles in Umag, Rio de Janeiro and Miami in the past 12 months but has yet to triumph at an event in Spain, and potentially having to play two matches on the same day complicates his task.

On Monday, the fast-rising youngster will become the first teenager since Andy Murray in 2007 to enter the ATP top 10 rankings.

The Miami Masters' top seed, Daniil Medvedev, had no problems making his way past Spain's Pedro Martinez 6-3 6-4 to earn his spot in the fourth round.

Serving was the story of the match as the world number two tallied up 14 aces to his unseeded opponent's zero, and only allowed Martinez to see five second serves in the opening set, with Zverev winning all five. Overall, Zverev won 20 of 24 points on serve in the first set.

The second set was more competitive, with Martinez even breaking back after Zverev jumped ahead and looked to coast to victory, but he could not hold off the Russian down the stretch.

Medvedev will play American Jenson Brooksby in his fourth-round matchup after he won a hard-fought 6-3 5-7 6-4 struggle against 15 seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

In a razor-close contest, Brooksby was just slightly better throughout, winning 60 per cent of his service points compared to the Spaniard's 59 per cent, as well as winning 41 per cent of return points compared to Bautista Agut's 40 per cent.

Fresh off his Indian Wells Masters triumph over Rafael Nadal, Taylor Fritz kept his good form going with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 win against American compatriot Tommy Paul.

Fritz, who is now up to world number 13, did not have his serve broken all day, winning 81 per cent of his successful first serves (30-37), while also capitalising on the only two break points he saw.

14 seed Carlos Alcaraz only needed two sets to get past 21 seed Marin Cilic 6-4 6-4, creating nine break point opportunities to Cilic's one, which was saved.

In the late session, and in a meeting of rapidly rising prospects, 22-year-old Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic pulled off an upset 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 win over 21-year-old American Sebastian Korda.

Meanwhile, three seed Stefano Tsitsipas was too much for Australian Alex de Minaur, winning 6-4 6-3 after allowing no break point opportunities in the opening set, and saving all three in the second.

Rafael Nadal did it tough against Reilly Opelka on Wednesday, eventually winning his way through to the quarter-finals at the Indian Wells Masters.

Nadal displayed an abundance of tactical nous, nullifying the American’s big hitting and service game to emerge the 7-6(6-3) 7-6(7-5) winner.

Along with a 76 percent first-serve rate, Opelka hit more winners with 26 for the match, but the 35-year-old Spaniard was able to grind out points from the baseline with his trademark heavy topspin. As a result, Nadal’s winner/unforced error differential was +14 in comparison to Opelka’s +1.

"He is one of the toughest opponents on tour," Nadal said post-match. "It is very tough to control his weapons with his serve and forehand.

"I think I played my best match of the tournament so far today. I am very pleased with how I was able to win the match, with two difficult tie-breaks. This victory means a lot to me."

The highest ranked player left in the draw, Nadal will now face Nick Kyrgios, who progressed to the quarter-finals after Jannik Sinner withdrew with illness.

Matteo Berrettini made a shock exit, meanwhile, losing 6-3 6-7(5-7) 6-4 to unseeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic.

The Italian world number six was put under constant pressure, with Kecmanovic targeting his backhand and hovered the baseline to close the angles on serve.

The 22-year-old’s only other top 10 victory came against Alexander Zverev, also the world number six then, at Cincinnati in 2019. He will now face Taylor Fritz, who defeated Alex de Minaur 3-6 6-4 7-6(7-5).

Also on Wednesday, Grigor Dimitrov edged past John Isner 6-3 7-6(8-6). In his unique style, the Bulgarian 33rd seed came up with the shot of the day, flicking a forehand pass across the visibly stunned Isner.

He will face Andrey Rublev, who defeated Hurbert Hurkacz 7-6(7-5) 6-4. In Wednesday’s other results, Carlos Alcaraz Garfia comfortably defeated Gael Monfils 7-5 6-1, while Cameron Norrie accounted for Jenson Brooksby 6-2 6-4.

Matteo Berrettini survived a scare to eventually progress to the fourth round at the Indian Wells Masters on Tuesday.

The Italian sixth seed had to fight from 2-5 down in the second set and saved three set points, before powering through to triumph 6-4 7-5 over Lloyd Harris.

"I got a little bit nervous," Berrettini said post-match. “I didn’t like how I handled the start of the second set. I let the anger get out a little bit, which helped. I found the right balance in order to break him in the important moment and then I had the momentum.”

The world number six found another level in reeling off five straight games, and will now face unseeded Miomir Kecmanovic, who accounted for Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6(6-3) 7-5.

Taylor Fritz was also pushed by Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar, taking a third-set tiebreaker to progress to the fourth round.

The 20th-seeded was made to work for it in a match that lasted just under three hours, but Munar feel short in the clutch, with two unforced forehand errors in the closing tiebreak to give Fritz a three-point gap.

In Tuesday's last game, Andrey Rublev showed rare composure to progress past Frances Tiafoe 6-3 6-4. 

Neither got off to the best of starts, with Rublev and Tiafoe sharing service breaks in the opening four games of the first set. The characteristically volatile Rublev managed to regroup, though, and stayed calm even when Tiafoe got his home crowd on side. 

Despite a low 67 percent on first serve, Rublev won 83 percent of those points, while Tiafoe did himself no favours with an even lower 58 percent first-serve rate.

Last-year’s semi-finalist will face 29th-seeded Alex de Minaur, who defeated Tommy Paul 7-6(6-2) 6-4.

The Australian world no. 31 faced immediate difficulty on service, with only his second service game going to eight consecutive deuces, after five saved break points. He eventually saw the match through, after breaking for 4-3 in the second set.

Fellow seeds Hubert Hurkacz and Grigor Dimitrov both went through relatively unscathed, with respective wins over Steve Johnson and Alexander Bublik.

Dimitrov will face John Isner, who saw past Diego Schwartzman 7-5 6-3 in Tuesday’s other result.

Daniil Medvedev suffered a shock loss in his first match of the year as the US Open champion was beaten by Ugo Humbert at the ATP Cup.

World number two Medvedev led by a set and 3-0 but stumbled from there and went down 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 7-6 (7-2) at the team event in Sydney.

He put that defeat behind him and paired up with Roman Safiullin in doubles to clinch a 2-1 victory for Russia over France in the round-robin Group B tie.

Medvedev and Safiullin were 6-4 6-4 winners over Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the tie decider, with world number 167 Safiullin having earlier scored an impressive 2-6 7-5 6-3 singles victory over Arthur Rinderknech.

Humbert's remarkable comeback victory over Medvedev was the standout result of the contest, however, with the 23-year-old French left-hander saying afterwards: "It was a very tough match. I am very happy."

Metz-born Humbert added, quoted on the ATP website: "I had some opportunities in the first set and I just tried to stay relaxed and focused on what I had to do. It was a great match."

Australia had an eye-catching win in the same group, landing a 2-1 success over Italy, helped by Alex de Minaur beating Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini.

De Minaur scored a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win to level the tie after Jannik Sinner swept past Max Purcell 6-1 6-3, with Berrettini and Simone Bolelli then beaten 6-3 7-5 in a late-night doubles tussle by John Peers and Luke Saville.

In Group C, Great Britain scored a 2-1 win over Germany, with Dan Evans and Jamie Murray teaming up in doubles to beat Alexander Zverev and Kevin Krawietz 6-3 6-4 to take the tie.

Zverev had earlier been too good for Cameron Norrie, posting a 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 win, after Evans sped to a 6-1 6-2 victory over Jan-Lennard Struff.

In their next tie, Germany will do battle with a United States side who were impressive 3-0 winners against Canada on Sunday. John Isner and Taylor Fritz scored singles victories over Brayden Schnur and Felix Auger-Aliassime before pairing up to beat Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov in doubles.

Daniil Medvedev was ousted from the Indian Wells Masters, the US Open champion and top seed stunned by former world number three Grigor Dimitrov in a thrilling comeback.

Dimitrov had been a set and a double break down against the Russian star on Wednesday, before launching a remarkable rally for his first win over a top-two opponent since 2016.

Meanwhile, second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and third seed Alexander Zverev both won to secure their spots in the last eight.

 

MEDVEDEV SHOCKED IN THE DESERT

Dimitrov roared back to triumph 4-6 6-4 6-3 over Medvedev, who had won 18 of his past 19 matches on North American soil.

Bulgarian star Dimitrov trailed 4-1 in the second set after dropping the opener before stunning the first-time grand slam champion midweek.

"I just felt something at 1-4 and I calmed myself down and started to take better decisions and started to control the pace of the game, which I really believed helped me," Dimitrov – the 23rd seed – said. "In the end it was just very solid and smart play."

Dimitrov finished the match with 25 winners, while he was also excellent at the net, helping him claim his first quarter-final appearance at an ATP Masters 1000 event this season.

Medvedev sent down 5-1 aces but only managed a 54 per cent first-serve percentage, while he also faced 10 break points across the match. Dimitrov won five games in a row to claim the second set.

"I don't remember myself losing three service games, even four service games ever, I guess, on hard courts," Medvedev said.

"That shows how slow this court is and the conditions, more like clay, I would say, which I don't like, because to lose serve four times is just unacceptable."

Dimitrov will face eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals after he got past Australian Open semi-finalist Aslan Karatsev 6-1 6-3.

Medvedev added: "Grigor played [the] second part of the match better than anybody did against me [at the] US Open that I won. Playing this level, I don't see him losing to anybody, but let's see the result."

 

ZVEREV MAKES STATEMENT WITH MONFILS WIN

Olympic Games gold medallist Zverev bulldozed his way past 14th seed Gael Monfils 6-1-6-3 en route to the last eight.

German star Zverev claimed his 20th win from his last 21 matches, needing just over an hour to dispatch Monfils.

Zverev claimed 19 of 25 points at the net, hitting 19 winners including 11 with his forehand, while converting four of eight break points.

"I felt well on the court today. Gael is someone I haven't beaten before, so I knew had to play my best tennis and I definitely was not far away," Zverev said during his on-court interview.

Zverev will take on American 31st seed Taylor Fritz, who defeated 10th seed Jannik Sinner 6-4 6-3.

 

TSITSIPAS OUTLASTS DE MINAUR

French Open runner-up Tsitsipas saw off a tough challenge from Australian Alex de Minaur to secure his spot in the quarter-finals 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.

Tsitsipas fought back from a set down to win against the 22nd seed, triumphing in two hours, 43 minutes.

Greek star Tsitsipas showed grit to outlast the tiring De Minaur and will face 29th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili after he knocked off fellow seed Karen Khachanov 6-4 7-6 (8-6).

"That was incredible the way I just stayed in the match," Tsitsipas said. "I had to go through so many difficulties in order to find a solution and I executed towards the end of the match."

There were further top-10 casualties, with sixth seed Casper Ruud also bowing out 6-3 6-3 to 11th seed Diego Schwartzman, who will meet Cameron Norrie in the quarters.

Alex de Minaur was again stunned by Marcos Giron as the third seed crashed out of the Sofia Open in the second round. 

Following his success over De Minaur at the Moselle Open last week, Giron beat the world number 26 once more as he battled to a 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-2) victory in two hours. 

The unseeded American, appearing for the first time in Sofia, rallied from a break down in the second set to reach an ATP Tour quarter-final - where he will meet John Millman - for the fourth time this season. 

Millman, who is seeded eighth, lost the first set against qualifier Illya Marchenko but recovered well to comfortably triumph 5-7 7-6 (7-0) 6-3. 

However, it was far more straightforward for the other favourites, with top seed Jannik Sinner avoiding a second-set blip to defeat Egor Gerasimov 6-2 7-6 (7-3) and Gael Monfils getting a walkover against Ilya Ivashka. 

Number five seed Filip Krajinovic coasted past fellow Serbian Laslo Djere 6-3 6-0 in just over an hour to set up a quarter-final tie with Kamil Majchrzak. 

In Thursday's other match, world number 56 James Duckworth smashed Benoit Paire 6-4 6-4 in just an hour and 15 minutes to collect his 11th win in his past 12 outings. 

Duckworth, who reached his first ATP Tour final in Nur-Sultan last week, will now challenge defending champion Sinner in the next round. 

Fifth seed Filip Krajinovic made a comfortable start to his Sofia Open campaign on Wednesday, defeating Alexandar Lazarov 6-0 6-3.

Krajinovic was the only seeded player in action and he was dominant against home hope Lazarov, who is ranked 462 in the world.

The Serbian swept the first set without conceding a break point and finished the job by claiming the last four games in the second despite Lazarov putting up more of a fight.

Elsewhere, Krajinovic's compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic crashed out to Italian Gianluca Mager, who fired down 11 aces and forced 10 break-point opportunities to earn an impressive 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 win.

Australian James Duckworth, meanwhile, had to launch a comeback before ultimately prevailing 3-6 6-4 6-4 against Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori to book a round two match with Benoit Paire.

The number one seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner will begin his campaign on Thursday with a last-16 contest against Egor Gerasimov.

Second seed Gael Monfils will play Ilya Ivashka, who defeated Pablo Andujar in straight sets, with the winner to face Mager, who is the first man in the quarter-finals.

Alex de Minaur will also be in action against American Marcos Giron.

Marcos Giron moved through to the second round of the Sofia Open, but needed 10 match points to overcome Jaume Munar 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 6-4.

Giron lost the first set in a tie-break, however, the American fought back in an encounter lasting nearly three hours on Tuesday.

Twenty minutes of match time came in the final game, which encompassed all of Giron's match points.

Munar successfully staved off the first nine and had seven break points of his own. Yet his resistance was finally broken as Giron prevailed at the ATP Tour tournament.

Next up for Giron is a meeting with Australian third seed Alex de Minaur.

Eighth seed John Millman enjoyed a more routine 6-2 6-4 victory over Mikael Ymer, while there were also victories for Laslo Djere, Dimitar Kuzmanov and Egor Gerasimov.

Top seed Aslan Karatsev exited the Astana Open at the last-16 stage with a straight-sets defeat to Emil Ruusuvuori on Thursday.

World number 84 Ruusuvuori saved a set point in the first-set tie-break on his way to a 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 victory and will now face Ilya Ivashka for a place in the semi-finals.

There was nearly another upset as home hopeful Alexander Bublik, seeded second, had to recover from a set down to overcome Miomir Kecmanovic 2-6 6-3 7-5.

Carlos Taberner awaits Bublik in the next round after the Spaniard beat Egor Gerasimov 5-7 7-6(5) 7-5.

Kwon Soon-woo and James Duckworth saw off Dusan Lajovic and Filip Krajinovic respectively in straight sets to remain a course for glory.

At the Moselle Open in Metz, meanwhile, Gael Monfils took out Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6(2) 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals on home soil.

Tournament favourite Hubert Hurkacz made light work of 2016 champion Lucas Pouille with a 6-2 6-3 victory to set up a meeting with Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.

Elsewhere on Thursday, German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk proved too strong for Karen Khachanov and will now face Marcos Giron, who upset fourth seed Alex de Minaur.

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