Tsitsipas powers past partner Chardy
BASEL,SWITZERLAND:STEFANOS Tsitsipas built on the momentum from his maiden ATP title at the weekend to reach the second round of the Swiss Indoors on Wednesday with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) win over Jeremy Chardy.
Tsitsipas, the first Greek to lift an ATP trophy when he beat Ernests Gulbis on Sunday, earned his 40th win of the season by seeing off training partner Chardy.
Second seed Alexander Zverev notched his tour-leading 50th win of the season as he brushed past Dutchman Robin Haase 6-4, 7-5 in his debut at the event. However, 2016 champion and third seed Marin Cilic crashed out 7-5, 7-6(2) to Romania’s Marius Copil .
Latvia’s Gulbis received on-court treatment around his hip area on the way to a 7-5, 6-4 victory over fifth seed Jack Sock.
Spanish eighth seed Roberto Bautista Agut defeated Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-4, 6-3, while Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic beat Adrian Mannarino of France 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-2.
SVITOLINA, PLISKOVA WIN; WOZNIACKI OUT
SINGAPORE: Elina Svitolina produced one of the best performances of her career to overcome defending champion Caroline Wozniacki 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in a pulsating round-robin encounter and reach the last four of the WTA Finals with a spotless 3-0 record.
Earlier, Karolina Pliskova became the first woman to advance when the big-hitting Czech curbed her attacking instincts to beat compatriot Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-4 and record her second win against a single loss in White Group play.
By winning her opening two matches, Svitolina only needed to take one set off the Danish world No 3 to advance and after playing so brilliantly all week, the Ukrainian was equal to the task.
“It was an amazing match as Caroline always brings the best out of you, to really push yourself, so I have to thank her for making me push my limits,” Svitolina said in a post-match interview after handing Wozniacki her second loss of the week.
“I am more mature now so it was all about staying calm and fighting for every ball.”
Wozniacki and Svitolina are both excellent counter-punchers with supreme athletic ability and after trading blows from the baseline at the start of the match, the Dane mixed up her shots brilliantly to forge a set-winning break in the 11th game.
The contest had effectively become a one-set shootout for a semi-final spot and Wozniacki showed the class that swept her to victory in Singapore a year ago and the Australian Open title in January to move ahead with an early break in the second.