Top-ranked Jannik Sinner surged into his fifth ATP Masters semifinal of the season, dominating fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev in straight units on the Shanghai Masters on Thursday.
Sinner began robust, dealing with only one break level in a commanding 6-1, 6-4 victory over the Russian, who required shoulder remedy from the physio through the second set.
“I’m very pleased with how I handled today’s match,” Sinner mentioned. “It seemed like he was dealing with some shoulder pain and couldn’t hit his forehand as effectively as he wanted. I hope he recovers quickly, but from my perspective, it was a great match and a solid battle. Now, let’s see what I can do in the semifinals.”
With Thursday’s win, the two-time main winner has leveled his head-to-head sequence towards Medvedev at 7-7 and has gained seven of their final eight conferences.
The victory moved Sinner into his first semifinal in Shanghai, the place he’ll play both second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, in a rematch of their thrilling duel from the China Open final week, or Tomas Machac, who performs later Thursday.
Coco Gauff superior to the quarterfinals of the Wuhan Open with a 6-4, 6-1 rout of Seventeenth-ranked Marta Kostyuk in simply over an hour.
It was the fourth-ranked Gauff’s eighth consecutive win on the WTA Tour’s Asian swing after the American gained the China Open final week, which moved her again into the highest 5 within the rankings.
Gauff fired two aces and broke the Ukrainian’s serve 5 instances – whereas shedding solely considered one of her personal – as she clinched a one-sided match and prolonged her lead of their head-to-head sequence to 3-1.
Next for Gauff is No. 45-ranked Magda Linette, who continued her spectacular type this week by beating eighth-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-3.
“Yeah, she’s a tough opponent,” Gauff mentioned of Linette. “We have not performed for the reason that U.S. Open in 2021. I actually do not know what to anticipate. But simply from watching her play, she’s been taking part in nice these final couple of matches right here in Wuhan.
“I expect it to be a tough match. She’s not an easy opponent to play.”
Gauff would be the solely American left within the draw after third-ranked Jessica Pegula and tour rookie Hailey Baptiste each misplaced.
Pegula, the U.S. Open finalist, had a troublesome afternoon towards 51st-ranked Wang Xinyu of China, who was dominant on serve all through and clinched a 6-3, 7-5 win to succeed in her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal.
Wang had gained their solely earlier assembly in three units within the second spherical at Wimbledon earlier this 12 months and obtained off to a quick begin by breaking Pegula twice within the opening set.
After her first win over a top-10 participant within the earlier spherical, Baptiste was routed 6-1, 6-1 by Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Paris Olympics gold medalist Zheng Qinwen rallied to beat Leylah Fernandez 5-7, 6-3, 6-0, and sixth-ranked Jasmine Paolini defeated Erika Andreeva 6-3, 6-2.
Later, second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka appeared to take care of her undefeated document on the Wuhan Open when she performs Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in her third-round match.
A win for the Belarusian will permit her to regain the highest spot within the rankings from Iga Swiatek, who’s absent from the ladies’s tour’s Asian swing, citing private causes and fatigue.
Sabalenka, the reigning U.S. Open champion, is 13-0 in Wuhan after profitable the title on her first look in 2018 and defending her crown in 2019 earlier than the event took a five-year hiatus because of COVID-19 journey restrictions.
Source: www.dailysabah.com