Daniil Medvedev is the first player to qualify for the Barcelona semifinals thanks to his 6-3 6-4 victory over lucky-loser Nicolas Jarry. The Chilean had beaten Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov in the previous rounds.
Winner in Sofia, finalist in Brisbane, semi-finalist in Monte Carlo, Medvedev has a tour-leading 24-7 match record this season.
He will face Kei Nishikori for a place in the final. The Japanese defeated lucky-loser Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4, 7-5 to reach the semi-finals.
Medvedev and Nishikori met in the Brisbane final earlier this year, with the latter capturing the title after a 3-set battle.
Photo credit: Banco Sadabell
Read more:
– The Next Gen, 2 years after
– Sofia 2019: Medvedev cruises to the title
– Brisbane 2019: Nishikori claims the title
A few days after his surprising semi-finals loss to Fabio Fognini in Monte Carlo, Rafael Nadal rallied from a set down to defeat Leonardo Mayer 6-7 6-4 6-2. In the next round he’ll face David Ferrer, who dismantled Australian Open semifinalist Lucas Pouille 6-3 6-1.
Monte-Carlo champion Fabio Fognini pulled out of the tournament citing a leg injury, while Alexander Zverev‘s bad season continues: he crashed out in the second round, beaten by lucky loser Nicolas Jarry 3-6 7-5 7-6.
Photo credit: Banco Sadabell
The inaugural Laver Cup was held at the O2 arena in Prague, in September last year, with Team Europe, led by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, defeating Team World 15-9. The second edition of the Laver Cup took place in Chicago last weekend, and Team Europe ruled again with a 13-8 victory.
The event is played over 3 days: each day 4 matches are played, 3 singles and a doubles. Each win is worth one point on Friday, 2 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. Matches are played in the best of 3 sets, with a 10-point match tiebreaker in the third. The winning team must reach 13 points. In case of a tie, a doubles match is played as a regular set to determine the winner.
On day 1, Team Europe won the 3 singles, while Federer and Djokovic lost in doubles against the pair of Kevin Anderson and Jack Sock.
On day 2, Team Europe led by 7 to 1 after Zverev’s win over Isner and Federer tennis lesson to Kyrgios. But Team World rallied back to 5-7 after Kevin Anderson’s surprising win over Novak Djokovic and Kyrgios and Sock doubles victory over Dimitrov and Goffin.
Team World led for the first time of the weekend after another doubles victory in day 3’s opening match! But Federer put Team Europe ahead by saving three match points to defeated Isner. And finally it all came down to Zverev, who dropped the first set before leveling at one set all and winning a thrilling match tiebreaker against Anderson. 13-8, Team Europe retains the title!
Next year’s competition will take place in Geneva, Switzerland from 20-22 September.
| Roger Federer / Alexander Zverev | John Isner / Jack Sock | 6–4 6–7 [9–11] | 7–8 |
| Roger Federer | John Isner | 6–7 7–6 [10–7] | 10–8 |
| Alexander Zverev | Kevin Anderson | 6–7 7-5 [10-7] | 13–8 |
Photo credit: Christian Cresante
