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Diahuebs 4 November 2021

Medvedev advances, Tsitsipas retires at Paris Masters

(AP) — Defending cham- St. Petersburg Open cham- The ninth-seeded Auger-
pion Daniil Medvedev pion Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-4. Aliassime lost to Dominik
stayed in contention for Koepfer 6-3, 7-5, while the
the year-end No. 1 rank- Fritz converted the only 12th-seeded Carreno Busta
ing by defeating Ilya break point he earned in the was beaten by French quali-
Ivashka of Belarus 7-5, 6-4 final game of the first set and fier Hugo Gaston 6-7 (3),
Wednesday in the second then saved the only break 6-4, 7-5.
round of the Paris Mas- point he faced at 1-1 in the Koepfer, who saved seven
ters. second. match points against Andy
Murray in the previous
The second-seeded Russian Ranked 26th in the world, round, broke Auger-Alias-
squandered three set points Fritz has been playing well sime twice in each set, win-
at 5-1 in the first set and then in recent weeks. He beat Al- ning seven straight games to
allowed Ivashka to rally for exander Zverev in the quar- take a 3-0 lead in the second.
5-5. However, Ivashka then terfinals at Indian Wells last
dropped serve with a double- month and reached the final “Very disappointing. I should
fault and three unforced er- The third-seeded Greek clined to say what was both- of the St. Petersburg Open have done much better,”
rors and Medvedev clinched leads the ATP Tour with 55 ering him on Wednesday but last week. Rublev defeated Auger-Aliassime said. “He
the set with a backhand vol- wins this year and was play- he clutched his right arm sev- Fritz 6-3, 6-1 in Dubai earlier played very well, but I fought
ley. ing his 73rd singles match. eral times during the match. this year. against myself at some times.”
However, his form has de- Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hurkacz beat American
The U.S. Open champion clined since he reached the “I have had an issue there for Pablo Carreno Busta both qualifier Tommy Paul 7-5,
broke for a 2-1 lead in the French Open final, losing in quite a while now,” Tsitsipas dropped out of contention 7-6 (4) while Norrie defeat-
second but then hit double- the third round of the U.S. said. “It has gotten bigger in for the ATP Finals by los- ed Toronto runner-up Reilly
faults on his first two match Open in September and in the last couple of weeks, so ing in the second round, but Opelka 6-3, 6-4. Hurkacz
points before converting the the second round in Vienna I’m just trying to protect it. seventh-seeded Hubert Hur- overtook Jannik Sinner in the
third when Ivashka sent a last week. I felt the pain playing in the kacz and 10th-seeded Cam- Race to Turin, virtually tak-
forehand wide. match, and I just don’t want eron Norrie stayed in the ing the last spot for the ATP
Novak Djokovic, who is also “I haven’t retired once in my for it to get worse than it is race with victories. Finals.
playing in Paris, has a lead of life, and it was something now.”
800 points over Medvedev in that I had to do today,” Tsit-
the rankings and could clinch sipas said. “Also I’m trying to Americans Taylor Fritz, Mar- US beats Spain to set up
the year-end No. 1 this week be cautious for the next tour- cos Giron and Sebastian
depending on their respec- nament, which is the most Korda caused a few upsets in BJK Cup semifinal against
tive results. important one for me.” the second round. Fritz beat
Earlier, an injured Stefanos fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev Russia
Tsitsipas retired from his Tsitipas has qualified for the 7-5, 7-6 (2), qualifier Giron
second-round match while season-ending ATP Finals, edged 11th-seeded Diego
trailing 4-2 against Australian an eight-man tournament Schwartzman 7-6 (2), 7-6
opponent Alexei Popyrin. that starts on Nov. 14. He de- (4), and Korda cruised past (AP) — The United States “I think in this format, ev-
won both singles matches ery game, every set counts,”
against Spain to reach Collins said. “For me, I was
the semifinals of the Bil- just on a roll. I think it’s quite
lie Jean King Cup on hard putting to words when
Wednesday. you have a performance like
that.” After sweeping Canada
The Americans faced a must- 3-0 the previous day, Russia
win situation after losing needed only one win from
to Slovakia 2-1 in Group the best-of-three match
C on Tuesday, and Sloane against France to advance
Stephens and Danielle Col- from Group A.
lins both earned straight-set It could rely on its top player,
victories to render the final Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, to
doubles meaningless. deliver it.
The U.S., the most success- The 12th-ranked Pavly-
ful team in the competition uchenkova rallied to beat
formerly known as the Fed Alize Cornet 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
Cup with 18 titles, will face to earn Russia the semifinal
Russia in the semis. The spot.
Russians eliminated defend- “I’m so happy and so proud
ing champion France earlier of myself,” Pavlyuchenkova
in the day. said. “It was an incredible
Stephens beat Nuria Par- match. It was very good ten-
rizas-Diaz 6-4, 6-4, earn- nis but the more important
ing her seventh break of the was the amazing fighting
match in the final game and spirit from both of us.”
converting her first match After dropping the first set,
point with a backhand win- the Russian broke Cornet in
ner. the opening games of the fol-
“I came out really confident, lowing two sets to improve
I knew that I’m ready,” said her record against her 59th-
Stephens, the 2107 U.S. ranked opponent to 7-1, hit-
Open champion. ting 34 winners on the way.
Collins secured the second After the 2019 champion was
point by easing past Sara Sor- upset by outsider Canada
ribes Tormo 6-1, 6-0 in just 2-1 in its opener on Monday,
under one hour to seal the France needed to beat Russia
victory and eliminate Spain. 3-0 to advance.