ATP Sao Paulo: Djere, Ruud, Pella and Garin stay in title chase
The 20-year-old Norwegian Casper Ruud will crack the top-100 on Monday for the first time after reaching the second ATP semi-final (the first since Rio de Janeiro in 2017), demolishing Hugo Dellien 6-1, 6-1 in 53 minutes. Both players had a great run in Rio de Janeiro last week but instead of a tight battle today it was Casper who dominated from start to finish, dropping 11 points in seven service games and never facing a break point. The Bolivian was miles off that pace, never finding the rhythm on serve and losing almost 60% of the points behind the initial shot to play against eight break points and suffer five breaks to propel Casper into the semis.
Creating three break points already in the second game, Ruud moved ahead when Hugo netted a forehand and that set the tone for the rest of the match, sailing through his service games and breaking at love in game four with a perfect forehand lob. Serving for the set at 5-1, Casper landed three winners to cement the opener and he would never look back, playing another excellent return game to move ahead at the start of the second with a forehand winner. Dellien never found an open space to place his groundstrokes and lost serve again in game five after a loose forehand, spraying another one at 1-5 to push Ruud into the last four.
The Chilean Christian Garin is through to his first ATP semi-final following a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over the 4th seed Leonardo Mayer in an hour and 47 minutes. It was a mighty close match and Mayer eventually won one point more than Garin, blasting 13 aces and repelling three out of five break points. Christian defended five out of six break points which secured the victory for him, prevailing with a single break in set number three. Leonardo took the first set with a break at love in game ten and it was the second set that offered the most chances for the returners, eight in total. Garin opened it with a break, fending off five break points in game six and prevailing with an early one at the beginning of the decider.
Five good holds away from the place in the last four, Christian did everything right behind the initial shot and Mayer was unable to pull the break back and extend the match, ending his run in the quarters. The 3rd seed and Cordoba finalist Guido Pella stood strong against the compatriot Marco Trungelliti, scoring a one-sided 6-0, 6-3 victory to join Ruud and Garin in the semis. Guido erased all four break points he faced and he stole half of the return points to earn ten break chances, converting four to seal the deal despite a little bit shaky performance in set number two.
They concluded the first set in less than 30 minutes and Pella was the only player on the court, scoring three breaks for a 6-0 and fending off two break points in the third game of the second set to keep his serve intact. After wasting his chances, Marco sprayed a forehand error in the following game to lose serve and send Guido 3-1 in front, saving a match point in the eighth game and creating a break chance in the final game that could have extended the match for him. A left-hander fended it off with a forehand down the line winner, sealing the deal with an ace down the T line to march on and stay on the title course.
Rio de Janeiro champion Laslo Djere has scored the seventh straight win, defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 for the second triumph over the Canadian in as many weeks. The Serb played better on both the first and second serve, allowing only one break and grabbing three on the other side to extend his amazing streak and gain more places in the ranking. Laslo settled into an excellent rhythm from the very first game, breaking Felix in game five with a forehand return winner and again at 4-2 when the youngster sent a forehand wide. Djere landed a forehand down the line winner in the following game to claim the opener 6-2, creating a couple of break chances already at the start of the second set.
Felix canceled them and secured his only break in the following game to jump in front, serving well in the rest of the set and firing a service winner in game nine to set up a decider. There, a teenager hit a costly double fault to get broken in game six, saving two match points on serve in game eight before Djere wrapped up the victory with a forehand down the line winner a few minutes later to stay in contention for back-to-back titles.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2XBaadF
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