Top-seeded Benoit Paire was yesterday to fight for his third ATP title of the season, taking on Hubert Hurkacz in the final at the Winston-Salem Open.
France’s Paire on Friday shook off a tentative start to sail past American Steve Johnson 1-6, 6-0, 6-0 in the semi-finals.
Hurkacz, the third seed from Poland, downed second-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-4.
Photo: AP
All four of the semi-finalists pulled double-duty on Friday after thunderstorms and an electrical outage caused the quarter-finals to be postponed from Thursday.
Paire defeated Spain’s Pablo Carreno-Busta 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 6-3 in the quarters, while Hurkacz defeated American Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-1.
Shapovalov beat Russian Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Johnson defeated Australian John Millman 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
With the US Open starting tomorrow, Paire admitted that he was a little rattled to feel discomfort from an upper leg muscle injury during his match against Carreno-Busta.
However, when his game started clicking in the third set, he said that “it started feeling better.”
The momentum did not carry over into his semi-final against Johnson, when he was “not feeling very well” to start the match.
“Steve was playing at a good level. So it was not easy, but after I was feeling better, I served better so it was important to stay with myself,” Paire said.
“I was moving very well, and I’m really happy about my win today, because it’s my third final of the year,” added Paire, who won in Marrakesh and Lyon.
Both of those titles were on clay. Yesterday’s match was to be his first outdoor hard-court final and his first in the US.
“It’s my first on a hard court, so honestly it’s a good opportunity for me, and a week before the US Open is very important,” he said.
BRONX OPEN
Reuters
Italy’s Camila Giorgi on Friday saved four match points in a tense third-set tiebreak to defeat top seed Wang Qiang and reach the final of the Bronx Open.
Giorgi, a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) winner, was yesterday to meet Polish qualifier Magda Linette for the title.
“It’s weird, because I didn’t have so many matches this year,” said Giorgi, who made her second final of the season, despite three months out in the spring with a wrist injury. “But I think I was very consistent, and I was focusing on each point. Nothing else.”
Linette stopped Czech fifth seed Katerina Siniakova 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 in the first semi-final.
Giorgi was down 6-3 in the tiebreak before winning five consecutive points to make her third career final.
The match opened with Giorgi breaking China’s Wang early, but the top seed struck back and won five consecutive games to claim the set.
Wang rallied from another early break in the second set, but fell in the 10th game, pushing a forehand wide on set point to allow Giorgi to level the match.
In the first semi-final, Linette needed six set points before sealing the tiebreak with a backhand.
She ended up cruising to victory as Siniakova struggled with double-faults and ground stroke errors.
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