Ruud sails past Medvedev into semis; Gauff to meet Swiatek

MADRID, May 1: Casper Ruud reached the Madrid Open semi-finals with a 6-3, 7-5 straight sets triumph over Daniil Medvedev on Thursday.
The Norwegian ousted Taylor Fritz to reach the quarter-finals and secured his first win against the Russian in their fourth meeting.
Strong on clay Ruud only converted two of his eight break points but it was enough to secure victory, with Medvedev, who dislikes the surface, not producing a single break.
Ruud put heavy pressure on Medvedev’s serve in the first set, breaking in the fourth game and serving it out.
The second set featured just a single break point, earned and converted by Ruud in the 11th game, enabling him to serve for the match.
Medvedev made 33 unforced errors and committed four double faults on a disappointing afternoon for the world number 10.
Ruud was unable to defend his title at the ATP 500 in Barcelona two weeks ago and subsequently dropped out of the Top 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time since last February.
But with his run to a ninth Masters 1000 semi-final, Ruud is up three spots to No. 12 in the Live Rankings and will return to the Top 10 if he reaches the final in Madrid.
“I came here after a tough defeat in Barcelona… I worked a little bit with myself and especially the mental aspect,” Ruud added. “I think I am coming into He will next continue his quest for a maiden Masters 1000 trophy against the winner of Thursday afternoon’s quarter-final between 20th seed Francisco Cerundolo and 19-year-old Jakub Mensik.
GAUFF BEATS ANDREEVA
Gauff, ranked No. 4, who got past seventh-ranked Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-1. Andreeva turned 18 on Tuesday.
Since the introduction of the WTA 1000 tier, only the 2009 Indian Wells quarterfinal between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Agnieszka Radwanska had a younger combined age, the WTA said.
Gauff recovered after being down a break at 5-4 in the first set. She faced two set points.“Off the ground I think I was dictating most of the rallies, so happy with that,” Gauff said. “Overall happy with everything.”Both Gauff and Andreeva had been able to finish their matches in the previous round just before play was paused because of the major blackout that brought Spain and Portugal to a standstill on Monday. More than 20 matches had to be postponed at the Caja Magica tennis complex.
ARNALDI KEEPS GOING
Matteo Arnaldi backed up his victory over Novak Djokovic in the second round of the men’s draw by defeating Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals of an ATP 1000 tournament for the second time.
Arnaldi now has three consecutive wins against top 20 opponents for the first time in his career.
The Italian will next face Jack Draper, who advanced by beating Tommy Paul 6-2, 6-2 in 68 minutes. The sixth-ranked Draper clinched his maiden ATP 1000 title in Indian Wells this year.
SWIATEK SURVIVES
Iga Swiatek survived “one of the weirdest matches” after losing the first six games and recovering to defeat Madison Keys 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 and stay on track to defend her title at the Madrid Open on Wednesday.
The second-ranked Swiatek will face Coco Gauff in the semifinals after the 21-year-old American beat teenager Mirra Andreeva in straight sets in the youngest WTA 1000 quarterfinal since 2009.Swiatek was overpowered by Keys early in their quarterfinal but eventually found a way to rally past the fifth-ranked American on center court.“It was one of the weirdest matches I played,” Swiatek said. “Maddie was playing just perfectly at the beginning and I wasn’t really proactive with anything. I let Maddie do more mistakes by just putting the ball back and the momentum changed.”(Agencies)