Medvedev Cruises Into Dubai Semi-finals

Daniil Medvedev is the defending champion in Dubai - AFP
Daniil Medvedev is the defending champion in Dubai - AFP
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Medvedev Cruises Into Dubai Semi-finals

Daniil Medvedev is the defending champion in Dubai - AFP
Daniil Medvedev is the defending champion in Dubai - AFP

Daniil Medvedev raced to victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Thursday to reach the Dubai semi-finals and continue his excellent start to the year.

The world number four wasted little time in wrapping up a 6-2, 6-3 win and will face Ugo Humbert in the last four.

"Alejandro can play very well," Medvedev said. "Sometimes during matches he can have a little down moment and then he goes up.

"I knew that no matter the score, I needed to go until the last point."

The Russian is playing in just his second tournament of the season after reaching the Australian Open final, where he suffered an agonising defeat by Jannik Sinner after leading by two sets.

Reigning champion Medvedev is bidding to defend an ATP title for the first time, having won 20 trophies at Tour-level events in his career but all at different tournaments.

Medvedev eased through the opening set with breaks in the sixth and eighth games, AFP reported.

He powered into a 4-0 lead in the second and sealed victory on his first match point, despite a brief rally from Davidovich Fokina, who has now lost all four of his meetings with Medvedev.

Medvedev had to come from a set down against Lorenzo Sonego in the previous round, but said he may have been struggling with an illness.

"I don't know what happened yesterday. A few people around me got a small virus, so maybe it is this," he said.

"Some days that happens but I am happy today happened. I am not at my best shape yet but we have some more matches."

Fifth-seeded Humbert of France saved three match points in the second-set tie-break on his way to a 3-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-3 victory against third seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.

Humbert, who hit 24 winners, had also defeated Hurkacz en route to the title in Marseille earlier this month.

Alexander Bublik and Andrey Rublev will meet in the other semi-final after both were beneficiaries of retirements in their last-eight matches.

Kazakhstan's Bublik led 6-4, 4-1 when his opponent Jiri Lehecka quit their tie with injury.

Second seed Rublev was 6-4, 4-3 ahead when American Sebastian Korda left the court in the second quarter-final.

The win ended a run of three successive quarter-final exits for world number five Rublev.



Emma Navarro Eliminates Coco Gauff at Wimbledon to Reach Her 1st Grand Slam Quarterfinal

 USA's Emma Navarro celebrates winning against US player Coco Gauff during their women's singles fourth round tennis match on the seventh day of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 7, 2024. (AFP)
USA's Emma Navarro celebrates winning against US player Coco Gauff during their women's singles fourth round tennis match on the seventh day of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 7, 2024. (AFP)
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Emma Navarro Eliminates Coco Gauff at Wimbledon to Reach Her 1st Grand Slam Quarterfinal

 USA's Emma Navarro celebrates winning against US player Coco Gauff during their women's singles fourth round tennis match on the seventh day of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 7, 2024. (AFP)
USA's Emma Navarro celebrates winning against US player Coco Gauff during their women's singles fourth round tennis match on the seventh day of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 7, 2024. (AFP)

Coco Gauff has never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon, and she exited at that stage again on Sunday, eliminated by Emma Navarro 6-4, 6-3 in an all-American matchup.

This was the latest in a series of departures by top women from the bracket this year at the All England Club: No. 1 Iga Swiatek lost on Saturday, No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka withdrew before playing a match and No. 6 Marketa Vondrousova was defeated in the first round.

Only two of the 10 highest-seeded women remain: 2022 champion Elena Rybakina, who is No. 4, and recent French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini, who is No. 7.

“I don’t have a ton of words,” said the 19th-seeded Navarro, a 23-year-old who grew up in South Carolina and won an NCAA championship for Virginia.

“I played really aggressively. Coco’s obviously an amazing player. I have a ton of respect for her and what she’s done at such a young age is really amazing. I knew she wasn’t going to make it easy on me tonight,” said Navarro, who reached the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. “But I wanted to play aggressively and push back against her game and I think I was able to do that.”

She showed exactly the type of tennis she’s capable of playing in the second round, when she got past four-time major champion Naomi Osaka.

The No. 2-seeded Gauff, a 20-year-old from Florida, is the reigning US Open champion, and she also has been the runner-up at the French Open and reached the semifinals at the Australian Open.

And while her first big breakthrough came at the All England Club at age 15, when she became the youngest qualifier in tournament history and beat Venus Williams in the first round en route to getting to the fourth, Gauff never has bettered that result.

She also exited in the fourth round in her next appearance, in 2021, then lost in the third round in 2022 and the first round a year ago.

On Sunday, Gauff kept making mistakes — she finished with more than twice as many unforced errors, 25, as winners, 12 — and would look up as if to seek advice from her Centre Court guest box, where one of her two coaches, Brad Gilbert, often stood with his hands on his hips.

Her biggest issue was the shot that opponents know is Gauff's weakness: the forehand.

Navarro kept hitting to that side, and it worked.

Gauff made 16 unforced errors with forehands, and another 16 forced errors, accounting for 32 of the 61 total points won by Navarro.