Friday’s action on the ATP Tour featured quarterfinal matches taking place at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo and the Astana Open in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
At the Japan Open, Americans Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz reached the semi-finals in different fashion. First up, Tiafoe breezed into the final four after he dispatched Miomir Kecmanovic 6-0, 6-4. Needing one hour and 12 minutes to advance, Tiafoe hit six aces, won 75 percent of his first serve points and broke serve on four occasions. Improving to 3-0 against Kecmanovic in lifetime meetings, Tiafoe will next face Soonwoo Kwon, who dispatched Pedro Martinez 6-0, 6-3.
Elsewhere, Indian Wells Champion Taylor Fritz received a walkover into the semi-finals after Nick Kyrgios withdrew prior to their match. The American will next face Denis Shapovalov, who was victorious over Borna Coric by a scoreline of 6-4, 6-3. Coric recently won the biggest title of his career earlier this season at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Shapovalov recently made the semifinals in Seoul, Korea last week.
Over in Kazakhstan, 21-time Major winner Novak Djokovic breezed into the semifinals after dismissing US Open semifinalist Karen Khachanov, 6-4, 6-3. Not losing a match since returning to the Tour, Djokovic struck three aces, won 85 percent of his first serve points and broke serve on three occasions.
Djokovic will next face No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev, who easily defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 6-1. Djokovic and Medvedev have had a storied rivalry, which has included 10 matches in total. The Serb leads their head-to-head matches 6-4, with their last match taking place at the Paris Masters in France late last year.
Start betting with Pinnacle VIP Code on all the great action this week, which also included Andrey Rublev breezing into the final four after he defeated crafty Frenchmen Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 6-2. Rublev, who has won three titles in 2022, will next face No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who ousted No. 7 seed Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(8), 6-3.
This week’s events are a prelude to an exciting month of tennis on deck for the ATP Tour. As the season comes to an end, players will be vying for valuable points to qualify for the season-ending event in Turin, Italy.
Currently, Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud and Tsitsipas have qualified. It appears that Djokovic will make a strong push to join the elite group, with Medvedev, Rublev and Felix Auger-Aliassime looking to round out the impressive event.
Elite tournaments in Basel, Switzerland, Vienna, Austria, Paris, France and Stockholm, Sweden round out what is sure to be a tantalizing end to 2022.
