Tennis
TOP TWO SEEDS DJOKOVIC, THIEM OUSTED IN VIENNA OPEN
Novak Djokovic suffered his heaviest defeat in a three-set match on Friday (Oct 30) when he was knocked out of the Vienna ATP tournament by lucky loser Lorenzo Sonego, stalling his bid to wrap up the year-end world number one ranking for a sixth time.
Italian Sonego, ranked 42 and who had intially lost in qualifying last weekend, is the first lucky loser ever to beat Djokovic.
His 6-2, 6-1 quarter-final stunner was 33-year-old Djokovic’s heaviest ever defeat.
The only other time he had won just three games was at the 2005 Australian Open at the hands of Marat Safin in a best-of-five set encounter.
Friday’s defeat means Djokovic will have to wait a little longer before he completes the formality of equalling Pete Sampras’s all-time record of ending the season top of the rankings for a sixth time.
“For sure it’s the best victory of my life. Novak is the best in the world. Today I played so, so good,” Sonego said.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s amazing. I played the best match in my life. I’m so happy for this.” Sonego fired 26 winners past the Serb who lost for only the third time in 2020.
Djokovic, a 17-time major champion, managed just seven winners against 25 unforced errors.
Second seed and defending champion Dominic Thiem also lost Friday, going down 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 to Russian world number eight Andrey Rublev.
Rublev hit 30 winners past the US Open champion and goes on to face South Africa’s Kevin Anderson for a place in the final.
“I came here with the mood that I have nothing to lose,” said Rublev who is chasing a fifth title of the year.
“I had already a really great season. I came here with zero expectations, just wanting to do my best. To try to fight every match. At the end, I am here in the semi-finals.”
Anderson made the semi-finals by accounting for Russian fourth seed Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
It was Anderson’s first top 10 win in two years.
Reuters/AFP
Argentina’s 36-year-old Marco Trungelliti proved tennis dreams do not come with an expiration date when he became the oldest first-time tour-level finalist in the Open Era after beating the top seed at the Grand Prix Hassan II semi-finals in Marrakech on Saturday.
Trungelliti, who came through the tournament’s qualifiers, upset Italy’s defending champion Luciano Darderi 6-4 7-6(2) to break the previous record held by Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic, who reached his first final aged 34 years in 2015.
Darderi, ranked 19 in the world, was only six-years-old when Trungelliti turned pro in 2008. With the victory, Trungelliti secured just his second career top-20 win.
“Of course, I believed it, that’s one of the reasons that I’m here. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible,” Trungelliti said in the on-court interview.
“I’ve worked a lot, me and my team and also my wife, my kid. We all believed in breaking the record basically and that’s exactly what we have done now.”
The milestone caps a remarkable journey for Trungelliti, who made his first ATP Tour semi-final in 2018 in Umag, Croatia – 402 weeks ago.
Having entered the tournament ranked 117 in the world, Trungelliti’s breakthrough week has already guaranteed he will crack the top 100 for the first time. He is currently ranked number 75 in the live rankings.
“It’s been happening the whole week, leaving the court with a victory,” added Trungelliti, who has dropped only one set at the tournament. “So hopefully (there) is one more to go.”
He will face Rafael Jodar on Sunday after the Spaniard prevented an all-Argentine final with a 6-2 6-1 victory over Camilo Ugo Carabelli.
-Reuters
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Serena Williams has been listed as eligible to return to tennis by the sport’s drug-testing body (ITIA) as of February 22, though it remains unclear whether the 23-time Grand Slam champion will make a stunning comeback to the women’s tour.
The 44-year-old raised eyebrows late last year after rejoining the tennis anti-doping testing pool, though she denied at the time the move signalled she was preparing to return to the sport she dominated for nearly two decades.
She reignited speculation last month when she deflected questions about a possible return during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show.
The Women’s Tennis Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
Williams, who won her last Grand Slam singles title in 2017, has not competed since the 2022 U.S. Open.
-Reuters
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Serena Williams has re-entered the tennis anti-doping testing pool but the 23-times Grand Slam champion denied on Tuesday that the move had anything to do with her making a return to the sport she dominated for nearly two decades.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency confirmed to Reuters that Williams, who has not competed since the 2022 U.S. Open, was among the list of players in its testing pool, which requires individuals to provide their whereabouts at any given time, every day, and participate in random testing
But as the story of 44-year-old Williams’ inclusion on the list, first reported earlier on Tuesday by The Athletic, gained traction and sparked talk about her potential return, the tennis great took to social media to deny a comeback was in her plans.
“Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy,” Williams wrote on X.
Her agent did not immediately respond to an email from Reuters asking why the player had re-entered the testing pool.
Williams’ name appears on the ITIA website’s list of retired players and would be able to return to a sanctioned event after making herself available for out-of-competition testing for at least six months.
Last week former world number one Williams posted a series of photos on Instagram showing herself on a tennis court with her youngest daughter, Adira River, whom she gave birth to in August 2023.
In August 2022, ahead of her final U.S. Open, Williams announced in a Vogue article that she was “evolving away from tennis.”
Williams, who won her last Grand Slam singles title in 2017, had been chasing an elusive 24th crown that would have drawn her level with Australian Margaret Court, who holds the record.
The American came tantalisingly close to achieving that feat, featuring in four major finals since giving birth to her first daughter, Olympia, in 2017.
-Reuters
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