- The Associated Press
Tsitsipas to play Rublev in Hamburg Open final
Stefanos Tsitsipas continued his impressive tune-up for the French Open by beating clay-court specialist Christian Garin in the Hamburg Open semifinals on Saturday to set up a final against Andrey Rublev. Tsitsipas' run to the Hamburg final has seen him recover from his third-round exit at the U.S. Open and a first-round elimination in Rome last week in his first clay tournament of the year. The man standing between Tsitsipas and his second title of 2020 is Andrey Rublev after the Russian beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2 in the first semifinal.
The TelegraphWill 2020 prove the worst ever year for British singles players at grand slams?
After the dankest, coldest and most downbeat build-up to a major in living memory, Great Britain’s leading players face a day of reckoning. Handed a trio of hostile draws by the French Open’s computer, Andy Murray, Johanna Konta and Dan Evans must play for national pride on Sunday at Roland Garros. Should they fail, then 2020 will surely go down as the worst ever year for British singles players at the grand slams. Admittedly, Wimbledon was cancelled, which didn’t help. But apart from that, the only person to reach the third round of a major this season was Cameron Norrie, who snuck into the last 32 of the recent US Open. The statistic demonstrates how valuable it was to have a banker like the old, two-hipped Murray. Between 2011 and 2015, Murray reached at least the quarter-finals of 17 straight majors – as long as you discount the one French Open he skipped because of a bad back. Since Murray turned bionic last year, the regular mantle of LBS – or Last Briton Standing – has passed to Konta. Her tally of 14 wins at the slams in 2019 was a magnificent achievement. This season, however, she has managed just one – and that against compatriot Heather Watson. Doubling down on the harshness of the draw, French Open organisers have lined up Murray, Konta and Evans on the first-day schedule like ninepins. In all probability, the weather will curtail play to some extent. The forecast shows temperatures starting at 11 degrees, in conditions made even slower and heavier by persistent drizzle. But the absorbent nature of red clay allows tennis to continue in light rain, and the worst-case scenario would find all three of Britain’s brightest hopes eliminated by Monday morning. Konta looks to have the best chance of progressing – both in this first round and the tournament as a whole. Her opponent, 16-year-old Coco Gauff, is already an icon of the game after her spectacular breakthrough at Wimbledon last year. And yet, as tends to be the way of these prodigious teenage talents, the legend has thus far exceeded the results. Gauff is a fine and charismatic performer, but since the resumption of play seven weeks ago, she has a modest W4 L4 record, similar to Konta’s own W5 L4.
The Associated PressFrench Open: Murray vs Wawrinka, Coco vs Konta on Day 1
PARIS (AP) -- A glance at the French Open, the third and final Grand Slam tennis tournament of 2020:
