Barbora Krejcikova reaches the semifinals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships following a sensational victory over the winner of the Australian 2023 Open, Aryna Sabalenka. In the semifinals she will face world number 3 Jessica Pegula, who advanced without playing due to Karolina Muchova’s absence with an abdominal injury.
Here are the best moments of the game:
Doha and Rio men’s trials
Carlos Alcaraz Qqualified for the quarterfinals in the ATP event in Rio de Janeirodefeating Fabio Fognini in three sets, coming back from a first set down.
The young Spanish champion has his sights on Novak Djokovic and the first place in the ATP ranking. After becoming the youngest number one tennis player in the history of the ATP ranking last year, at the end of a season that saw him triumph in the 1000m in Miami and Madrid but above all by winning his first Grand Slam title at the Open in United States, the Spaniard has had several physical problems, which prevented him from participating in the first deserved ATP Finals, and in the Australian Open.
After an absence of more than three months from the courts, the young man from El Palmar is back and immediately won his 7th title in Buenos Aires, and now he is aiming directly for Rio de Janeiro. After two fantastic comebacks at the Australian Open, the British andy murraand continues with its positive streak from the beginning of 2023.
In fact, the Scotsman won another marathon in Doha, in which he defeated Alexander Zverev, before beating Alexandre Muller in three sets to reach the semifinals. In the press conference he said: «I played very passive tennis in the first set.
At first I scored a lot of balls, which wasn’t bad, but when he found the rhythm it was enough. He is a very solid player from the baseline, he moves very well and hits a lot of shots. On slow courts like this, you can’t leave the ball in the middle of the field.
It forces you to run a lot. At first I found the game very physically demanding. At the beginning of the second set I started to take more risks, trying more with my shots. When I did, I found that I controlled virtually every exchange, hitting deeper and faster.
I was able to go to the net a lot and push it like that. I played the last two sets very well, but in the first set you can tell that I am looking for a balance between playing offensively and aggressively, but at the same time maintaining my way of playing, and in the first set I didn’t. Not finding this balance.
If you look at the players I’ve faced this year, they’re not easy games. Zverev, I know he’s coming back from injury, but it’s still a very difficult match. Under these conditions, Sonego can play very well and had a very solid game.
Berrettini in the first round of the Australian Open will never be an easy match. Of course I would like to have faster matches, but sometimes things go like this and I’m sure it won’t be like that for the rest of the season.
I’m just going through a period where the matches are tough. However, with each of these wins I am gaining more and more confidence, and hopefully this will allow me to win faster and play a little better. I know easier victories will come, just as I know I will find equally easy defeats.»
