TENNIS TIDBITS:
– The trend of strong attendance continued Friday as more than 25,000 fans were in attendance at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Twelve of the 13 sessions this year have set an attendance record for the respective sessions.
– Novak Djokovic is appearing in his fifth Cincinnati semifinal, and is undefeated in that round. However, Djokovic has never won this title, the only one of the ATP Masters 1000 titles that has eluded him.
– Alexandr Dolgopolov is just the third qualifier to reach the semifinals at the Western & Southern Open in the Open Era, and is the first to do so since David Wheaton in 1994. He is bidding to be the first qualifier to reach the final in the Open Era.
– At No. 66 in the rankings, Dolgopolov would be the lowest ranked finalist since 1980 (Francisco Gonzalez, No. 119).
– This is the fourth year in a row that an unseeded player has reached the semifinals. The last unseeded player to reach a final was John Isner in 2013 (l. to Nadal).
– Roger Federer has reached his seventh semifinal in Cincinnati, which is second in the Open Era behind Jimmy Connors and Stefan Edberg, who both did so eight times. Owner of a tournament record six titles, Federer is 6-0 in semifinals here.
– Two-time champion Andy Murray is on an eight-match winning streak, having won the title last week in Montreal. Murray is bidding to be the sixth player to win Canada and Cincinnati back-to-back in the Open Era (Cliff Richey 1969, Eddie Dibbs 1978, Andre Agassi 1995, Pat Rafter 1998, Andy Roddick 2003 and Rafael Nadal 2013)
– Serena Williams, the defending champion, is bidding to reach her third consecutive final in Cincinnati. She has won 42 matches in a row on US hard courts, stretching back to 2013 Cincinnati final.
Feliciano Lopez and his AWESOME partner MAX the BeAst Mirnyi Beat Stan Wawrinka and Leander Paes in the super tiebreaker.
– Elina Svitolina is through to the semifinals for a first time in Cincinnati, and her second semifinal of the summer (Stanford, l.to Kerber). At 20-years-old, she is trying to become the youngest finalist here since Vera Zvonareva reached the 2004 final at 19.
– Jelena Jankovic, the 2009 champion, boasts a 24-7 record in Cincinnati, making her the winningest active woman at the tournament.
– Jankovic and Serena are the first women in the Open Era to reach the semifinals in Cincinnati four times.
– Simona Halep, a first-time semifinalist here, has advanced to at least the semifinals at eight of 13 tournaments played so far in 2015. She is the first Romanian woman to reach the semifinals here.
– In doubles, the 19-17 match tie-break won by Hao-Ching Chan & Yung-Jan Chang over Sara Errani & Flavia Pennetta is the longest match tie-break this season on the WTA.
– Bob & Mike Bryan, the two-time defending champions, had reached the semifinals or better every year since 2006. Friday’s loss snapped their consecutive semifinal streak at nine.
– Planning ahead, here’s a look at Sunday’s schedule:
11:15 am – Men’s Doubles Final (Grandstand)
1:00 pm – Men’s Singles Final (Center Court)
1:45 pm – Women’s Doubles Final (Grandstand)
3:00 pm – Women’s Singles Final (Center Court)
Full results from Friday and Saturday’s order of play follow the draws.
2015 Draws
RESULTS – Friday, August 21
ATP Main Draw Singles – Quarterfinals
[1] Novak Djokovic (Serbia) d. [5] Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) 64 61
[3] Andy Murray (Great Britain) d. [12] Richard Gasquet (France) 46 61 64
Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) d. [6] Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 64 62
[2] Roger Federer (Switzerland) d. Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 63 64
ATP Main Draw Doubles – Quarterfinals
Daniel Nestor (Canada) / Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) d. [1] Bob Bryan (USA) / Mike Bryan (USA) 64 64
[2] Ivan Dodig (Croatia) / Marcelo Melo (Brazil) d. [5] Rohan Bopanna (India) / Floria Mergea (Romania) 61 16 14-12
[6] Marcin Matkowski (Poland) / Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) d. [3] Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) / Horia Tecau (Romania) 63 64
Feliciano Lopez (Spain) / Max Mirnyi (Belarus) d Leander Paes (India) / Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) 36 62 14-12
WTA Main Draw Singles – Quarterfinals
[1] Serena Williams (USA) d. [6] Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 36 64 62
[3] Simona Halep (Romania) d Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) 76(3) 62
[14] Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) d. [7] Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 64 26 60
Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) d. [Q] Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) 64 62
WTA Main Draw Doubles – Semifinals
[4] Casey Dellacqua (Australia) / Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) d. Chia-Jung Chuang (Taipei) / Su-Wei Hsieh (Taipei) 62 75
WTA Main Draw Doubles – Quarterfinals
[1] Martina Hingis (Switzerland) / Sania Mirza (India) d. [WC] Christina McHale (USA) / Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 64 61
Hao-Ching Chan (Taipei) / Yung-Jan Chan (Taipei) d. Sara Errani (Italy) / Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 67(4) 76(1) 19-17
ORDER OF PLAY – Saturday, August 22, 2015
CENTER start 1:00 pm
[1] Novak Djokovic (Serbia) vs. [Q] Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine)
Followed by
[3] Andy Murray (Great Britain) vs. [2] Roger Federer (Switzerland)
Not Before 7:00 pm
[1] Serena Williams (USA) vs. [14] Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)
Followed by
3] Simona Halep (Romania) vs. Jelena Jankovic (Serbia)
GRANDSTAND start at 1:00 pm
[6] Marcin Matkowski (Poland) / Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) vs. [2] Ivan Dodig (Croatia) / Marcelo Melo (BRA)
Followed by
Daniel Nestor (Canada) / Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) vs. Feliciano Lopez (Spain) / Max Mirnyi (Belarus)
Followed by
[1] Martina Hingis (Switzerland) / Sania Mirza (India) vs. Hao-Ching Chan (Taipei) / Yung-Jan Chan (Taipei)
About the Western & Southern Open
The Western & Southern Open is held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, 20 miles north of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. The tournament is one of the prestigious ATP Masters 1000 events on the men’s tour and a Premier 5 event for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), making it one of only five events in the world outside of the grand slams with events of that caliber occurring during the same week at the same venue. More than 67 million people watch the event worldwide. The tournament is also one of the last stops on the Emirates Airline US Open Series before the US Open in New York. Since 1974, the tournament has contributed more than $9 million directly to its beneficiaries: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the Barrett Cancer Center and Tennis for City Youth.
About the Emirates Airline US Open Series
Now in its 12th season, the Emirates Airline US Open Series continues to serve as a true regular season of hard court tennis, linking seven summer tournaments to the US Open. In 2014, Serena Williams won the US Open and Emirates Airline US Open Series women’s title for the second consecutive year, earning a record tennis paycheck of $4 million. Rafael Nadal (2013), Roger Federer (2007) and Kim Clijsters (2005) also accomplished the feat of winning the Emirates Airline US Open Series and US Open singles title within the same year.
Topics: Atp World Tour, Cincinnati Tennis, Tennis Results, Western and Southern Open, Wta
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