Tennis roundup: Stefanos Tsitsipas wins Los Cabos title; Pegula, Fritz fall in Washington

Stefanos Tsitsipas, this year’s Australian Open runner-up, claimed his first ATP outdoor hardcourt crown in his third final of the year, having fallen to Novak Djokovic at Melbourne and top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz at Barcelona in April.

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The 24-year-old Greek star captured his 10th career title and first since June of last year at Mallorca to snap a five-final win drought.

World number five Tsitsipas improved to 10-0 all-time against 19th-ranked de Minaur, who was hoping for a Mexico double after winning the title at Acapulco in February.

“It was a great match,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m really happy we were able to deliver a great quality in the final match.”

The 24-year-old from Sydney was denied an eighth career ATP crown in his third final of the year. He also lost to Alcaraz in June’s trophy match at Queen’s.

After Tsitsipas dominated the first set, de Minaur surrendered a break on a double fault to open the second set but broke back at love in the sixth game to pull level.

Tsitsipas, who won 23 of his 28 first-serve points, responded with a break in the ninth game, seizing a 5-4 edge with a blistering forehand winner, then held serve to finish off the Australian after 86 minutes when de Minaur sent a forehand long.

Americans Pegula and Fritz fall in semi defeats in Washington

American top seeds Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz suffered semi-final defeats at the Washington Open on Saturday but Coco Gauff kept the star spangled banner flying by earning a place in Sunday’s final.

Greek fourth seed Maria Sakkari upset top seed Pegula to capture her third victory in 26 hours and she will face another home favorite in the final after Gauff defeated Russian Liudmila Samsonova, the defending champion, in straight sets.

Fritz fell to Tallon Griekspoor 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 and the Dutchman will play for the title against Britain’s Dan Evans, who beat Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

Ninth-ranked Sakkari, forced to play twice Friday due to rain on Thursday at the WTA and ATP hard court event, reached her first final since losing to Pegula last October at Guadalajara.

“It would have been ideal if I could be off the court an hour earlier,” Sakkari said. “But at the end I got the win which is what I wanted the most.”

Sakkari, who reached her seventh career final, won her only WTA title in 2019 at Rabat.

Pegula, the 2019 Washington champion, was denied her fifth career final but will match her career high of third in the world rankings next week.

Sakkari improved to 5-3 in her career rivalry with Pegula, who won their most recent prior meeting in February’s Doha semifinals.

Sakkari dominated the first set and went up 4-1 in the second but Pegula broke Sakkari in the seventh game and held to pull level at 4-4.

A double fault handed Pegula a break chance in the ninth game and Sakkari swatted a forehand wide for a 5-4 edge. The American then held to force a third set.

“Things were tricky in the second set,” Sakkari said. “In the third, I just tried to stay in the present. I tried to overcome myself and take it as a new challenge.”

Sakkari broke early in the third set and again in the final game on a backhand winner to advance after two hours and three minutes.

Third-seeded Gauff was in dominant form as she won the opening set against Samsonova without facing a break point.

She then took a 2-1 lead in the second set, winning her fifth break point of a marathon game with a volley winner before completing a 6-3, 6-3 win to reach her second final of the year.

“She’s a server and she has an amazing forehand so I wanted to see how I would do upon that battle and I think I did pretty well,” said Gauff.

Gauff has lost four of her five meetings with Sakkari but says she has learned from those losses.

“She’s an incredible player. She has been the top of the game for a long time and it’s going to be a difficult match,” she said.

Fritz, the highest-ranked American at ninth in the world, won the first set 6-3 after a break in the second game.

But 12th seed Griekspoor fought, breaking when he was 4-3 up and forcing a third set, which was close fought until Griekspoor made the most of Fritz’s errors to break in the fifth game.

The Dutchman won the last five games, with 20 of the 27 points, to grab his first win against a top-10 foe and give himself a chance at a third title this year.

“The first Top 10 win was something I was really looking for. To beat Taylor playing at home is pretty special” said the Dutchman.

“My serve is going really well this week; it’s getting some pace, whether it’s during the day or during the night. I’m moving great and the body is great, so there’s not much to complain about,” he added.

The 33-year-old Evans, who becomes the tournament’s first British finalist since Andy Murray 17 years ago, produced some inspired and aggressive tennis in his win after playing two matches on Friday.

After taking the first set, 30th-ranked Evans was pushed hard by Dimitrov but emerged triumphant from the second set tie-break thanks to a magnificent drop shot to get to match point, which he won with a cross-court volley.

Sorry’ Baez sweeps past home hope Thiem for Kitzbuehel title

Austria’s Dominic Thiem, playing his first final in nearly three years, was swept aside 6-3, 6-1 by Sebastian Baez in Kitzbuehel on Saturday with the Argentine champion apologising for winning.

Former world number three Thiem had sunk to the depths of the rankings, to 352nd in 2022 two years after his US Open triumph.

The 29-year-old has been fighting his way back after a wrist injury, and was ranked 116th when he arrived in Kitzbuehel after losing nine of his ten matches played in 2023.

He showed fatigue after a marathon three-and-a-half-hour semi-final against Serb Laslo Djere, where the 2019 champion saved five match points.

His Argentinian rival, ranked 72, dominated the rain-delayed tie for his third career title after Cordoba this season and Estoril last year, all on clay.

“I know all the people wanted Domi to win because he is from here, sorry,” said Baez to the crowd in his on-court interview.

“I’m happy not just for today, but the whole week. All the people, the crowd, made me feel so comfortable here this week. I know this weather is not the best, but this place is amazing, and I enjoyed every day. I’m happy to take the match.”

The 22-year-old raced to a 4-1 lead in the opening set, and reeled off four straight games in the second, converting four of six break points, to win through in 80 minutes.

With his title run, the Argentine has risen 25 spots to 47 in the ATP rankings.

Thiem is set to return to the Top 100 on Monday to 89th.

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Rain may push Prague WTA to Monday finish

Steady rain forced the postponement of the Prague Open semi-finals scheduled for Saturday, the organisers of the WTA tournament said amid concerns that Sunday’s weather may be equally as bad.

“The decision to cancel today’s programme and to put it off until Sunday… was taken at 6 pm (1600 GMT),” the organisers told reporters in a message.

The semi-finals will be played on two courts at the same time early on Sunday, with the final scheduled to begin 90 minutes after they have finished.

Japan’s Nao Hibino is due to take on Jaqueline Cristian of Romania and Czech teenager Linda Noskova will face Tamara Korpatsch of Germany in the semi-finals starting at 0800 GMT.

WTA rules allow tournaments to run until Monday if necessary.