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Novak Djokovic advanced to the championship match on Saturday at the Astana Open after Daniil Medvedev retired from the pair’s semi-final clash at the end of a dramatic second-set tie-break due to a leg injury.

Medvedev’s retirement came moments after Djokovic had clinched a dramatic tie-break to level the match at 4-6, 7-6(6). It was an unfortunate end to what was shaping up to be one of the matches of the year on the ATP Tour, with both players bringing a high level to their 11th ATP Head2Head meeting.

“I really hope that his injury is nothing too serious,” said Djokovic. “I know Daniil, he’s a great guy, he’s a fighter, he’s a big competitor. He wouldn’t retire a match if he didn’t feel that he [could] continue or [if it wouldn't] worsen his injury. He told me that he pulled an adductor muscle in his leg.

"It was such a close match, particularly in the second set. I would probably say he was a better player on the court in both sets. I was fighting and trying to find a way. I found a way to win the second, but I’m just sad for the tournament and for these people who were enjoying the battle, and for Daniil that it had to end this way.”

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Stefanos Tsitsipas reached his sixth tour-level final of the season Saturday when he earned a comeback win against Andrey Rublev at the Astana Open.

In front of a lively crowd at the ATP 500 event, the Greek upped his intensity and aggression as the match went on to overcome the fifth seed 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 10 minutes.

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“I hit with a lot of variation and mixing and it went my way towards the end,” Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. “I stayed completely within my game. There were a few things I worked out.

“I kept pursuing those shots with a lot of passion and determination. It was not easy, being a set down. To have to deal with a very good opponent on the other side of the net made it an extremely physically battle. I am pleased with myself for being so determined to make it work so well.”

Taylor Fritz thought he would have to miss the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships after testing positive for COVID-19 in Seoul, where he had to quarantine for one week. But after arriving just in time for his Tokyo opener on Wednesday, the American has made the most of his opportunity by reaching the final at the ATP 500.

The odds were once again stacked against Fritz against Denis Shapovalov in the Saturday's semi-finals, but the American battled back from 1-3 down in the deciding set to secure a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory and advance to his third ATP Tour final of the season.

"It's pretty amazing what I've been able to accomplish this week," said Fritz, who benefitted from the withdrawal of Nick Kyrgios prior to their quarter-final matchup. "Just from thinking that I might not even be able to play this tournament to then seven days in a room, wake up at 5 a.m., take a flight here and just show up and play... It's pretty crazy how quick things happen. It was only four days ago."

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Adding to the achievement, Fritz also clinched what will be his Top 10 debut in next week's edition of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Frances Tiafoe saw his perfect set record this week in Tokyo shattered as he conceded a 6-0 second set in Saturday’s semi-finals. But the in-form American made sure the middle stanza would be a mere footnote as he regrouped for a 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 victory against Soonwoo Kwon at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.

"It was a weird match, but I'm happy to get through," said Tiafoe, who is into his second final of the season and his fifth overall. "It's not always going to be pretty, it's not always going to be the best stuff, but a win is what matters."

In a rematch of their meeting at the Tokyo Olympics last July, won by Tiafoe at the same Ariake Tennis Park venue, the fourth seed powered through the opening set without facing a break point. Kwon did the same in the second, dropping just three points on serve on his way to the shutout set.

"A little bit of a loose game, I got broken [early] in that second set, but he started definitely picking up his level," Tiafoe said. "Then after that he was playing really well. I let the set go a little bit as well, but he was playing really well."

The South Korean ran his tally to seven games in a row and threatened for eight with a break point at 1-0 in the final set, but Tiafoe found his footing to halt Kwon's charge at the crucial moment. Two aces and a backhand swinging-volley winner put the American on the board in the decider as he escaped 30/40.

He was a 19-year-old prodigy ranked somewhere in the hundreds, but he had been invited to practice in Monaco with the World No. 1 player – at the height of his game, coming off a second consecutive Wimbledon triumph.

More than seven years ago, this was the first on-court meeting between Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic.

“He’s not going to speak to me,” Medvedev, who considered Djokovic a god, thought to himself. “I came there and because I was shy, I didn’t speak. So he was asking me questions, talking to me like a friend. I was really surprised and it never changed since I was 600 in the world or four.”

Medvedev related this story early last year, after Djokovic defeated him in the 2021 Australian Open final in straight sets and less than two hours.

“It’s a matter of time when you’re going to hold a Grand Slam that’s for sure,” Djokovic told him during the trophy ceremony. “But if you don’t mind waiting a few more years.”

At the age of 34, Adrian Mannarino is breaking new ground. The Frenchman made his first tour-level doubles final on Friday at the Astana Open, combining with compatriot Fabrice Martin to beat Polish duo Hubert Hurkacz and Jan Zielinski 2-6, 6-2, 10-5.

The last time Mannarino won a doubles title at any level came 15 years ago, when he bagged four at Futures level.

“I didn’t even know it was my first doubles final. No, I won’t get emotional with this one,” said the left-hander, who has reached 11 singles finals, including when Astana first hosted an ATP event in 2020.

“I hope we’re going to make it all the way. Let’s try to build something out of this tournament.”

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Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic found a hot streak just in the nick of time against Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos on Friday at the Astana Open, where the second seeds won the final five points of the match to clinch a 3-6, 7-6(4), 10-7 semi-final victory.

Mektic and Pavic trailed 5-7 in the Match Tie-break before their late heroics capped a dramatic one-hour, 44-minute triumph as the Croatian pair surged to their eighth tour-level final of the season at the ATP 500 event in Kazakhstan.

Mektic and Pavic, who are currently fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, will now bid for their fifth ATP Tour crown of the year against Adrian Mannarino and Fabrice Martin in Sunday’s final. The French pairing scored a narrow semi-final win of its own, taking out Hubert Hurkacz and Jan Zielinski 2-6, 6-2, 10-5.

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It is the first time Mannarino has advanced to a tour-level doubles final.

Nick Kyrgios was left heartbroken after a left-knee injury forced him to pull out of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships ahead of his quarter-final showdown with Taylor Fritz on Friday night.

"It's obviously very disappointing," the Australian said in a somber press conference. "It's one of my favourite tournaments. I've had great memories here... It's heartbreaking, but I'll be here next year. That's for sure."

The Tokyo fifth seed also pulled out of Atlanta earlier this year with a left-knee issue before rebounding to reach the US Open quarter-finals.

"I've been playing amazing tennis all year and actually was dealing with a bit of a knee issue around the US Open time," Kyrgios explained. "I got back home and probably didn't take enough time off, to be honest. I went straight back into training."

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Daniil Medvedev set a blockbuster semi-final clash against Novak Djokovic on Friday at the Astana Open, where he raced past Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 6-1.

In one of his best performances of the season, Medvedev looked in complete control. He struck his flat groundstrokes with consistent power and depth, acting as a brick wall to force the Spaniard into errors and advance after 64 minutes.

“I am happy to play the right game, to be really solid and to do everything I can to make his life difficult and I am really happy to beat him,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “I tried to mix it up as it is not easy to play against Roberto. I tried to mix it up and surprise him a little bit and it worked very well.”

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Bautista Agut entered the match leading Medvedev 4-1 in their ATP Head2Head series. However, the 34-year-old was unable to hit through the World No. 4 on the hard courts in Kazakhstan, with Medvedev dramatically turning the tables to earn his 40th tour-level win of the season.

Novak Djokovic, playing with his usual uncanny precision, won his seventh consecutive match Friday night, defeating Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-3 at the Astana Open.

The Serbian star advanced to his sixth semi-final of the season, where he will play the winner of the late match between No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev and Roberto Bautista Agut at the ATP 500 event. The World No. 7 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings won his third title of 2022 last week in Tel Aviv.

Djokovic served exceptionally well against Khachanov and, at the same time, one of history’s greatest returners converted three of five break point opportunities against the World No. 18's formidable serve.

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“I didn’t play as well from the baseline as I did in the first two matches, but still it was enough," said Djokovic after the match. "I managed to produce some good tennis when it was the most needed in both sets.”

Perseverance paid off for Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Astana Open on Friday. The Greek rallied to win a gripping first set, then broke late in the second for a 7-6(8), 6-3 victory against Hubert Hurkacz.

Tsitsipas powered into his ninth semi-final this season and improved his ATPHead2Head lead against Hurkacz to 7-2. This, however, marked a first straight-set result in their past seven duels.

Tsitsipas has yet to be broken in three matches at the ATP 500 in Kazakhstan, although it looked like he would concede his first set of the week when his fellow Top 10 star in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings held five set points in the first-set tie-break.

On the third one of those, the Greek looked in particular trouble. With Hurkacz serving, Tsitsipas threw up a defensive lob after the Pole’s forehand approach. But Hurkacz, so assured on smashes previously in the set, erred wide.

Two more set points came and went for the seventh seed before Tsitsipas capitalised on his lone opportunity when Hurkacz’s backhand passing shot strayed wide.

Taylor Fritz moved into the semi-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo on Friday following the withdrawal of Nick Kyrgios due to a left knee issue. The pair had been due to meet in the night session at the ATP 500 event, where Kyrgios lifted the trophy in 2016.

Third seed Fritz had not won a match in three previous appearances in Tokyo but has battled hard to advance through the draw this week in the Japanese capital. The American saw off both James Duckworth and Hiroki Moriya in three sets to set the quarter-final clash with Kyrgios. Those victories came off the back of the American spending a week in full quarantine due to testing positive for COVID-19 in Seoul last week.

Fritz’s opponent in his maiden ATP 500 semi-final will be seventh seed Denis Shapovalov or ninth seed Borna Coric.

Kyrgios has also withdrawn from the doubles draw in Tokyo, where the Australian and his partner Thanasi Kokkinakis had been set to face Mackenzie McDonald and Marcelo Melo in the semi-finals. The American-Brazilian pair will now take on Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez in Sunday’s championship match.

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Sporting an anime t-shirt, Nick Kyrgios was in great spirits as he walked onto the Ariake Colosseum court for an open practice on Sunday in Tokyo. Now deep into the draw in both the singles and doubles competitions at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, the Aussie remains all smiles.

Kyrgios is a returning singles champion in Tokyo, where he won his third ATP Tour title as a 21-year-old in 2016. He also claimed two junior trophies in Japan in Nagoya (2011) and Osaka (2012).

“I was obviously super excited to get back here into Japan,” Kyrgios said, referencing his past success. “I always play good tennis here. To play in front of the crowd is amazing, they're so respectful. They just always love good tennis.”

He later added: “It's always a part of the season and a tournament that I always play, because I genuinely love being here.”

With a Malaysian mother, Kyrgios feels a strong connection to Asia and holds a particular fondness for Japanese culture.

For the second straight week, Novak Djokovic is making a debut appearance at a tournament. And just like in Tel Aviv, the 21-time Grand Slam winner is enjoying his time at the Astana Open. Djokovic continues his quest for consecutive ATP Tour titles when he meets Karen Khachanov in Friday’s night session in the Kazakh capital.

When Djokovic featured in Israel — he claimed the title Sunday by downing Marin Cilic at the Tel Aviv Watergen Open — it was his first time playing in the country after a gap of about 16 years. In contrast, it has only been three years since he was last in Kazakhstan, where the Serb contested an exhibition match in the Kazakhstani capital against Rafael Nadal in October 2019.

“Last time I was in Kazakhstan it was only 24 hours, so I didn’t really have too much time to go around,” Djokovic said after his first-round 6-1, 6-1 win over Cristian Garin at the National Tennis Centre. “This time, hopefully a full week.

“People are very friendly to me, and I feel the positive energy from the people, so of course when you are in this kind of environment, you get more motivation and you get inspired to play good tennis, and that’s why I’m here.”

Djokovic’s schedule means sightseeing opportunities might still be limited. If he is to land a 90th tour level crown, the 35-year-old will have to play matches on five consecutive days in Astana. He has taken walks in a park near the National Tennis Centre, however.

After winning his 13th consecutive tie-break to advance to the Tokyo quarter-finals, Frances Tiafoe said he hoped to avoid such tight sets despite his success in clutch moments. The fourth-seeded American got his wish on Friday as he cruised to a 6-0, 6-4 victory against Miomir Kecmanovic to continue his career-best run at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.

In just more than 30 minutes, Tiafoe won the first eight games of the match to take command under the closed roof in the Ariake Colosseum. After getting on the board for 1-2 in the second set, Kecmanovic called for the physiotherapist and had his lower back worked on. He created a 15/40 opening with Tiafoe serving at 3-2, but could not convert as the American began a run of eight straight points on serve.

Stepping up to the line at 30/30 as he served out the match, Tiafoe overcame his opponent's final push with a whipped forehand winner, hit sharply cross-court, and an ace up the 'T' — his sixth ace on the day.

With the win in this meeting of first-time Tokyo quarter-finalists, Tiafoe advanced to his fourth semi-final of the season following deep runs in Estoril, Atlanta and the US Open. He is seeking his first title of 2022.

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“We were both born with a tennis racquet,'' #NextGenATP star Juan Manuel Cerundolo joked as he recalled his earliest tennis memory of him and his older brother, Francisco Cerundolo.

The Argentine brothers have inspired each other throughout their young careers as they’ve built upon their success. An important time for family support came this season, when Juan Manuel was sidelined with injuries.

“My brother and I keep motivating and learning from each other,” Juan Manuel told ATPTour.com. “We give advice and motivate like, ‘If I can do it, you can do it also’. His achievement this year inspired me to keep going, we keep in touch a lot.” 

This past week, Juan Manuel returned to the winners’ circle as he won the Buenos Aires Challenger to collect his first ATP Challenger Tour title of the season (fourth overall). In front of an energetic Argentine crowd, the 20-year-old defeated countryman Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in the final.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos held their nerve Thursday at the Astana Open, where they rallied to a 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 second-round triumph against Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies at the ATP 500 event in Kazakhstan.

The win is a potentially crucial moment in the Spanish-Argentine duo’s bid for a third consecutive appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals. The pair is currently fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, with 11th-placed Krawietz and Mies among their rivals seeking to secure one of the qualification spots for the season finale in Turin, to be held from 13-20 November.

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The third seeds were second best in the early stages against Krawietz and Mies, with the German team opening a 5-1 lead in the first set before the return game of Granollers and Zeballos came to the fore. Although it was by then too late to salvage the opening set, the Spanish-Argentine pair converted four from seven break points from that point, wrapping a one-hour, 42-minute triumph having won 47 per cent (17/36) of points against their opponents’ first delivery.

It was a second consecutive Match Tie-break win for Granollers and Zeballos, who also went the distance against Diego Hidalgo and Cristian Rodriguez in the first round. Their opponents in the quarter-finals in Astana will be second seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, who earlier eased past Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek 7-6(4), 6-3.

Daniil Medvedev moved closer to a blockbuster semi-final showdown with Novak Djokovic at the Astana Open after another commanding victory Thursday in Kazakhstan.

The second seed defeated big-hitting Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals at the ATP 500 event. Medvedev, who denied Djokovic’s quest for a calendar-year Grand Slam in the 2021 US Open final, has not lost more than three games in a set through two matches in Kazakhstan.

"I'm trying to be consistent. That was a little bit the goal this week," Medvedev said. "But the further you go, the more just [being] consistent is not going to be enough. Emil is a really tough player, he can bring a lot of tough matches to top opponents from what I feel like. I'm sure he's going to climb the rankings throughout his career.

"So I'm happy that today I managed to win pretty confidently and it was a great level."

Earlier in the day, Djokovic, who holds the record for most weeks spent as World No. 1 (373), enjoyed a similarly convincing 6-3, 6-1 win over Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp to also advance to the quarter-finals in the bottom half of the draw.

Denis Shapovalov continues to excel in Asia. The seventh seed has followed up his run to the Seoul final with two dominant wins in Tokyo to advance to the quarter-finals at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.

On Thursday, he breezed past Japanese qualifier Rio Noguchi 6-3, 6-1 to reach his sixth quarter-final of the season and end the 23-year-old Noguchi's debut tournament on the ATP Tour.

"I'm definitely happy to be in the quarters here," Shapovalov said post-match. "I always feel like I bring out some good tennis late in the year, and I'm very happy that's the case again. Hopefully I can keep rolling with it."

The Canadian did not face a break point against Noguchi, taking full advantage of the quick conditions under the closed roof in the Ariake Colosseum.

"The fast court plays well into my game," he added. "I think I've been serving great on this court... we'll try to take advantage this week."