Tsitsipas defends Marseille trophy

Marseille, February 23

Stefanos Tsitsipas successfully defended his Marseille title today with a straightforward victory over Canadian teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Greek star Tsitsipas eased to a 6-3 6-4 win to leave Auger-Aliassime still waiting for his maiden ATP title after his fifth consecutive final defeat. Tsitsipas, who had arrived in southern France with a 3-4 losing record this season, enjoyed an emphatic return to form as he clinched his fifth ATP trophy. He will now travel to the United Arab Emirates for the Dubai Championships, where he is second seed behind world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

Thiem loses, won’t leap Fedex

Dubai: World No. 4 Dominic Thiem of Austria missed a chance to reach a career-best third in the ATP rankings with a Rio Open quarterfinals loss to Italy’s Gianluca Mager.

Mager, a 128th-ranked qualifier playing in only his eighth career tour-level match, defeated 2017 Rio champion Thiem 7-6(7) 7-5 in a match that was halted Friday by rain. Had Thiem reached the semifinals in his 2020 claycourt debut, he would have overtaken Roger Federer for third in Monday’s ATP rankings.

Halep’s oasis in desert city

Dubai: Top seed Simona Halep came back from a set down for the third time in the tournament to beat Kazakhstan’s rising star Elena Rybakina 3-6 6-3 7-6(5) to win the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for the second time on Saturday.

In a battle that lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours, the match came down to a tiebreak where two shots that went agonisingly wide for Rybakina eventually decided the title in front of a noisy crowd that constantly chanted Halep’s name.

Life’s a beach for Nishioka

Miami: Unseeded Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan rallied for a 1-6 6-4 6-0 victory over sixth-seeded Ugo Humbert Saturday to reach the ATP Delray Beach final. Nishioka, apparently refreshed by a second rain delay, roared through the final set to advance to his second career final. He will face Reilly Opelka, who beat Milos Raonic 4-6 7-6(6) 6-3. — Agencies