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Dimitrov downs injured Edmund to reach Brisbane semis

January 05, 2018
Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria (L) supports Kyle Edmund of Britain (C) who fell, injuring his ankle, during their men's singles quarterfinal match at the Brisbane International tennis tournament at the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane on Friday. — AFP
Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria (L) supports Kyle Edmund of Britain (C) who fell, injuring his ankle, during their men's singles quarterfinal match at the Brisbane International tennis tournament at the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane on Friday. — AFP

BRISBANE, Australia — Top seed and defending champion Grigor Dimitrov moved into the semifinals of the season-opening Brisbane International after seeing off a brave challenge from an injured Kyle Edmund on Friday.

Dimitrov was on court for almost two-and-a-half hours before finally subduing the British No. 2, who was right in the contest until he hurt his ankle with the score at 4-4 in the third set. Edmund was wrong-footed on the baseline and collapsed to the ground with a scream of pain after turning his ankle.

While the crowd held their breath, fearing the 22-year-old Englishman had done some major damage, Dimitrov hurdled the net and ran to his opponent, eventually helping him hobble off court. But after having his ankle strapped the Englishman was able to carry on, although his movement appeared restricted.

Dimitrov held his serve to go to 5-4 and then broke Edmund to seal the win 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4. "At the end of the day, health above all," Dimitrov said immediately afterwards.

Edmund's injury comes days after British men's No. 1 Andy Murray pulled out of the Australian Open due to his ongoing hip injury and women's No. 1 Johanna Konta retired in her Brisbane quarterfinal, also with a hip problem.

Dimitrov will now play mercurial Australian Nick Kyrgios in a blockbuster semifinal. Earlier in the day Kyrgios came back from losing the first set to defeat former finalist Alexandr Dolgopolov 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. The Australian No. 1 admitted he was flat at the start of the match before switching on at the start of the second set.

The second semifinal will be between Australian wildcard Alex de Minaur and American Ryan Harrison. The 18-year-old de Minaur stunned fourth seed Milos Raonic in the second round and there was no letdown Friday as he ousted US qualifier Michael Mmoh 6-4, 6-0 to reach his first ATP semi-final. Harrison moved through when his opponent, Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, retired due to a left hip injury with the American leading 7-6 (8/6), 4-2.

In the women’s section, Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich became the first qualifier ever to reach the final of the Brisbane International Tennis tournament when she beat seventh-seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova on Friday.

The 23-year-old Sasnovich outlasted Sevastova 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 in 93 minutes to move into Saturday's final against either Karolina Pliskova or Elina Svitolina.

Sasnovich has had a grueling tournament this week, coming through three rounds of qualifying and four main draw matches to reach the final.

In four of those matches she has needed to come from a set down, and had spent over 10 hours on court before her semifinal. She is also playing with both thighs heavily strapped and has needed injury timeouts in her last three matches.

Thiem, Rublev book semifinal spots

Top seed Dominic Thiem and Russian Andrey Rublev progressed to the Qatar Open semifinals in Doha after grinding out victories over Stefanos Tsitsipas and Borna Coric on Thursday.

Greece's Tsitsipas, who ousted French fifth seed Richard Gasquet on Wednesday, took the early lead in the first set but Thiem, the only seeded player still in contention for the season-opening title, fought back to win 7-5, 6-4.

Croatian Coric was expected to overcome Rublev after beating Pablo Carreno Busta in the opening round but the 20-year-old Russian won 6-3, 7-5 to set up a semifinal against Guido Pella.

Both Pella and his quarterfinal opponent Mirza Basic were surprise contenders in the last eight after knocking out top seeded players and the Argentine world No. 64 cruised to a 6-2 6-3 victory over the Bosnian. World No. 5 Thiem will face the winner of the match between France's Gael Monfils and German Peter Gojowczyk in the last four.

Cilic into Pune semis, Anderson survives scare

World No. 6 Marin Cilic progressed without dropping a set at the ATP Maharashtra Open Thursday as he gears up for the first Grand Slam of 2018 later this month. The Croatian despatched Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3, 6-2 to move with ease into the semifinals of the $550,000 tournament, held in Pune.

Cilic will play Gilles Simon, 89th in the world rankings, in Pune's semifinals after the Frenchman overcame Spaniard Ricardo Ojeda Lara 6-2, 6-3. It was a nervy day for South African No. 2 seed Kevin Anderson, however.

The big hitter had to come from behind to defeat Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin, ranked 74th in the ATP standings.

Kukushkin took the first set 7-6 (7/3) before Anderson bounced back to win the remaining two sets 6-4 and 6-2.

Anderson will take on France's Benoit Paire in the other semi after he also needed three sets to defeat Dutchman Robin Haase, eventually triumphing 7-5, 2-6, 6-3. — Agencies


January 05, 2018
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