Chung Hyeon stays focused for third win, Andrey Rublev reaches semis
ByReuters
Published 10/11/2017 at 09:00 GMT
South Korea's Chung Hyeon topped Group A in the Next Gen ATP Finals with his third straight victory on Thursday and was joined in the last four by Russia's Andrey Rublev who ended the hopes of Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov.
Hyeon Chung au Masters des jeunes, à Milan.
Image credit: Getty Images
Chung was pushed hard by Italian qualifier Gianluigi Quinzi before winning 1-4 4-1 4-2 3-4(6) 4-3(3) in the first match to go past two hours at the inaugural event showcasing the world's best players aged 21 and under plus a batch of new rules.
Rublev, at 37th the highest-ranked player in the tournament, looked in trouble against Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov in the evening session when he needed treatment on blisters to his feet after taking the third set.
He lost the fourth set in a flash but the rugged 20-year-old rallied to win a deciding set tiebreak, winning 4-1 3-4(8) 4-3(2) 0-4 4-3(3) to take runners-up spot in Group A in another match that went past two hours.
"You have to be focused 100 percent from the beginning because even if you're winning, suddenly in one, two minutes you can start to lose easily," Rublev said.
Another Russian, world number 65 Daniil Medvedev beat already-eliminated American Jared Donaldson 3-4(3) 4-2 4-3(1) 4-0 for his second victory in Group B.
He had an anxious wait to find out if that was good enough for a place in the last four, but Croatia's Borna Coric did him a huge favour by coming back from two sets down to beat Karen Khachanov 3-4(3) 2-4 4-2 4-0 4-2 for his third win.
Chung will face Medvedev in Friday's semi-finals after Coric takes on Rublev.
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