Thursday’s tennis recap. One successful return to the courts, Lehecka’s duel and a Chinese record on the line

The week is halfway through and the current tennis tournaments are at a similar stage. How are things going on the courts? Which players are heading for tournament triumphs and which of the favourites are already out of the game? The grass court season has begun and this week the ATP tournaments in Hertogenbosch and Stuttgart are in focus. Both are in the 250 category. We also add a look at a lower category tournament with one exclusive participant.

ATP 250 Hertogenbosch

The first of the big returns to the ATP circuit went to Canadian Raonic in Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. The thirty-two year old Wimbledon finalist confirmed his reputation as a slugger, dropping fifteen aces in two sets to tournament number five Kecmanovic, losing his serve only once and easily advancing to the second round.

Milos Raonic will be the favourite in today’s duel with Australian Thompson, and he could meet tournament number one Daniil Medvedev of Russia in Friday’s quarter-finals. Italy’s Sinner secured his place in the top eight by beating Kazakhstan’s Bublik.

Jannik Sinner is considered one of the most promising players on the circuit. He plays evenly on all surfaces and rarely doesn’t get past the first two matches of the tournament. Unfortunately, that is what happened recently at the French Open. Will he use his saved strength on grass in the Netherlands and other events?

ATP 250 Stuttgart

The fans in Germany still have their player in the game. Jan-Lennard Struff, who shone a month ago at the Masters in Madrid by advancing to the final from the lucky loser position, will challenge the tournament’s top five American Paul today. The winner of this event is likely to be Greece’s Tsitsipas, the number one seed.

Nick Kyrgios, on the other hand, made an unsuccessful comeback. The Australian with a rich past was no match for China’s Yibing Wu, who is one step away from becoming the highest ranked Chinese on the ATP rankings again.

Jiri Lehecka already played for a place in the quarterfinals yesterday. For him, every match won on grass means an improvement in his position in the ATP rankings. In the main event of Wednesday’s programme, he was facing the American Tiafoe. Lehecka was close to winning the first set. He had a break point with the value of a small match point. It was an even exchange with a happy ending for the American. He eventually defeated Lehecka in the tiebreak.

The clincher of the second set came again at the end. Tiafoe used his break point, the Czech player did not and the match was over. After the sets 6::7, 4::6 Lehečka is finished in Stuttgart. However, in the new edition of the rankings he will most likely improve to 35th place, a new career high. Frances Tiafoe looks ahead to Friday’s semi-final battle with Italy’s Musetti. If the American succeeds, he will become part of the ATP elite ten for the first time in his career.

Murray’s journey

Three-time grand slam winner Andy Murray prefers to play more matches, albeit at a lower level, and is taking part in his second consecutive grass court challenge. He won the opening one and the current one is awaiting the experienced Briton to face the 27-year-old Frenchman Hugo Grenier. Every match is important for Andy Murray, he has big ambitions in the coming weeks.

Source: Libema Open, Boss Open, Roland Garros