Three minutes a day, knowing about tennis in the world. Hello fans, today is Saturday, February 22, 2025, and welcome to the afternoon newsletter brought to you by Home of Tennis.
Last night, Beijing time, the ATP 500 Doha station ended the singles semifinals, with Russian star Rublev and British rising star Draper defeating their respective opponents and meeting in the final. Rublev narrowly defeated Canada's Aliassime 7-5 4-6 7-6(5) to advance to the final for the third time.
This is Rublev's 10th ATP 500 final, tying British star Murray and Argentine grandmaster Del Potro for seventh place in the rankings. The top six are Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Ferrer, Kei Nishikori and Tsitsipas. Tonight, Beijing time, he will attack his first championship of the season and his sixth championship in the 500 competition.
Draper came back from behind to beat Czech star Lehecka 3-6 7-6(2) 6-3 to make it nine wins in a row in the 500 tournament and advance to the final.
ATP 500 Rio: In the singles quarterfinals, top seed Zverev Jr. of Germany suddenly dropped the line when he was leading 4-1 in the deciding set, and was defeated by Argentine Komesana 4-6 6-3 6-4 to miss out on the semifinals. Komesana, on the other hand, reached the semi-finals of his career for the first time and will face Frenchman Muller for the final, who eliminated Argentine Cerundolo 7-5 6-1.
In the other match, defending champion and Argentine Báez defeated Taiwanese qualifier Zeng Junxin 6-4 6-1 to meet compatriot Carabelli in the semi-finals, who beat Portugal's Faria 7-6(5) 6-4.
Women's Field: In the first semi-final of the singles in Dubai, WTA1000, 12th seed Mila Andreeva of Russia overcame a 3-1 deficit in the deciding set to defeat sixth seed Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-4 4-6 6-3 to reach the final of the 1,000 tournament for the first time in her career. The last person to do this was her compatriot senpai Sharapova. The 17-year-old also became the youngest 1000 finalist since the WTA1000 class was established in 2009.
In the second match, the 22-year-old Danish rising star defeated 14th seed and Czech Republic's Mukhova 6-4 6-7(4) 6-3 to reach the 1000 final for the first time in her career. Both youngsters will be aiming for the highest title of their careers, and who do you think will have the last laugh?
In the doubles semifinals, Chinese mainland players were defeated and missed the final. Among them, Zhang Shuai/Muradnovic lost to top seeds Siniakova/Townsend 5-7; Xu Yifan/Yang Zhaoxuan lost to No.3 seeds Xie Shuwei/Ostapenko in the deciding set.
Finally, let's guess and recognize. The picture below is the back of a player. Can you recognize who he is without prompting?
In the last guess, the golfer gave the correct answer. That's right, the person in the picture is the new Kodoha 1000 champion Anisimova.
(Source: Tennis Home Author: Maverick)