Zverev Bests Nishikori Against In Rainy Washington, Murray WDs; Del Potro v Fognini In Los Cabos Final

The rains returned again at Washington forcing one quarterfinal to be played on Saturday. But two matches were completed.

First, Andy Murray withdrew ahead of his match against Alex De Minaur. After a 3:01am finish and three straight 3-set matches, the Scot cited fatigue as the reason for his exit.

“I won’t be able to play my match tonight. I’m exhausted after playing so much over the past four days, having not competed on the hard courts for 18 months. I also need to be careful and to listen to my body as I come back from a long-term injury,” Murray said in a statement. “I’m gutted not to be playing and I’d like to thank the tournament and all the fans. There are lots of positives to take from this week, so I’ll take some time to rest and recover, and then head to Cincinnati early to prepare and get ready.”

Top seed Alexander Zverev got his match in beating Kei Nishikori in a rematch of their 2017 Washington semifinal. This time, Zverev needed three sets and a 2-hour third set rain delay to get the job done in a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

“It was great. It was a fantastic match, a very high level from the baseline,” Zverev said. “We both played great, so happy to be through to the semi-finals. Hopefully it will be another good few days here.”

The 21-year-old Zverev will meet 19-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals after the Greek downed David Goffin 6-3, 6-4.

“He’s a very solid baseliner,” Tsitsipas said of Goffin. “Much better from the baseline than the rest of the players, so getting early breaks against this type of player is super important. You raise your confidence like that and you’re just secure when you break from the beginning of a match or set.”

The two youngsters have never met before.

“Hopefully it’s going to be a good match. Hopefully it’s going to be entertaining,” the defending champion Zverev said of facing Tsitsipas. “He’s been playing great this year. But for me, nothing changes. I want to go out there and I want to try to win.”

Tsitsipas won’t be the only teen in the semifinals. The 19-year-old De Minaur will await the Andrey Rublev-Denis Kudla winner.

In Los Cabos, the final is set between veterans Juan Martin del Potro and Fabio Fognini. Del Potro is trying to follow in Sam Querrey’s from last year and sweep both Mexican events.

“It will be tough tomorrow against Fabio,” Del Potro said after 6-3, 7-6(6) win over Damir Dzumhur. “But anything can happen in the final, so I will try to do my best.”

And the last tour clay title of the year goes to… Martin Klizan who beat Denis Istomin 6-2, 6-2 in the Kitzbuhel final. The match was just the second all-qualifier final since the ATP World Tour began in 1990 (2015
Sydney – Troicki d. Kukushkin).

Klizan improves to 6-0 in ATP finals.