Cincinnati (AFP) – Brandon Nakashima continued his red-hot pace on Friday, knocking out sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz 7-6 (11/9), 4-6, 6-3 to reach the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters semi-finals. The American began his post-Wimbledon hardcourt run with a Washington semi-final, which he lost to Fritz, a run to the final in the Montreal Masters, and now his best showing at Cincinnati — all with the US Open start barely more than a week away.
Nakashima withstood 22 aces from Fritz — who also bashed 31 unforced errors. Nakashima trailed a break in the third set but broke back to knot it at 3-3 and broke again for a 5-3 lead. He out-hit the powerful Fritz and converted on his first match point with a forehand winner.
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“I’ve gotten a lot of confidence over the summer,” Nakashima said. “In the final set I trusted my game, I’m proud with how I ended the match. Today I was trying to hit bigger against him than in Washington, that’s what got me through. I’ve had a pretty good last few weeks, I’ve spent hour and hours on the court – I’m proud of myself,” he added. “I now have the opportunity to win more matches.”
Nakashima will face either Lorenzo Musetti or Arthur Fils for a place in the final.
In the women’s quarter-finals, Sara Bejlek backed up her stunning victory over top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, rallying for a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) victory over Madison Keys. The 20-year-old Czech got off to a slow start against the big-hitting American, a former Australian Open champion and the 2019 winner in Cincinnati. Bejlek trailed 0-3 on the way to dropping the first set, but rode a wave of momentum shifts into the final four where she’ll face either fourth-seeded Coco Gauff or Marta Kostyuk.
Bejlek broke first in the third set, only for Keys to battle back and force the tiebreaker, in which Bejlek rallied from 4-2 down on the way to a victory capped by a stinging winner down the line on match point. “I just kept believing in the match no matter what,” said Bejlek, who won the WTA title in Abu Dhabi in February as a wild card. “I believed much more than ever, it was always in my head.”
After a solid first set, the 24th-ranked Keys opened the second on sweltering Stadium Court with a break in the third game, but Bejlek, ranked 35th, broke back in the sixth and held for a 4-3 lead. Keys answered with a love game, but Bejlek turned the tables two games later, taking the contest into the third set as Keys hit the net with a backhand on the Czech’s second set point. “I was trying to cool down in the second set, I was pretty nervous so I didn’t want to think about what was going on,” Bejlek said.
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