Federer beats Ebden in hard fought battle to reach Halle semis
June 22, 2018 22:15 ISTFederer, who won his 18th grass-court title in Stuttgart, is just three match wins away from matching Jimmy Connors' all-time record of 174 victories on grass.
Federer, who won his 18th grass-court title in Stuttgart, is just three match wins away from matching Jimmy Connors' all-time record of 174 victories on grass.
Federer extended his grass-court winning streak to 18 matches, including his titles in Stuttgart last week and at Halle and Wimbledon last year.
Halep has not played since beating Sloane Stephens for the Roland Garros title earlier this month.
The Swiss great, who is assured of reclaiming the No. 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal, beat Raonic 6-4, 7-6 (3) to mark his return.
Federer, in his first tournament since March, was trailing Nadal by 100 points at the start of the week and is guaranteed of taking the top spot on Monday regardless of how Sunday's final goes.
The three-time major winner has not played since last year's Wimbledon due to a hip injury and subsequent surgery.
Despite the 75th-ranked Argentine producing one of his best matches on grass, Federer was hardly troubled.
AITA had exempted the country's top singles player Yuki considering that playing at the Grand Slams is crucial to secure ranking points, which would earn him a direct entry into the Tokyo Olympics.
Prajnesh, who qualified into the tournament and stunned world number 23 Denis Shapovalov in the opening round, lost to Guido Pella 6-7(4) 4-6.
Federer hadn't played since March, when he lost to Thanasi Kokkinakis and Juan Martin del Potro in Miami and Indian Wells, respectively.
After playing 27 matches on clay the past two months, the 32-year-old Spaniard feels he needs time to recover.
Sara Errani original two-month ban was served from August to October 2017, that period will count toward her new 10-month suspension.
Federer or Nadal have won each of the past six major tournaments, equalling their second-longest stretch of dual dominance, their other six-slam streak came way back in 2008-09.
Prajnesh, who could have played at the French Open as 'lucky loser' but missed out since he had confirmed participation in an event in Italy, is satisfied at his progress.
Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep became the first pair of ATP and WTA No 1s to both win the title at Roland Garros since Jim Courier and Monica Seles in 1992.
Nadal led by two sets plus a break early in the third, when the middle finger on his racket-wielding left hand was cramping so badly he couldn't straighten it.
Nadal's form never wavered, though, and soon enough he was celebrating his 17th Grand Slam title overall, second among men only to Roger Federer's 20.
Simona Halep beat Sloane Stephens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 for her first Grand Slam title.
The 32-year-old Spaniard is 10-0 in finals in Paris, winning the trophy every year from 2005-08, then again every year from 2010-14, then again in 2017.
Halep added Grand Slam trophy No. 1 to her No. 1 ranking, coming back from a set and a break down to beat Sloane Stephens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
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