Arthur Fils and Luca Van Assche will meet on Friday in the semifinals of the Next Gen ATP Finalsthe Masters for players under 22, while Serbian Hamad Medjedovic and Swiss Dominic Stricker will fight for another ticket for the final.
The highest ranked player among the eight participants gathered in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Arthur Fils, world number 36 and 19 years old, closed his group stage with the third win in three games.
This time, the Frenchman defeated the Swiss Dominic Strickeralso classified, in four sets 4-2, 3-4 (3/7), 4-2, 4-3 (7/5) in 1 hour and 44 minutes.
Against world number 94, Fils is more successful and dominantespecially in important moments.
The only blemish came at the end of the second set, when he lost the tie-break 7/3. The rest of the time, Fils knew how to counter his opponent’s strong serve with good variations in his game, which allowed him to break him three times.
Later, his countryman Luca Van Assche (70th) came back to beat American Alex Michelsen (97th) by 4-3 (7/0), 3-4 (4/7), 3-4 (4/7), 4-1, 4-3 (8/6).
His passage to the semi-finals was not confirmed until the afternoon, after Medjedovic, who is also unbeaten in three matches, defeated Jordan’s Abdullah Shelbayh.
These “Next Gen Masters” serve as a laboratory for the introduction of new rules: stipulating at 4 winning games, eliminating the 40-A advantage, reducing the serving time, etc.
Source: La Verdad
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