Google News ATP Halle Draw: Roger Federer wants 11th title
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After the stop caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, tennis reopens its doors also to the season on grass-courts and re-proposes some of the most prestigious and beloved tournaments in its history. This is the case of the Noventi Open, an event that saw Roger Federer triumph ten times in his career and which this year has a very respectable scoreboard.
Suffice it to say that five top 10 will take the court in Halle: Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev and Federer. Medvedev, Zverev, Federer and Roberto Bautista Agut ended up in the top-half of the main draw.
The path of the Swiss legend could cross that of the world number two in the quarter-finals, but even the previous rounds will put Federer in front of complicated challenges. The 20-time Grand Slam champion will find a player from qualifying in the first round and if he wins he would face one between Felix Auger-Aliassime, who reached the final in Stuttgart this week, and Hubert Hurkacz, who won this year.
his first Masters 1000 title in Miami by beating Jannik Sinner 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the final. Even for Medvedev it will not be easy to reach the quarter-finals. The Russian will face Jan-Lennard Struff on his debut; the German can express his best tennis on this surface and worry any opponent.
In the second round, he could then encounter another danger, namely Vasek Pospisil. The other possible quarter of the upper section will see Zverev and Bautista Agut as the main suspects, who on their way will have to deal with Ugo Humbert and Kei Nishikori.
All in all it went well for the next Roland Garros finalist. Tsitsipas will make his debut against a qualifier and Gilles Simon will likely be waiting for him in the second round. In the same portion of the board there are also Gael Monfils, not to the best of his ability, and Lloyd Harris.
David Goffin and Andrey Rublev will contend for the semifinal. The Belgian was quite lucky with the draw; while the Russian will have to overcome Karen Khachanov to dream of the title. Here is the complete draw. 
Roland Garros 2021: Barbora Krejcikova won the her first Slam title!
Barbora Krejcikova won her first Slam title of her carerr by beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in three sets. Both played the first Grand Slam final in singles in their careers, at the Roland Garros 2021. The Russian became the first player to reach the last act of a Major after having played more than 50 (52 in total) after winning the semifinals.
The Czech, before today, had managed to hit this goal only in doubles, where she has won five times between women's doubles and mixed doubles. Certainly the memories will be much sweeter and more vivid for the Czech player than for the Russian Pavlyuchenkova, in the opening game, took advantage of her opponent's two double faults, one on the break point, to take the lead immediately.
Unfortunately for her, however, her first will be the only game she will win in the first set. Krejcikova started pushing with more conviction in response and dominating the rallies from the baseline; while the Russian has repeatedly lost control of both the backhand and the forehand in important moments: the first of her cost her her serve in the fourth game, the second in the sixth.
In the second part of the game it was a slap on the fly that shifted the balance. Pavlyuvhenkova nullified a heavy break point with this strike and immediately surprised her opponent in response with a stunning long-winning backhand.
The two players decided to play the same film as the first set but playing the part of the other. The only moment of tension for the Russian came to an end in the seventh game, when she was forced to ask for the intervention of the physiotherapist for a problem in her left leg; a problem that did not prevent her from taking the dispute to the last and decisive set.
The two tennis players kept their serve without problems in the first two games, then Pavlyuchenkova chose the worst moment to hit the first double fault of her game and give her rival the turn to serve. Krejcikova, despite her, did the same and allowed the Russian to record with the forehand.
The break that elects the new queen of Paris is that of the seventh game: Krejcikova bends the defenses of Pavlyuchenkova and launches the winning forehand. The Russian finally closed the match with a forehand that ended over the bottom line.
Krejcikova, thanks to this victory, became the first Czech tennis player to conquer Roland Garros since 1981. Tomorrow Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas will challenge each other in the final of the men's singels: Nole is lokking for his 19th Slam, Stefanos will play his first Slam final.
