Title Games: Nadal Plays Fognini at Hamburg, Isner Meets Baghdatis in Atlanta & Goffin Faces Thiem at Gstaad

All three men’s singles top seeds reached the finals of the ongoing ATP events at Hamburg, Atlanta and Gstaad. Rafael Nadal faced no difficulty in seeing off Andreas Seppi of Italy in Hamburg’s semifinal and now takes on another Italian Fabio Fognini for the title. In Atlanta, two-time defending champion John Isner fought hard against his friend and qualifier Denis Kudla in three sets to come one step closer to winning his third consecutive BB&T title. The American now meets Cypriot Marco Baghdatis, who defeated Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the other semifinal. But the Atlanta run of doubles wild cards Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick ended on Friday as they lost to third seeds Eric Butorac and Artem Sitak in the quarterfinals. However, the tennis history’s most celebrated doubles pair and top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan came close to winning another title after they defeated compatriots Donald Young and Christopher Eubanks in a doubles semifinal on Saturday. For the title, the Bryans will face Gilles Muller of Luxembourg and Colin Fleming of Great Britain. In the Swiss Open at Gstaad, top seed David Goffin of Belgium had an easy semifinal win against Brazil’s two-time champion Thomaz Bellucci. For the title on Sunday Goffin will take on Austria’s world no.24 Dominic Thiem, who won against no.2 seed Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in the other semifinal.

After Friday’s comfortable 6-3, 6-2 quarterfinal victory over no.5 seed Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, Spain’s Rafael Nadal scored another easy victory on Saturday to reach the final of the Bet-At-Home Open in Hamburg. The Spaniard faced Italian Andreas Seppi, who failed to offer much resistance in his 80-minute 1-6, 2-6 defeat against the former world no.1. This is Nadal’s third final at Hamburg and 96th overall on the ATP World Tour. In a nearly one-sided contest, Nadal broke his opponent seven times to seal his victory and set up the final clash with another Italian, Fabio Fognini, who defeated French qualifier Lucas Pouille 6-2, 7-6 in 84 minutes. Nadal will be wary of the Italian since he has lost to Fognini twice in the current season; once at Rio de Janeiro and again at Barcelona. In the doubles, Fognini and his mate Simone Bolelli withdrew from the semi-final to gift-wrap the final spot for Britain’s Jamie Murray and Australia’s John Peers. For the title on Sunday, Murray/Peers will meet Colombia’s Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

In the BB&T Open in Atlanta, John Isner will aim for his third consecutive title on Sunday. The American, however, had a tough semifinal against fellow American Denis Kudla before coming through 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. The one hour 43 minutes contest looked like heading to tiebreak in the third set but Isner rallied from 0-30 down to win the 12th game and the match. In the final, Isner will take on Marco Baghdatis of Cyprus. Baghdatis defeated Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 in a scorcher. Mardy Fish’s Atlanta campaign ended with the 5-7, 2-6 quarterfinal loss in the doubles with his partner Andy Riddick against Eric Butorac and Artem Sitak. The doubles final on Sunday will feature Mike/Bob Bryan and Gilles Muller (Luxembourg)/Colin Fleming (Great Britain). In the first semifinal on Saturday, Bryan brothers defeated compatriots Christopher Eubanks/Donald Young 6-2, 6-4 in just 47 minutes while Muller/Fleming had a hard time against American Eric Butorac and New Zealand’s Artem Sitak befire coming through 6-3, 5-7 10-3.

In Gstaad’s Swiss Open, Belgian Top-seed David Goffin scored an easy 6-4, 6-2 win against two-time champion Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci. For the title on Sunday, Goffin will meet Austria’s Dominic Thiem, who fought hard with Spain’s Feliciano Lopez before winning 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. In doubles, unseeded pair of Bulgarian Aliaksandr Bury and Uzbek Denis Istomin beat Austrian combo of Julian Knowle and Philipp Oswald 6-4, 3-6, 10-3 to set up the title clash with Austrian Oliver Marach and Pakistani Aisam-Ul Haq Quereshi. In the other hard-fought semifinal, Marach/Quereshi defeated the Spanish duo of Marcel Granollers/Marc Lopez 6-3, 4-6, 10-6.