Sonego-de Minaur, Ostapenko-Kontaveit in Eastbourne finals

Associated PressJun 26, 2021, 1:38 AM EDT

Getty Images

EASTBOURNE, England — Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Sonego will meet for the title at the Eastbourne grass-court tournament after ending the runs of lucky losers Kwon Soon-woo and Max Purcell in the semifinals Friday.

The No. 2-seeded de Minaur, an Australian who was a quarterfinalist at last year’s 2020 U.S. Open, beat Kwon 6-3, 7-6 (2) to improve to 7-2 on grass this month, including getting to the semifinals at Queen’s Club last week.

De Minaur, who is ranked a career-high 18th, seeks his fifth ATP title and second of the season.

Sonego, an Italian ranked No. 27 and seeded No. 3 at the tuneup for Wimbledon, defeated Purcell 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 to reach his fourth career ATP final and second on grass.

By both appearing in the semifinals, Kwon and Purcell made Eastbourne the first tournament in ATP Tour history where more than one man who lost in qualifying made it that far at the same event. Lucky losers move into the main draw at a tournament when someone else withdraws.

Kwon is ranked 77th, Purcell 283rd.

In the women’s final, 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia will face Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.

Ostapenko reached her first WTA title match since winning the Luxembourg event in October 2019 by beating Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-1 on Friday.

Kontaveit advanced when 75th-ranked qualifier Camila Giorgi stopped playing because of an injured left thigh while trailing 5-4 in the first set. Giorgi eliminated top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals.

It will be the ninth tour-level title for the 43rd-ranked Ostapenko, who is seeking her fourth title.

The 27th-ranked Kontaveit is 1-6 in WTA finals. Her only previous title came at a grass-court tournament in the Netherlands in 2017.

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.