Korda, Nakashima set up all-US semifinal at Next Gen finals

Sebastian Korda and Brandon Nakashima set up an all-American semifinal at the Next Gen ATP Finals by winning their last round-robin matches on Thursday.

Published : Nov 12, 2021 08:10 IST

United States' Sebastian Korda in action.
United States' Sebastian Korda in action.
lightbox-info

United States' Sebastian Korda in action.

Sebastian Korda and Brandon Nakashima set up an all-American semifinal at the Next Gen ATP Finals by winning their last round-robin matches on Thursday.

The 21-year-old Korda, the son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda, methodically picked apart local favourite Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in a 4-2, 4-3 (4), 4-2 victory to win Group B with a record of 3-0.

Earlier, the 20-year-old Nakashima defeated Holger Rune 3-4 (3), 4-1, 4-1, 4-3 (1) to secure second place in Group A behind top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz at the season-ending tournament for the top 21-and-under players.

Korda won his first career title on Italian soil in Parma in May, after which Nakashima reached back-to-back championship matches at Los Cabos, Mexico, and Atlanta to become the youngest American to play in multiple finals since Andy Roddick in 2001-02.

 

 

 

Also reaching the last four was Sebastian Baez of Argentina, who beat Hugo Gaston 4-3(2), 4-2, 4-2 to finish second in Group B behind Korda and set up a semifinal with Alcaraz.

Alcaraz, who had already won Group A, produced 22 forehand winners in a 4-0, 4-1, 2-4, 4-3 (3) win over Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who was already eliminated.

The victory made the 18-year-old Alcaraz the youngest player to earn 30 tour-level wins in a season since Rafael Nadal went 30-17 in 2004 when he was 18. Alcaraz is also 30-17 entering the semifinals.

There are different rules at the Next Gen tournament, including on-court coaching, no-Ad scoring, medical timeout limits, and Hawk-Eye making all the line calls.

The most drastic change is the shorter first-to-four set, with a tiebreaker at 3-3.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment