cinch Championships: DAY SIX!
The first of the two semi-finals would see Lorenzo Musetti, the only semi-finalist of the bunch to have won an ATP 500 tournament previously, taking on Australia’s Jordan Thompson who would aim to become the second consecutive Aussie finalist after de Minaur reached the final last year. Coming into this tie, Musetti was 10-1 vs. players ranked outside the Top 20 on grass since the start of the 2023 season, making him the firm favourite.
Musetti’s experience showed in the first set, using his electrifying backhand to help him along the way to a 6-3 win in the first set. Despite receiving a medical timeout during the second set, Thompson was strong enough to hold on and level the tie with an equally comfortable 6-3 win in the second set. Into the decider we went and whilst Thompson was working hard with some fantastic ball placement, he let himself down with the final finish and kept racking up the unforced errors. Could he wipe those out when it mattered? With serve to start with, but it was Musetti who broke and backed the break to win the deciding set and book his place back on Centre Court as this year’s first finalist.
Next up on Centre, we were treated to an all-American semi-final as fifth seed Tommy Paul takes on Sebastian Korda in their sixth ATP meeting. Paul would be aiming to reach his second ATP 500 final of his career after reaching this stage in Acapulco, defeating compatriot Taylor Fritz. Korda is now the first American to reach back-to-back Queen’s Club semi-finals since Andy Roddick (2003-09). The fifth seed, Paul, looked up for it and broke Korda in the first set to edge himself ahead. Korda would need to work hard to shift Paul off his game, but with a slip and a rolled ankle, the crowd held its breath. ‘Run it off’ as they say, and run it off he did as he managed to continue, albeit a little gingerly. With Paul 4-1 up at this point, it looked a sure win but Korda was determined not to give up so easily and brought it back to 6-6 for a tie break. Korda to serve first but it was 2-1 Paul after the first three points. Surely Paul wouldn’t drop too many now? Keeping his composure, he pushed ahead to win the tie break and complete the line-up for tomorrow’s final. Korda out, nobly.
Before the doubles, came our real highlight of the day as we welcomed our MVP to Centre Court, Grounds Manager Graham Kimpton, to celebrate his 40 years’ of service at Queen’s in front of the crowd. Graham was presented with a framed poster to mark his truly incredible achievement by Tournament Director, Jamie Murray before sharing with the fans just a small snippet of what it’s like to care for our courts. A remarkable achievement Graham, well done.
Meanwhile, despite being knocked out of the singles draw in the quarter final, Taylor Fritz had managed to book himself a place in the doubles final once again this year, this time with his partner Karen Khachanov. They would face the winners of our final match on Centre Court today, which saw the pairing of Brit Neal Skupski and Michael Venus, taking on last year’s doubles champs Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.
An early break for Skupski and Venus but the 2023 champions are no beginners, and broke back straight away to bring us level at 5-5. Anyone’s for the taking in the first set. Skupski and Venus charged forward with momentum to take us to a first set tie break. Dodig and Krajicek weren’t far behind however, and managed to hang on until the last second, but it was Skupski and Venus who sealed it with an 8-6 win. Into the second set we went and it seemed enough of the home crowd had stayed in support of the British-New Zealand pairing to warrant an advantage. No need for a championships tie break as Skupski and Venus broke early and didn’t look back before taking the second set 6-4, to book their place in tomorrow’s final against Fritz and Khachanov.