Jack Draper missed out on a first ATP Tour final as he was beaten by Maxime Cressy at the Rothesay International Eastbourne; Petra Kvitova will face Jelena Ostapenko in the Eastbourne women's final; Bianca Andreescu is in the Bad Homburg Open final after Simona Halep withdrew with injury
Friday 24 June 2022 18:13, UK
Jack Draper's dreams of a maiden ATP Tour final were extinguished following an agonising three-set loss to Maxime Cressy at the Rothesay International Eastbourne.
In a tense encounter featuring just a single break of serve, world No 60 Cressy continued his conquering of the homegrown players to edge through 7-6 (5) 6-7 (2) 6-3.
The France-born American, who defeated Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans in the previous rounds, will face 2019 winner Taylor Fritz in the final after he beat reigning champion Alex de Minaur 6-1 6-7 (5) 6-3.
"He's a very, very good player, it's tough to get in your rhythm against him," Draper said of Cressy.
"He's serve-volleying the whole time, you don't get in many rallies, so when you do hit a ground stroke it seems a bit of a shock.
"It was a tough match and one break was all that was in it."
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova advanced to her first grass-court final in four years by beating Beatriz Haddad Maia 7-6 (5) 6-4 at Eastbourne.
Kvitova will face defending champion Jelena Ostapenko in the final. The eighth-seeded Latvian defeated 12th-seeded Camila Giorgi 6-2 6-2 in the other semi-final.
Haddad Maia had won 12 straight matches on grass including back-to-back singles titles in Nottingham and Birmingham over the last two weeks.
The 14th-seeded Kvitova reached her first final of 2022 and first grass-court final since Birmingham in 2018.
Kvitova earned the only service break of the match to begin the second set against the 15th-seeded Brazilian.
The 32-year-old Czech player's only career loss in five grass-court finals was to Marion Bartoli at Eastbourne in 2011, when Kvitova went on to win Wimbledon for the first time.
Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion and 2018 Wimbledon semi-finalist, needed only 69 minutes to put away her Italian opponent. The 25-year-old Ostapenko beat Anett Kontaveit in straight sets in last year's final.
Bianca Andreescu reached her first final in more than a year after Simona Halep withdrew ahead of their semi-final at the Bad Homburg Open on Friday with a neck injury.
In her first grass-court final, Andreescu will play Caroline Garcia on Saturday.
"I am sorry that I had to withdraw today before my semifinal match", Halep wrote on Instagram. "But unfortunately I woke up this morning with a blocked neck and this is not allowing me to perform to the best of my ability."
Andreescu's last title was her breakout US Open victory in 2019, when she beat Serena Williams. Her last final was in April 2021 against Ashleigh Barty in Miami, where she retired with an ankle injury.
Andreescu, who took time off to recharge and work on her mental health, missed the Australian Open and returned to the tour in April.
While the Canadian was able to rest up and prepare for the final, Garcia had to spend close to three hours on court to beat fellow French player Aliz Cornet 7-6 (9) 3-6 7-5.
Garcia saved match point at 5-4 down in the deciding set before winning the next three games as Cornet struggled with an apparent right leg injury which restricted her movement.
Andreescu and Garcia have not met before.
Second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Benjamin Bonzi 6-4 6-4 in one hour and 34 minutes on Friday to reach the Mallorca Championships final.
Tsitsipas will face fourth seed Roberto Bautista-Agut in the final after he beat Swiss qualifier Antoine Bellier.
"It was a good match. I am very happy," said Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview.
"I have played a final a week before a Grand Slam before. It was the year I made the final at Roland Garros, in Lyon.
"It worked out pretty well to have that final and consistency of matches. It is different this time. We are talking about a different surface, so we will see."
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