Browsing: surges

Oct 31, 2025, 04:10 PM ET

PARIS — Jannik Sinner dismissed Ben Shelton 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Paris Masters semifinals for the first time on Friday and move closer to regaining the world No. 1 ranking.

Sinner’s seventh straight win over the American also extended his indoor winning streak to 24 dating to November 2023.

If Sinner takes the Paris title, his first Masters trophy of the year, he will return to No. 1 on Monday.

He next faces defending champion Alexander Zverev or 2020 champion Daniil Medvedev, who met late Friday.

Felix Auger-Aliassime ended wild card Valentin Vacherot’s impressive run in Paris by 6-2, 6-2 in their quarterfinal.

Vacherot had won his previous 10 Masters matches — including his first title in Shanghai this month — but Auger-Aliassime proved too strong for the Monegasque player as he advanced to his fourth Masters semifinal.

Auger-Aliassime has reached 10 tour-level semifinals this season, going on to win titles in Adelaide, Montpellier and Brussels.

The Canadian will next meet Alexander Bublik after the Kazakh ousted sixth-seeded Alex de Minaur 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5 without dropping serve.

Bublik has won 30 of 37 matches since the French Open and four titles, and he’s the first Kazakh to reach a Masters semifinal.

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MADRID — Jon Rahm made seven birdies to get back into contention for a fourth title at the Spanish Open on Friday, but fellow Ryder Cup winner Shane Lowry couldn’t fully recover from a poor opening day as he missed the cut.

Rahm’s 5-under 66 put him five shots behind leader Marco Penge of England (67) after the Spaniard had opened with a 72 on Thursday at his home tournament.

Lowry had an even worse start with a 75 in the opening round — two weeks after making the clinching putt to win the Ryder Cup for Europe — and a 68 on Friday wasn’t enough to avoid missing the cut by one stroke.

Penge hit four birdies in a flawless round to sit one shot ahead of a trio made up of Jeff Winther of Denmark, Joel Girbach of Switzerland and Canada’s Aaron Cockerill.

Rahm is tied for 18th. He is trying to surpass Seve Ballesteros as the tournament’s most successful golfer since the creation of the European tour in 1972.

Rahm is making his seventh appearance in Madrid, with his victories coming in 2018, 2019 and 2022. He was runner-up to fellow Spaniard Ãngel Hidalgo in a playoff last year.

Hidalgo won’t be back to challenge Rahm this time after the defending champion missed the cut at three over.

Oct 10, 2025, 02:46 PM ET

MADRID — Jon Rahm made seven birdies to get back into contention for a fourth title at the Spanish Open on Friday, but fellow Ryder Cup winner Shane Lowry couldn’t fully recover from a poor opening day as he missed the cut.

Rahm’s 5-under 66 put him five shots behind leader Marco Penge of England (67) after the Spaniard had opened with a 72 on Thursday at his home tournament.

Lowry had an even worse start with a 75 in the opening round — two weeks after making the clinching putt to win the Ryder Cup for Europe — and a 68 on Friday wasn’t enough to avoid missing the cut by one stroke.

Penge hit four birdies in a flawless round to sit one shot ahead of a trio made up of Jeff Winther of Denmark, Joel Girbach of Switzerland and Canada’s Aaron Cockerill.

Rahm is tied for 18th. He is trying to surpass Seve Ballesteros as the tournament’s most successful golfer since the creation of the European tour in 1972.

Rahm is making his seventh appearance in Madrid, with his victories coming in 2018, 2019 and 2022. He was runner-up to fellow Spaniard Angel Hidalgo in a playoff last year.

Hidalgo won’t be back to challenge Rahm this time after the defending champion missed the cut at three over.

Amanda Anisimova continued a stellar season in which she has finished as runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open by advancing to her second WTA 1000 final of the year, outclassing Coco Gauff, the defending champion, 6-1, 6-2 in the semi-finals of the China Open.

Seeded third in Beijing, the 24-year-old American now has a 2-1 edge in her head-to-head record against her compatriot Gauff.

Anisimova bludgeoned her way to a 5-0 advantage in the opening set before the second seed got on the board to make it 5-1. The second set unfolded in a similar fashion, with Anisimova building a commanding 5-0 lead. Although Gauff fought back to win the next two games, Anisimova sealed the victory in 58 minutes.

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“I was able to put on a really good performance and I knew I was going to have to play really well against Coco if I wanted to get the win. Iâ€m really excited to be in the final,†Anisimova said.

“Iâ€ve been saying every time Iâ€ve walked on court and won my match that I love playing here and the crowd support has been so amazing since the first day I got here. I really think thatâ€s carried me through this entire tournament. Hopefully everyone can come out and support me in the final.â€

Next up for the world No 4 is either the American fifth seed, Jessica Pegula, or the Czech 26th seed, Linda Noskova, who play in the second semi-final later on Saturday.

This report will update

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