Carlos Alcaraz sealed his place in the Madrid Masters semi-finals on Wednesday after a sensational second-set comeback against Karen Khachanov.
The world No 2 took the first set 6-4 but then found himself 5-2 down in the second before fighting back to win 7-5 at Manolo Santana Stadium.
It means Alcaraz, who thrashed Alexander Zverev in the previous round, keeps his title defence firmly on track as he reached his third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final of the season.
The 19-year-old top seed is now two wins away from claiming his fourth straight ATP Tour title on home soil and will play either Germany's Borna Coric or Daniel Altmaier of Croatia in the last four.
If Alcaraz retains his crown in the Spanish capital he will remain firmly on course to leapfrog Novak Djokovic at the top of the world rankings, which he will do simply by playing a match at the Rome Masters later this month.
“Winning this match will give me a lot of confidence, Karen was at a great level and took me to the limit,” said Alcaraz, who unleashed 31 winners against the 10th seed.
“It was decided by small details and I am very, very happy to be able to get through this round.”
The Russian, who knocked out countryman and fifth seed Andrey Rublev this week, showed no fear in the first set despite his opponent's form.
In the second set, Khachanov broke for a 3-1 lead when Alcaraz went long after saving a first break point.
The world No 12 forced two more in the sixth game but could not convert either as Alcaraz fought hard to hold.
Alcaraz's perseverance paid off as he broke with a volley to get back on serve at 4-5.
The US Open champion consolidated his break and then earned another when Khachanov hit the net with an attempted forehand winner.
Aiming for his 10th tour level title the crowd-pleasing home favourite sealed his progress with a powerful forehand drive.
In the women's draw, third seed Jessica Pegula was knocked out 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 by Veronika Kudermetova as the Russian reached the semi-finals of a WTA 1000 event for the first time.
The American was trying to reach her second consecutive final in Madrid, after losing to Ons Jabeur at the clay-court tournament last year.
“I feel so happy and proud of myself, because every match I played three sets,” said Kudermetova, who will face either world No 1 Iga Swiatek or Petra Martic in the last four. “Before this match, every match was almost three hours. Today, only two hours, I feel fresh.”
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Aaron Finch (captain), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Schedule:
Pakistan v Sri Lanka:
28 Sep-2 Oct, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi
6-10 Oct, 2nd Test (day-night), Dubai
13 Oct, 1st ODI, Dubai
16 Oct, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi
18 Oct, 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi
20 Oct, 4th ODI, Sharjah
23 Oct, 5th ODI, Sharjah
26 Oct, 1st T20I, Abu Dhabi
27 Oct, 2nd T20I, Abu Dhabi
29 Oct, 3rd T20I, Lahore
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
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List of officials:
Referees: Chris Broad, David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Ranjan Madugalle and Richie Richardson.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
