Tennis news today: Rafael Nadal congratulates Stefanos Tsitsipas on winning Monte-Carlo Masters, Iga Swiatek leads Poland to Billie Jean King Cup finals | 18 April 2022

Stefanos Tsitsipas successfully defended his title at the Monte-Carlo Masters on Sunday by defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the final. Tsitsipas was commended for his feat by Rafael Nadal, who has won the tournament 12 times.

Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, continued her winning ways to lead Poland to the Billie Jean King Cup finals.

Anne Keothavong, captain of Great Britain's Billie Jean King Cup team, feels that Emma Raducanu must improve her physical conditioning if she wants to thrive in the women's game.

Simona Halep, who has been sidelined with an injury the last few weeks, seems to have recovered quite well. The Romanian was seen training for the upcoming Madrid Open.

Here's a round-up of the day's headlines:

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Rafael Nadal congratulates Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monte-Carlo Masters win

Stefanos Tsitsipas became just the sixth man in the Open Era to win back-to-back titles at the Monte-Carlo Masters after defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the final.

Rafael Nadal, who won 12 titles at the tournament, praised both Tsitsipas and Davidovich Fokina for their great display of tennis over the past week. He wrote on Instagram:

"Congrats to @aledavidovichofficial for the final in #MonteCarlo Great week!!!! Congrats to #Stefanos for his 2nd Monte Carlo win. Great achievement."

Tsitsipas and Davidovich Fokina will now compete at the Barcelona Open. The Greek is the top seed and will aim to lift the trophy this time around after finishing as runner-up twice.

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Iga Swiatek guides Poland to Billie Jean King Cup finals with 19th successive win

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek was at her ruthless best as she steered Poland to the Billie Jean King Cup finals.

Swiatek won both of her matches quite handily, defeating Mihaela Buzarnescu and Andreea Prisacariu 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-0 respectively. She has extended her winning streak to 19 matches and will be the favorite to win the Stuttgart Open, which begins on Monday.

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"It does take time for a player to get used to life on the tour and become more robust" - Anne Keothavong on Emma Raducanu

Emma Raducanu's physical issues once again hampered her, as she went down 6-1, 6-1 to Marketa Vondrousova in her second Billie Jean King Cup singles tie. The Brit was affected by blisters on her foot, hindering her performance to a great extent.

Team Great Britain captain Anne Keothavong feels that Raducanu must improve her physical conditioning and become more robust if she wants to succeed. She told Eurosport:

"Before the match, we were aware she had a blister but it got progressively worse for her during the match. There was no indication of anything that said to us that she couldn't play or that she wasn't ready to go out there and give it her absolute best."

She added:

"It does take time for a player to get used to life on the tour and become more robust, and she certainly needs to become more robust. I don't think that's any secret and she's working on it."

This isn't the first time Raducanu has been impaired by physical issues this year. She was hindered by blisters on her hand during her loss at the Australian Open, and had to retire from her first-round match at the Monterrey Open as well.

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Simona Halep resumes training

Simona Halep suffered an injury during the Indian Wells Open, which was later revealed to be a tear in her left thigh. She had to miss the Miami Open, Charleston Open and the Billie Jean King Cup because of the issue.

The former World No. 1 seems to have recovered well and was recently seen training for the upcoming Madrid Open.

Halep will be working with Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams.

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Clay season continues as ATP and WTA stars compete across four tournaments

World No. 1 players Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek lead the field at the Serbia Open and the Stuttgart Open respectively.

Djokovic's return to tennis was cut short by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the second round of the Monte-Carlo Masters. The Serb will aim to gather some momentum ahead of his Roland Garros title defense.

Swiatek has been unstoppable the last few weeks and will be the favorite to win in Stuttgart.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, who won the the Monte-Carlo Masters over the weekend, leads the field at the Barcelona Open. Casper Ruud, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Carlos Alcaraz, along with other top 30 players, are also present.

Elise Mertens is the top seed at the Istanbul Cup, while defending champion Sorana Cirstea is seeded second.

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Also Check Out :-Barcelona Open 2022 Schedule