After winning his first Challenger title last month on his home courts at Ohio State University, college tennis star Mikael Torpegaard had another big run on a different college campus. The 20-year-old from Denmark is competing at this week’s $50,000 ATP Challenger Tour event at the University of Las Vegas in Nevada. After receiving a wild card into the main draw, Torpegaard upset sixth seed Denis Kudla and another American in Austin Krajicek to reach the quarter-finals. Although he fell in three sets on Friday to fourth seed Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, he was confident his first trip to Las Vegas wouldn't be his last. “I’m privileged to have gotten a wild card into the main draw and really grateful...
Jakob Amilon had a literal home court advantage at this week’s $50,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 22-year-old Swede and college tennis star at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas received a main draw wild card into the tournament being held on his campus courts. Amilon put up a strong fight in the latter stages of his opening round against Zhe Li of China before falling in straight sets. Despite the loss, he was able to take plenty of positives from the experience. “To get a great tournament like this with all of these pro players is good for our city, for the school and for the program,” said Amilon. “You learn a lot from playing guys...
Norwegian teen Casper Ruud looks back on the fast start to his pro career, as he competes at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Santiago, Chile. Video courtesy Kalveer Biradar, Movistar Open Chile.
Top seed David Goffin, who is currently No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race To London and in contention for one of the three remaining spots at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, overcame a challenge from qualifier Marius Copil to prevail 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the European Open on Friday. Copil fought hard until the end, saving five match points before Goffin served out the match. "He served some bombs," Goffin said. "I really needed to find my footwork and my returns. I tried to make him go for some wrong shots, go for winners from tough positions." Goffin will play Diego Schwartzman, who beat fourth seed Pablo Cuevas, a winner of two ATP World Tour titles...
Jurgen Melzer joined Radek Stepanek as only the second active player to record 300 singles and doubles career match wins on Thursday at the VTB Kremlin Cup.
The Austrian partnered Julian Knowle to a 6-1, 5-7, 11-9 victory over Mikhail Kukushkin and Stephane Robert in Moscow. They will next face top seeds Pablo Carreno Busta and Marcel Granollers or wild cards Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev in the semi-finals.
The 35-year-old Melzer has compiled a 347-331 record, including five titles as a singles player, and is now 300-242 lifetime, with 13 trophies, as a doubles competitor.