Chengdu Open top seeds Rajeev Ram and Raven Klaasen hit with fans at a clinic hosted by the ATP World Tour 250 tournament. Video courtesy: Chengdu Open
Dominic Thiem ended a memorable run by one of China's top-ranked players at the Chengdu Open on Thursday. The top seed dismissed Di Wu 6-4, 6-4 in 67 minutes to move into the quarter-finals. Wu was going for more personal history at his home tournament. The Chinese No. 2 celebrated his first ATP World Tour or Grand Slam main draw match win during his 14th try on Tuesday (d. Kravchuk). Against Thiem, Wu was trying to earn his first Top 10 victory. But the Austrian won almost 80 per cent of his first-serve points and broke Wu four times to reach his 13th ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season. Wu fell to 0-10 against Top 10 foes. “He was...
Defending champion Tomas Berdych stayed undefeated at the Shenzhen Open on Thursday. The top-seeded Czech delivered 16 aces and withstood a tight contest from Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin to move into the quarter-finals 7-6(7), 7-6(4) in about two hours. Berdych and Kukushkin both won exactly 84 points during their second-round match but the Czech was more clutch when the match was on the line. Serving at 5/4 in the second-set tie-break, Berdych delivered his 16th ace. Kukushkin netted a backhand on match point to give Berdych his fifth consecutive win in Shenzhen. “It wasn't easy at all,” said Berdych. [ALSO LIKE] The 31-year-old right-hander is trying to reach his first final of the season. The nine-month drought is the longest Berdych...
Some Monday mornings are better than others. Take, for example, 2 February, 2004. On this particular Monday morning, Roger Federer, aged 22, woke up for the first time in his life with the No. 1 ranking beside his name. It was day one at the top of the global tennis tree, courtesy of defeating Marat Safin 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Australian Open the day before. The Swiss legend would go on to hold the coveted year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2004 – the first of five times he would earn that distinction. He held the top spot four straight years, from 2004-2007, and again in 2009. [ALSO LIKE] The 2004 season was...