#NextGen star Alexander Zverev claimed his first ATP World Tour title on Sunday, knocking off US Open champion Stan Wawrinka and ending the teenage title drought on the ATP World Tour. The 19 year old Zverev withstood a late charge from Wawrinka to win the St. Petersburg Open final 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours and 23 minutes. The Hamburg native had been 0-2 in his previous finals this season and in his career (l. to Mayer at Halle; l. to Thiem at Nice). “This victory is something special,” Zverev said. “I played all the finals well. I lost to Dominic Thiem on clay and I could have won against Florian Mayer on the grass... Now I'm very happy with...
Lucas Pouille has thrived under pressure all year and the Frenchman's steely focus and determination paid dividends in Sunday's Moselle Open final. Pouille rallied from 0-4 down in the first set tie-break and cruised in the second to defeat top seed Dominic Thiem 7-6(5), 6-2 for his maiden ATP World Tour title in Metz. The 22 year old notched his fifth victory over a Top 10 opponent this year and a milestone 30th match win overall in 2016. Pouille continues the recent trend of French champions in Metz, becoming the seventh homegrown winner in the past eight years. Gael Monfils won in 2009, followed by Gilles Simon in 2010 and '13 and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2011-12 and '15. Learn More:...
Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos improved to 3-0 in ATP World Tour doubles finals this year, taking the title at the Moselle Open on Sunday. The Chilean-Argentine duo fired seven aces and saved all five break points faced to down third seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus 6-3, 7-6(4) in the Metz final. A rematch of the final on the clay of Gstaad in July, Peralta and Zeballos defeated their third straight seeded team to prevail. They had stormed back from a set down to upset both fourth seeds Robert Lindstedt and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and second seeds Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin earlier in the week. "We really felt great with our game today," said Zeballos. "It was a tough...
Dominic Inglot and Henri Kontinen saved a match point and captured their first ATP World Tour title together on Sunday at the St. Petersburg Open. The Brit and Fin improved to a perfect 4-0 together by prevailing against German Andre Begemann and Indian Leander Paes 4-6, 6-3, 12-10 to win the ATP World Tour 250 doubles crown. The comeback in the final marked the third match of the tournament in which Inglot/Kontinen fought back from a set down. They cut their margins especially close against Begemann/Paes, who had not dropped a set before Sunday and were playing in their second ATP World Tour final of the season after falling at the Winston-Salem Open in August to Kontinen and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Begemann/Paes...
While Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have spent the last two decades racking up titles on the ATP World Tour, another pair of twin brothers has been doing the same thing on the ATP Challenger Tour. Sonchat Ratiwatana and Sanchai Ratiwatana have become the first doubles team to win 40 Challenger doubles titles with their victory at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. They already broke the record for most Challenger doubles titles last year by winning No. 38 in Yokohama, Japan, surpassing the record held by Rik De Voest. They further padded their record by winning in Gwangju, Korea, in April, before prevailing again in Kaohsiung. The 34-year-olds from Thailand have been a reliable staple in the...