Tennis - ATP World Tour — 2017 RSS

Fourth seed Jerzy Janowicz led four qualifiers through to the main draw at the Intrum Stockholm Open on Monday, defeating seventh seed Jurgen Zopp, 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-4. The Pole failed to convert on a match point while up 6-5 in the second set, and then three more up 5-3 in the decider. But after a one-hour, 46-minute tilt, he was able to get past the Estonian. Janowicz will compete in his first tour-level main draw since advancing to the third round of Wimbledon in July. His last ATP World Tour victory came in Stuttgart this June. The 26 year old will play Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the first round. The top seed competing on Centre Court Tuesday as the main...

Ivo Karlovic saved three match points in a two-hour, 13-minute battle to eliminate Guido Pella, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(10) in the first round of the European Open in Antwerp, Belgium. The 38 year old saved two break points in the second set at 3-3 to avoid going down a set and a break against the Argentine, before holding off Pella’s three match points in the third-set tie-break. Each opportunity was on Karlovic’s serve, and the Croatian capitalised on his third opportunity to advance to the second round. In other action, Sergiy Stakhovsky temporarily halted Jared Donaldson’s efforts in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan with a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over the American. The Ukrainian saved the only break point he faced,...

Roger Federer broke down Rafael Nadal’s much-vaunted return game during his 6-4, 6-3 victory in the Shanghai Rolex Masters final by hitting the corners of the service boxes at will, and by staying a step ahead in the guessing game of which corner he was aiming at next. Federer’s serve was completely dialed in, leaving Nadal to continuously play catch-up on the quick indoor court. The pair has now played 38 times, with the Spaniard holding a 23-15 advantage. The following metrics show how dominant Federer was on serve and how Nadal was unable to make an impact on return. Nadal Return Statistics v Federer Lowest: 2nd Serve Return Points Won = 21% (3/14) It was the lowest percentage of...

ATP World Tour veteran Dudi Sela stalled #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric's hopes of qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals by eliminating the 20 year old from the VTB Kremlin Cup on Monday, 6-3, 6-2. The Israeli fell behind 0-2, but then won eight of the next nine games to take a commanding set and a break lead over the No. 6 player in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan. Sela would not look back, closing out his opponent in 63 minutes. While Coric can no longer control his destiny in the Race this week, he currently leads the final automatic qualifier, No. 7 Hyeon Chung, by 146 points.  Alexander Bublik maintained his dreams of qualifying for the inaugural Next...