The ATP World Tour is back in action this week at the St. Petersburg Open, where Roberto Bautista Agut is the top seed, and the Moselle Open in Metz, where Pablo Carreno Busta leads the charge and Lucas Pouille returns to defend his title. View Draws: St. Petersburg | Metz 10 THINGS TO WATCH IN ST. PETERSBURG (1) Into the Indoors: As the season changes from summer to fall, the ATP World Tour transitions from outdoor to indoor hard courts with the St. Petersburg Open and Moselle Open. One million dollars is on the line in St. Petersburg, the third-largest purse of the 40 ATP World Tour 250 events behind the season-opener in Doha ($1,237,190) and next week’s tournament in...
KAZAKHSTAN 3, ARGENTINA 2 Astana, Kazakhstan (Indoor clay) Kazakhstan pulled off a major upset on Sunday, defeating defending Davis Cup champions Argentina 3-2. Mikhail Kukushkin, who boasts a 21-13 record in singles for Kazakhstan, sealed victory for his team in a tight 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(2) triumph over Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman in front of a boisterous home crowd at Astana’s National Tennis Centre. Kazakhstan handed Argentina a walkover in the tie’s final dead rubber. Argentina, which was without recent US Open semi-finalist Juan Martin del Potro, will be relegated to Group I of the Americas Zone in 2018. COLOMBIA 1, CROATIA 3 Bogota, Colombia (Outdoor clay) Earning his third point of the tie, Marin Cilic led Croatia back into the Davis...
FRANCE 3, SERBIA 1 Lille, France (Outdoor Clay) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga provided the heroics on Sunday afternoon in Lille, giving France an unassailable 3-1 lead in their Davis Cup semi-final tie against Serbia. The French No. 1 rallied past Dusan Lajovic 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-2, claiming his 20th singles victory in his Davis Cup career. Lajovic had stunned Lucas Pouille to open the tie on Friday, but was unable to replicate the upset. Tsonga prevailed after two hours and 48 minutes, firing 38 winners including eight aces. It was sweet revenge for Les Bleus, who were defeated by Serbia in the 2010 final. Under the captaincy of Yannick Noah, the French squad will appear in its first final since 2014. They...
There are more than one billion people in China, but none are smiling as brightly as Wu Yibing. The 17 year old is redefining the Asian tennis landscape with every victory and on Sunday he notched another significant milestone, scoring his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Shanghai. Just seven days after lifting the US Open junior trophy, Yibing made history on home soil in becoming the youngest Chinese champion on the Challenger circuit. He claimed victory when Yen-Hsun Lu was forced to retire with a right shoulder injury after the first set (won by Yibing in a tie-break). Yibing's run to the title was as momentous as it was dominant. The Hangzhou native did not drop a set all...
Success is coming sooner than Wu Yibang expected. The 17-year-old Chinese prospect only won the US Open junior singles and doubles titles less than two weeks ago in New York. Now he stands one match away from landing his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title on home soil in Shanghai. Top seed, Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu, is his final hurdle. And Wu realises how great a hurdle that is, with Lu’s 29-title haul making him the all-time Challenger leader. Lu holds a 20-3 record in Challenger finals since 2008. “I played him last month in the Chengdu semi-finals, lost to him in the final set,” Wu said. “I know he is better than me, especially from the baseline but in that...