Kei Nishikori has been burning the midnight oil this week at the Citi Open. After an opening-round win over Donald Young that ended after 1:30am, his Thursday match against 13th seed Juan Martin del Potro spilled into Friday. The 2015 champion hit his final ball of the night at 2:00am local time to reach the quarter-finals over the Argentine 6-4, 7-5. "It was a very tight game and we played great tennis in the second set," said Nishikori. "I was dominating my service games and very happy with my tennis today." The Japanese player went into the match trailing del Potro 1-5 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head, but was in firm control throughout much of the contest. However, it appeared...
Kevin Anderson discusses recovering from a 3-5 deficit in the deciding set and saving one match point against Dominic Thiem on Thursday at the Citi Open.
Top seed Tomas Berdych survived a scare on Thursday at Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex, rallying from 1-4 down in the final set to reach the quarter-finals over Adrian Mannarino 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. The Czech player is continuing to build on his semi-final run at Wimbledon as he bids for his first ATP World Tour title of the season. “It was a good test for me because he was really playing well and I had to fight for every point. You appreciate these matches more than winning easily,” said Berdych. “I just had to stay patient and keep believing in myself.” Mannarino, who reached the final in Antalya this past June (l. Sugita), appeared poised to reach...
Flashback to 20 July 2015, and you find 18-year-old Alexander Zverev No. 123 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. His potential was obvious but yet to be fully realised. Fast forward two years to 31 July 2017, and you discover that the now 20-year-old German has skyrocketed to No. 8 in the world. He is now the real deal, and what’s scary is that his potential is still largely unearthed. He is still adding muscle to his 6’6” frame, still putting the subtleties of strategy together, and still discovering what really matters when push comes to shove under the bright lights. Look out world when this jigsaw comes together. The discussion about Zverev rising to No. 1 in the world is...
In a thrilling third-round battle whose finish was delayed by rain and numerous shifts in momentum, 15th seed Kevin Anderson saved a match point in the final-set tie-break to prevail in a wild contest over top seed Dominic Thiem on Thursday at the Citi Open 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(7). “It feels great. I’ve worked really hard and committed myself to playing the kind of tennis I want to play. I could do that on the practice court and sometimes struggled to bring it to the match court, but now I’m succeeding with that more often,” said Anderson. “Obviously each day presents a new challenge, but I look forward to each one and I’m much more confident overall.” Anderson appeared to have...