Brian Baker of the U.S. and Nikola Mektic of Croatia kicked off their grass-court season with success on Tuesday, beating Frenchmen Lucas Pouille and Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-3 to move into the quarter-finals of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. Baker and Mektic, champions on the indoor hard courts in Memphis and the outdoor clay courts of Budapest already this season, won 82 per cent of their first-serve points to advance in 64 minutes. [ALSO LIKE] They will next face second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who advanced by walkover. Treat Huey and Robert Lindstedt had to withdraw because of a back problem for Huey, and no alternate doubles team was available to take their place. In other doubles action,...
Stuttgart fans will be treated to a battle of close friends on Wednesday when Tommy Haas and Roger Federer square off in the second round of the Mercedes Cup. The 39-year-old Haas advanced past Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 on Tuesday to get another chance at Federer, the top seed who received a first-round bye. “I felt I served well… we both struggled a little with the returns. We used our chances when we got them. The key part to winning the match was getting that one more break point than my opponent. I’m obviously very pleased and anything can happen on grass,” said Haas, who converted two of three break points. The 35-year-old Federer leads their FedEx ATP...
Tommy Haas talks about his first-round win and looks ahead to his second-round match against Roger Federer at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart. MercedesCup video.
Crushed brick has been replaced by mown lawns. Ribbed soles have been unlaced in favour of pimple-soled shoes. Baseline battles and lengthy rallies won't be commonplace as knee-bending, dinks and sliced shots are now essential for success during the six-week grass-court swing. World No. 1 Andy Murray was perfect on grass in 2016, with a 12-0 record (1.000), winning the two tournaments he entered: his fifth crown at the Aegon Championships (30-5 tournament record) and his second trophy at Wimbledon (53-9 event record). The player Murray beat in both finals, Canada’s Milos Raonic, who brought on board three-time former Wimbledon champion John McEnroe for last year’s grass-court swing, went 10-2 (.833). The World No. 6 will be looking to add...