Sixth seed and home favourite Mischa Zverev was ruthless on serve during his grass-court opener on Monday, winning 84 per cent of his service points (32/38) to beat Tunisia's Malek Jaziri 6-3, 6-1 at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart. Zverev hit seven aces and never faced a break point during the 54-minute victory. The 29 year old, who reached the Stuttgart quarter-finals in 2009 and 2015, is one of eight Germans in the draw and will next meet wild card and compatriot Yannick Hanfmann, who beat Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 7-5. “I think it was a good match, and I felt pretty comfortable based on the circumstances, it's the first match after changing surfaces,” Zverev said. Watch Live On TennisTV...
Two-time defending champion and seventh seed Nicolas Mahut began his campaign Monday at the Ricoh Open with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Dennis Novikov. Mahut struck 15 aces to Novikov's 13, as he extended his winning streak at this ATP World Tour 250 tournament to 14 matches (including 2015 qualifying). “Grass is coming back, so smile is coming back again to my face,” said Mahut in an interview with TENNiS Magazine Netherlands. “When I come here [after Roland Garros], I feel like it’s so quiet. I can rest. I can feel calm again. It’s not about tennis-wise, it’s everything around it. I feel much better.” The Frenchman, who next meets Yen-Hsun Lu or Evgeny Donskoy, also won the 's-Hertogenbosch title as a qualifier...
Rafael Nadal has broken back into the Top 2 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time since 6 October 2014 as a result of a stellar clay-court swing that culminated in the Spaniard winning a 10th title at Roland Garros. It was his 15th Grand Slam championship title. Having won 24 of his 25 matches on European red dirt in 2017, Nadal has put himself in prime position to finish the season as year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time since 2013. The 31-year-old superstar, who has won 53 of his 73 crowns on clay courts, has spent 634 weeks in the Top 10 over the course of his illustrious career. He first...
10 THINGS TO WATCH IN STUTTGART Grass Circuit Opens: The six-tournament grass-court circuit leading into Wimbledon begins in Stuttgart and ’s-Hertogenbosch. The inaugural Stuttgart event was in 1898, with Mercedes-Benz assuming the role of title sponsor in 1979. This is the third year the event is being played on grass. Federer Leads Field: Roger Federer is one of four Top 20 players who will receive first-round byes. The other Top 4 seeds are Grigor Dimitrov, Tomas Berdych and wild card Lucas Pouille. Roger Returns: Federer is playing in his first event since winning the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Miami on 2 April. The Swiss star is 19-1 this season and on an 11-match win streak. In his...
