Lucas Pouille didn’t put a foot wrong on Sunday at the Gazprom Hungarian Open in Budapest, storming through the final with a 6-3, 6-1 win over qualifier Aljaz Bedene. The victory gives Pouille his second ATP World Tour title, with the Frenchman’s maiden trophy coming last year on home soil in Metz. Pouille improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Bedene to 2-0, including a victory this February in Marseille en route to the final (l. Tsonga). He has been in fine form on this clay this season and also reached the semi-finals last week at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. "I feel very happy with the way I started the clay season. To win here gives me a lot of confidence...
One week after securing a record 10th title at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Rafael Nadal etched his name in the history books once again, lifting a 10th trophy at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. Nadal's historic conclusion to the month of April extended to home soil, defeating Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-1. "I'm very satisfied. It's been an emotional day for me. Playing in front of my crowd and my club and winning a 10th title here is something that's impossible to even dream of. It's very special and unique,” said Nadal. “I played my best match of the tournament this afternoon against probably the toughest opponent in the tournament, so I'm very happy." Nadal has relinquished just one set in...
Brian Baker celebrated his 32nd birthday in style, claiming the doubles title at the inaugural Gazprom Hungarian Open alongside Nikola Mektic. Baker and Mektic prevailed 7-6(2), 6-4 over Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in Budapest, needing one hour and 27 minutes to secure their second team title on the ATP World Tour. Also the champions at the Memphis Open in February, they improved to 2-0 in tour-level finals together. The fourth seeds were ruthless on serve, dropping just 17 of 65 points in the final encounter. They took the first set in a tie-break and broke immediately at love to open the second, before eventually emerging victorious on their second match point. "I couldn't have asked for a better...
Florin Mergea of Romania and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan won their first ATP World Tour doubles title as a team on Sunday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. Mergea/Qureshi dismissed the German/Austrian pairing of Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya 6-4, 6-3 in a battle between unseeded pairings at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899, the oldest Spanish tennis club. “I couldn't be more happy. I've been working really hard, and I know he's a really hard worker,” Qureshi said. “There's so much history in this club, and it's great to be a part of it, to win a title here. Hopefully we can come back and win another title in this beautiful city.” The Romanian/Pakistani combination continued to raise their...
The Tallahassee tennis community has been hosting professional players on the ATP Challenger Tour this week, while also inspiring the future generations with a series of events. Over 500 children aged 10 and under, from local elementary schools, were introduced to the game of tennis through one-hour long sessions. World No. 136 Tennys Sandgren and quarter-finalist at the $75,000 Challenger Bradley Klahn passed on their expertise during the tennis clinics, before the children were offered the opportunity to attend the tournament to watch elite players in action. “That was fantastic, it was really nice to be a part of the event,” said Sandgren. “Here in Tallahassee they do a great job with getting the community involved and getting school children...
