Fifth seed Fernando Verdasco remained perfect on clay against Kevin Anderson on Wednesday, edging the South African 7-6(4), 7-6(4) to move into the second round of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston. After taking the first set tie-break, the Spaniard was broken to start the second set but broke right back to even the set at 1-1. Verdasco would win the final two points of the second set tie-break to finish the one-hour and 57-minute contest. The 33-year-old left-hander now leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 3-2, having won their previous match-ups on clay in 2011 (Estoril) and 2012 (Barcelona). Anderson, though, had won their past two contests, at the 2013 Australian Open and...
#NextGenATP player Borna Coric ended the run of local favourite Reda El Amrani on Wednesday, beating the Moroccan wild card 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5) at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech. Coric, a finalist last year, saved eight of 11 break points and broke El Amrani four times in the two-hour and 42-minute victory. The 28-year-old El Amrani, No. 667 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, had reached the Marrakech quarter-finals in 2010 and was going for his second ATP World Tour win of the season. The right-hander advanced to the second round when defending champion Federico Delbonis of Argentina retired because of a left leg injury down 6-7(3), 0-1. [ALSO LIKE] Coric will meet second seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the...
Ahead of his first match as the top seed at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, the 2015 Houston champion reveals his first memorable moment on the ATP World Tour and the first time he flew business class. First moment I realised I loved tennis Pretty much as soon as I started playing at eight years old. My parents said I was obsessed with it right from the beginning. First tournament I played I was nine years old. I grew up in Lincoln (Nebraska), but was playing in Kansas City at a place called The Plaza. I was pretty horrible [smiles], but thought I’d try it just to see how I could do. First coach and...
As they battle to secure their place in Milan at the end of the year, the #NextGenATP stars have been lighting it up on the ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour with an array of hot shots.
ATPWorldTour.com has chosen the best five and now it’s up to you, the fans, to decide which is the best hot shot from a #NextGenATP player in the first quarter of the season.
Click through to watch the Top 5 and cast your vote!
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It’s not unfamiliar to see players take a few years to find their footing on the ATP World Tour, but Nicholas Monroe recently achieved a career milestone at age 34. The American, who celebrates his 35th birthday this week at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final this year in Miami. Paired with Jack Sock, they defeated several top teams en route to the championship match, including top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers, and Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan. “Jack is probably the best doubles player in the world right now, in my opinion, so that was always going to be a lot of fun. We gel...