Juan Martin del Potro made a tentative, but ultimately successful, 2017 ATP World Tour debut Tuesday night at the Delray Beach Open, posting a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kevin Anderson. In a battle of the former Delray Beach champions, del Potro hit cautiously off his backhand wing and survived a tumble in the first set that left him with a grazed right knee. The former US Open champion, who has endured three left wrist surgeries (in addition to 2010 surgery on his right wrist), struggled to generate pace on his backhand and mixed in a number of one-handed slices. When Anderson approached the net, del Potro elected to either lob or stretch the South African with well-placed, medium-paced backhands. But...
Home favourite Thomaz Bellucci received a standing ovation after dismissing Rio Open presented by Claro top seed Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday. Nishikori reached the Argentina Open final last week and won their only previous meeting on the clay at the 2015 Roland Garros in straight sets, but the top-ranked Brazilian put in a commanding display to defeat the World No. 5. "Actually everything didn’t work well," said Nishikori. "Probably the condition changed a lot from last week: bounce really high and the balls are really heavy. The ball is the most difficult to adjust. I couldn’t feel anything today. I think it wasn’t my day." Bellucci, quarter-finalist in 2014, earned a second-round encounter with countryman Thiago Monteiro. The...
Nicolas Mahut rode a wave of home-crowd support to upset fifth-seeded #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev at the Open 13 Marseille on Tuesday. The 35-year-old Frenchman posted a 7-6(5), 7-6(5) result over the German in the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. Zverev, nearly 16 years his opponent’s junior, had claimed his second ATP World Tour title two weeks ago at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier. He fell short despite hitting six aces more and winning half of the 144 points played. Mahut's victory sets up a second-round meeting with Norbert Gombos. The Slovak posted a 6-1, 6-1 result over fellow-qualifier Evgeny Donskoy. Richard Gasquet continued a good night session for the home contingent when he knocked out Robin...
