Gilles Muller moved up to a career-high of No. 28, following his victory at the Apia International Sydney where he lifted his first ATP World Tour title. Competing in his sixth final (1-5), the Luxembourg native defeated Daniel Evans 7-6(5), 6-2 in front of his two sons, Lenny and Nils. He also beat two-time defending champion Viktor Troicki in the semi-finals, ending the Serbian’s 10-match winning streak at the tournament. After being presented the trophy by all-time great Rod Laver, Muller said, “It means a lot. Like you can see, I was pretty emotional out there on the court. For the past two or three years, it was probably my biggest goal to win a title. I always dreamed of...
Top seed Andy Murray came up against a determined Illya Marchenko on Monday at the Australian Open in Melbourne, but the Brit passed his first-round challenge with a solid 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-2 win. "I don't think it was the best match, to be honest," said Murray. "The conditions there were pretty different to what we've been practising [in]. Last week's been pretty cool… [I] didn't serve that well either. So you end up having to work really hard on a lot of your service games when it's like that. It just was tough." Murray was unable to serve out the first set at 5-3, but regrouped by breaking the Ukrainian at 6-5 to grab the early advantage. Marchenko continued to...
Seventh seed Marin Cilic fended off a stern opening round test from former Top 15 player Jerzy Janowicz on Monday at the Australian Open in Melbourne, rallying from two sets down to prevail 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 on Show Court 2. Both players produced an extraordinarily high level of tennis in the first two sets, with Janowicz hitting 23 winners and just nine unforced errors, while Cilic struck 27 winners and only 15 unforced errors. The Polish player required just a single break of serve late in each set to take a commanding two-sets lead. But while Cilic was able to keep up his top form, Janowicz saw his level drop slightly. Cilic took full advantage of the opening,...
Kei Nishikori showed his deciding-set prowess once more on Monday to start the 2017 Australian Open in Melbourne. The fifth seed survived a mid-day battle against Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-2 in three hours and 34 minutes. “I didn't quite play great tennis in the beginning, but especially in the fifth set, I think I was really focused and played good tennis,” said Nishikori. “I’ll try not to play a long match like this again. But the fifth set was pretty good, so I think I'm in good shape for the next round.” Nishikori led the fourth-set tie-break 5-2 before Kuznetsov stormed back, winning six of the final seven points to force a fifth set. But Nishikori,...
Big Four Back Together: The Big Four of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have accounted for 42 of the past 47 Grand Slam tournaments since Roland Garros in 2005 when Nadal won his first of 14 Grand Slam titles. During the current stretch, Nadal has won 14 titles, Federer 13, Djokovic 12 and Murray 3. The three other players to win a Grand Slam title during the span are Stan Wawrinka, a three-time champion (2014 Australian Open, 2015 Roland Garros, 2016 US Open), Marin Cilic (2014 US Open) and Juan Martin del Potro (2009 US Open). The Big Four have won past 11 of the past 13 titles in Melbourne since Federer won his first title...
