There were moments when Pablo Andujar could not envision a return to professional tennis, let alone wrapping his arms around a trophy. After three elbow surgeries and years of anguish, the former World No. 32 had his doubts that he would ever step on a court again. But when the body fails, perseverence prevails. In just his eighth tournament in 18 months, Andujar battled to the title at the inaugural ATP Challenger Tour event in Alicante, Spain. He celebrated his first trophy in nearly four years, since triumphing at the Swiss Open Gstaad in 2014. After battling to a trio of three-set victories during the week, Andujar needed just one hour and 36 minutes to upset #NextGenATP star Alex de...
The ATP World Tour’s only clay-court event in North America and the Tour's lone event in Africa take place this week at Houston and Marrakech, respectively. Twelve clay-court tournaments will be held over the next seven weeks leading into Roland Garros, with thousands of ATP Rankings points at stake. In Houston at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship, top seed John Isner will attempt to back up his terrific performance to win the second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year in Miami, while 2017 Monte-Carlo finalist and top seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas will look to start his clay-court stretch off on a high note, leading the field at the Grand Prix Hassan II in...
CROATIA 3, KAZAKHSTAN 1 Venue: Varazdin Arena, Varazdin, CRO (clay - indoor) Croatia reached the Davis Cup World Group semi-finals for the second time in three years after World No. 3 Marin Cilic cruised past Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. Cilic hit 31 winners to ease past Kukushkin, who scored the visiting nation’s only point on Friday, after two hours and one minute. Since losing to Juan Martin del Potro in the 2016 final, the Croatian No.1 has won all six matches he has played in the team event. [ALSO LIKE] The Australian Open finalist improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Kukushkin to 3-1. Croatia has now won six consecutive ties on clay, with its last loss on...
SPAIN 3, GERMANY 2 Venue: Plaza de Toros de Valencia, Valencia, ESP (clay- outdoor) World No. 1 Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer both scored wins on Sunday to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Germany, and book Spain’s place in the Davis Cup World Group semi-finals. To begin play on Sunday, Nadal forced a decisive fifth rubber by impressively defeating Germany’s Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 in a battle between two players inside the Top 5 of the ATP Rankings. The Spaniard levelled the Davis Cup quarter-final tie against Germany at 2-2 after two hours and 16 minutes, breaking the 20-year-old on six occasions en route to his second three-set win in three days. Speaking on court after the crucial win, Nadal...
