Ryan Harrison's start to remember in 2018 continued on Monday at the New York Open. The Louisiana native outplayed compatriot Donald Young 6-3, 7-6(4) to advance to the second round in Long Island. This is the first ATP World Tour tournament on Long Island since 2004 when the tennis took place in August, one week before the US Open. This year’s tournament is being played at the NYCB Live, home of the Nassau Coliseum. Harrison won the 2017 Memphis Open, the former name of this ATP World Tour tournament (d. Basilashvili). “A tricky match... I was serving well early and that was able to get me through a lot of early mistakes and missed opportunities with some early break points,”...
Neal Skupski has started his 2018 much like he finished 2017. At the end of last season, he teamed with brother Ken Skupski to make the ATP Challenger Tour final in Eckental, Germany, and triumph in Bratislava, Slovakia. The brothers then captured the trophy two weeks ago at another Challenger in Quimper, France. But this past week, Neal achieved his greatest result to date, joining Ken again to win his first tour-level title at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier. Skupski spoke to ATPWorldTour.com upon his arrival at the New York Open, where he is competing alongside 91-time tour-level titlist Daniel Nestor. How does it feel to be an ATP World Tour champion? It’s unbelievable. It’s obviously a dream...
Two-time Argentina Open quarter-finalist Federico Delbonis broke five times to advance to the second round in Buenos Aires on Monday. The 27-year-old left-hander, making his eighth appearance at the Argentina Open, beat Germany's Florian Mayer 7-6(4), 6-4. [ALSO LIKE] Delbonis will next meet Portugal's Gastao Elias or Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, who won his maiden ATP World Tour title at the Ecuador Open in Quito on Sunday. In other action, Delbonis' countryman Guido Pella also moved into the second round, beating countryman Nicolas Kicker 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Serbia's Dusan Lajovic knocked out Argentine qualifier Facundo Bagnis 7-6(4), 6-1; Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez swept wild card Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-3, 6-3; and Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci dropped only three games against...
Bjorn Fratangelo, the World No. 109 who advanced to the semi-finals at the 2017 Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island, qualified for the inaugural New York Open on Monday with a third-set tie-break victory against #NextGenATP Kazakh Alexander Bublik. The 24-year-old American spoke to ATPWorldTour.com about his favourite things to do off the court, who he admires most and more: What’s your biggest passion outside of sport and why? I would say food. I come from a big Italian family and I actually really enjoy cooking every time I’m back home, which isn’t too often. I always try to work on my cooking skills. Favourite dish? Steak and some sort of side. What was the last...
Alexander Zverev advanced to the second round of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament with a 6-4, 6-3 win over David Ferrer on Monday. The 20-year-old Zverev needed one hour and 24 minutes to dispatch the veteran Spaniard. “It's not easy to play Ferrer, especially in the first round of a tournament,” Zverev said. “This is a tough tournament, and I'm happy with the win.” While Zverev struggled with his serve, he still managed to save nine of 11 break point opportunities. He also converted on five of six break-point opportunities (2/11 for Ferrer). Both committed an uncharacteristic number of unforced errors (Zverev, 26; Ferrer, 31). [ALSO LIKE] “The court is quite quick and the balls are bouncing low. I'm...