Brazilian Thiago Monteiro snuck in an upset before rain suspended play on Tuesday at the Ecuador Open in Quito.
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The 23-year-old knocked off fifth seed Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-4, 7-6(8), saving the only break point he faced in the one-hour and 39-minute match. Monteiro will next face either Italian lucky loser Alessandro Giannessi or Peter Polansky of Canada.
Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena beat Italy's Federico Gaio 7-6(5), 6-3 in the only other completed match of the day. Wednesday's play kicks off with seventh seed Ivo Karlovic facing Ernesto Escobedo of the U.S.A.
Russian Karen Khachanov came back from a set down against one of the toughest competitors on the ATP World Tour to advance on Tuesday at the Open Sud de France. The 21-year-old Khachanov beat Spain's David Ferrer 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4, avoiding a single break point in the decider to reach the second round in Montpellier. Both players were coming off of good runs in Auckland, before the Australian Open. Khachanov reached the quarter-finals at the ASB Classic, Ferrer the semi-finals. They both lost to Juan Martin del Potro. In fact, Khachanov's two losses this season have come against Del Potro (also second round Australian Open). [ALSO LIKE] Khachanov will next face Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis, who battled past 36-year-old Frenchman Julien Benneteau. Berankis,...
Viktor Troicki secured just his third win in nine matches since the 2017 Rolex Shanghai Masters to beat former Top 10 player Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3 at the Diema Xtra Sofia Open on Tuesday. The 31-year-old started strong with an early break of serve before closing out the opener to love with confidence. The second set saw dominant serving from both men, with none of the 12 games reaching deuce before Gulbis dominated the tie-break to force a decider. Troicki continued his dominant serving in the third set, and after breaking the Latvian in the fourth game, served out the match to love five games later to end Gulbis’ challenge. Troicki did not face a single break point in...
Tennis players are always at the center of the ATP World Tour’s world. But this week at the Ecuador Open in Quito, the country’s capital, the competitors paid a visit to the actual center of the Earth at the equator. Gael Monfils, his doubles partner Dorian Descloix, No. 1 Chilean Nicolas Jarry and home favourite Roberto Quiroz — the No. 1 player from Ecuador — played mini tennis on the equator during a visit to the Mitad del Mundo on Monday, where government officials presented the quartet with sombreros de paja toquilla — Ecuadorian hats. [ALSO LIKE] All of the players attempted to do something that cannot be done except on the equator: balancing an egg on a nail. Only...
