Twice Thomas Fabbiano served to take a set from fourth seed Alexander Zverev during their first-round match at the Australian Open on Tuesday. But both times Zverev raised his level and broke the Italian en route to his first win of the 2018 ATP World Tour season, a 6-1, 7-6(5), 7-5 victory on Rod Laver Arena. “I think I picked up my energy a little bit and was a little more intense on my returns,” Zverev said on court after the match. [ALSO LIKE] The 20-year-old rolled behind 47 winners, including 17 aces, and broke Fabbiano five times in the two-hour and 22-minute contest. It's the second consecutive year the 6'6” right-hander has advanced to the second round in Australia....
The upsets are continuing on Day 2 at the Australian Open. Former Australian Open semi-finalist Milos Raonic, the 22nd seed this year, has been eliminated by Slovakia's Lukas Lacko. The 30-year-old Lacko, No. 86 in the ATP Rankings, overcame 36 aces from the 6'5” Raonic to advance to the second round 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(4). [ALSO LIKE] It's one of the biggest wins of Lacko's career. The right-hander is 0-18 against Top 10 players but he improved to 14-30 at Grand Slams. Raonic was playing in his second match of the season after falling in his opener at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp to #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur. The former World No. 3 ended his season in October...
Tommy Buford, the longtime tournament director of the former ATP World Tour stop in Memphis, passed away at the age of 83 on Sunday at his home in Idaho. “Tommy was a true professional and a great tournament director. More than that, he was a warm, friendly Southern gentleman who was such a pleasure to deal with,” said ATP Vice Chairman Mark Young. “He will be fondly remembered and sorely missed by all who knew him.” Buford, who also coached the University of Memphis tennis team for 32 years, had some of the ATP World Tour’s best players compete at the Memphis indoor event each February, from Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe to Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. He was...
After the first day of play at the 2018 Australian Open five of the 16 seeds who competed are out. But what was shocking was that four of those five seeds — No. 8 Jack Sock, No. 11 Kevin Anderson, No. 18 Lucas Pouille and No. 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber — were all in the same section of the draw, leaving eight players who are 41st or lower in the ATP Rankings to battle for a spot in the quarter-finals at the first Grand Slam championship of the year. Since Grand Slams went from 16 to 32 seeds at 2001 Wimbledon, this is the first time that four seeds from the same eighth of a major draw fell in the opening...
Watch highlights as Brit Kyle Edmund stuns Kevin Anderson to advance at the 2018 Australian Open. Getty Images photo. Video courtesy Tennis Australia. Watch more video and live matches at www.ausopen.com. Highlights not available in Aus., NZ or Canada and only available in Europe and USA 24 hours after completion of the match.
