Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic have started the 2018 ATP World Tour season perfectly. For the second consecutive week, the Austrian/Croatian pairing went 4-0 to win an ATP World Tour doubles title. Marach/Pavic beat Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 6-4, 5-7, 10-7 on Saturday at the ASB Classic in Auckland for their second title of the year. In week one, Marach/Pavic captured the doubles crown at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha. [ALSO LIKE] “We have a lot of confidence, played two good weeks. Now it's time to recover and get sharp for Melbourne,” Marach said. The champions saved seven of nine break points in the 90-minute contest. “It was not an easy match today especially against Max. He has...
Ah, mid-January, one of the best times of the year for tennis fans. Our favourite sport is back and into full swing, with the first Grand Slam of the year, the Happy Slam, kicking into action. But the start times of the matches in Australia, the time differences! Calm down. We say embrace the early starts, the 3 a.m. or 6 a.m. or (insert your alarm time here) beginnings. You can pick and choose which days you arise early, but definitely turn your phone alarm on high in time for these first-rounders in Melbourne. View Draw | Read Draw Preview | Relive The 2017 Final Between Federer-Nadal Frances Tiafoe (USA) vs. (12) Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) FedEx ATP Head2Head...
American Bjorn Fratangelo has begun his past two Grand Slam seasons in Australian Open qualifying, and ended up in the main draw twice — in 2016 as a lucky loser and last season by winning all three matches. The 24-year-old is one match from making the main draw for the third year in a row after beating #NextGenATP Hungarian Zsombor Piros, who won the junior title in Australia last year, 6-3, 6-4, on a rain-logged Friday in Melbourne. “Conditions were different today – it was a lot more humid, which made things a little bit slower,” Fratangelo said. “I didn’t know his game at all, but I knew that he won juniors here last year. He’s definitely a good little player.”...
Watch Lukas Kubot demonstrate his post-match celebration to his doubles partner Marcelo Melo on Friday after they lifted they lifted the Sydney International title. Video courtesy Sydney International. Visit sydneyinternational.com.au for more video.
Max Mirnyi, who is contesting his 25th season as pro, recorded his 1,000th overall match win — both in singles and doubles — on Friday when he partnered Philipp Oswald to the ASB Classic final. The 40-year-old Belarusian has now notched 756 doubles victories and 244 as a singles player. He has a 50-44 record in doubles title matches, with his lone singles crown coming at the 2003 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (d. Sluiter). Mirnyi and Oswald booked their places in a second ATP World Tour final as a team (2017 VTB Kremlin Cup) with a 7-6(7), 7-6(6) victory over second seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus in one hour and 39 minutes. They will take on the in-form...
