Milos Raonic set up a second-round meeting with third seed Grigor Dimitrov on Monday, defeating Argentina’s Nicolas Kicker 6-3, 6-2 at the Mutua Madrid Open. The two-time quarter-finalist (2015, 2016) took just 74 minutes to secure victory, hitting 17 aces to beat the Madrid debutant. Raonic has now won 10 matches on the ATP World Tour this season, highlighted by strong showings at the opening ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events of the season in Indian Wells and Miami. The Canadian reached the semi-finals in California and the quarter-finals in Florida before losing to Juan Martin del Potro on both occasions. The World No. 24 secured the only break of the first set in the fourth game of the match...
Rafael Nadal may be 19 matches (and 46 sets) unbeaten on his favourite surface, but even one of the sport’s greatest icons isn’t leaving anything to chance in his preparations for the Mutua Madrid Open, where he is a five-time champion. “I think that I go through a process of adaptation,” said Nadal on Monday. “I have played a couple of tournaments before where I have played really well. In Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, you have the feeling that you are in control of the situation. Here, it's different. It takes you time to adapt to how the ball bounces and flies. “Day by day I keep improving. I have better feelings. I'm happy to be back here. It's always special...
Watch as Grigor Dimitrov shares his thoughts on his surprise victory over Novak Djokovic at the 2013 Mutua Madrid Open. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.
Benoit Paire struck 39 winners on Monday to beat fellow Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-3 for a place in the Mutua Madrid Open second round. The World No. 50, who will next play #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov, beat No. 15 seed Pouille for the first time in their fourth FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting over 79 minutes. Pouille beat Paire en route to his fifth ATP World Tour title at the Open Sud de France in February, but is now winless in three clay-court matches. Paire broke serve in the sixth game, then later converted his fourth set point chance with a backhand winner down the line. He took a 3-0 lead in the second set, but was broken for the...
No. 48 Joao Sousa, +20 It had long been a dream of Joao Sousa's: become the first Portugese-born player to win an ATP World Tour title on home soil. And with the crowd's help on Sunday, Sousa achieved the milestone to win his third ATP World Tour title and first since 2015 Valencia. He also climbed closer to his career-high ATP Ranking of No. 28, which he reached in May 2016. The right-hander jumped 20 spots to No. 48 and could come close this season to breaking the Top 30 again. Before Estoril, Sousa had reached a semi-final (Marrakech) and beaten two Top 10 players at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments (No. 9 Goffin, Miami; No. 5 Zverev, Indian...
