Upsets reigned again on Friday at the Ecuador Open, but a strong favourite managed to avoid the bug and emerged as the favourite heading into the final two days of the ATP World Tour 250 event. Second seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas beat Austria's Gerald Melzer 6-2, 6-4 to reach his third semi-final in Quito and his first of the season. The 30-year-old Spaniard pounced on Melzer's second serve, winning 70 per cent of those points (16/23). Ramos-Vinolas will play in his first ATP World Tour semi-final since making the 2017 Monte-Carlo final (l. to Nadal). Ramos-Vinolas has fallen in his previous two Quito semi-finals, but he's the only remaining player in Quito who has won an ATP World Tour title (2016...
Continuing our Season In Review Series, ATPWorldTour.com revisits the biggest ATP World Tour comebacks of 2017: 5-tie. Novak Djokovic d. Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 - Doha SF Borna Coric d. Philipp Kohlschreiber 5-7, 7-6(3), 7-5 - Marrakech F Five for five at No. 5. A pair of five-match point saving thrillers kick off our list, with both Novak Djokovic and Borna Coric rallying from a set and a break down to dramatically escape from the jaws of defeat. For Djokovic, the drama played out in Doha at the season-opening Qatar ExxonMobil Open, where he dodged five match points against Fernando Verdasco in a second-set tie-break. The Serbian, who was No. 2 in the Emirates...
Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas talks to ATP World Tour Uncovered presented by Peugeot about his rise up the Emirates ATP Rankings and a runner-up finish at the 2017 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Albert Ramos-Vinolas makes a celebrated return to ATP World Tour Masters 1000 action on home soil at the Mutua Madrid Open, three weeks after a dream run to the final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. In Monte-Carlo, the 29 year old posted consecutive wins over a trio of Top 20 players – No. 1 Andy Murray, No. 8 Marin Cilic and No. 17 Lucas Pouille – before finishing runner-up to countryman Rafael Nadal. However, ask the Barcelona native about his biggest Masters 1000 victory, and there’s one result that tops even those. Ramos-Vinolas looks back on that memorable second-round win over Roger Federer at the 2015 Shanghai Rolex Masters and also shares what makes playing in Madrid so special. Which...
Albert Ramos-Vinolas was disappointed to lose in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final on Sunday, but was full of praise for Rafael Nadal after the match. The 15th seed enjoyed a dream run to the championship match, scoring wins over World No. 1 Andy Murray and fifth seed Marin Cilic, among other impressive victories. Ramos-Vinolas admitted that the mental and physical toll of the week had left him spent, but that beating Nadal would have been a tall task even at his peak. “I think that he was a little bit better in everything. He has a little bit more power than me. When he's a little bit better in everything, it's what we saw in the match,” said Ramos-Vinolas. “But...