Yen-Hsun Lu held his nerve to beat #NextGen ATP star Karen Khachanov, who recovered from a 3-5 deficit in the deciding set and held two match points, in a thrilling 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(9) victory on Tuesday at the ASB Classic. Lu, the 2014 finalist, could not convert two match point opportunities at 5-4 in the third set, and at 6/5 and 8/7 in the tie-break. He saved match points at 6/7 and 8/9 before completing a memorable win, over two hours and 39 minutes, with a forehand winner. He will next play seventh seed Steve Johnson. Joao Sousa started his 2017 with a 6-1, 7-5 victory against fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Sousa won 55 per cent of his second-serve points...
Next Gen ATP star Karen Khachanov met up with top New Zealand chef Nic Watt for a helicopter visit to Waiheke Island during the ASB Classic. Photo: ASB Classic
Day 1 at the ASB Classic in Auckland saw seventh seed Steve Johnson and sixth seed Feliciano Lopez move through their first-round matches on Monday. Johnson opened up main draw action on Centre Court with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Stephane Robert. The American dropped just three points on his first serve during the match (28/31) and kept Robert on the defense throughout. Next up for Johnson is the winner between #NextGenATP star Karen Khachanov and Yen-Hsun Lu. Lopez had a more difficult test against wild card and local favourite Michael Venus. The doubles specialist got the crowd involved by grabbing the opening set, but Lopez regrouped to score a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory. The Spaniard next plays the winner...
Down Under Action Continues: After a busy opening week of the 2017 season with nine of the Top 10 in action, 10 of the Top 30 (as of 2 January Emirates ATP Rankings) are playing this week, with No. 8 Dominic Thiem the top seed in Sydney and Chennai champion Roberto Bautista Agut leading the field in Auckland. Apia International Sydney (Sydney, Australia): The youngest player in the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, 23-year-old Thiem, is the top seed and making his second straight appearance in Sydney. The other seeds are: No. 2 Pablo Cuevas, No. 3/two-time reigning champion Viktor Troicki, No. 4 Pablo Carreno Busta, No. 5 Philipp Kohlschreiber, No. 6 Gilles Muller, No. 7 Martin Klizan...