Aussie wild card Sam Groth delights his home crowd with a win over Pierre-Hugues Herbert on Tuesday in Brisbane. Photo: Peter Staples/ATP World Tour. Video courtesy Tennis Australia.
Sixth seed Lucas Pouille tops Gilles Simon on Tuesday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp to advance to the second round. Photo: Peter Staples/ATP World Tour. Video courtesy Tennis Australia.
Rafael Nadal returned to the ATP World Tour for the first time in two-and-a-half months to beat 2012 finalist Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday night at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. The Spanish superstar, who is making his debut at the ATP World Tour 250 hard-court tournament, will next face Mischa Zverev in the second round. “It’s a beautiful court with great crowd - so it was a great experience,” said Nadal. “I think I played a solid match without too many mistakes. That makes me feel good and happy for the victory, obviously.” It was a battle between one of the ATP World Tour’s heaviest top-spinners, Nadal, versus one of flattest hitters, Dolgopolov, who gained the first...
Sixth seed Lucas Pouille recovered from a disastrous start to get the better of his French compatriot Gilles Simon for the first time on Tuesday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. Roger Federer’s training partner during the off-season, who is currently No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, edged past Simon 7-6(6), 7-6(4) in two hours and six minutes. Pouille was down 0-5 in first set against Simon and worried that he might be headed for a repeat of the 6-0, 6-1 loss to Simon in Miami last year. But he rallied en route to claiming his first win in three career meetings. Pouille saved two sets points in the first set at 2-5, 30/40 and at 5/6 in...