Pablo Carreno Busta finished 2017 on a high, playing two matches in the Nitto ATP Finals as an alternate. And the Spaniard appeared he would begin the new ATP World Tour campaign strongly as well Tuesday. He twice served for his season-opening match against Borna Coric at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in the third set, before holding three match points in the eventual tie-break. But Coric had the courage to step into the court in the big moments and seize the victory from second seed Carreno Busta, surviving the two-hour 41-minute battle 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(8). How did he manage to find his way past the No. 10 player in the ATP Rankings? “To be honest I don’t know,” Coric said....
The first time Dominic Thiem played in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in 2014, he was a 20-year-old qualifier who lost in the first round of the main draw against the No. 162 player in the ATP Rankings. Just four years later, the Austrian is a star on the ATP World Tour and he showed it in his 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over Evgeny Donskoy on Monday. The top seed, who is now ranked No. 5, won a stunning 92 per cent of his first-serve points and overcame a strong performance by the Russian in the opening set to earn his first triumph of the new campaign. “It was a good victory because [of a] tough opponent… after a pretty long period...
Dominic Thiem and Tomas Berdych had a career-first experience to kick off the 2018 Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha. Thiem and Berdych hit a few balls at the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development on Sunday night. The foundation is a private, non-profit organization that “strives to nurture the future leaders of Qatar”. “[It was a] very good welcome to Doha... very nice special effects and a good atmosphere to play in,” Thiem said. [ALSO LIKE] The Austrian, who finished his 2017 season by making his second appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals in London, is also making his second showing in Doha. In 2013, Thiem qualified but fell in the first round to Belgian Peter Gojowczyk. Thiem,...
The 2018 ATP World Tour season gets underway with a trio of tournaments, as today's stars descend on Brisbane, Doha and Pune. Reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov is the top seed and defending champion at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, while Dominic Thiem leads the field at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open and Marin Cilic leads the pack at the Tata Open Maharashtra. View Draws: Brisbane | Doha | Pune 10 THINGS TO WATCH IN BRISBANE (1) 2018 Begins in Brisbane: The 2018 ATP World Tour kicks off with the 10th Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, where main draw play begins on New Year’s Eve. World No. 3 and Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov, two-time Brisbane winner and...
