Defending champions and second seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau booked their spots in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals on Thursday with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Marcin Matkowski and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. The Dutch-Romanian team has a 16-4 record in finals, including a 5-1 mark in ATP World Tour 500 title matches. Rojer and Tecau will next face third seeds Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram, who beat Pune and Sofia titlists Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop 6-3, 7-6(6). Leander Paes moved to within two match wins of 750 victories on day four, partnering Jamie Cerretani to a 2-6, 6-4, 10/7 result over fourth seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus. They will now prepare to face Damir Dzumhur and...
Have a day, Fernando Verdasco! Following his singles semi-final victory at the Rio Open presented by Claro, the Spaniard said that he has found extra motivation in his tournament debut. The confidence boost extended into the doubles final as well. Verdasco captured the title in Rio de Janeiro alongside countryman David Marrero, rallying past Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya 5-7, 7-5, 10/8 in one hour and 51 minutes. Just hours earlier, the Madrid native advanced to his 23rd ATP World Tour singles final, downing Fabio Fognini in straight sets. Take a bow, gentlemen (all four of you! ) Epic doubles point! #RioOpen2018 pic.twitter.com/bhOYzAfTCV — Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 25, 2018 "It was a difficult match, but the good thing is...
It was a case of the stuck ball. At 7-5, 4-0, Stefan Kozlov and Taylor Fritz were trying to rally their way into their first-round match against Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan at the Delray Beach Open.
Then the ball became stuck. Kozlov had tried to hit the ball back to the Bryans but the ball wedged itself perfectly into the neck of his racquet.
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Instead of getting upset, though, Kozlov had to laugh. He tossed his racquet to Mike Bryan, who tried to loosen the trapped ball and then threw the racquet back before play continued.
The Bryan brothers, four-time Delray Beach Open champions (2009, 2010, 2014, 2015), will next meet compatriots Jack Sock and Jackson Withrow.
Sunday was already special for Max Mirnyi, as the Belarusian was competing in his 100th combined tour-level final. But it got better for the 40-year-old, who partnered Philipp Oswald to defeat Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak 6-4, 4-6, 10/6 in one hour, 29 minutes at the inaugural New York Open. "I'm thrilled that we got through," Mirnyi said. "A couple tough matches. I felt like the match yesterday we kind of got lucky towards the end. They were a better team than us. Today was maybe 50-50 and there was definitely some magic for us in New York. I'm thrilled about that." [ALSO LIKE] It is the pair’s second title together (2017 Moscow) in their third final (l. 2018 Auckland)....
Second seeds Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald ousted home favourites Ryan Harrison and Steve Johnson 4-6, 6-4, 10/7 at the New York Open on Saturday to advance to their second final of the year (l. in Auckland). But more notably, it secured Mirnyi his 100th combined tour-level final appearance. The Belarusian made four singles finals in his career (1-3) and will compete in his 96th doubles championship match (50-45) on Sunday. If the 40-year-old and his partner raise the trophy in New York on Sunday, Mirnyi will have won a tour-level doubles title in 18 of the past 20 seasons. The former No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings has made at least one final in every season since 1997....
