Before his maiden ATP World Tour title in Istanbul on Sunday, Japan's Taro Daniel hadn't reached a tour-level semi-final, let alone leave a tournament with the biggest trophy. But at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open, the 25-year-old won five matches in a row to claim the ATP World Tour 250-level tournament. In doing so, Daniel jumped 32 spots in the ATP Rankings to a career-high of No. 82. Earlier this year at the Miami Open, he spoke with Scoop Malinowski about his career highlights, the traveling life of a tennis player and which quality he admires most in people. [ALSO LIKE] First Tennis Memory: My parents used to be members of a tennis club in Japan. They had clay...
Taro Daniel arrived at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open having never advanced to an ATP World Tour semi-final. The Japanese right-hander was on the verge of falling short again, trailing 0-4 in the deciding set of his quarter-final. But after an impressive performance Sunday against fellow first-time tour-level finalist Malek Jaziri, Daniel raised his first ATP World Tour trophy. Daniel spoke to ATPWorldTour.com after the match about what the victory means to him, how he approached the moment and more. How does it feel to be holding your first ATP World Tour trophy? Obviously I’m very happy. But I’m very surprised, mostly. I lost in the first round of a Challenger two weeks ago, so winning an ATP World...
Taro Daniel was on top of the world when he defeated five-time BNP Paribas Open champion Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells this year. But just as quickly as he climbed into the spotlight, losses in four of five matches at all levels sent the Japanese back to reality. That was until the World No. 114 completed the best week of his career on Sunday, capping off his first ATP World Tour triumph with a 7-6(4), 6-4 win against another first-time tour-level finalist, Malek Jaziri, at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open. "Obviously really happy. I think today was a great match, a lot of long rallies from the beginning until the end," Daniel said. "Very happy. I'm obviously pretty surprised...
It had been exactly two years since Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt, who made the 2015 US Open semi-finals and triumphed that year in Winston-Salem, teamed. But the British-Swedish pair showed that their chemistry is still there, defeating top seeds Ben McLachlan and Nicholas Monroe 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 on Sunday to claim victory at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open. The triumph marks the 400th match-win of Lindstedt’s career, and the 41-year-old has now won 22 tour-level doubles titles. His partner, Inglot, has now won back-to-back titles after coming out victorious last week in Budapest. He now owns nine ATP World Tour trophies. "I knew starting this year that reaching 400 was a possibility. Maybe I could've done it sooner...
The all-British team of Kyle Edmund and Cameron Norrie continued their run of form on Saturday, as they navigated past Leonardo Mayer and home-favourite Joao Sousa 6-2, 7-6(4) at the Millennium Estoril Open. Edmund had faced Sousa just a day earlier in singles, with the Portuguese emerging victorious in three sets. But it was Edmund who came out on top in doubles with Norrie, with both reaching their first tour-level doubles final. In the first semi-final of the day, Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak beat Jonathan Eysseric and Joe Salisbury, 7-5, 6-3. The Dutch-Kiwi duo was unbroken throughout the match and converted both break points on Eysseric/Salisbury’s serve to claim victory in one hour, 11 minutes. Dodig/Ram Blitz Germans At...
