Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri caused a major upset on Thursday at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open. The World No. 78 knocked out top-seeded Croatian and defending champion Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-2 for the second Top 10 win of his career (2-11) and a place in the quarter-finals. “I’m really happy to win. It's a very important match in my career,” said Jaziri. "I’ve worked really hard to get this win over a Top 5 player. It wasn’t an easy match as I needed to be focused every point, so to keep my error count down. I feel as if I am improving my tennis and fitness every week.” Newly-wed Cilic, who beat Milos Raonic in the 2017 Istanbul final, took...
Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt secured their place in the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open quarter-finals on Wednesday when they knocked out Roman Jebavy and Florin Mergea 7-6(4), 6-1 in 71 minutes. The pair has won one ATP World Tour title together at the 2015 Winston-Salem Open (d. Butorac-Lipsky). The British-Swedish team will next challenge fourth seeds Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski, champions at the Open Sud de France (d. McLachlan/Nys) in February. At the Millennium Estoril Open, top seeds John Peers and Jean-Julien Rojer joined forces to knock out Argentines Guillermo Duran and Andres Molteni 6-2, 7-6(2) in 75 minutes. They will now meet Jonathan Eysseric and Joe Salisbury, who scraped past Sander Arends and Adil Shamasdin 6-3, 3-6,...
Serbia’s Laslo Djere reached the BMW Open by FWU quarter-finals for the second successive year on Wednesday, defeating third-seeded Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 in two hours and 16 minutes. Djere trailed by two breaks of serve in the first set, before securing six straight games to take a one-set lead. The Italian levelled the match, winning a tight second set, but Djere regained control with a crucial break of serve in the eighth game of the decider. The World No. 110 entered Istanbul on a 10-match losing streak, with his last win coming in the opening week of the season at the Tata Open Maharashtra against Marius Copil. Djere will meet qualifier fifth seed Paolo Lorenzi for a place...
Marin Cilic makes his return to the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open this week with fond memories to fuel his campaign, not least from having won the title in 2017 as a wild card. It marks the 29-year-old’s first tournament as a married man. It was only last weekend the Croatian wed his long-time girlfriend Kristina Milkovic in a ceremony in Dubrovnik. Now he sets about re-igniting his season at the same tournament which kick-started an impressive 2017. “It was not easy to find a date [for the wedding],” Cilic said. “I said after the wedding, 'OK I’m going to Istanbul, I’m going to go on my own.' She said, 'You can’t go alone for the first week [of married...
France’s Jeremy Chardy began his first appearance at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open in style, defeating eighth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-5, 6-3 in 89 minutes on Tuesday. “I am happy with my match today,” said Chardy. “I knew it would be a difficult match. [Basilashvili] is a really good player, really aggressive. I am happy with my level today, I played really solid from the beginning to the end.” The Istanbul debutant converted five of his seven break point opportunities en route to victory against the World No. 75, who remains winless at the event after three appearances. Chardy will next face Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic, who dropped just four games in a 6-4, 6-0 win over Gazprom Hungarian Open...
