It was not completely shocking that Serbian Dusan Lajovic, who had never beaten a Top 10 opponent (0-10), was nervous as he served on his second match point against one of the hottest players on the ATP World Tour. But Lajovic played a patient baseline rally at 7/6 in the third set tie-break to outlast Juan Martin del Potro, the recent BNP Paribas Open champion, to send shockwaves through the Caja Mágica and clinch the biggest win of his career, a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) victory. Lajovic will look for his second Top 10 win in the quarter-finals against South African Kevin Anderson. "It's for sure my best win, and definitely one of the best matches I've played. I really felt...
After an impressive start to the 2018 ATP World Tour season, Kevin Anderson discusses the reasons behind his recent success and the unique conditions at the Mutua Madrid Open that may favour his game. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.
Surprise to the strength. The score is 15/30. You just missed your first serve and you now need to weigh up where to direct the second. Safety to the backhand return, right? Not so fast … An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the current ATP Top 20 identifies that a vast majority of second serves do go to the backhand return at this specific point score, but a higher percentage of points are won surprising with a second serve down the T to the forehand return. The best way to understand this strategy dynamic is to know the difference between primary and secondary patterns. Primary patterns are the prime movers that players run most often, such as hitting...
Juan Martin del Potro might be the favourite to take home the Miami Open presented by Itau title this weekend. But don't sleep on Kevin Anderson, who's having one of the best starts to 2018 of anyone on the ATP World Tour. The South African improved to 17-4 on Tuesday, beating #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe 7-6(3), 6-4 to make his fifth quarter-final of the season. Anderson hit 22 winners and broke the 20-year-old home favourite three times. Watch Full Match Replays Tiafoe was playing, technically, for the third time on Tuesday. His third-round match against Tomas Berdych was suspended because of rain at 2:13 a.m. Tuesday, with Tiafoe leading the 2010 finalist 6-7(2), 6-2, 5-4. They returned to the...
