Main draw action at the Shanghai Rolex Masters got underway on Sunday with 15th seed Lucas Pouille overcoming Daniil Medvedev in straight sets. Pouille, who earlier this season had defeated Medvedev in their only previous meeting in Marseille, produced a dominant display against his tricky Russian opponent. Trading breaks mid-way through the first set, it was the Frenchman who was eventually able to wrestle control of the match and notch his 29th win of the season in a 6-4, 6-2 decision. Despite the loss, Medvedev remains in contention for a spot at the inaugural #NextGenATP Finals, where he currently stands eighth in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan. Earlier in the day, fellow #NextGenATP stars Jared Donaldson and Yibing Wu...
1. Roger and Rafa in China: Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are the top two seeds in the tournament for the first time. Nadal leads Federer by 2,160 points in the Emirates ATP Race To London (going into Beijing F), with 4,000 points still available for both players at Shanghai, Basel, Paris and the Nitto ATP Finals. 2. Rafa at No. 1: Nadal has played at every edition of the Shanghai Rolex Masters except 2012. He is 12-7 at the tournament, posting his best finish as runner-up at the inaugural event in 2009 (l. to Davydenko). The Spaniard is ranked No. 1 for the 149th week of his career and making his third Shanghai appearance as the top player in...
Fast feet and slow backhands. That was the mercurial mix that engineered Grigor Dimitrov's maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title over Nick Kyrgios at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Sunday. Dimitrov won 6-3, 7-5, saving both break points faced while winning a dominant 69 per cent (18/26) of second serves, which was far superior to Kyrgios’ 44 per cent (8/18). Dimitrov showed exemplary footwork and speed on defence, many times sliding on the hard court well behind the baseline, miraculously putting one more ball back in play. It had a cumulative effect on Kyrgios, who had no answer for his quicker opponent when rally lengths reached double digits. There were 16 rallies in the match that...
Nick Kyrgios can hardly believe the turnaround himself. Three weeks ago, the Aussie was down 6-3, 3-0 against Tennys Sandgren of the U.S. before having to retire from his second-round match at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. because of right shoulder pain. On Sunday, Kyrgios played in his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. “Looking back from where I was... I would have never thought I would have had my first Masters 1000 event final. So I'm pretty happy with the result. From where I was to here, it's just been amazing,” Kyrgios said. The Aussie fell short in his maiden Masters 1000 title match, losing to Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov...
