Spaniard Fernando Verdasco earned his first ATP World Tour victory in Sopot, Poland against Argentine Mariano Puerta in 2002. And nearly 16 years later, the dynamic left-hander celebrates history, lacing an inside-in forehand winner to defeat Italian Paolo Lorenzi 7-5, 6-4 at the Mutua Madrid Open, becoming the 45th player in ATP World Tour history to claim 500 match wins. "It's an unbelievable victory," Verdasco told Tennis TV after the match. "Getting the 500th victory of my career is an unbelievable number that I never even thought about. I'm super-emotional and super-happy." The one-hour, 24-minute minute victory on Tuesday makes Verdasco the sixth Spaniard to join the elite club, and he is also the ninth active player to achieve the...
If his efforts since the start of 2018 had not shown enough, Canadian Milos Raonic loudly and clearly announced his return to form on Tuesday evening. The 27-year-old earned his first Top 10 win since Brisbane in 2017 (d. Nadal) with an impressive 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 triumph against reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov at the Mutua Madrid Open. "I played well. Created a lot of opportunities, made the most of a few of them," Raonic said. "Overall a very positive level and a positive performance for me." Raonic struggled throughout 2017 with various injuries. But the World No. 24, who made the semi-finals at Indian Wells and the quarter-finals at Miami earlier this year, earned his second Top...
Borna Coric competed with great confidence on Tuesday to beat ninth-seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-2 at the Mutua Madrid Open in one hour and 22 minutes. The Croatian won five straight games from 3-4 in the first set en route to his second straight win over the World No. 11, who he also beat in the first week of 2018 at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Coric, who broke Carreno Busta’s serve on three occasions, was serving at 5-2, 15/15 in the second set when heavy rain began to fall at the Caja Magica at 4:19 p.m. local time, which left courtside spectators on Court Manolo Santana scurrying back to seats higher up under the roof. After a 40-minute...
Watch as Juan Martin del Potro discusses his first-round win at the Mutua Madrid Open and his expectations as he begins his European clay season. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.
A second-round battle at the Mutua Madrid Open is an entirely different prospect for former World No. 3s Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic on Tuesday. Pit the pair against each other on a blue hard court in Australia and the Bulgarian has good reason to back himself every time. View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches from the 2018 Mutua Madrid Open & vote for who you think will win! Dimitrov vs Raonic | Carreno Busta vs Coric | Del Potro vs Dzumhur [GROUP POLL]134[/GROUP POLL] The 26-year-old fell in his first FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter with the Canadian in Stockholm in 2011, but is unbeaten Down Under in three straight meetings since. This, however, will be their first...
