Top-seeded Marin Cilic leads a crop of three seeds into the semi-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships on Saturday, with Frenchman Adrian Mannarino attempting to spoil the party. At the end of the weekend, one member of the semi-final quartet will earn their first Rakuten Japan Open title in Tokyo. Cilic, Mannarino and No. 8-seeded Diego Schwartzman have shown good form by now dropping a set yet this week. But with an ATP World Tour final on the line, anything can happen. In the opening match on Colosseum, 2016 finalist David Goffin, the No. 4 seed, brings a 2-1 head-to-head record on hard courts against Schwartzman, who is the first Argentine to reach the Tokyo semi-finals since Juan...
Marin Cilic might feel like he's playing himself again and again and again this week at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 in Tokyo. The top seed is slated to meet a number of players whom, like Cilic, prefer to serve big and dictate play immediately after the first ball. View Draw The 6'6” Croatian, who will be going for his second title of the season (Istanbul), opens against a qualifier but could face 6'8” Kevin Anderson in the quarter-finals. The South African is coming off his maiden Grand Slam final at the US Open earlier this month (l. to Nadal). Anderson, like Cilic, will also be looking to strengthen his spot in the Emirates ATP Race To London,...
Rafael Nadal faces a difficult path to the China Open final in Beijing this week as the Spaniard returns to tour-level action for the first time since winning his third US Open earlier this month. The 31-year-old Nadal opens against Frenchman Lucas Pouille, who outlasted the Spaniard the last time they played, during the fourth round of the 2016 US Open. From there, Nadal could face #NextGenATP Russian Karen Khachanov, No. 32 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Sixth seed John Isner of the U.S. could await in the quarter-finals. View Draw Third seed Grigor Dimitrov, wild card Juan Martin del Potro and fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut are the favourites to face Nadal in the semi-finals. The Spaniard is going...
The US Open championship on Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium matches World No. 1 Rafael Nadal against No. 28 seed Kevin Anderson, who is making his Grand Slam final debut. Nadal has won the four previous meetings (9-1 in sets), including a third round match in Barcelona in April. In their lone Grand Slam meeting, Nadal won 75 61 64 in the Round of 16 at the 2015 Australian Open. The champion will be the fifth straight Grand Slam winner 30 & over going back to last year’s US Open where Stan Wawrinka (31) captured the title. Since then, Roger Federer (35) won the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and Nadal (31) earned the Roland Garros crown. View FedEx ATP Head2Head...
At the start of the 2017 season, Rafael Nadal was clinging to a Top 10 position in the Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 9. Having concluded his 2016 campaign early due to a wrist injury, the state of the Spaniard's game was in question. Would he return to his top form? Could he contend for big titles again? Nadal has since swept away those questions with authority, eliminating any doubts of his ability to reclaim his mantle atop the Emirates ATP Rankings. Eight months later, the Manacor native is putting the rest of the ATP World Tour on notice with vintage Nadal performances. Boasting the energy, passion and offensive onslaught that have seen him finish at year-end No. 1 on...