There was a lot on the line Sunday at Melbourne Park, with 16 matches deciding the 16 qualifiers who would move through to the main draw of the 2018 Australian Open. So it was only fitting that nine of the 16 matches were three-setters, hotly contested battles with a position in the first Grand Slam of the season going to the winner. But one player who did not have to go the distance was #NextGenATP Spaniard Jaume Munar, who was supported during his qualifying efforts earlier in the event by the Australian Open’s top seed Rafael Nadal. The 20-year-old pushed through to the main draw of a major for the first time in his career with a 7-5, 6-2 victory...
Former World No. 17 Bernard Tomic battled his way into the final round of Australian Open qualifying in a rain delayed second round with #NextGenATP American Tommy Paul in a tight 6-0, 6-7(5), 7-6(4) encounter, which was finished indoors due to inclement weather at Melbourne Park on Saturday. Although he raced off to an emphatic 6-0, 5-2 lead, Tomic, who finds himself outside of the Top 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time since 2014, surrendered the second set following an inspired fightback from the 20-year-old. The third set remained tightly contested, with the pair exchanging breaks before the Australian claimed victory under the roof on Margaret Court Arena. Tomic will be looking to make his 10th straight...
If the youngest ATP World Tour final since Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic at the 2007 BNP Paribas Open was a sign of things to come, then the futures for both Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur are plenty bright. But after a two-hour, 13-minute battle at the Sydney International on Saturday, it was Medvedev who earned his first ATP World Tour title, fending off a gutsy comeback by the home favourite with a 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 triumph just about a year after appearing in his first final at 2017 Chennai (l. to Bautista Agut). "It's amazing," Medvedev said. "I'm really happy. I mean, to make it through the qualies, there were so many circumstances. I wanted to go to...
Roberto Bautista Agut entered Saturday's ASB Classic final leading the tournament in service breaks. And when the championship was on the line against second seed Juan Martin del Potro, the Spaniard came through once more to capture his second Auckland crown (also 2016), battling past Del Potro 6-1, 4-6, 7-5. The fifth-seeded Spaniard broke Del Potro in the 11th game of the third set, taking advantage of a second serve and targetting the Argentine's backhand on consecutive shots. A game later, Bautista Agut erased a break point and served out the match to win his seventh ATP World Tour title and his first of the new season. “It's been a fantastic week for me. I gave everything I have on...
American Bjorn Fratangelo has begun his past two Grand Slam seasons in Australian Open qualifying, and ended up in the main draw twice — in 2016 as a lucky loser and last season by winning all three matches. The 24-year-old is one match from making the main draw for the third year in a row after beating #NextGenATP Hungarian Zsombor Piros, who won the junior title in Australia last year, 6-3, 6-4, on a rain-logged Friday in Melbourne. “Conditions were different today – it was a lot more humid, which made things a little bit slower,” Fratangelo said. “I didn’t know his game at all, but I knew that he won juniors here last year. He’s definitely a good little player.”...
