Defending champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers completed Group Eltingh-Haarhuis round-robin play with a 2-1 record on Thursday. Second seeds Kontinen and Peers fought back to beat alternates Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 2-6, 6-1, 10-8 over 59 minutes in a repeat of last year’s title match at The O2 in London. Klaasen and Ram replaced sixth seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut after Herbert withdrew on Thursday morning due to lower back pain. There were two breaks of serve in each of the first two sets, before Kontinen and Peers won eight of the first 11 points in the Match tie-break en route to their 40th match win of the season. The Finnish-Australian pair, now 40-17 on the season...
Dominic Thiem jolted his chances of making his first appearance in the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals. The fourth seed collected his first win of the week on Wednesday, beating Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 at The O2. The World No. 4 improved to 1-1 in London and will now play for a chance to reach the semi-finals on Friday against seventh seed David Goffin, who is also 1-1 after losing to Grigor Dimitrov 6-0, 6-2 earlier Wednesday. Dimitrov, 2-0, has won Group Pete Sampras and will play in the semi-finals on Saturday. Thiem trails his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Goffin 3-6, and the Belgian won both of their matches earlier this season, including on the...
Last year, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares were perfect in group play at the Nitto ATP Finals before falling in the semi-finals. But after losing a tough opener this season, they were in jeopardy of not making the semi-finals at all. The Scottish-Brazilian kept their hopes alive on Wednesday with an impressive 6-1, 6-1 victory against Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers in 52 minutes. "Now it's a normal tournament. If we win, we keep going forward. If we lose, we're on holidays," Murray said. "We played a great match. We've got a good chance on Friday to progress further in the tournament. It may have been the first meeting between the two teams, but Murray and Soares certainly made a...
Grigor Dimitrov on Wednesday looked like a man determined to seize his first opportunity at the Nitto ATP Finals. The sixth seed dashed to 6-0, 6-2 win against Belgian David Goffin, cruising in only 74 minutes to move to 2-0 in London. Dimitrov guaranteed his spot in the semi-finals, joining Roger Federer as the only two singles players who have secured their weekend reservations. The Bulgarian has also put himself in great shape to win Group Pete Sampras and face the second-place finisher of Group Boris Becker on Saturday. “I think clearly I played a great match today,” Dimitrov said. “I think my focus was very good. I started the match well. I was using every opportunity. I took care...
Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo qualified for the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals on Wednesday by improving to a 2-0 record in Group Woodbridge/Woodforde. Kubot and Melo, the year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings, defeated four-time former season finale champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 6-4, 6-3 in one hour at The O2 in London. Kubot and Melo, who beat seventh seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers on Monday to officially become the best team of 2017, are now 48-16 on the season that includes seven trophies — including three at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments. Top seeds Kubot and Melo were aggressive from the start, with Mike Bryan feeling the pressure in the...
