Roger Federer opened his quest for a record seventh title at the Nitto ATP Finals on Sunday by beating season finale debutant Jack Sock at The O2 in London. Second seed Federer recorded his 50th match win of the year with a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over eighth seed Sock in one hour and 31 minutes in their Group Boris Becker opener. Federer capitalised on early nerves by Sock, winner of his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Paris Masters seven days ago, with a service break in the first game. Sock grew in confidence by using his powerful forehand to pierce holes in Federer’s game, but he was unable to break back. "I'm happy that I...
Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus got off to a winning start in Group Eltingh/Haarhuis at the Nitto ATP Finals on Sunday by denting the aspirations of Henri Kontinen and John Peers, who are vying to become year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings. Eighth seeds Harrison and Venus, this year’s Roland Garros champions and making their debuts at The O2 this week, defeated second seeds Kontinen and Peers 6-4, 7-6(8) in 90 minutes. Peers came under extreme pressure in his first three service games – resulting in deciding deuce points on each occasion. Harrison and Venus got their reward on Peers' serve at 4-4, when Kontinen hit a forehand volley into the net. Harrison and Venus continued...
Hyeon Chung was unstoppable. That was until he wasn’t. The South Korean dominated round-robin competition, winning all three of his matches. And after winning the first two sets easily and going up a break in the third set of Friday’s semi-final at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals against Daniil Medvedev, it looked like he would cruise right into the final against Andrey Rublev, who he crushed in group play. But then Medvedev dug into the match. The Russian found his rhythm and with it enough momentum to carry the encounter to a deciding fifth set. Chung looked vulnerable. Not so fast. Chung impressively enough found perhaps his best tennis of the week when he needed it the most, putting...
Hyeon Chung was unstoppable. That was until he wasn’t. The South Korean dominated round-robin competition, winning all three of his matches. And after winning the first two sets easily and going up a break in the third set of Friday’s semi-final at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals against Daniil Medvedev, it looked like he would cruise right into the final against Andrey Rublev, who he crushed in group play. But then Medvedev dug into the match. Medvedev found his rhythm and with it enough momentum to carry the encounter to a deciding fifth set. Chung looked vulnerable. Not so fast. Chung impressively enough found perhaps his best tennis of the week when he needed it the most, putting on...
Andrey Rublev started the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals mired in a five-set battle against the World No. 305 Gianluigi Quinzi, the Italian wild card. The Russian looked uncomfortable and said he wasn't so sure about the shorter format being used in Milan. Three days later, it looks as if Rublev has acclimated well. The 20-year-old Moscow native handed Croatian Borna Coric his first loss of the tournament, sweeping the Group B winner 4-1, 4-3(6), 4-1 on Friday night to reach the title match of the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals. “I am just finding the rhythm,” Rublev said. “The last tournaments I didn't play very well and I was losing fast, and now I've played three matches in group...