Benoit Paire had never won a set against Roger Federer prior to their second-round encounter at the Swiss Indoors Basel on Thursday. That did not come close to changing. Federer swept the Frenchman, 6-1, 6-3, in 57 minutes to continue his pursuit of an eighth title at his hometown event. It is the 15th time he has advanced to at least the quarter-finals in Basel. "It feels nice. I've played good tennis from the start of this tournament. There's always extra pressure playing at home and wanting to do well and try to stay in the tournament," Federer said. "I'm happy to be through to the quarters and we'll see what happens now." After a 10-point service game to open...
Two of last week’s champions met in the second round of the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna, and only one could continue his pursuit of another trophy. After saving a match point in the second-set tie-break, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga continued his indoor excellence by defeating Moscow winner Damir Dzumhur, 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 6-1 to boost his hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the third time (2011, 2012). The 2011 Vienna champion extended his ATP World Tour-best record indoors to 18-2 this year, reaching his ninth quarter-final of the season. But perhaps most importantly, he continued a late charge in the Emirates ATP Race To London. The Frenchman is 15th in the Race, but with Stan Wawrinka (No. 7),...
It was a big day in the Emirates ATP Race To London for Juan Martin del Potro. After fellow Race contender Pablo Carreno Busta lost at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna, del Potro defeated Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4 at the Swiss Indoors Basel in one hour, 29 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals. With the Spaniard’s loss and the Argentine’s victory, del Potro can now move into the final qualifying spot for the Nitto ATP Finals if he goes on to win the title this week in Basel. While he can only gain a total of 480 points for the week, that would move him 10 points ahead of Carreno Busta’s total of 2,605. "I'm not thinking too...
Two-time champion Juan Martin del Potro won his fifth consecutive match on Wednesday at the Swiss Indoors Basel, beating Portugal's Joao Sousa 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. The Intrum Stockholm Open champion (d. Dimitrov) won 83 per cent of his first-serve points and saved both break points faced in the third set. “I think I dominated most of the match but in the second set I played worse than in the first and the third sets. He broke me at 4-all and then he closed the set. But in the end I started to play better as I did in the first one and I'm looking forward to playing better the whole match tomorrow,” del Potro said. “I need to improve my...
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gave his Nitto ATP Finals hopes another jolt on Wednesday when he came back from a set down to beat Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Karen Khachanov 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3 at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna. The Frenchman broke Khachanov to go ahead 5-4 in the second set and cruised in the decider, breaking the 20-year-old Russian twice to advance to the second round. Tsonga, 2016 Vienna finalist, is currently in 15th place in the Emirates ATP Race To London with 2,055 points, 595 points behind Pablo Carreno Busta, who currently holds the final qualification spot for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 12-19 November at The O2 in London. [ALSO LIKE] The 32-year-old Tsonga...
