Two-time champion John Isner claimed his 350th match win at his hometown tournament in Winston-Salem Tuesday night, clinching back-to-back breaks against World No. 70 Russian Andrey Kuznetsov to close out the match 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3. Isner had dropped serve just three times all summer (Newport, Atlanta, Montreal, Cincinnati) but was broken twice in the opening set and three times overall. But in an encouraging sign, he converted all three break point chances he accrued. The 6’ 11” American came into the tournament having held 146 of his past 149 service games. He was not broken in five matches en route to the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati last week. "After the end of the second set...
Five #NextGenATP stars moved into the second round on an oppressively hot and humid Day One of US Open qualifying. Conditioning and stamina were put to the test as Akira Santillan battled back for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Sebastian Ofner. The Aussie fought through heat exhaustion and cramps for a two-hour and two-minute victory, converting three of 13 break chances. Santillan called for the trainer at 4-all in the third set and proceeded to claim the decisive break immediately out of the medical timeout. He fell to his knees after serving out the match a game later. In other action, 11th seed Casper Ruud breezed past Dmitry Popko 6-4, 6-0 in 64 minutes, while Canadians Denis Shapovalov and...
#NextGenATP Taylor Fritz was slipping and nearly out of the Winston-Salem Open on Monday evening. The American had dropped five consecutive games to Tunisia's Malek Jaziri and risked going down a set and a double break to the 33-year-old veteran and 2015 Winston-Salem Open semi-finalist. But Fritz erased four break points in that 1-2 game in the second set, and the hold energised his play. The 19 year old evened the match and earned a crucial break in the decider to serve out the contest and advance 4-6, 6-4 6-3 in two hours and three minutes. Fritz, a wild-card entry, hit 12 aces and had success with his serve-forehand combination throughout the match, especially in the latter stages. The 6'4”...
The Winston-Salem Open, 2016 ATP World Tour 250 Tournament of the Year, kicked off on Sunday. In a stacked top quarter of the draw, Marcos Baghdatis moved into the second round following a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Ricardas Berankis. Serbia's Dusan Lajovic dismissed another Cypriot - wild card Petros Chrysochos 6-2, 6-3 - in just 59 minutes, saving both break points while converting on three of his own. Baghdatis will next face 16th seed Jiri Vesely, while Lajovic squares off against top seed and last year's finalist Roberto Bautista Agut. The winners of both encounters will meet in the third round. [ALSO LIKE] In other action, Thiago Monteiro won his second FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting with Alexandr Dolgopolov in less...
The best season of Grigor Dimitrov's career continued on Sunday with the biggest title of his life. The 26-year-old Bulgarian beat Aussie Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 7-5 to win the Western & Southern Open title in Cincinnati, his third ATP World Tour crown of the year and first at the Masters 1000 level in his career. Dimitrov matches a career-high with his third title of the season. He also claimed three crowns in 2014, winning The Queen's Club, Bucharest and Acapulco. “I'm just happy. There's nothing else I can say, honestly. I'm just happy and I'm humbled to have that trophy in my hands, and especially to win here, my first Masters 1000. It's just amazing. I always like this tournament....