Nick Kyrgios will look to his reach his fifth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final (or better) on Thursday when he challenges big serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic at the Western & Southern Open. Kyrgios leads 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, with five of their nine sets going to tie-breaks. The Australian, who continues to struggle to overcome a hip injury, struck 20 winners – including 15 aces – on Wednesday in a 6-3, 7-6(6) victory over Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, who committed 36 unforced errors, in the 86-minute encounter. Dolgopolov reached the 2015 Cincinnati semi-finals (l. to Djokovic). Former World No. 3 David Ferrer, rebuilding his form and confidence with the SkiStar Swedish Open crown in recent weeks, found...
Grigor Dimitrov recorded his 30th match win of the year on Wednesday for a spot in the Western & Southern Open third round. The seventh-seeded Bulgarian hit 27 winners to knock out Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 7-6(5), 6-4 in 90 minutes and will now prepare to face Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. Del Potro has a perfect 5-0 record in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, with their last meeting coming at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in May. Dimitrov was reliable on serve in the opening set and almost broke Lopez on three occasions, prior to a strong start in the tie-break that he secured on his third set point chance. The 26 year old broke Lopez for a 2-1 lead...
Veteran Croat Ivo Karlovic fired 19 aces to upset eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday in Cincinnati. Karlovic won 82 per cent of points on his first serve and saved both break points he faced. Tsonga could win just 58 per cent of his second-serve points. The 38-year-old has now won three of his four career meetings with the Frenchman. [ALSO LIKE] The 6' 11" giant will next play the winner of Nick Kyrgios and Alexandr Dolgopolov, who on Tuesday upset in-form South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 7-6(6) after winning 34 of 36 first-serve points. Another big server, 14th seed John Isner, enjoyed a 6-3, 6-3 win over fellow American Tommy Paul 6-3, 6-3....
#NextGenATP American Jared Donaldson can count a second Top 20 opponent as his victim in as many weeks after seeing off Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut at the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday. The 20 year old defeated the No. 12 seed 7-6(5), 6-3 to reach the second round for the third straight year. Ranked No. 60 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Donaldson was coming off an impressive run to the third round at the Coupe Rogers, where he’d beaten Frenchmen, World No. 18 Lucas Pouille and Benoit Paire, back to back. The Spaniard, too, had a solid week in Montreal where he saved a match point against Gael Monfils en route to the quarter-finals, where he went down to...
Yuichi Sugita is through to the second round of the Western & Southern Open after surprising American No. 1 Jack Sock on Wednesday. In the first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting between the pair, the 28-year-old Japanese player advanced 7-5, 6-4. Sugita, No. 46 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, sent down seven aces and broke four times on his way past the World No. 16. It continues a solid run of form in Cincinnati after he defeated #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev and Nicolas Mahut en route to the third round last year, where he fell to Milos Raonic. Earlier this summer, he captured his first ATP World Tour title at Antalya (d. Mannarino). Portugal’s Joao Sousa is his next opponent in...
