Top seed Tomas Berdych survived a scare on Thursday at Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex, rallying from 1-4 down in the final set to reach the quarter-finals over Adrian Mannarino 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. The Czech player is continuing to build on his semi-final run at Wimbledon as he bids for his first ATP World Tour title of the season. “It was a good test for me because he was really playing well and I had to fight for every point. You appreciate these matches more than winning easily,” said Berdych. “I just had to stay patient and keep believing in myself.” Mannarino, who reached the final in Antalya this past June (l. Sugita), appeared poised to reach...
In a thrilling third-round battle whose finish was delayed by rain and numerous shifts in momentum, 15th seed Kevin Anderson saved a match point in the final-set tie-break to prevail in a wild contest over top seed Dominic Thiem on Thursday at the Citi Open 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(7). “It feels great. I’ve worked really hard and committed myself to playing the kind of tennis I want to play. I could do that on the practice court and sometimes struggled to bring it to the match court, but now I’m succeeding with that more often,” said Anderson. “Obviously each day presents a new challenge, but I look forward to each one and I’m much more confident overall.” Anderson appeared to have...
Fabio Fognini extended his match-win streak to six on Thursday at the Generali Open in Kitzbühel and is now two matches away from winning back-to-back titles on the ATP World Tour. The second-seeded Italian, the lone seed remaining in the clay-court tournament, made quick work of Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, breaking him seven times to advance 6-3, 6-1 in 65 minutes. Fognini captured his fifth ATP World Tour crown last week at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad, beating German Yannick Hanfmann in the Swiss Alps mountain town. He'll try to make his second consecutive final when he faces Kitzbühel resident and 2015 champion Philipp Kohlschreiber. The German saved six of seven break points to beat 2016 semi-finalist Dusan Lajovic...
Fifth seed Alexander Zverev came out on top in a marathon match against Jordan Thompson on Wednesday at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., thwarting the Aussie’s upset bid by prevailing 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) to reach the third round. “I tried to stay calm, stay composed and just focus on me,” said Zverev. “He’s obviously playing very well now. He just played a Challenger final. He's had a lot of matches on the hard courts already and I haven't played on hard courts since [this past March in] Miami, so I'm happy to be through and get that win.” Zverev, who recently added former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero to his team, will take on Tennys Sandgren in the...
Top seed Tomas Berdych wasted no time getting down to business on Wednesday at Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex, recording a convincing 6-3, 6-1 win over #NextGenATP Aussie Akira Santillan to reach the quarter-finals in Los Cabos. “It was a quick match, but I’m glad about the way I played tonight,” said Berdych. “It was a nice welcome from the crowd, so I’m looking forward to playing as many matches as possible.” Berdych broke the 20 year old five times to advance in under an hour. The Czech player is still carrying the form that brought him to the Wimbledon semi-finals this past month and will be a strong contender to take the title Next up...