Roger Federer had already scored three wins in Halle over Florian Mayer (2005, 2012, 2015) prior to their quarter-final on Friday. And in another Gerry Weber Open battle between the eight-time champion Federer and defending champion Mayer, it was the top seed who came out on top once again with a 6-3, 6-4 win. “It was important to be aggressive off the baseline and make him feel my variation and the power I can bring to the court,” Federer said. “And then having good footwork, to see the short ball, the floater, where I can come in and knock it off with a volley. I think I did it very well. I had lots of chances to even go up...
Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo continued their outstanding start to the grass-court season on Friday at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, coming out on top in a marathon 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 10-3 semi-final match over Fabrice Martin and Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Kubot/Melo missed two set points at 6-5 in the opening set, then twice served to stay in the match at 4-5 and 5-6 in the second set. But after prevailing in a tight tie-break, they stormed through the Match Tie-break to advance in one hour and 45 minutes. The Polish-Brazilian duo have won three ATP World Tour titles this year. They’ve prevailed at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Miami (d. Monroe/Sock) and Madrid (d. Mahut/Vasselin), and last week’s...
Marin Cilic will have to beat in-form Gilles Muller, who is perfect on grass-courts in 2017 with a 7-0 record, if he is to reach his second Aegon Championships final. Cilic won the pair's only previous meeting in two tie-break sets at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. Fourth seed Cilic, the 2012 champion, produced another solid service performance in beating Donald Young 6-4, 7-5 in 86 minutes. Having lost one of his first-service points in his first two matches, Cilic wasn’t quite as prolific, however the Croatian did win 28 of his 33 first-service points and 16 of 16 second-service points against Young. Cilic broke serve at the end of each set, including the conversion of his fourth match...
In an all #NextGenATP quarter-final clash at the Gerry Weber Open, Karen Khachanov came out on top on Friday as he edged good friend Andrey Rublev 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 16 minutes. The 21-year-old Khachanov is currently third in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, looking to qualify for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan at the end of the year. The right-hander, who won his first ATP World Tour title in Chengdu in October 2016 (d. Ramos-Vinolas), is through to his first semi-final of the season, his first at the ATP 500 level, and will face Roger Federer. Coming into this ATP World Tour 500 tournament on the back of a breakthrough run to...
Rajeev Ram picked up his 200th ATP World Tour doubles victory on Thursday at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, teaming with Raven Klaasen for a marathon 6-7(7), 7-6(5), 10-5 quarter-final win over local qualifiers Andre Begemann and Tim Puetz. The second seeds and two-time defending champions missed a set point at 6/5 in the first-set tie-break, but regrouped to prevail in one hour and 47 minutes. Next up for Klaasen/Ram are another pair of Germans in brothers Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev. Top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo continued their top grass-court form with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Spaniards Roberto Bautista Agut and David Ferrer. Kubot/Melo are still unbeaten on grass this year after taking the title...
