Second seed Dominic Thiem started his grass-court season on Monday with a 7-5, 6-3 victory against German qualifier Maximilian Marterer at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle. Thiem, who was playing his first match since reaching the Roland Garros semi-finals earlier this month (l. to Nadal), saved all seven break points faced and broke the 22-year-old Marterer two times in the 85-minute contest. The 23-year-old Austrian will meet Dutchman Robin Haase or Spaniard David Ferrer in the second round. “I was very happy with it... [Marterer] already played three matches on the surface and he qualified here, had a good qualification, has a very dangerous serve. I was very aware of this first round,” Thiem said. “I was a little...
In an all-French first-round contest, fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made a strong start to his Aegon Championships campaign as he defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 6-2 on a hot day at The Queen’s Club in London. Tsonga, who this week returned to the Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, was largely untroubled in his first grass-court outing of the season. The right-hander advanced in 66 minutes, converting five of his 13 break points to avenge the defeat he suffered to Mannarino a few weeks ago on the clay in Monte-Carlo. "For me it was really important to have a victory," said Tsonga, who suffered the disappointment of a first-round loss at Roland Garros in his last tournament. "On clay it...
Fourth seed Gilles Muller won his second ATP World Tour title on Sunday at the Ricoh Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, prevailing over third seed Ivo Karlovic in a battle of big serves 7-6(5), 7-6(4). “I think we should make a suggestion to the ATP that we just start with the tie-break next time!” said Muller. “It’s always tough to play Ivo and I’m glad I could beat him. I had many friends and a lot of family coming, so it’s been a great week here.” The match between the 38-year-old Karlovic and 34-year-old Muller was the oldest singles final on the ATP World Tour since Hong Kong in 1977, when 42-year-old Ken Rosewall defeated 30-year-old Ilie Nastase. Muller (34 years, one...
Frenchman Lucas Pouille hit 29 aces to win his second title of the season on Sunday, coming back to beat Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart. Pouille has now won three titles and improves to 3-2 in ATP World Tour finals. The 23-year-old right-hander also won the inaugural Gazprom Hungarian Open on clay in April. Last September, Pouille won his maiden title at the Moselle Open in Metz. “I think I took a little bit more of the opportunities than him. He had some break points and didn't make them, and I had only one or two and I made them. So I think that made the difference,” Pouille said. The MercedesCup final was his first grass-court title...
Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo continued their outstanding season by taking the doubles title at the Ricoh Open on Saturday, living up to their top seed status in ‘s-Hertogenbosch by defeating second seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6-4. “We’ve had a really good year. It’s another title for us, so we’re very happy with the way we’re playing,” said Kubot. “It’s a little bit more pressure as the top seeds, but as you could see at Roland Garros, the top two seeds lost in the first round. Everybody is playing good now.” [ALSO LIKE] This is the third title of 2017 for Kubot/Melo. They have excelled in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events this year, winning in Madrid...
