Lucas Pouille will play in his third ATP World Tour final of the season on Sunday after ousting countryman Benoit Paire 7-6(5), 7-5 during the MercedesCup semi-finals in Stuttgart on Saturday. The 23-year-old Pouille hit 13 aces and saved both break points to advance to his fifth ATP World Tour final. “I played great. I think it was a very tough match,” Pouille said. “In the important points, I was very, very solid.” [ALSO LIKE] He is 2-2 in title matches for his career and 1-1 this season. Pouille beat Brit Aljaz Bedene on clay in April to win the inaugural Gazprom Hungarian Open in Budapest. The Frenchman fell to countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during the Open 13 Marseille title match...
Fourth seed Gilles Muller kept up his top form on Saturday in s’-Hertogenbosch, storming into another final at the Ricoh Open by upsetting second seed Alexander Zverev 7-6(5), 6-2. “It was definitely one of my best matches this season. I played very well from the beginning. Everyone knows Sascha is a tough player and has already won some big tournaments, so I’m very happy to get through,” said Muller. “It’s true that I’m one of the older guys on tour, but I’m having my best time this year. I’ve been injury-free the past few years and able to play a full schedule, so that has helped me a lot.” In a battle of veterans, Muller will contest the championship match...
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic will play in their first ATP World Tour doubles final as a team after beating top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6(3), 6-3 on Saturday at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart
Marach and Pavic hit 15 aces and relented only five points on their first serve, winning 89 per cent (42/47). The fourth seeds, who started playing together earlier this year in Miami, also never faced a break point and converted one of their five break chances against the Bryan brothers.
Marach/Pavic will meet second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in Sunday's final.
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Second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares came out on top in another tight match on Friday at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, reaching the final with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-6 victory over Marcin Matkowski and Max Mirnyi. Murray/Soares needed 11 match points to prevail in their quarter-final on Wednesday against Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic, but only needed three in the Match Tie-break against Matkowski/Mirnyi to advance in 77 minutes. Awaiting them in the final will be top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan or fourth seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic. Murray/Soares are 1-1 in ATP World Tour doubles finals in 2017, prevailing in Acapulco (d. Isner/Lopez) and finishing runner-up in Sydney (l. Koolhof/Middelkoop). [ALSO LIKE] At the...
World No. 7 Marin Cilic and No. 10-ranked Alexander Zverev both advanced to the Ricoh Open semi-finals on Friday. Top-seeded Croatian Cilic recorded the 50th grass-court match win of his career when he knocked out Vasek Pospisil 6-3, 7-5 in 77 minutes. Cilic recovered from a 2-5 deficit in the second set to keep alive his hopes of reaching a third grass-court final. “I feel better and better, obviously after each day I’m getting used to the grass,” Cilic told ATPWorldTour.com. “I felt today I played a little bit better than yesterday, despite the difficult gusty conditions. I felt I served well in critical situations and I managed to turn the break around in the second set.” Cilic will now...
