Feliciano Lopez is one match away from reaching his fourth grass-court final – and his first in three years. The Spaniard battled hard at the Mercedes Cup to beat third-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and nine minutes on Friday for a place in the Stuttgart semi-finals. Berdych could not convert two set-point chances at 6-5, 15/40 on Lopez's serve in the first set, but seized early control of the tie-break in a big-serving encounter. Serve-volleyer Lopez broke for a 4-2 lead in the second set, then in the seventh game of the decider to improve to a 12-12 match record in 2017. Berdych hit 21 aces, but Lopez struck 19 aces and importantly saved all...
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan stepped up their bid for a 13th grass-court trophy on Thursday when they reached the Mercedes Cup semi-finals. The American twins, winners of a record 112 team titles, recovered from a set and 2-3 deficit to knock out Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-6 in 77 minutes. From a 2-3 deficit in the second set, they won four straight games. The Bryans, who last captured a trophy in May 2016 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (d. Pospisil/Sock), will next challenge fourth seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in the Stuttgart semi-finals. At the Ricoh Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo improved to 21-9 on the season, which...
Marin Cilic began his 2017 grass-court swing with a hard-fought 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4 victory over former World No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic on Thursday for a place in the Ricoh Open quarter-finals. Cilic, who hit 17 aces, could not convert three set point opportunities from 6/3 in the first set tie-break. But he regrouped to win four straight games from 2-2 in the second set and then broke Tipsarevic in the third game of the decider in the one-hour and 58-minute encounter. He is competing at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the first time since 2006. “It’s never easy, especially the first match on grass,” said Cilic. “Janko has been at the top of the tennis game and is...
Second seed Alexander Zverev opened his quest for the Ricoh Open title on Wednesday with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Adrian Mannarino in 54 minutes. He will next face seventh lucky loser Julien Benneteau in the quarter-finals. “I am happy that my first match on grass was comfortable and it went my way right from the start,” said Zverev. The 20-year-old German has a 28-10 match record on the season, which includes three titles at the Open Sud de France (d. Gasquet), BMW Open by FWU (d. Pella) and the Internazionali BNL d'Italia (d. Djokovic). He is the leader of the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, for a spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals from 7-11 November. His best...
Former World No. 2 Tommy Haas successfully dialed back the years on Wednesday, saving a match point to shock Roger Federer 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. The loss is only Federer's second of the season, and the Swiss star held match points during both of them. The 35 year old had three match points against World No. 116 Evgeny Donskoy during the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February. “I thought it was a typical grass-court match today. Rallies weren’t very long and it was decided on a serve there or a return here. If you don’t take your chances like I didn’t, leading a set and a break, you really only...
