Second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares fought off a potentially miraculous comeback from Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic on Wednesday at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, converting on their 11th match point to reach the semi-finals 6-4, 6-7(8), 10-8. Baker/Mektic fought off a match point in the second at 4-5, three more at 5-6 and rallied from 3/6 down in the tie-break. They survived an eighth match point at 6/7 before converting on their second set point at 9/8 to even the score. But Murray/Soares refused to fold, racing to a 9/6 lead in the Match Tie-break. Two more match points came and went before the second seeds finally wrapped up the contest in one hour and 39 minutes....
Stuttgart fans will be treated to a battle of close friends on Wednesday when Tommy Haas and Roger Federer square off in the second round of the Mercedes Cup. The 39-year-old Haas advanced past Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 on Tuesday to get another chance at Federer, the top seed who received a first-round bye. “I felt I served well… we both struggled a little with the returns. We used our chances when we got them. The key part to winning the match was getting that one more break point than my opponent. I’m obviously very pleased and anything can happen on grass,” said Haas, who converted two of three break points. The 35-year-old Federer leads their FedEx ATP...
Four #NextGenATP players found their feet early on the grass at the Ricoh Open as they surged into the second round on Tuesday in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Qualifier Daniil Medvedev edged sixth seed and home favourite Robin Haase 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 in two hours and 18 minutes, saving 12 of the 13 break points he faced. The 21-year-old Russian, who reached his first ATP World Tour final in Chennai at the start of the year (l. to Bautista Agut), claimed just the second tour-level grass-court win of his career. Medvedev, who uses a Tecnifibre racquet, set a clash with fellow Next Gen ATP Finals hopeful Thanasi Kokkinakis. The Australian, who is working his way back from a lengthy injury layoff, was a...
Sixth seed and home favourite Mischa Zverev was ruthless on serve during his grass-court opener on Monday, winning 84 per cent of his service points (32/38) to beat Tunisia's Malek Jaziri 6-3, 6-1 at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart. Zverev hit seven aces and never faced a break point during the 54-minute victory. The 29 year old, who reached the Stuttgart quarter-finals in 2009 and 2015, is one of eight Germans in the draw and will next meet wild card and compatriot Yannick Hanfmann, who beat Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 7-5. “I think it was a good match, and I felt pretty comfortable based on the circumstances, it's the first match after changing surfaces,” Zverev said. Watch Live On TennisTV...
Two-time defending champion and seventh seed Nicolas Mahut began his campaign Monday at the Ricoh Open with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Dennis Novikov. Mahut struck 15 aces to Novikov's 13, as he extended his winning streak at this ATP World Tour 250 tournament to 14 matches (including 2015 qualifying). “Grass is coming back, so smile is coming back again to my face,” said Mahut in an interview with TENNiS Magazine Netherlands. “When I come here [after Roland Garros], I feel like it’s so quiet. I can rest. I can feel calm again. It’s not about tennis-wise, it’s everything around it. I feel much better.” The Frenchman, who next meets Yen-Hsun Lu or Evgeny Donskoy, also won the 's-Hertogenbosch title as a qualifier...
