Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock advanced to the quarter-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday, joining forces to beat fifth seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 6-4, 6-4. Kyrgios/Sock dropped only eight points on serve during the 60-minute win. Klaasen and Ram have picked up titles this year at the Delray Beach Open and the BNP Paribas Open. Elsewhere, Fabrice Martin and Daniel Nestor accounted for last month’s Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters champions Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-2 in 54 minutes. Watch Live On TennisTV Watch Full Match Replays Top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers also moved into the quarter-finals, prevailing against Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 4-6, 6-4, 14-12. Lucky losers Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert...
Welcome to Madrid, Alexander Zverev. The 20-year-old German, making his Mutua Madrid Open debut, delivered a business-like performance on Tuesday, dismissing Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-3 on the Manolo Santana Centre Court. “He was serving at a very high level for the whole match. It was very complicated, especially at the beginning of the match, to return his serves,” Verdasco said. “After that, if I managed to serve well, I didn't manage to cause him any trouble. It was not easy for me to play after he served.” The win extends Zverev's win streak to five after the #NextGenATP star won the BMW Open by FWU title on Sunday in Munich, his first clay-court crown. The title was Zverev's...
Two-time champion Andy Murray returned to the clay with ease on Tuesday, gaining a routine 6-4, 6-3 win against Romanian qualifier Marius Copil on the Manolo Santana Centre Court at the Mutua Madrid Open. The top-seeded Murray improved to 11-0 in his opening matches in the Spanish capital, dating back to his debut in 2006. The Scot will meet #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric or French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert. “When I started to control the points more towards the end of the first set and second set, I was hitting the ball pretty clean, creating a few chances. I didn't give him any opportunities,” Murray said. “It was good for the first match.” Murray is looking to kick-start his 2017 campaign...
Ivo Karlovic broke a five-match losing streak at the Mutua Madrid Open in spectacular fashion on Tuesday. The Croatian fired down 35 aces and saved four match points to beat Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 7-6(4), 6-7(9), 7-6(7) in just over three hours for a place in the second round. In a first-time meeting, featuring no service breaks, Karlovic failed to convert match point opportunities when he led by a set and 5-4, 40/0, then at 7/6 and 9/8 in the tie-break, and again at 6/5 in the deciding set tie-break. Bautista Agut missed out on four match point chances on Karlovic’s serve when leading 5-4 (Ad) and 6-5 (15/40) and at 7/6 in the deciding set tie-break. Karlovic, who...
In an all-French battle, Gilles Simon saved two match points to win a back-and-forth contest against Gael Monfils 0-6, 6-0, 7-6(0) on Monday at the Mutua Madrid Open. Simon erased the match points while serving at 2-5 in the third set. The 32-year-old Simon will next meet Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who defeated #NextGenATP American qualifier Ernesto Escobedo 6-4, 6-4 in 74 minutes. Simon and Lopez have split their previous four FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, but this will be their first encounter on clay. Lopez, 35, is the only player to have appeared in all 16 editions of his hometown ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament and is a four-time quarter-finalist in Madrid. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had to work for it but...