#NextGenATP player Borna Coric ended the run of local favourite Reda El Amrani on Wednesday, beating the Moroccan wild card 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5) at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech. Coric, a finalist last year, saved eight of 11 break points and broke El Amrani four times in the two-hour and 42-minute victory. The 28-year-old El Amrani, No. 667 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, had reached the Marrakech quarter-finals in 2010 and was going for his second ATP World Tour win of the season. The right-hander advanced to the second round when defending champion Federico Delbonis of Argentina retired because of a left leg injury down 6-7(3), 0-1. [ALSO LIKE] Coric will meet second seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the...
Tuesday play at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston was a washout, with all 13 first-round singles and doubles matches canceled before taking the court.
All remaining first-round singles matches will be completed on Wednesday. Among those on the schedule are fifth seed Fernando Verdasco taking on Kevin Anderson and sixth seed Feliciano Lopez squaring off against Bjorn Fratangelo. #NextGenATP players Hyeon Chung, Ernesto Escobedo and Jared Donaldson will also be in action.
Last year’s finalist Borna Coric earned a confidence boosting 6-3, 6-2 victory over seventh seed Diego Schwartzman on Tuesday at the Grand Prix Hassan II. The #NextGenATP player is appearing at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament on the back of a third-round run at the Miami Open presented by Itau (d. Thiem, l. to Mannarino). Coric's next opponent will be wild card Reda El Amrani. The home hope advanced to the second round when defending champion Federico Delbonis retired due to a left leg injury with the Moroccan leading 7-6(3), 1-0 after 66 minutes of play. World No. 946 and 19-year-old wild card Amine Ahouda held his nerve to knock out eighth seed Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-4 in one...
Former World No. 2 Tommy Haas turned back the clock on Monday night at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston, defeating a player 20 years younger in #NextGen ATP American Reilly Opelka 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3. The age disparity between 39-year-old Haas and 19-year-old Opelka is the eighth-biggest in an ATP World Tour or Grand Slam match since 1985. The biggest age gap during this period is an 18-year-old Dominic Thiem defeating 44-year-old Thomas Muster in Vienna in 2011. “It’s nice to win these matches, especially against the young guys who are going to be around for a long time. The nerves when you’re trying to win a match are something you can’t practise. You...
The Grand Prix Hassan II holds special memories for Tommy Robredo, and the Spaniard made a winning start on Monday in Marrakech as he defeated qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4, 6-4 in the first round. On his only two previous appearances at this ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tournament, when it was held in Casablanca, the 34-year-old Robredo reached the final in 2001 (l. to Canas) and returned in 2013 to win the title (d. Anderson). Robredo's 10-1 Marrakech record will be put to the test in the second round, where he is set to face top seed Grigor Dimitrov. Robredo leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1, winning their most recent contest in Indian Wells two years ago. Second seed...