World No. 1 Andy Murray saved seven match points in a record-equalling second-set tie-break to cruelly deny German Philipp Kohlschreiber’s quest for a 400th match win at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Thursday. Murray won the 31-minute second-set tie-break 20/18 on his eighth set point, eventually taking the match 6-7(4), 7-6(18), 6-1. The second-set marathon equalled five other epic tie-breaks of the same score since tie-break scores were first kept in 1991. Such was the drama that the players forgot to change ends at 15/15, instead changing at 16/16. “It's obviously a special match to win because of how it went,” said Murray. “I'll probably never play another tie-break like that again. I have been playing on the tour...
Fernando Verdasco clinched his first victory over Gael Monfils 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals on Thursday. Fourth seed Monfils had won their previous three FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters, but the 33 year old, also a semi-finalist in Doha this season (l. Djokovic), won 81 per cent of first serve points to dictate play. The Spaniard led 6-3, 5-3 before a rain delay on Monfils’ serve. Upon resumption, the World No. 12 broke to level the second set, before Verdasco claimed the last six points to serve out victory at the second attempt and to edge into the final four. “I think I played almost the perfect match. Maybe I could have been a...
Novak Djokovic kept his nerve to outlast Juan Martin del Potro on Wednesday night for a place in the Abierto Mexicano Telcel quarter-finals. Competing in front of a capacity crowd, top seed Djokovic fought back from a break deficit in the deciding set to wear down his Argentinean opponent 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 38 minutes. He is now 12-4 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. "Every match that I’ve played against Delpo in the past couple of years has been very close, really enjoyable to play and great for the crowd to watch,” said World No. 2 Djokovic, who is playing at an ATP World Tour event in Latin America for the first time this week. “I...
Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas’s hot form on clay is gathering steam with the second seed at the Brasil Open advancing to his fourth straight quarter-final on South American soil on Wednesday. The 29-year-old lefty took down Portugal’s Gastao Elias 6-4, 7-6(5) to book his place in the last eight. The win comes on the back of a semi-final run at the Ecuador Open three weeks ago, a quarter-final at the Argentina Open two weeks ago and a semi-final finish at the Rio Open last week. The result extended the Spaniard’s FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Elias to 2-0, having defeated him in three sets in Sao Paolo three years ago. Ramos-Vinolas – a semi-finalist at Sao Paulo five years ago (l....
Two-time champion Rafael Nadal looked as if he might be ready to add a third title to his trophy case on Wednesday evening at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco. The Spaniard breezed past Italian Paolo Lorenzi, needing only 66 minutes to take their second-round match 6-1, 6-1. Nadal broke five times and dropped only seven points on his serve (28/35) as Lorenzi couldn't keep up with the second seed. Nadal never faced a break point in improving to 4-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. The left-hander will meet #NextGenATP player Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, who outlasted Aussie Jordan Thompson 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 for his second consecutive three-set win in Acapulco. The Japanese had battled past seventh seed Jack...
