Home favourite Thomaz Bellucci received a standing ovation after dismissing Rio Open presented by Claro top seed Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday. Nishikori reached the Argentina Open final last week and won their only previous meeting on the clay at the 2015 Roland Garros in straight sets, but the top-ranked Brazilian put in a commanding display to defeat the World No. 5. "Actually everything didn’t work well," said Nishikori. "Probably the condition changed a lot from last week: bounce really high and the balls are really heavy. The ball is the most difficult to adjust. I couldn’t feel anything today. I think it wasn’t my day." Bellucci, quarter-finalist in 2014, earned a second-round encounter with countryman Thiago Monteiro. The...
Nicolas Mahut rode a wave of home-crowd support to upset fifth-seeded #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev at the Open 13 Marseille on Tuesday. The 35-year-old Frenchman posted a 7-6(5), 7-6(5) result over the German in the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. Zverev, nearly 16 years his opponent’s junior, had claimed his second ATP World Tour title two weeks ago at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier. He fell short despite hitting six aces more and winning half of the 144 points played. Mahut's victory sets up a second-round meeting with Norbert Gombos. The Slovak posted a 6-1, 6-1 result over fellow-qualifier Evgeny Donskoy. Richard Gasquet continued a good night session for the home contingent when he knocked out Robin...
Top seed Milos Raonic marked his Delray Beach Open debut in emphatic style with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Tim Smyczek on Tuesday. The World No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, back in action after a quarter-final showing at the Australian Open, needed just 24 minutes to clinch the opening set against the American qualifier. Smyczek reached the quarter-finals at Delray Beach in 2016, but his challenge looked to be fading when Raonic saved four break points at the start of set two. The Canadian struck 10 aces and won 90 per cent of points off first serves. He secured the decisive break in the ninth game to book a second-round encounter with #NextGenATP player Borna Coric. The Croatian...
In a battle of the 19-year-olds, American #NextGenATP member Taylor Fritz saved the lone break point he faced in a 6-4, 6-4 win against Japan's Akira Santillan at the Delray Beach Open Monday night. Fritz claimed his second tour-level win of the year and next meets the winner of countryman Donald Young and second seed Ivo Karlovic. On playing Santillan, Fritz said, "We go way back, we're both born in '97. So we played juniors together. We've played together, practised together. We're good friends… I definitely went in knowing I'm more experienced, just I've played more on tour. I was thinking about that before the match, maybe that could make a difference but I was just focused on playing tennis...
Belgian qualifier Arthur De Greef claimed his "biggest win" on Monday at the Rio Open presented by Claro. The 24-year-old prevailed against defending champion and No. 3 seed Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, claiming the only break of the 65-minute third set in a memorable final game. "It was unbelievable," said De Greef following his third tour-level match win. "I played from the start till the end a very good match. It was unbelievable with the crowd who was going crazy. We did a few unbelievable points. I enjoyed a lot." De Greef, who reached a career-high No. 129 Emirates ATP Rankings in January, goes on to play Argentine Nicolas Kicker, a 7-5, 6-0 winner over fellow qualifier Marco Cecchinato....
