Alexander Zverev was severely tested in a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 triumph over Aljaz Bedene before booking his quarter-final place at the Open Sud de France on Thursday. The #NextGenATP teenager fired 10 aces, alongside 10 double faults, and needed two hours en route to victory in his first encounter against the Brit. Zverev won 75 per cent of points on first serve and saved 11/15 break chances. The top-ranked German reached the semi-finals last year in Montpellier on his main draw debut. To replicate that run the World No. 21 will need to beat Jeremy Chardy in the final eight. The Frenchman was victorious in their only previous meeting back in Kuala Lumpur in 2015. Reigning champion Richard Gasquet is...
Third seed Grigor Dimitrov delighted the home crowd on Thursday at the Garanti Koza Sofia Open, rallying from a set down to defeat former Top 15 player Jerzy Janowicz in the second round 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. “The crowd won the match today,” said Dimitrov. “I had tremendous support and everything was amazing. I haven’t played at home in a long time, so I’m pumped for each match here and hope I can repeat this tomorrow.” Janowicz only needed a lone break of serve to capture the opening set, but the Bulgarian gradually found his footing as the contest wore on. Little separated the two players in the final stages of the match, but Dimitrov grabbed the crucial break at 5-5...
Top-ranked Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci booked an all-South American quarter-final on Wednesday after he edged past Janko Tipsarevic at the Ecuador Open. The Brazilian fourth seed, a runner-up in Quito last season, saw off the Serbian wild card 7-6(8), 7-6(2) and will next face Argentine Renzo Olivo. Eighth-seeded Olivo ground out a 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 second-round victory over Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo to book his second straight Quito quarter-final berth. Giraldo was bidding to reach his first ATP World Tour quarter-final since Los Cabos in August last year. In the final first-round clash, two-time defending champion Victor Estrella Burgos won his 11th straight match in the Ecuadorian capital with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Slovakian Andrej Martin. The win secures a...
Dustin Brown added another Top 10 win to his growing tally of upsets on the ATP World Tour. The 32-year-old German toppled top seed Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier. The hard-serving Brown struck eight aces and lost only three first-serve points (22/25) in the hour-long contest. He never faced a break point. Brown had been 3-11 lifetime against Top 10 players but his trio of victories had come on grass (Nadal, 2014 Halle, 2015 Wimbledon) and clay courts (Isner, 2014 Houston). Brown had been defeated – 0-9 – by Top 10 players on hard courts. [ALSO LIKE] Cilic suffered an opening loss in Montpellier for the second consecutive year. He lost...
Second seed David Goffin made a winning debut at the Garanti Koza Sofia Open on Wednesday. The Belgian prevailed past Radu Albot of Moldova 6-2, 6-7(7), 6-3 in two hours. Goffin was two points away from winning the match in straight sets, tied at 7/7 in the second-set tie-break, but the right-hander regrouped and didn't face a break point in the third set. Goffin will meet Italian Andreas Seppi or countryman Steve Darcis in the quarter-finals. “I could have finished the match in the second but I didn't,” Goffin said. “It was not easy, the first match here in Sofia. The conditions are really tough. It's not easy to control the ball, and it was not easy to find my...