Milos Raonic set up a second-round meeting with third seed Grigor Dimitrov on Monday, defeating Argentina’s Nicolas Kicker 6-3, 6-2 at the Mutua Madrid Open. The two-time quarter-finalist (2015, 2016) took just 74 minutes to secure victory, hitting 17 aces to beat the Madrid debutant. Raonic has now won 10 matches on the ATP World Tour this season, highlighted by strong showings at the opening ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events of the season in Indian Wells and Miami. The Canadian reached the semi-finals in California and the quarter-finals in Florida before losing to Juan Martin del Potro on both occasions. The World No. 24 secured the only break of the first set in the fourth game of the match...
Benoit Paire struck 39 winners on Monday to beat fellow Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-3 for a place in the Mutua Madrid Open second round. The World No. 50, who will next play #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov, beat No. 15 seed Pouille for the first time in their fourth FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting over 79 minutes. Pouille beat Paire en route to his fifth ATP World Tour title at the Open Sud de France in February, but is now winless in three clay-court matches. Paire broke serve in the sixth game, then later converted his fourth set point chance with a backhand winner down the line. He took a 3-0 lead in the second set, but was broken for the...
For 29 years, the ATP World Tour has descended on the European nation of Portugal. For nearly three decades, the proud country with a rich tennis culture has eagerly waited for one of its own to lift the trophy in front of the home faithful. On Sunday, Joao Sousa finally ended the drought. The Guimarães native had his moment in the spotlight, becoming the first Portuguese-born player to celebrate an ATP World Tour title on home soil. Sousa downed Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 19 minutes to take the Millennium Estoril Open title, dismissing the #NextGenATP American behind four breaks of serve on the red clay. He claimed his third tour-level crown and first since 2015, when...
Taro Daniel was on top of the world when he defeated five-time BNP Paribas Open champion Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells this year. But just as quickly as he climbed into the spotlight, losses in four of five matches at all levels sent the Japanese back to reality. That was until the World No. 114 completed the best week of his career on Sunday, capping off his first ATP World Tour triumph with a 7-6(4), 6-4 win against another first-time tour-level finalist, Malek Jaziri, at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open. "Obviously really happy. I think today was a great match, a lot of long rallies from the beginning until the end," Daniel said. "Very happy. I'm obviously pretty surprised...
One year ago this week, #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov was in the midst of a seven-match losing streak on the ATP Challenger Tour. But on Sunday, the World No. 42 won his debut at the Mutua Madrid Open, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, ousting American Tennys Sandgren 6-1, 6-4 in 54 minutes. At this time last year, Shapovalov had just two tour-level victories in his young career. His win against Sandgren, the World No. 51, is his 24th since. He will next face No. 15 seed Lucas Pouille or another Frenchman, Benoit Paire. Speaking of Frenchmen, Richard Gasquet entered his first-round match in Madrid having lost six of his past seven FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against No. 14...
