Fifth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber brought his best tennis on Monday at the Apia International Sydney, recording a convincing 6-4, 6-4 win over a tricky opponent in Fabio Fognini. Kohlschreiber landed 75 per cent of his first serves in the second set and controlled the baseline rallies throughout the match to prevail in one hour and 21 minutes. Next up for him is the winner of the wild card battle between Aussies Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis. In other first-round matches, Australian qualifier Matthew Barton delighted the local crowd with a 7-6(3), 7-6(5) win over Kyle Edmund. In a match featuring no breaks of serve, Barton saved a set point serving at 4-5 and grabbed the final three points of the...
Day 1 at the ASB Classic in Auckland saw seventh seed Steve Johnson and sixth seed Feliciano Lopez move through their first-round matches on Monday. Johnson opened up main draw action on Centre Court with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Stephane Robert. The American dropped just three points on his first serve during the match (28/31) and kept Robert on the defense throughout. Next up for Johnson is the winner between #NextGenATP star Karen Khachanov and Yen-Hsun Lu. Lopez had a more difficult test against wild card and local favourite Michael Venus. The doubles specialist got the crowd involved by grabbing the opening set, but Lopez regrouped to score a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory. The Spaniard next plays the winner...
Nicolas Mahut kicked off his Apia International Sydney campaign with a 6-2, 7-6(2) victory over Thomaz Bellucci on Sunday. The Frenchman, who is making his fifth tournament appearance, was a quarter-finalist last year. He prevailed over the Brazilian in one hour and 21 minutes, firing six aces. Mahut will next face second seed Pablo Cuevas, with two-time defending champion Viktor Troicki also looming in his half of the draw. World No. 8 Dominic Thiem is the top seed at the ATP World Tour 250 event. In other action, Thiago Monteiro, Gastao Elias, Matthew Barton and Christopher O'Connell all qualified for the main draw. O'Connell will be making his ATP World Tour debut. On the doubles court, the Spanish-Italian duo of...
Roberto Bautista Agut added a fifth ATP World Tour title to his trophy cabinet, beating 20-year-old Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 in the Aircel Chennai Open final on Sunday. The World No. 14 is now 5-6 in finals, with Chennai added to his Sofia (2016), Auckland (2016), Stuttgart (2014) and s-Hertogenbosch (2014) titles. “I think it’s a great tournament and that’s why it’s my fifth time in a row coming here,” said Bautista Agut. “This tournament has helped me a lot to get into the Top 50 players [in the world]. I’m a much better player now than five years ago. I have more experience and I’ve improved a lot of things. “There are a lot of tournaments and a...
Grigor Dimitrov’s late-season resurgence in 2016 continues unabated in early 2017. The Bulgarian snapped a two-and-a-half year title drought Sunday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, defeating third seed Kei Nishikori 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in the final. Dimitrov’s title run included three consecutive Top 10 scalps: Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals, top seed Milos Raonic in the semis and Nishikori in the final. Having lost his past four ATP World Tour finals, he finally claimed his fifth career title, his first since Queen’s Club in 2014. A former World No. 8, Dimitrov saw his Emirates ATP Ranking slip to No. 40 midway through 2016 before a heart-to-heart career reflection with coach Dani Vallverdu saw the 25 year old turn...