Sixth seed Lucas Pouille recovered from a disastrous start to get the better of his French compatriot Gilles Simon for the first time on Tuesday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. Roger Federer’s training partner during the off-season, who is currently No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, edged past Simon 7-6(6), 7-6(4) in two hours and six minutes. Pouille was down 0-5 in first set against Simon and worried that he might be headed for a repeat of the 6-0, 6-1 loss to Simon in Miami last year. But he rallied en route to claiming his first win in three career meetings. Pouille saved two sets points in the first set at 2-5, 30/40 and at 5/6 in...
Kei Nishikori/Dominic Thiem scored the first major doubles upset of 2017 on Tuesday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, shocking second seeds and reigning ATP Finals champions Henri Kontinen/John Peers, 1-6, 6-3, 12-10. Nishikori/Thiem saved a match point on their serve at 8/9 in the Match Tie-break, but Kontinen/Peers did the same on their own serve at 9/10. The Japanese-Austrian pair regrouped to grab a mini-break and close out the battle in one hour and 49 minutes. The Japanese star’s three career-best ATP World Tour doubles performances have all come in Brisbane. Nishikori was a runner-up in 2015 (w/Dologpolov) and a semi-finalist in 2013 and 2015 (w/Dimitrov). Thiem reached his first ATP World Tour doubles final last July in...
Qualifier Hyeon Chung began his 2017 ATP World Tour season with an upset over sixth seed and fellow NextGen star Borna Coric at the Aircel Chennai Open on Monday. The 20-year-old Korean topped the Croat 6-3, 7-5 in just over two hours. “It was a tough match against a friend,” said Chung. “I tried to focus on every point and I played some great tennis. My first goal is to get back into the Top 100 [of the Emirates ATP Rankings].” In the second round, Chung will face Dudi Sela, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Damir Dzumhur. Top seed Marin Cilic will begin his season against Jozef Kovalik after the 24-year-old Slovakian defeated Gastao Elias 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2. Steve Darcis...
Novak Djokovic lost the first four games and recovered from a 2-5 deficit in the first set on Monday in his 2017 ATP World Tour season opener at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The World No. 2 and defending champion regained his poise to record a 7-6(1), 6-3 win over Jan-Lennard Struff in one hour and 27 minutes, marking his 14th straight victory against a German opponent. “It’s first match of the year. You never know how you're going to start,” said Djokovic. “As well as you have trained in the preparation period and the days prior to the tournament, [it] really is different when it's competitive play, when you start the official match and the crowd is there." “It changes...
Novak Djokovic lost the first four games and recovered from a 2-5 deficit in the first set on Monday in his 2017 ATP World Tour season opener at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The World No. 2 and defending champion regained his poise to record his 14th straight victory against a German opponent, 7-6(1), 6-3 against Jan-Lennard Struff in one hour and 87 minutes. Djokovic, who has an 8-1 record at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament, lost just six of his first service points and will next face Florian Mayer or Horacio Zeballos in the second round. Last year, the Serbian became the sixth player who has ranked No. 1 in his career to win the Doha title, joining former...