Juan Martin del Potro withstood 12 aces from Ivo Karlovic on Friday at the If Stockholm Open to record his 26th match win of a comeback season, 6-3, 6-4 in 71 minutes. Del Potro moves on to face second seed Grigor Dimitrov. “I was expecting a tie-break in this match,” said del Potro. “But I’m happy to get the rest for tomorrow when I play Grigor.” Del Potro leads Dimitrov 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, including a grass-court win at this year's MercedesCup. Dimitrov completed his fifth win in seven meetings against Kevin Anderson 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-2 in two hours and 18 minutes. “It’s never easy when you serve for the match and you lose it,” said Dimitrov,...
Qualifier Daniil Medvedev reached his first ATP World Tour quarter-final on home soil on Thursday at the VTB Kremlin Cup, knocking out 2010 champion and fourth seed Viktor Troicki, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. “I talked to the coach and with the Russian players who had already beaten him. They gave me some tips. But, of course, you can’t win just thanks to those tips. Otherwise he wouldn’t be ranked No. 30,” said Medvedev. “I was very glad to see so many spectators cheering for me and this support gave me additional strength. Even though I was tired after the first set, the crowd helped me to win the match.” The Russian has jumped from No. 329 to No. 123 this...
Top seed David Goffin made a strong start at his home tournament’s inaugural event with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Florian Mayer on Thursday at the European Open. Goffin stands at No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race To London and looks to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the first time. The 25-year-old Belgian capitalised on five of his nine break point chances in the 74-minute match as he advanced to the quarter-finals, where he will face qualifier Marius Copil. The Romanian advanced to the last eight with a 7-6(3), 6-2 win over home hope Steve Darcis. NextGen star Kyle Edmund, who is at a career-high No. 43 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, continued his banner year...
Gastao Elias produced the upset of the week so far by upending top seed Gael Monfils 7-6(4), 6-1 in the second round of the If Stockholm Open on Thursday. The 25-year-old Portuguese scored only his third tour-level hard-court win by saving all four break points faced. He will face Jack Sock in the quarter-finals. “It was a good day,” said Elias, who leapt into the air dramatically after taking match point. “I told someone before the match that I would [celebrate like Cristiano Ronaldo after scoring a goal] if I won. “It’s the best match I’ve ever played. I knew I could play at this level and compete with the top guys, and this is what I showed today. It’s...
Fourth seed Pablo Cuevas struck 11 aces to move past qualifier Jozef Kovalik 6-4, 7-6(4) on Wednesday and reach the European Open quarter-finals in Antwerp. He will meet Diego Schwartzman or #NextGen star Taylor Fritz, who won 80 per cent of his first-serve points and came back to beat German wild card Joris De Loore 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Third seed Richard Gasquet lost only two first-serve points (24/26) to beat Spaniard Inigo Cervantes 6-2, 6-4. Fifth seed Gilles Simon, who reached last week’s Shanghai Rolex Masters semi-finals, converted five of six break points in a 6-3, 6-2 victory against German qualifier Yannick Maden. It was Simon's 30th match win of the year. The Frenchman will face another German in round...