Kevin Anderson fought back from a set and a break down to beat eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 and advance to the second round of the If Stockholm Open on Monday. The South African broke Baghdatis at 3-4 in the second set and again at 5-4 to even the match. Anderson fell behind a break in the third set as well but reeled off five straight games to upset the 2009 champion. “Things weren't looking great... I fought through,” Anderson said. “I felt that if I could keep my mind a little bit and just take it one point at a time, I definitely was going to give myself a shot.” [ALSO LIKE] He will next face American...
Thomaz Bellucci, the 2012 finalist, knocked out wild card Cem Ilkel 7-5, 6-1 in 86 minutes at the VTB Kremlin Cup on Monday and will next face eighth seed Andrey Kuznetsov or Guido Pella in the second round in Moscow. Czech Lukas Rosol defeated Austrian Gerald Melzer 7-5, 6-2 to move into the second round. Rosol will next face Stephane Robert or Marcel Granollers. The Spaniard started his doubles campaign on the right note. Playing with Pablo Carreno Busta, the top seeds hung on to beat Indians Purav Raja and Divij Sharan 6-4, 4-6, 10-4. [ALSO LIKE] Roberto Bautista Agut, runner-up in Moscow for the past two years, leads the ATP World Tour 250 tournament, having just lost to Andy...
Italian Andreas Seppi kicked off the inaugural European Open in Antwerp on Monday with a 7-6(7), 5-7, 6-3 upset against eighth seed Federico Delbonis. The 32-year-old Seppi will next face Robin Haase, who beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-2. Seppi will look to turn around his season in Belgium this week. He has fallen to No. 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, his lowest ranking since 9 July, 2007 when he was No. 111. [ALSO LIKE] Spaniard Inigo Cervantes set up a second-round contest with Frenchman Richard Gasquet after outlasting 36-year-old German qualifier Michael Berrer 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in one hour and 32 minutes. The third-seeded Gasquet is going for his second ATP World Tour title of the season. He beat...
Andy Murray ratcheted up the pressure on Novak Djokovic in the battle for No. 1 after beating Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(1), 6-1 during the Shanghai Rolex Masters final on Sunday. The Brit won his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title of the season and the 13th of his career. The 29 year old also celebrated his 41st career tour-level title. “I did feel like I played better this week than last week. In all of the matches I was hitting the ball pretty clean,” Murray said. The win marked his third Shanghai Rolex Masters championship, tying him with Novak Djokovic for the most Shanghai titles. The Scot will try to reach Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Rankings later this year as well. By winning Shanghai,...
Andy Murray took a significant step in his quest to overthrow Novak Djokovic as year-end World No. 1, after reaching his 20th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. Murray downed Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the championship, striking 22 winners. Victory in Sunday's final would move him to within striking distance of the top spot in the Emirates ATP Race To London after Djokovic suffered a semi-final defeat to Roberto Bautista Agut earlier on Saturday. The battle for year-end No. 1, a mantle held by the Serbian four of the past five years, is approaching a critical stage with the Scot moving to 1,315 points behind his longtime rival. A title in Shanghai...