Henri Kontinen and John Peers boosted their Barclays ATP World Tour Finals qualification bid as they reached the Shanghai Rolex Masters semi-finals. The Finnish/Australian duo inched their way up to No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London with 3,070 points, after beating Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 6-3, 7-6(4) on Friday. They now lead No. 8-placed Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi (3,065) by just five points. The top eight teams at the end of the regular season will qualify for the prestigious season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 13-20 November. "It was great to get the win today," said Peers. "We have been building together as a team and it's been great...
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic came on Friday within a tie-break of losing to a player ranked outside of the Top 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time in more than eight years. The Serbian was forced to work hard for his 30th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 match win of the year by overcoming No. 110-ranked Mischa Zverev 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 in two hours and 21 minutes at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. "I had to dig myself out of a hole," said Djokovic. "He was the better player for most of the first part of the match. He was up a set and a break, [then] a game away from winning. Tactically played well. He slowed...
Roberto Bautista Agut is through to his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final after beating ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4 on Friday at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. The Spaniard will face Novak Djokovic as he bids to reach his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final. His first semi-final came two years ago on home soil in Madrid, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. "I'm happy about being in the semi-finals. But also, I'm happy with the way I'm working, with the way I'm planning all my days, with the way I'm playing on the court," said Bautista Agut. "I'm feeling great. I hope to continue like this." Bautista Agut will need to overturn a 0-5 FedEx ATP...
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan broke serve four times to top Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nenad Zimonjic 6-4, 7-5 in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday. The No. 2 seeds will next face countrymen John Isner and Jack Sock, who took out Spain’s Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez. The Bryans, who have 112 team titles, are two wins away from becoming the first doubles team to reach 1,000 match wins. Bryan/Bryan raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set before Tsonga/Zimonjic broke back in the seventh game. Serving to stay in the set at 4-5, the French/Serbian duo saved three set points before dropping the winner-takes-all deuce point. In the second set, the Bryans failed to serve...
Two-time former champion Andy Murray was solid on first serve at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday when he booked a place in the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 13 seed Lucas Pouille. Murray will next challenge No. 11 seed David Goffin, who is attempting to clinch a spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 13-20 November, for the first time. Murray capitalised on Pouille’s inexperience, moving towards the net to finish points when the Frenchman floated back sliced backhands. The Scot won the first five games, broke in the first game of the second set and won 95 per cent of his first service points. He...