#NextGen star Kyle Edmund reached his third ATP World Tour quarter-final on Wednesday at the China Open as he ousted seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 11 minutes. The 21-year-old Briton has enjoyed a breakthrough season, with quarter-finals in Doha and The Queen’s Club before beating Richard Gasquet and John Isner en route to the US Open fourth round (l. to Djokovic). Edmund will face top seed Andy Murray in an all-British quarter-final clash. Watch Edmund Uncovered Fifth seed David Ferrer is also through to the quarter-finals after dismissing Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-4. The Spaniard, who finished runner-up at this ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tournament in 2010 (l. to Djokovic), is bidding to...
Marin Cilic was pushed to the limit by Fernando Verdasco in the second round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 on Wednesday, but the No. 4 seed ultimately rallied to win 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in two hours and 25 minutes. “In the first two sets, I was controlling the rallies in the critical points but just missing by a little bit,” Cilic said. “Later I found my rhythm a bit with my first serve, and then he was up and down in the third set. I felt that mentally I was always there, and I was happy to pull out of a difficult situation.” Cilic, No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, strengthened his case to...
#NextGen star Alexander Zverev continued his outstanding 2016 season with an opening round win on Tuesday at the China Open over fourth seed Dominic Thiem, pushing him closer to finishing the year inside the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. The 19 year old German rallied from a set down to defeat World No. 10 Thiem 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, extending his ATP World Tour win streak to six matches. He also improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Thiem to 1-3. All three losses against the Austrian came this year on clay courts. Zverev won the final four games of the match to secure his place in the second round. He applied pressure on Thiem’s serve throughout the contest...
Gael Monfils was not to be denied in his opening match at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 on Tuesday night, needing no more than one hour to dismiss Japan’s Yuichi Sugita 6-3, 6-1. Monfils continued his domination against Sugita, having downed the wild card player 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 at this year's Australian Open. Though known in his early days for his athleticism and defensive acumen, Monfils brought out his attacking game against the tenacious Sugita. He played close to the baseline and backed up his serve with penetrating groundstrokes. The 2010 finalist (l. to Nadal) dropped only nine points on serve and did not face a break point. “Since this year, I’ve been playing a lot more offensively,”...
Top seed Andy Murray continued his dominance over Andreas Seppi on Tuesday at the China Open, notching his eighth consecutive win over the Italian in a convincing opening round win, 6-2, 7-5. “I feel like I’m able to get a lot of chances when he’s serving, give myself a lot of opportunities to break,” said Murray. “He’s got very good timing, hits the ball very clean off both sides. I try to use some variety and not let him get into a rhythm. That’s worked well for me.” Having struggled with a shoulder injury during the Western & Southern Open final in August, Murray said he’s fully healthy now and eager to make a run for the title. “I thought...