Rafael Nadal is sounding his intentions early at the China Open, with the 2005 champion thumping veteran Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-1, 6-1 in the opening round. The Spaniard, looking for his third ATP World Tour title of the season after clay-court crowns at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, was rarely tested on serve in the 64-minute routing. He claimed 79 per cent of his first-serve points, including five aces, and saved both break points. In the pair’s first hard-court clash, Nadal was even more ruthless than his two prior victories over the Italian, breaking five times. “Today I think I played a very solid match, playing very aggressive with my forehand,” Nadal said. “I only played one...
No. 6 seed Nick Kyrgios put his best foot forward in a 7-5, 6-2 win over American Ryan Harrison at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 on Tuesday. Harrison was coming into the match with confidence, having qualified for an ATP World Tour main draw for the eighth time this year. However, he had few answers for Kyrgios’s pace and succumbed in 80 minutes. The Aussie enjoyed a stellar day on serve, firing 14 aces, landing 73 per cent of first serves and not facing a break point. Kyrgios’s comfort level on his delivery was such that he often followed up a first-serve miss with another flat bomb. The #NextGen star routinely topped 200km/h on his second serve and...
Pablo Carreno Busta and Rafael Nadal reached the China Open quarter-finals on Monday in Beijing as they upset third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Daniel Nestor 7-6(3), 6-4 in the first round. The Spaniards have both enjoyed great success on the doubles court in 2016. Nadal partnered Marc Lopez to the gold medal at the Rio Olympics, while Carreno Busta was runner-up at the US Open with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and also reached the final last week in Chengdu, with Mariusz Fyrstenberg (l. to Klaasen/Ram). Nadal and Carreno Busta go on to face Chinese wild card pairing Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang, who upset Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 3-6, 6-3, 10-4. Paolo Lorenzi and Guido Pella dealt a blow to...
In his first singles match since the US Open semi-finals, Kei Nishikori withstood an impressive performance by Donald Young to prevail 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 on Monday. The 26-year-old Nishikori is looking to win this ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tournament in Tokyo for the third time this week, following victories in 2012 and 2014, defeating Milos Raonic both times. A good run for the right-hander would also stand him in good stead in the Emirates ATP Race To London. Nishikori is currently fifth in the year-to-date standings, with the Top 8 at the end of the regular season qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. There was...
A runner-up showing at the China Open six years could be David Ferrer’s lucky omen this week as the Spaniard seeks to reach his first ATP World Tour final of 2016. On Monday, he made the first step towards doing so with a 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas. The fifth seed, having slipped to No. 13 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, extended his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against the Uruguayan to 4-0 in what was the pair’s first clash on hard court. In the match, which featured only one break point between the two, it was Ferrer who made the most of his sole opportunity. He broke to take the opening set and secured the result on his second...