Tomas Berdych took a significant step in his quest to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for a seventh consecutive year, downing Thomaz Bellucci 6-2, 7-5 in the Shenzhen Open semi-finals. He will face off against Richard Gasquet for the title. Defending champion Berdych needed one hour and 22 minutes to dispatch his Brazilian opponent, securing his place in the Shenzhen final once again. He fired nine aces and claimed an impressive 88 per cent first serve points, while converting four of 10 break chances. "It's always a pleasure to play in front of a full stadium here," said Berdych. "Today it was a great atmosphere and a great time to be on the court. I like the...
Albert Ramos-Vinolas backed up his victory over top seed Dominic Thiem by advancing to his first ATP World Tour hard-court final at the Chengdu Open on Saturday. The fifth-seeded Spaniard ousted third seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-6(3) in a titanic tussle lasting just under three hours. He will now face #NextGen star Karen Khachanov in the final. Ramos-Vinolas is currently at a career-high No. 31 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and poised to crack the Top 30 after reaching his third ATP World Tour final. After finishing runner-up in the Casablanca final four years ago (l. to Andujar), Ramos-Vinolas lifted his first trophy earlier this year on clay in Bastad, defeating Fernando Verdasco. [ALSO LIKE] “The match was tough,...
Richard Gasquet is through to his second ATP World Tour final of the season at the Shenzhen Open. The Frenchman was leading 6-2, 4-1 when Janko Tipsarevic was forced to retire from their semi-final clash with a groin injury. "Tennis is a tough sport," said Gasquet. "It’s difficult to have no injuries, especially at this time on the year. Our matches are very tough, physically everyone is getting better and better. The game is more and more demanding. He’s had injuries in the past, same as me, and I hope he will recover well." Competing in his 26th ATP World Tour final, Gasquet will look to win his 14th title when he faces defending champion Tomas Berdych. The right-hander lifted...
A third #NextGen star could be in line to win his first ATP World Tour title in 2016 after Karen Khachanov reached the Chengdu Open final with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over sixth seed Viktor Troicki on Saturday. Nick Kyrgios (Marseille, Atlanta) and Alexander Zverev (St. Petersburg) are both #NextGen first-time ATP winners this season. Taylor Fritz (Memphis) and Borna Coric (Chennai and Marrakech) have also reached their first finals in what has been a breakout season for the Next Generation on the ATP World Tour. The 20-year-old Khachanov has taken down three seeded players to reach the final of this ATP World Tour 250 tournament, also upsetting seventh seed Joao Sousa in the first round and fourth seed Feliciano...
Tomas Berdych began to close the gap on Rafael Nadal in the Emirates ATP Race To London on Friday as he defeated Jiri Vesely 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-2 in the Shenzhen Open quarter-finals. The Czech is now 490 points behind eighth-placed Nadal 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. Berdych will look to make up yet more ground on the Spaniard when he faces Thomaz Bellucci in the semi-finals of this ATP World Tour 250 tournament. Berdych has a 3-1 record over Bellucci in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. [ALSO LIKE] The last match Berdych played against the No. 52-ranked Vesely was an epic in...
