France’s Jeremy Chardy began his first appearance at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open in style, defeating eighth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-5, 6-3 in 89 minutes on Tuesday. “I am happy with my match today,” said Chardy. “I knew it would be a difficult match. [Basilashvili] is a really good player, really aggressive. I am happy with my level today, I played really solid from the beginning to the end.” The Istanbul debutant converted five of his seven break point opportunities en route to victory against the World No. 75, who remains winless at the event after three appearances. Chardy will next face Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic, who dropped just four games in a 6-4, 6-0 win over Gazprom Hungarian Open...
Martin Klizan continued his strong run of form at the BMW Open by FWU on Monday, beating 2011 finalist Florian Mayer 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. The 2014 champion (d. Fognini) converted six of his 15 break point opportunities en route to victory in a match lasting just over two hours. Klizan improves to 8-1 in the Bavarian capital and sends Mayer to his 10th consecutive loss at tour-level. Klizan, who defeated Novak Djokovic in Barcelona and became the first man to win five games in a set against Rafael Nadal on clay since the 2017 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, will meet Mirza Basic or seventh seed Gael Monfils in the second round. Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann scored his first win of the 2018...
#NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe was down and almost out of the Millennium Estoril Open on Monday against compatriot Tennys Sandgren. But the 20-year-old battled until the end, and it paid dividends. Tiafoe recovered from a 5/3 deficit in the second-set tie-break and saved three match points in the decider to beat Sandgren 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) to advance to the second round in Portugal, setting a second-round clash against No. 4 seed Gilles Muller. The Delray Beach Open champion is now 3-0 this year in third-set tie-breaks (also def. Edmund and Berdych in Miami), and 3-0 at all levels against Sandgren when it comes to a final-set tie-break. He is now also 5-0 at all levels against the 26-year-old Tennessean —...
Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi earned his 100th tour-level win on Monday, beating wild card Cem Ilkel 6-2, 6-3 at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open. The 36-year-old Italian, who reached a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 33 in May 2017, won 83 per cent of first-serve points en route to the 66-minute milestone win. Lorenzi lifted his only ATP World Tour title on clay at the 2016 Generali Open, while also reaching three further championship matches on the surface during his 15-year career. Lorenzi will next meet Argentina’s Marco Trungelliti, who battled from a set down to defeat fellow qualifier Elias Ymer 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. The 28-year-old won 67 per cent of points on his serve and broke the Swede on...
Italian Marco Cecchinato lost in the final round of qualifying in straight sets at the Gazprom Hungarian Open. Yet seven days later, the World No. 92 will leave Hungary as a first-time ATP World Tour champion. After gaining entry to the main draw in Budapest as a lucky loser, Cecchinato never looked back. And even though he had never reached a tour-level semi-final prior to this week, the Italian defeated Aussie John Millman, another first-time finalist, 7-5, 6-4 on Sunday to claim his maiden trophy. "I lost Sunday and now I won the tournament. It's amazing for me," Cecchinato said. "Maybe it's a dream, I don't know." Cecchinato is the first lucky loser to triumph since Leonardo Mayer won in...
