Can anyone stop Rafael Nadal? Another week, another clay-court crown for the World No. 1. Nadal stormed to a staggering 11th title at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Sunday, dismissing Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-1. Not even an early rain shower could stop the scintillating Spaniard, who extended his win streak on clay to 19 straight and sets-won streak on the surface to 46 in a row. It marks the second straight week in which he has completed an 'undécima', hoisting an 11th trophy at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters before replicating the feat at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. "I'm very happy for the victory against a very difficult opponent," said Nadal. "Tsitsipas has an amazing future. It was...
Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez won their third team title on Sunday, defeating Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer 7-6(5), 6-4 at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. The 2016 Roland Garros champions won 88 per cent of points behind their first serves (35/40) in the one-hour, 52-minute encounter to win their first tour-level title together since their success in Paris two years ago. It is Feliciano Lopez’s fourth doubles crown, while Marc Lopez has now lifted 14 titles. Both men had previously advanced to the Barcelona final, with Feliciano Lopez doing so in 2005 alongside Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez reaching the final with Marcel Granollers in 2012. Qureshi was bidding to retain his Barcelona trophy, having won the title in 2017 with Florin Mergea. Rojer was aiming to...
Neither team competing in the Gazprom Hungarian Open final on Sunday had played together prior to this week. But one of the pairings knew they’d be leaving Hungary with an ATP World Tour title. That team was Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor, capturing the Budapest trophy with a victory against Matwe Middelkoop and Andres Molteni 6-7(8), 6-1, 10-8 in one hour, 34 minutes. "I want to thank everyone who came out and supported us and really showed good support for the doubles, so thank you," Inglot said. It is the first ATP World Tour triumph for the Croatian, Skugor, who had lost his previous six tour-level matches with three different partners prior to arriving in Hungary. His partner, Inglot, claims...
John Millman saved three match points to reach his first ATP World Tour final at the Gazprom Hungarian Open, defeating 2017 finalist Aljaz Bedene 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(5). "It was brutal tennis out there," said Millman. " I am super happy to be in the final." The semi-final, which was suspended after two sets on Saturday due to darkness, resumed on Sunday morning with both men failing to convert match points before reaching a decisive tie-break. Millman had served for the match at 5-4, with a match point at 40/30, before saving three match points at 5-6. The Australian took control in the tie-break to open up a 5/1 lead before Bedene reeled him back to 6/5. But the World No....
Entering Saturday’s action in Spain, Rafael Nadal had not lost a set in 10 previous semi-final appearances (20-0) at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. The World No. 1 showed no intention of letting slip that record. Nadal overcame an early break to cruise past World No. 10 David Goffin 6-4, 6-0 in one hour, 22 minutes, becoming the fourth player in the Open Era to win 400 tour-level matches on clay, joining Guillermo Vilas, Manuel Orantes and Thomas Muster. [ALSO LIKE] "Very happy," Nadal said. "I played I think my best match of the tournament so far, no doubt about that. It was a great first set in my opinion. Both of us played at a very high level." The...
