David Goffin recovered from a set and a double break down, saving one match point at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell to beat Marcel Granollers 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 on Tuesday. The Belgian had looked down and out at 4-6, 1-5 against the Barcelona-born star, but fought back, saving a match point with aggressive baseline play before coming to the net and extracting an error from his opponent. Goffin improves to 10-5 this season and now owns a 2-1 lead in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with the Spaniard. Granollers had won their only previous encounter on the red dirt in Monte-Carlo two years ago. Goffin advances to the third round for the second consecutive year, where he will meet either...
Yannick Maden notched his second ATP World Tour win on Tuesday, defeating local favourite Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 at the Gazprom Hungarian Open. The lucky loser needed two hours and 22 minutes to upset the Hungarian No.1, saving eight of the 11 break points he faced to clinch the victory. Maden, whose only previous win at tour-level came at the 2017 Moselle Open (d. Kicker), broke the sixth seed on five occasions to set up a meeting with countryman Maximilian Marterer. Marterer also came back from a set down to beat Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. The German was solid behind both his first and second serve, winning 67 and 68 per cent of points respectively, to beat...
If you’re looking for anyone to prove that age is just a number, look no further than 39-year-old Ivo Karlovic. The Croatian saved two match points in a second-set tie-break to oust former World No. 5 Tommy Robredo 6-7(5), 7-6(8), 6-4 on Monday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, winning his first match at the event since his run to the 2006 quarter-finals (l. to Wawrinka). It is Karlovic's first appearance in Barcelona since 2008. The 6'11" right-hander has not let slip the momentum of an impressive run to the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship semi-finals two weeks ago. Karlovic extended his FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against the 35-year-old Robredo to 4-0 thanks to a...
It is safe to say Slovenian Aljaz Bedene has had his fair share of matches against Romanian Marius Copil in Budapest. And for the fifth seed, that has turned out to be a good thing. Bedene beat Copil Monday at the Gazprom Hungarian Open for the third time in the tournament's two years of existence 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-3. Last year, Bedene defeated the Romanian in the final round of qualifying and the first round of the main draw (Copil was a lucky loser) en route to his second ATP World Tour final (l. to Pouille). The World No. 57, who saved all three break points held against him in the opener, will look to continue what has been a strong...
Rafael Nadal continued to build upon his extraordinary legacy at Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Sunday when he captured his 11th trophy, which represented a record 31st ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown. The Spanish superstar, who boasts a 396-35 record on clay courts (.919) according to the FedEx ATP Performance Zone, beat Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 6-2 in a one-hour and 34-minute final. It was their third clash in a red dirt title match — also 2014 Mutua Madrid Open and 2016 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. Watch: Nadal's Road To La Undécima "My true feeling is these kind of things are not going to happen forever, so I just try to enjoy them and to play with the full...
