Max Mirnyi had faced Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan plenty before taking the court Friday evening at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston. In fact, the Belarusian had played the brothers 54 times (31-23), and lost nine of their past 10 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. But despite the 39-year-olds carrying a seven-match winning streak into the semi-final, Mirnyi and partner Philipp Oswald were too good on the night, ousting the recent Miami Open presented by Itaú champions 6-4, 2-6, 10/6. The Belarusian-Austrian duo dropped two of their first three service points in the Match Tie-break, but rallied from 4/3 down to win seven of the match's final nine points, advancing to the final. This...
#NextGenATP American Taylor Fritz had never made an ATP World Tour semi-final on clay before this week. In fact, he had only played three clay-court matches combined on the ATP World Tour and the ATP Challenger Tour prior to his Houston debut. But judging by his play Friday, you wouldn’t know it. The 20-year-old battled back from a 4-2 deficit in the deciding set to oust 2015 winner Jack Sock 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship and move into the semi-finals. "I felt like it could really go either way. I just had to get back in it," Fritz said. "I just stayed with it and was able to come up [good]...
Ivo Karlovic said he was happy after his opening-round win for various reasons, including earning his first victory as a 39-year-old. Three days later, he has done a lot more than that. The Croatian beat fourth seed Nick Kyrgios 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 Friday at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship to become the oldest player to advance to an ATP World Tour semi-final since Jimmy Connors at 1993 San Francisco. The right-hander was already the oldest quarter-finalist at Houston in the Open Era. "It's definitely a huge win. I lost against him every match up until now," said Karlovic, the 2007 Houston titlist. "I'm really happy that I won today." Kyrgios had previously owned a 4-0...
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan will turn 40 on 29 April. But the six-time Houston champions are showing no signs of slowing down. The Americans advanced to the semi-finals of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship on Thursday, beating another team of brothers in Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski 4-6, 6-3, 10-6. The Bryans raised their level after dropping the first set. They didn't face a break point in the second set, and in the Match Tie-break, they won all three second-serve return points. The Bryans will next meet Max Mirnyi/Philipp Oswald, who squeezed past Scott Lipsky/Tennys Sandgren 6-7(4), 7-6(1), 11-9. [ALSO LIKE] It will mark the 55th time the Bryans have faced Mirnyi, who turned...
A trio of former Huoston titlists took to the red dirt on Thursday, and all three advanced to the quarter-finals. Top seed and 2013 champion John Isner claimed his eighth match in a row, winning 93 per cent of his first-serve points (28/30) to beat Switzerland's Henri Laaksonen 6-4, 6-2 in only 65 minutes at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship. Isner, No. 9 in the ATP Rankings, is fresh off his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Miami Open presented by Itau. The 32-year-old will next face countryman and defending champion Steve Johnson, who saved six of seven break points to beat #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4. [ALSO LIKE] The sixth-seeded Johnson...