Two-time champion Gilles Simon safely navigated his way through two tie-break sets to beat rising German star Maximilian Marterer 7-6(3), 7-6(4) in the first round of the Open 13 Provence on Tuesday. The Frenchman, who most recently won the event in 2015 (d. Monfils), won 73 per cent of points on his first serve, but was made to save two set points at 4-5 in the second set before securing the victory. Simon moves into a second-round meeting with Rolex Paris Masters runner-up Filip Krajinovic. Krajinovic marked his return to France with a hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Joao Sousa. The one-hour, 57-minute match featured six breaks of serve with the Serbian converting on all three of his opportunities....
When Milos Raonic arrived in Delray Beach last year, the Canadian was No. 4 in the ATP Rankings. But injury struggles kept the right-hander off the court for chunks of time throughout 2017. The World No. 32 will hope that beating Taro Daniel 6-1, 7-5 on Tuesday afternoon at the Delray Beach Open for his first victory of the season will be a sign of good things to come. It is his second tour-level win in six months, as Raonic pursues a ninth ATP World Tour title. "It's a good thing I was able to win today and it gives me a lot of things that I believe I can do better tomorrow," Raonic said. "So just got to keep...
World No. 3 Marin Cilic arrived in Rio de Janeiro seeking his first title of the 2018 ATP World Tour season. And the Croat made an impressive start, ousting qualifier Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 6-2 in 80 minutes to begin his campaign at the Rio Open presented by Claro on Monday evening. "I'm feeling good. It was an okay match. It was a solid match, first one on clay," Cilic said. "I wouldn't say that I played really, really well. I felt that I played well. In the critical moments I think I played my own game, very offensive and overall I think I controlled the match quite okay." Cilic is fresh off of his second championship match appearance in the...
The Delray Beach Open has been very good to Jack Sock. The defending champion picked up another victory in South Florida on Monday, his first of the season, beating Aussie qualifier John-Patrick Smith 6-4, 6-4. Sock, who went 0-2 at the ASB Classic and the Australian Open to start the season, saved all four break points and broke Smith twice during the windy 81-minute first-round contest. “He's very unorthodox, lefty, serve and volleys a lot. Very unorthodox shots: flat, some spin, some flat, slice. Rushes the net a lot, tricky conditions, tricky player, so I'm happy to get through, definitely,” Sock said. [ALSO LIKE] After the match, the World No. 8 was presented with a plaque that coronated him “King...
Damir Dzumhur got his Open 13 Provence title bid off to a winning start, saving four match points at 4-5 in the second set before cruising to the finish in a 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-1 victory over Mikhail Kukushkin on Monday. Competing in the Marseille main draw for the first time, the World No. 29 saved eight of ten break points and converted on four of his 13 opportunities to seal his place in the second round after two hours, 55 minutes. Dzumhur won his first two ATP World Tour titles at the end of last season (St. Petersburg, Moscow) on indoor hard courts and is looking to add a third trophy to his collection. The Bosnian, who is at a...
