Gael Monfils might have to come back to South America for the “Golden Swing” in future years. The Frenchman, who played his first ATP World Tour match on the continent last week in Quito, won another match during the clay-court swing on Thursday, beating Serbia's Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-3 at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires. Monfils' return game carried him. The Frenchman won 52 per cent of the points that started on Lajovic's racquet (36/69), almost a higher percentage than Monfils won on his own serve, 56 per cent (37/66). [ALSO LIKE] He will next meet Argentina's Leonardo Mayer, who saved two of three break points to upset fourth seed Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-3. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez also participated in the...
Roger Federer’s seemingly routine pathway to reclaim the No. 1 ATP Ranking at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament got a little more challenging than expected Thursday night in Rotterdam. Before his second-round clash with Philipp Kohlschreiber, Federer’s two-step process seemed straight forward: Extend his perfect record against Kohlschreiber to 13-0 and then take down either Robin Haase or fellow Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor in Friday’s quarter-finals. But Federer had to fight off two set points in the first-set tie-break and endure a competitive second set to beat Kohlschreiber 7-6(8), 7-5 in one hour and 42 minutes. “It was extremely complicated tonight,” Federer said. “I couldn’t find my range or my rhythm. I think Philipp did that to me; it was...
Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the quarter-finals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament with a 7-6(4), 7-5 win over Filip Krajinovic on Thursday. Dimitrov, seeded second in Rotterdam, was under pressure throughout the one hour, 43 minute match. The Bulgarian saved four break points in the opening set before capitalising on a double fault by Krajinovic at 5-4 in the tie-break. Dimitrov clinched the set a point later. Krajinovic's serve held up well again in the second until the 11th game of the set, when the Serbian fell behind 0/40. Dimitrov broke at 30/40, then closed out the match the next game. Dimitrov's power factored into the outcome. The ATP World Tour No.5 hit 33 winners to Krajinovic's 20. Dimitrov...
Kei Nishikori is looking more and more like his former self. Nishikori, the former World No. 4 who's on the comeback from right-wrist surgery last year, advanced to the New York Open quarter-finals on Wednesday. The fifth seed needed only 65 minutes to get past Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-2, 6-4. The Japanese star won 84 per cent of his service points (37/44), including a higher percentage on his second serve (17/20, 85%) than his first (20/24, 83%). “I served really well, especially in the second set. I started getting my rhythm back and my first serve was working really well but also everything else was pretty solid today. I was playing aggressive and coming in,” Nishikori said. “Every match is...
Dominic Thiem improved to 6-0 at the Argentina Open on Wednesday, beating home favourite Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 6-3 in his attempt to repeat his 2016 title at the ATP World Tour 250 event. The Austrian erased the lone break point and, although he finished the second-round contest in a quick 90 minutes, Thiem will look to improve upon his break-point conversion rate – he was three for 10 against Zeballos, a 2010 quarter-finalist, on Estadio Guillermo Vilas. [ALSO LIKE] Six of Thiem's eight ATP World Tour titles have come on clay, and the surface is by far his best, according to his FedEx ATP Win/Loss Record. Thiem is 84-30 on clay, a winning percentage of 74. On grass, he's 13-11...
