After more than a decade of competing together in ATP World Tour doubles events, Thai twins Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana found themselves battling against each other on Thursday at the BB&T Atlanta Open. The Ratiwatana brothers didn't play together in Atlanta because their combined Emirates ATP Doubles Ranking would have left them outside the cut to make the Atlanta doubles draw. By playing with other players, though, both brothers were able to compete in main draw action. Sanchai and John Millman moved into the semi-finals over Sonchat and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-2, 6-4. The brothers had squared off only once before, at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Cremona in July 2011. Sanchai (w/Mektic) also came out on top in...
Players competing at this week’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Shenzhen, China, stepped away from the court for a pair of off-site activities. On Tuesday, Enrique Lopez-Perez of Spain joined WTA player Jovana Jaksic in visiting a Tsing Dynasty villa named Wanshi Habitat. They explored where the ancestors of Shenzhen citizens used to live and learned about Hakka culture and what the lifestyle entailed. They then delighted the local audience by hitting a few balls in a game of mini-tennis. Enrique Lopez-Perez helps launch the #ATPChallenger event in Shenzhen. The Spaniard visited a Tsing Dynasty villa named Wanshi Habitat. pic.twitter.com/2mAhAhoNn9— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) March 14, 2017 Also during the week, Thai brothers Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana tested their...
While Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have spent the last two decades racking up titles on the ATP World Tour, another pair of twin brothers has been doing the same thing on the ATP Challenger Tour. Sonchat Ratiwatana and Sanchai Ratiwatana have become the first doubles team to win 40 Challenger doubles titles with their victory at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. They already broke the record for most Challenger doubles titles last year by winning No. 38 in Yokohama, Japan, surpassing the record held by Rik De Voest. They further padded their record by winning in Gwangju, Korea, in April, before prevailing again in Kaohsiung. The 34-year-olds from Thailand have been a reliable staple in the...