In his 22nd season on tour, Belarusian Max Mirnyi is still celebrating career milestones. On Tuesday, the 40-year-old ATP World Tour legend became the fourth active player in the Open Era (since April 1968) to record 750 doubles match wins. Mirnyi partnered with Philipp Oswald of Austria to beat Chinese wild cards Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang 7-6(5), 6-1 and advance to the second round of the Shenzhen Open. “I am thrilled that I have come to this stage of my career. It is something that I couldn't have imagined at the beginning of the road,” said Mirnyi, who turned professional in 1996. “Just playing on the ATP World Tour was already a dream come true and I am so...
ATP World Tour Uncovered presented by Peugeot looks ahead to the five-tournament 2017 Asian Swing - the Chengdu Open, Shenzhen Open, Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, China Open and Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Fifth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov continued his return to form Tuesday, dropping just six points on serve en route to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over qualifier Lloyd Harris at the Shenzhen Open. Dolgopolov, who is nearing the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings once again after falling to No. 89 in May — his lowest ranking since 2010 — did not face a break point in dispatching his South African opponent in 63 minutes. The Ukrainian dropped just one point in his first three service games to sprint to a 4-1 lead and would never look back. Dolgopolov hit 11 aces to help secure the victory and a matchup with compatriot Sergiy Stakhovsky, who defeated Nicolas Kicker in straight sets. Henri...
Jeremy Chardy saved two set points in the opening set on Monday before eliminating Italian Alessandro Giannessi, 7-6(6), 6-4 in one hour, 53 minutes at the Shenzhen Open. The Frenchman will attempt to reach his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season against the winner of fifth-seeded Donald Young and the youngest player in the draw, #NextGenATP 17-year-old Nicola Kuhn. ATP World Tour veteran Steve Darcis ended the hometown hopes of Ze Zhang 7-5, 7-6(3). The 27-year-old Zhang, who captured his first ATP Challenger Tour title earlier this year in San Francisco, broke the Belgian immediately and earned four more break points in Darcis’ second service game. From 1-4 down, World No. 77 won six of the next seven...
Australian Akira Santillan has forged a memorable 2017 - and as a bonus, he's picked up a few pointers as to how to make his 2018 season on the ATP World Tour even more constructive. At just 20 years old, the #NextGenATP star is still learning how to balance his training regimen with tournament play. If the 2017 season has taught him something, it's to pace himself, and to put in the time on the practice courts. "I've played too many tournaments in a row this year and it doesn't suit me,” Santillan said. "I usually play better when I go practise, play my first tournament and get a good result. I'll learn from that and go and play three...
