Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic entered the 2018 Australian Open on fire, becoming just the fifth team to win two ATP World Tour events leading up to the year’s first Grand Slam, capturing trophies at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open and the ASB Classic. But while none of those first four teams advanced past the semi-finals at Melbourne Park, the Austrian-Croatian team surged all the way to its maiden Grand Slam title, defeating 11th seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-4, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena. "I don't know what to say," Pavic said in disbelief. "I'm really happy with everything, with these two weeks, with the beginning of the year. We still haven't lost a match." Marach and Pavic...
If the youngest ATP World Tour final since Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic at the 2007 BNP Paribas Open was a sign of things to come, then the futures for both Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur are plenty bright. But after a two-hour, 13-minute battle at the Sydney International on Saturday, it was Medvedev who earned his first ATP World Tour title, fending off a gutsy comeback by the home favourite with a 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 triumph just about a year after appearing in his first final at 2017 Chennai (l. to Bautista Agut). "It's amazing," Medvedev said. "I'm really happy. I mean, to make it through the qualies, there were so many circumstances. I wanted to go to...
Roberto Bautista Agut entered Saturday's ASB Classic final leading the tournament in service breaks. And when the championship was on the line against second seed Juan Martin del Potro, the Spaniard came through once more to capture his second Auckland crown (also 2016), battling past Del Potro 6-1, 4-6, 7-5. The fifth-seeded Spaniard broke Del Potro in the 11th game of the third set, taking advantage of a second serve and targetting the Argentine's backhand on consecutive shots. A game later, Bautista Agut erased a break point and served out the match to win his seventh ATP World Tour title and his first of the new season. “It's been a fantastic week for me. I gave everything I have on...
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic have started the 2018 ATP World Tour season perfectly. For the second consecutive week, the Austrian/Croatian pairing went 4-0 to win an ATP World Tour doubles title. Marach/Pavic beat Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 6-4, 5-7, 10-7 on Saturday at the ASB Classic in Auckland for their second title of the year. In week one, Marach/Pavic captured the doubles crown at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha. [ALSO LIKE] “We have a lot of confidence, played two good weeks. Now it's time to recover and get sharp for Melbourne,” Marach said. The champions saved seven of nine break points in the 90-minute contest. “It was not an easy match today especially against Max. He has...
Welcome to the 2018 ATP World Tour doubles season, which is starting a lot like the 2017 ATP World Tour doubles season. At least that's the case for the co-No. 1 players in the ATP Doubles Rankings, Marcelo Melo of Brazil and Poland's Lukasz Kubot. The duo won their first title of the season on Friday, beating Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff and Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-3, 6-4 at the Sydney International. Kubot/Melo saved both break points they faced and won 77 per cent of their service points. [ALSO LIKE] “It was great. I think we played very good in the final, as we have been playing in the tournament. We, for sure, are very happy to start the year with...
