In one of the more thrilling doubles finals of the season, Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas emerged with the trophy at the Erste Bank Open 500 on Sunday. The Indian-Uruguayan duo saved a pair of match points for a tight 7-6(7), 6-7(4), 11/9 victory over Marcelo Demoliner and Sam Querrey. The match, which lasted one hour and 45 minutes, saw Bopanna deny the first championship point at 9/7 with a volley winner, followed by a Querrey forehand unforced error as the second came and went. "Absolutely brilliant," Bopanna exclaimed. "It’s one of the first years for me that I won a 250, 500 and a 1000. I’d made a final of a 250, 500 and a 1000 also but it’s...
Sunday was not Max Mirnyi’s first trip to titletown — not even close. But it will certainly be a moment that the 40 year old won’t soon forget. Mirnyi won his 50th ATP World Tour doubles title, joining Philipp Oswald to defeat singles champion Damir Dzumhur and Antonio Sancic, 6-3, 7-5, in the final of the VTB Kremlin Cup. “You never can say the victory was easy just looking at the score,” Mirnyi said. “There is always a special pressure when you are playing at home. And I think the VTB Kremlin Cup is a home tournament for me as unfortunately we haven't got an ATP tournament in Minsk...many of my relatives and friends came to watch my matches and...
As far as titles go, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga clinched the best year of his career on Sunday. The Frenchman won his fourth ATP World Tour title, a career best, beating Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 7-5 at the European Open in Antwerp. “I'm feeling good. It's always good to win tournaments. I played really good tennis this week. I had a very good opponent today. He gave me a hard time. And I played some of my best tennis today on court,” Tsonga said. “It's really good, really positive for me and I hope I will be able to do something even better in the next week.” Tsonga had captured titles in Lyon (d. Berdych), Marseille (d. Pouille) and Rotterdam (d. Goffin)...
Maybe Scott Lipsky of the U.S. and Indian Divij Sharan should play together more often. In their first ATP World Tour tournament together, Lipsky/Sharan won the European Open in Antwerp, beating Mexico's Santiago Gonzalez and Julio Peralta of Chile 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 in Sunday's final. Two weeks ago, Lipsky/Sharan reached the semi-finals of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and they raised their level in Belgium, especially in the big moments. The American/Indian pairing won all four matches in Match Tie-breaks. “It was a great match. Those are two great friends of ours, so we're happy to get through. It was fun to play against them,” Lipsky said. Watch Full Match Replays Lipsky improved to 16-12 in tour-level...
The “Tower of Tandil” is rising toward the top of the tennis world again. Fourth seed Juan Martin del Potro defended his Intrum Stockholm Open title on Sunday, defeating top seed and 2013 champion Grigor Dimitrov, 6-4, 6-2 in one hour, 23 minutes. It is the Argentine’s first title since he lifted the trophy in Sweden last year. “I played the best match of the week against Grigor today. Unlucky for that, sorry Grigor,” del Potro said. “It’s amazing to come back and hold this big trophy. And hopefully I can come next year as well. I love to be in Stockholm. I like the city a lot. I like the Swedish people and you treated me very, very good...
