Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin delighted the home fans on Sunday at the Moselle Open, capturing the doubles title 7-5, 6-3 over Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak. It was the third tour-level triumph for the French tandem, with all victories coming on home soil. They previously lifted trophies in Marseille and Roland Garros in 2014. The third seeds dropped just one set all week, capping the strong run in Metz with the 74-minute win over Koolhof and Sitak. They fired five aces and saved eight of nine break points. "We stayed solid in the big moments today, especially at 30/40 on my serve in the second set," said Benneteau. "We forced them to make some mistakes and that was the...
Roman Jebavy and Matwe Middelkoop captured their first ATP World Tour doubles together on Sunday as they defeated top seeds Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 6-4 in the St. Petersburg Open final. It is the 27-year-old Jebavy's second ATP World Tour title after lifting the Istanbul trophy with Czech countryman Jiri Vesely in May. Middelkoop claimed his fourth career crown and second of the year, following victory in Sydney with Wesley Koolhof. "We always wanted to play together but it was about finding the right moment," said Middelkoop. "We first played in Gstaad a few months ago and then decided to play here and it was an excellent choice. We had great energy and I think that gave us...
FRANCE 3, SERBIA 1 Lille, France (Outdoor Clay) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga provided the heroics on Sunday afternoon in Lille, giving France an unassailable 3-1 lead in their Davis Cup semi-final tie against Serbia. The French No. 1 rallied past Dusan Lajovic 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-2, claiming his 20th singles victory in his Davis Cup career. Lajovic had stunned Lucas Pouille to open the tie on Friday, but was unable to replicate the upset. Tsonga prevailed after two hours and 48 minutes, firing 38 winners including eight aces. It was sweet revenge for Les Bleus, who were defeated by Serbia in the 2010 final. Under the captaincy of Yannick Noah, the French squad will appear in its first final since 2014. They...
Mission accomplished. Rafael Nadal completed a dominant run to his 16th Grand Slam championship, notching a third US Open title at Flushing Meadows. The top seed defeated Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in Sunday's final. In 2013, Nadal entered the US Open at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and would emerge with the trophy. Four years later, history repeated itself. The top-ranked Spaniard prevailed in two hours and 27 minutes over the South African, adding to titles won in 2010 and '13. Nadal, who extends his growing lead in the Emirates ATP Race To London to 1,860 points, caps an impressive Grand Slam campaign with his second major victory of 2017 (Roland Garros). The win gives him the...
Perseverance pays off. Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau haven’t had the easiest of times in the past 18 months, but the pair have come good over the past three weeks and their red-hot form has carried them to their second Grand Slam championship crown at the US Open. Rojer and Tecau defeated Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez 6-4, 6-3 in the final at Flushing Meadows on Friday. It is the climax of a 10-match winning run for the duo, who came into the US Open on the back of their 15th tour-level team crown at the Winston-Salem Open. They have only dropped two sets during that period. “The key to the whole thing is you need to communicate and...