Rafael Nadal captured an incredible 10th Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters crown on Sunday in beating fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-3 in the 76-minute final. Nadal’s 29th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title, one shy of record-holder Novak Djokovic (30), marks the first time in the Open Era (since April 1968) that any man has won a singles tournament on 10 occasions. The victory also sees Nadal clinch his 50th clay-court crown (50-8), breaking the record he shared with Guillermo Vilas since 24 April 2016, when Nadal lifted his ninth trophy at the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell. “It really is unbelievable,” said Nadal. “To win 10 times at such an important event like Monte-Carlo is something difficult to describe my feelings....
Indian Rohan Bopanna and Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas captured their first ATP World Tour team title on Sunday when they defeated seventh-seeded Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 in 74 minutes in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final. Bopanna and Cuevas earned 1,000 points in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings and share €253,950 in prize money. Bopanna, who adds to his Aircel Chennai Open crown (w/Nedunchezhiyan) this year, is now 16-24 lifetime in doubles finals and 4-4 in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title matches. Cuevas improved to 7-7 in team finals, also adding a second trophy in 2017 to his Rio Open presented by Claro run (w/Carreno Busta). It was his second piece of Masters 1000 silverware, adding...
Fourth seeds Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos won their fourth ATP World Tour team doubles title on Sunday, holding off the first-time pairing of Dustin Brown and Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 7-5, 10-6 to take the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston. Peralta of Chile and Zeballos of Argentina saved 10 of 12 break points in the one-hour and 37-minute final. The champions won the final four points of the Match Tie-break to claim their first championship trophy of the season. [ALSO LIKE] The South American pairing also played in the Quito final earlier this year (l. to Cerretani/Oswald). Peralta/Zeballos won all three of their other team crowns last season – Sao Paulo, Gstaad and Metz....
Fourth seed Steve Johnson has covered plenty of ground in the past three weeks, traveling from the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami to a Davis Cup tie in Australia and then back stateside for the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston. But after countless miles in the air and in his legs on court this week, the American captured the title after fighting off cramps and a determined eighth seed Thomaz Bellucci 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5). “To win on U.S. soil and win when you’re not feeling great is a testament to my willpower and competitiveness,” said Johnson. “My body has just physically run out of gas after this week. Coming in from...
Comeback of the year? Borna Coric would think so. The #NextGenATP star completed a magical rally to take his maiden ATP World Tour title on Sunday at the Grand Prix Hassan II. Coric overcame third seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 5-7, 7-6(3), 7-5 for the Marrakech crown, storming back from a break down in both the second and third sets and saving five championship points in dramatic fashion. Coric is the third player from the current #NextGenATP contingent to lift an ATP World Tour trophy, joining Alexander Zverev (St. Petersburg 2016 & Montpellier 2017) and Karen Khachanov (Chengdu 2016). Runner-up in Marrakech last year, the Croatian fired 10 aces to defeat Kohlschreiber after two hours and 38 minutes. It was the longest...