Richard Gasquet captured the title at the European Open on Sunday, fighting past Diego Schwartzman 7-6(4), 6-1. Gasquet notched his 14th ATP World Tour title and second of the year, having previously lifted the trophy in Montpellier in February. He needed one hour and 29 minutes to emerge victorious, saving one of two break points faced, while converting three of six of his own. The Frenchman was ruthless on his first serve, claiming 29 of 33 (88 per cent) of such points. Both players looked to blast through the indoor hard court at the Lotto Arena, unloading from the back of the court. Two scintillating backhand winners by Schwartzman punctuated the start of the match, as the Argentine sought to...
Andy Murray ratcheted up the pressure on Novak Djokovic in the battle for No. 1 after beating Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(1), 6-1 during the Shanghai Rolex Masters final on Sunday. The Brit won his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title of the season and the 13th of his career. The 29 year old also celebrated his 41st career tour-level title. “I did feel like I played better this week than last week. In all of the matches I was hitting the ball pretty clean,” Murray said. The win marked his third Shanghai Rolex Masters championship, tying him with Novak Djokovic for the most Shanghai titles. The Scot will try to reach Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Rankings later this year as well. By winning Shanghai,...
John Isner and Jack Sock capped off the best week of their short-lived doubles team career by winning one of the game's biggest titles on Sunday at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. The American duo won their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 team crown, defeating Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 6-4 in 62 minutes. Isner/Sock dominated with their serves, as they have all tournament long in the Chinese city. They won 78 per cent of their service points (40/51) and never faced a break point. Returning serve, Isner/Sock were opportunistic. An Isner overhead handed them their first break for a 3-2 lead in the first set. They converted their second service break for a 4-3 advantage in the second...
Andy Murray completed a ruthless China Open campaign with a 6-4, 7-6(2) triumph over Grigor Dimitrov in Sunday's final. Victory puts the World No. 2, who did not drop a set all week, in elite company as just the 16th member of the '40 Titles Club' in the Open Era. Murray lifted his fifth trophy in a season for the first time since 2011, adding to titles won at Wimbledon, the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Rome, the Aegon Championships on the grass of The Queen's Club and the Rio Olympics. With an additional 500 points in his growing haul in the Emirates ATP Race To London, Murray is drawing closer to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic for...
Rafael Nadal and Pablo Carreno Busta celebrated their first ATP World Tour doubles title together on Sunday at the China Open in Beijing. The Spaniards prevailed against American Jack Sock and Aussie Bernard Tomic 6-7(6), 6-2, 10-8. “We enjoy [playing] together. We played some good matches here, I think, winning against some good players,” Nadal said. “Winning with a good friend, too, is something that is a bit more special. So we're happy for that.” The win improves Nadal to 11-4 in ATP World Tour doubles finals, and for the first time in his career, two of them have come in the same season. Nadal also won the Rio Olympics doubles crown in August with countryman Marc Lopez. [ALSO LIKE]...