Kevin Anderson was playing some of the best tennis of his life. In only his fourth tournament of the year, the South African had already reached his third final of the season at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco. But none of that mattered to Juan Martin del Potro in Mexico on Saturday night. The 6'6” Argentine outplayed Anderson for the seventh time in a row in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series (7-0), beating Anderson 6-4, 6-4 to win the ATP World Tour 500 title, his biggest trophy since 2013 Swiss Indoors Basel (d. Federer). It's Del Potro's first title of 2018, and he had to fight through a wicked draw, including three Top 10 players, for...
Roberto Bautista Agut arrived in Dubai on a three-match tour-level losing streak, his first of that length since 2016. But after a tremendous week of tennis in which he dropped just one set, the Spaniard leaves with his second title of the season. Bautista Agut, the third seed, defeated second seed Lucas Pouille 6-3, 6-4 to triumph at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday evening and deny the Frenchman his first appearance in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings, which the 24-year-old would have earned with a victory. "I played very good, very aggressively," Bautista Agut said. "I didn't give him all the court, all the control of the game. I played very good tennis tonight." The...
Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau lifted their 17th tour-level doubles title as a team on Saturday, beating wild cards Jamie Cerretani and Leander Paes 6-2, 7-6(2) to retain their Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships trophy. "With each match we got better," reflected Tecau. "We had tough quarter-finals and semi-finals matches. We are happy to get the win today because it was a tricky match." The defending champions backed up their 2017 title run (d. Bopanna/Matkowski) by breaking their opponents on three occasions and winning 75 per cent of their service points in the 87-minute clash. The Dutch-Romanian team ended Cerretani and Paes’ seven-match unbeaten streak as a pair at all levels. The title marks Rojer’s 26th tour-level doubles title, while...
Diego Schwartzman is the champion at the Rio Open presented by Claro, easing his way past Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-3 to claim the biggest title of his career and first ATP World Tour 500 crown. The 5’7” Argentine, who didn’t drop a set all tournament, will make his Top 20 debut in the ATP Rankings next week (No. 18). Schwartzman got off to an inauspicious start, as he was broken in the opening game of the final by an aggressive Verdasco, whose signature forehand appeared to be firing on all cylinders. However, the Spaniard, who just yesterday claimed the doubles title with partner David Marrero, quickly dropped serve himself, allowing the Argentine back on level terms. As both players settled...
First final nerves? Not for Frances Tiafoe. The 20-year-old American coasted to his first ATP World Tour title on Sunday, beating Peter Gojowczyk of Germany 6-1, 6-4 at the Delray Beach Open. Tiafoe becomes the youngest American to win an ATP World Tour title since 19-year-old Andy Roddick at 2002 Houston, and his maiden crown caps off the best two weeks of his career. Before last week's New York Open, Tiafoe had won nine tour-level matches (9-31) and had never reached a tour-level quarter-final. But after reaching the last eight in New York (l. to Anderson) and triumphing in Delray Beach, Tiafoe almost doubled his tour-level win count (16) in two weeks. “I was not expecting this this week, especially...
