Mathieu, Gasquet Set All-French Final In Montpellier

Feb062016

Frenchmen to square off in first all-countrymen final of 2016

For the second straight year, Paul-Henri Mathieu is in an ATP World Tour final, advancing to the Open Sud de France title match with a gritty 7-6(11), 7-5 victory over Alexander Zverev at The Parks & Suites Arena in Montpellier. Mathieu will face countryman and top seed Richard Gasquet on Sunday.

“I’m very happy with the win today,” said Mathieu. “It’s a great satisfaction to be in a final again. The last was in Kitzbuhel. To make another one in a couple of months is great for my confidence. Hopefully I will win tomorrow.”

The 34-year-old Mathieu downed 18-year-old Zverev in one hour and 55 minutes, claiming three of four break chances and firing 40 winners. After Zverev stormed back from a 0-3 deficit, the first set came down to a riveting tie-break, which featured 24 points. Mathieu would deny three set points and converted on his fourth as a Zverev mid-rally forehand found the net.

In the second set, the German would save a match point with Mathieu serving for it at 5-4, breaking to draw level. But the Frenchman would break back immediately to 15 with a backhand winner and closed out the match in the following game.

Mathieu advanced to his 10th ATP World Tour final and first since reaching the title match in Kitzbuhel last year as a qualifier (l. to Kohlschreiber). He exacted revenge on Zverev after the teenager prevailed in the final of the ATP Challenger Tour event on home soil in Braunschweig in 2014. The German was bidding to reach his first ATP World Tour final and join Borna Coric (Chennai) as teen finalists this year.

Gasquet, meanwhile, became the eighth active player to reach 25 tour-level finals and just the second Frenchman to do so in the Open Era (Yannick Noah), after turning in arguably the comeback of the year thus far. He prevailed 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 over Dustin Brown in one hour and 39 minutes, overcoming 17 aces by the German. Brown burst out of the gates, claiming nine of the first 10 games in 35 minutes, striking 27 winners. But as quickly as he surged ahead, Gasquet snatched the momentum in his corner, rallying from a 6-1, 3-0 deficit with a run of nine of the next 11 games to take the lead for good.

“I’m happy to fight a lot and I am happy to come back here to the final,” said Gasquet. “It was a great match for me to win.”

The top seed and defending champion will feature in a fourth straight Montpellier final. He previously won the title in 2006 (d. Gicquel), ’13 (d. Paire) and ’15 (d. Janowicz). Gasquet and Mathieu will face off for the eighth time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry, with the former owning a 5-2 edge. It will be the first all-countrymen final on the ATP World Tour this year. There were four in 2015, including two with a pair of Frenchmen.

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GB lose Fed Cup promotion play-off

Posted: Feb 06, 2016

Great Britain’s hopes of earning promotion in the Fed Cup ended after Katie Swan and Heather Watson both lost against Belgium.

Swan, 16, was beaten 6-3 3-6 6-3 by Ysaline Bonaventure in the opening rubber of the best-of-three tie.

Watson, 23, then lost 6-4 3-6 6-4 to Alison van Uytvanck as Belgium took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Group 1 promotion play-off in Eilat, Israel.

The doubles match later will have no bearing on the overall outcome.

Judy Murray’s squad beat South Africa and Georgia this week to reach the Group 1 play-off.

Both British players were ranked lower than their opponents, with Swan the world number 524 and Bonaventure at 160, while Watson is 42 places below Van Uytvanck at 85 in the rankings.

GB were without world number 28 and Australian Open quarter-finalist Johanna Konta, who withdrew with illness, and Naomi Broady, whose family has a long-running dispute with the Lawn Tennis Association.

Former British number one Laura Robson was not considered as she is in the early stages of her latest comeback from wrist injuries.

Fed Cup Format
Britain are in Europe/Africa Group 1 – a 14-team group divided into four pools that is played out once a year over a week. Two teams qualify for a World Group II play-off in April, two teams are relegated to Europe/Africa Zone Group II.
World Group II is an eight-team division played out over home or away ties – GB have not played a home tie since 1993.

The defeat against Belgium means GB miss out on a World Group II play-off in April, and the possibility of a first home tie for Britain’s women since 1993.

International Tennis Federation president David Haggerty says his organisation is reviewing the format of the Fed Cup.

He said: “The ITF and our Fed Cup committee are continuing to look at potential enhancements to the Fed Cup.

“The competition has benefited from the home-and-away knock-out format that has been so successful in the Davis Cup, and the ITF is looking at new formats that would allow a 16-team World Group, something that is favoured by many of our constituents.”

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Lorenzi Upsets Tomic In Quito

Posted: Feb 06, 2016

Lorenzi Upsets Tomic In Quito

Feb052016

Italian serves big en route to quarter-final win

Sixth seed Paolo Lorenzi hit 25 aces to eliminate top seed Bernard Tomic 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Ecuador Quito Open on Friday. The Italian, appearing in his seventh ATP World Tour quarter-final on clay, used his experience to down Tomic (0-1 in clay QFs) in just over two hours. Lorenzi was propelled to victory by a strong serving performance. The World No. 59 won 91 per cent of first serve points against the Australian.

Facing Lorenzi in the semi-finals will be third seed Thomaz Bellucci, a 7-6(0), 4-6, 6-2 winner over Pablo Carreno Busta. The Brazilian, who has four career ATP World Tour clay-court titles, will appear in his first semi-final of the year.

Lorenzi holds a 2-0 edge in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Bellucci, with both wins coming on clay (2015 Buenos Aires and 2011 Rome). Bellucci took the pair’s lone ATP Challenger Tour meeting in a third-set tie-break against the Italian in 2013. That victory came in the quarter-finals of the Bogota Challenger on clay, in high-altitude conditions.

Defending champion Victor Estrella Burgos overcame stiff resistance from Renzo Olivo to win 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4. The Dominican, seeded fifth, won 101 points to his opponent’s 99 in the two-hour, 15-minute encounter. He is attempting to become the third player after Stan Wawrinka (Chennai) and Novak Djokovic (Australian Open) to successfully defend his title in 2016.

In the semi-finals, the Dominican will face Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who was up 7-5, 4-3 when Feliciano Lopez retired. Ramos-Vinolas was in the hospital on Wednesday due to illness and had to withdraw from doubles, but recovered to make the final four. Lopez was bidding for a 400^th tour-level victory.