Serena Williams: World number one challenges strangers to match
World number one Serena Williams challenges two strangers to an impromptu match during an evening walk, asking: “Can I play the winner?”
World number one Serena Williams challenges two strangers to an impromptu match during an evening walk, asking: “Can I play the winner?”
Alexander Bublik fought past Nicolas Jarry 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday to claim his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title at the Morelos Open. The 19 year old became the youngest winner on the circuit this year and third #NextGenATP star to lift a trophy, joining Hyeon Chung (Maui) and Noah Rubin (Launceston).
Bublik’s march to the title caps an impressive rise to the Top 150 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, ascending to a career-high World No. 137. Just four months ago, the Kazakh was sitting outside the Top 300, but a quarter-final result at the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow – his first ATP World Tour main draw – and a run to the second round as a qualifier at the Australian Open, set the stage for his biggest professional title on the hard courts of Morelos.
ATPWorldTour.com spoke to Bublik after his victory:
What was it like to win your first title?
It was a big win. The first title always means a lot. I’m very happy. It gives me a lot of confidence and I’m close to the Top 100 now, but I still need to keep working hard.
In the final, you needed five match points to serve it out. Take us through that and how you finally managed to get it done.
He (Jarry) was playing unbelievable. He passed me twice with incredible shots. I got a little nervous. I was struggling to get there and I said to myself that I needed to win it. I got a first serve and it was over.
You were feeding off the energy from the crowd all week. How did you use that to your advantage?
I was struggling at times and they helped me a lot. They loved me there since the first day, since my first match. They definitely helped me. That’s the thing about tennis. When you have a big crowd, I’m in love with it.
You haven’t played many Challenger events. This was just your 10th main draw and first final. How have you made the transition look so easy?
It’s really not. When I played my first Challenger last year in Kazan, I got past the first round and I thought it was a big first step forward. Then I won a couple of Futures titles and I went back to Challengers and I got some more wins, reaching my first quarter-final. I wasn’t rising very fast. I took little steps closer and closer and had a big experience [at the ATP World Tour event] in Moscow at the end of the year.
Having reached the quarter-finals as a qualifier at the VTB Kremlin Cup in October, did that experience give you a boost entering the 2017 season?
Moscow really helped me a lot. That was a big push for me, because I’ve been working hard for a while. At the same time the year before, I was playing qualies at a Futures event. I worked a lot for it and it showed me that I could compete with these guys. Then I had a great run at the Aussie Open (qualifying and reaching the second round) and I really believed it. This Challenger gave me the confidence that I can not only play well, but win a tournament.
Did you do anything different in the offseason to prepare you for your first full season on tour?
We worked on several things in the pre-season here in Delray Beach. We worked a lot on the physical part because I’m a big guy. That is, building up my strength with my serve. We also changed the way I train, which helped me a lot. Training in Delray is the best. I’ve been in America since I was 12 years old, living in San Francisco, so I love it here.
You are up to No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan. What would it mean for you to qualify?
That’s one of the main goals for me this season to qualify. It sounds like a great event and it will be very interesting to play there. I hope to stay healthy so I can make it.
ICYMI – #NextGenATP star @AlexanderBublik claims his first #ATPChallenger title with a splash, soaring to victory in Morelos, Mexico. pic.twitter.com/Adm4qfVGUX
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) February 26, 2017
Seven-time champion Federer and Monfils compete during evening session
Philipp Kohlschreiber moved to within two match wins of the 400th victory of his career on Monday by beating eighth seed and last month’s Apia International Sydney titlist Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-6(1) in 88 minutes at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. “Hopefully I can achieve the mark here in this tournament,” said Kohlschreiber, who now has 398 match wins. “It would be great [and] mean I’m in the semi-finals.” He will next face #NextGenATP Daniil Medvedev or wild card Omar Alawadhi.
Marcel Granollers lost just three of his first service points in beat Jiri Vesely 6-3, 6-2 in 77 minutes for a second-round clash against second seed and defending champion Stan Wawrinka or Damir Dzumhur.
Third seed and seven-time former winner Roger Federer and Gael Monfils compete at the Aviation Club in Dubai, venue of the ATP World Tour 500 tournament, later today. The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is celebrating its 25th edition this year.
Denis Istomin, Evgeny Donskoy, Marius Copil and Lukas Rosol all booked their spots in the main draw as a result of winning through the final qualifying round.
Watch Full Match Replays
Doubles Seeds Safely Through To QFs
Top seeds and ATP Finals titlist Henri Kontinen and John Peers lost just two of their service points in cruising past Alawadhi and Amirvala Madanchi 6-1, 6-1 in 37 minutes for a place in the quarter-finals. Fourth seeds and 2015 semi-finalist Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau overcame Mate Pavic and Alexander Peya 7-6(2), 6-1 in 64 minutes.
Roger Federer won his first match since winning an 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open as he saw off France’s Benoit Paire in just 54 minutes at the Dubai Championships.
The 35-year-old Swiss, ranked 10th, won 6-1 6-3 and goes on to face Mikhail Youzhny or Evgeny Donskoy.
Elsewhere, Andy Murray lost out to fellow Briton Dan Evans in the first round of the men’s doubles.
Murray and Nenad Zimonjic lost 6-1 7-6 (7-2) to Evans and Gilles Muller.
World number one Murray will return to singles action against Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri, ranked 51st, on Tuesday.
The Scot has not played since losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open last month, but says he is ‘ready to go’ in Dubai.
This is Murray’s sixth appearance at the Dubai tournament – his best result was reaching the 2012 final where he lost to Federer.
Third seed Federer missed last year’s tournament with a knee injury.
“It’s incredible to be back, I missed playing here last year. I’m standing and I’m here,’ he said.
Federer faced three break points in the match, but he saved them all.
“There were some break points to be saved,” he added. “I think I returned very well for a first round. I was able to get my second serves in deep, was able to go into the offensive quickly.”
An executive summary of what every fan should know about the coming week on the ATP World Tour
Strong Fields in Acapulco, Dubai & Sao Paulo: The busiest month of the season comes to a close this week with ATP World Tour 500-level tournaments in Acapulco and Dubai and the final Latin American clay-court stop in Sao Paulo. Eight of the Top 10 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings are in action, including five in Acapulco, led by No. 2 Novak Djokovic, and No. 6 Rafael Nadal. In Dubai, top-ranked Andy Murray, No. 3 Stan Wawrinka and No. 10 Roger Federer lead the way. In Sao Paulo, the top three are Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Albert Ramos-Vinolas and two-time reigning champion Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.
Emirates ATP Race to Milan Leaders: There are six #NextGenATP players among the Top 20 Emirates ATP Race to Milan (as of Feb. 20) in the main draw and two others in the final round of qualifying in the upcoming tournaments.
View full Race To Milan standings
ABIERTO MEXICANO TELCEL (Acapulco): One of the favourite destinations on the ATP World Tour is the Acapulco Princess Mundo Imperial, site of the 500-level Abierto Mexicano Telcel. The tournament made the switch from clay to hard courts in 2014 and this year’s field features a tournament record five of the Top 10 players, led by wild card and World No. 2 Novak Djokovic, who is making his tournament debut. The others include No. 6 Rafael Nadal, who returns for the first time since 2013, No. 8 and defending champion Dominic Thiem, No. 9 Marin Cilic and No. 10 David Goffin. Rounding out the seeds are first-time entrants No. 16 Nick Kyrgios and No. 21 Jack Sock. Thiem and Nadal are the only former champions in the draw.
Novak Makes Debut: Djokovic, who accepted a wild card to play in Acapulco for the first time, is playing his first tournament match since his five-set 2R loss to Denis Istomin at the Australian Open on Jan. 19. After Melbourne, Djokovic played in Serbia’ s 1R Davis Cup tie vs. Russia and he defeated #NextGenATP star Daniil Medvedev in the second singles match in four sets (did not play reverse singles). The 29-year-old Serbian is making his Acapulco debut and second career pro tournament appearance in Latin America. Last summer he lost in the 1R at the Rio Olympics (l. to del Potro). Djokovic opened the season by defending his title in Doha (d. Murray). He enters with 758 career match wins and he is four wins away from tying Pete Sampras for 10th place on the Open Era list.
Thiem Reigning Champion: Last year Thiem won the biggest ATP World Tour title of his career in Acapulco, defeating Aussie Bernard Tomic 7-6, 4-6, 6-3. It was the second of a career-high four ATP World Tour titles during the season and the 23-year-old Austrian finished as the youngest player in the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 8. On Sunday, Thiem won his first title of the season over Pablo Carreno Busta in Rio.
Nadal Eyes 70th Title: Two-time Acapulco champion Nadal looks to continue his success and remain unbeaten (10-0) in the tournament. In his two previous appearances on clay, Nadal won without dropping a set, capped by final wins in 2005 (d. Montanes) and 2013 (d. No. 4 Ferrer). The 30-year-old Spaniard is playing in his first tournament since reaching the Australian Open final on Jan. 29 (l. to Federer in five sets). He opened the year by reaching the quarter-finals in Brisbane (l. to Raonic). Nadal is not only trying to capture his 70th career title, he is also attempting to break a three-year-plus hard-court title drought. His last hard court title came in Doha in January 2014 (d. Monfils).
Delpo Returns: It’s been 11 years since Juan Martin del Potro played in Acapulco. In 2006, he came in ranked No. 146 and retired in the 1R vs. Albert Montanes trailing 6-2, 5-3. It was only his fifth career ATP World Tour match at the time. Since then the Argentine superstar has won 19 career titles, including the 2009 US Open, and reached a career-high ranking of No. 4. Just over one year ago he came into Delray Beach ranked No. 1,042. This past week he played in his first tournament of the season in Delray Beach and lost in the semi-finals to top seed Raonic. Last year he earned a second ATP Comeback of the Year award (2011). He finished at No. 38 with a 32-12 match record on the season, winning in Stockholm (d. Sock) and earning a silver medal at the Rio Olympics where he beat No. 1 Djokovic in 1R and No. 5 Nadal in SF, (l. to No. 2 Murray). He closed the year by leading his country to a first Davis Cup title with wins over Croatia’s Karlovic and Cilic.
#NextGenATP Stars: There are six #NextGenATP players in the main draw, led by World No. 59 Borna Coric, wild card World No. 113 Ernesto Escobedo and four qualifiers – No. 86 Yoshihito Nishioka, No. 90 Frances Tiafoe, No. 115 Stefan Kozlov, and No. 136 Taylor Fritz, who was last year’s ATP Star of Tomorrow recipient.
Sock Coming to Acapulco: No. 8 seed Sock, a winner over Milos Raonic in the Delray Beach final via walkover, is off to a quick start this season. Sock, the No. 1 American, is off to a career-best 10-1 start, winning his second career ATP World Tour title in Auckland (d. Sousa), reaching the 3R at the Australian Open (l. to Tsonga) and winning a match in the USA’s 5-0 Davis Cup 1R win over Switzerland.
Doubles Draw: The top seeds are last year’s World No. 1 duo: Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. The other seeds are: No. 2 Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, No. 3 Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo and No. 4/last year’s champions Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, who is aiming for his 50th career ATP World Tour level doubles title.
DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS (Dubai): The 25th anniversary of the prestigious 500-level tournament is highlighted by World No. 1 Andy Murray, who is joined by reigning champion Stan Wawrinka and seven-time winner Roger Federer, who is playing his first tournament since his title run at the Australian Open. The other seeds are: No. 4 Gael Monfils, No. 5 Tomas Berdych, No. 6 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 7 Lucas Pouille and No. 8 Gilles Muller. Prior to last year when Wawrinka captured the title, Djokovic or Federer were champions for a seven-year stretch from 2009-2015.
Murray Top Seed: Murray is making his first tournament appearance since losing in the 4R at the Australian Open (l. to M. Zverev) on Jan. 22. The World No. 1 opened the season by reaching the final in Doha (l. to Djokovic). He has an 11-4 career record in Dubai, reaching the final in 2012 (l. to Federer) and the quarter-finals in 2008-09 and 2015. Murray is also playing doubles (w/Zimonjic).
Stan Reigning Champion: No. 2 seed Wawrinka is back to defend his title. Last year he returned to Dubai for the first time since 2008 (1R, l. to Hernych). After opening the tournament coming back to beat Stakhovsky in three sets, he did not drop a set the rest of the week, capping it off with a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Baghdatis in the final. He won two more titles, including his third Grand Slam crown at the US Open (d. Djokovic) to finish No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the third straight year. This season he has compiled a 7-2 match record, opening with a semi-final in Brisbane (l. to Nishikori) and following with the same result at the Australian Open (l. to eventual champion Federer in five sets).
Roger Eyes Eighth Title: Federer is making his 13th appearance in Dubai and the 35-year-old Swiss superstar is playing in his first tournament since capturing his 18th career Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open on Jan. 29 (d. Nadal in five sets). Federer owns a 47-5 career record in Dubai with seven titles (2003-05, 2007, 2012, 2014-15). He also was runner-up in 2006 and 2011. He has won 10 straight matches in Dubai since losing to Berdych in the semi-finals in 2013. He is trying to win an eighth title for the first time in his career. He also has captured seven titles in Basel, Cincinnati, Halle and Wimbledon. Last year he played his last match in the Wimbledon semi-finals on July 8, 2016 when he lost in five sets to Raonic. He missed the rest of last season with a knee injury.
Kohli Eyes 400 Wins: No. 2 German Philipp Kohlschreiber is three match wins away from reaching the 400 wins milestone in his career. He has a record of 397-307, including 8-7 in Dubai, reaching the semi-finals in 2014 (l. to Berdych) and quarter-finals last year (l. to eventual champion Wawrinka).
Berdych Makes 10th Appearance: No. 5 seed Tomas Berdych is making his 11th appearance in Dubai. The two-time finalist (2013-14), who has reached the quarter-finals or better the past six years, has a 22-10 career record. He began with a 4-4 record but is 18-6 since 2011.
Doubles Draw: The top seeds are Australian Open champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers. The other seeds are: No. 2 Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers, No. 3 Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin and No. 4 Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.
BRASIL OPEN (Sao Paulo): Sao Paulo is the site of one of two Brazilian tournaments on the ATP World Tour (Rio de Janeiro). There are five players in the Top 50 Emirates ATP Rankings in the field, led by top seed, Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who finished runner-up in his biggest career ATP World Tour final in Rio on Sunday (l. to Thiem). The other seeds are No. 2 Albert Ramos-Vinolas No. 3 and reigning two-time champion Pablo Cuevas, No. 4 Joao Sousa, No. 5 Fabio Fognini, No. 6 Diego Schwartzman, No. 7 Federico Delbonis and No. 8 Carlos Berlocq. There are two former winners in the field: Cuevas (2015-16) and Delbonis (2014).
Cuevas Two-Time Defending Champ: Two-time reigning champion Cuevas comes in with a 12-5 career record, having won nine straight matches over 2015-16 in Sao Paulo. The 31-year-old Uruguayan is off to a slow start this season with a 1-4 match record and he has lost his past three opening round matches, including last week in Rio (l. to De Greef). On Saturday, he captured his sixth career doubles title in Rio (w/Carreno Busta). They are the top seeds in Sao Paulo.
Carreno Busta Top Seed: For the first time in his career Carreno Busta is the top seed in an ATP World Tour tournament. The 25-year-old Spaniard lost in Sunday’s singles final in Rio (l. to Thiem). He saved one match point in his 2-6, 7-5 ,6-0 semi-final win over rising Norwegian #NextGenATP star Casper Ruud. Last season Carreno Busta won two ATP World Tour titles (Winston-Salem, Moscow) and reached two other finals (Sao Paulo, Estoril) and finished a year-end best No. 30 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Last year’s Sao Paulo runner-up is making his third straight tournament visit (4-2 record).
Ruud Newest #NextGenATP Star: The youngest player in the draw is 18-year-old Casper Ruud of Norway. Ruud earned entry into the draw as a special exempt after reaching his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Rio (l. to Carreno Busta after holding match point). Ruud rose from No. 209 to a career-high of No. 133 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after his breakthrough week. He also moved from No. 16 to No. 3 in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan standings.
Spanish Success: In 2014, Delbonis became the first Argentine tournament winner since Guillermo Canas won in Costa do Sauipe in 2007. Then Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas won the title in 2015-16. Prior to 2014, Spaniards had won six straight titles in Sao Paulo from 2008-13 with Almagro winning three times:
2013 – Rafael Nadal
2012 – Nicolas Almagro
2011 – Nicolas Almagro
2010 – Juan Carlos Ferrero
2009 – Tommy Robredo
2008 – Nicolas Almagro
Doubles Draw: The top seeds are Rio champions Pablo Carreno Busta and Pablo Cuevas. The other seeds are: defending champions No. 2 Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos, No. 3 Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak and No. 4 Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner.
Revisit the week that was on the ATP Challenger Tour as we applaud the achievements of those on the rise and look ahead to who’s in action in the week to come
A LOOK BACK
Morelos Open (Morelos, Mexico): Third seed and #NextGenATP star Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan won his first ATP Challenger Tour title with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Nicolas Jarry of Chile. At 19 years and eight months, he is the youngest Challenger winner so far this year. Bublik is the third #NextGenATP winner in 2017, joining Korean Hyeon Chung (Maui) and American Noah Rubin (Launceston). He has jumped nearly 70 spots since the start of the season to a career-high No. 137 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
Jarry was also seeking his first Challenger title, reaching his first Challenger final since Quito in September 2014. His run in Morelos pushes him back inside the Top 250 and he’s closing in on the Top 200 after returning from breaking his right wrist.
Trofio Faip Perrel (Bergamo, Italy): Former World No. 14 Jerzy Janowicz of Poland continued his comeback from injury with a 6-4, 6-4 win over seventh seed and #NextGenATP star Quentin Halys of France. The win gives Janowicz his sixth ATP Challenger Tour title and first since prevailing in Genoa last September. The win over Halys also snapped the French title streak in Bergamo, following victories by Benoit Paire in 2015 and Pierre-Hugues Herbert in 2016.
The 20 year old Halys finishes with his first Challenger final of the year. He was seeking his second Challenger title, with the maiden crown coming last April in Tallahassee.
Shimadzu Kyoto Challenger (Kyoto, Japan): Local favourite Yasutaka Uchiyama delighted the home crowd with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over sixth seed Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia to win his first Challenger title. This is the second straight year a Japanese player has won on home soil in Kyoto, with Yuichi Sugita prevailing last year. The 24-year-old Uchiyama was competing in his first Challenger final since Lexington in July 2015.
Kavcic drops to 0-2 in Challenger finals this year after finishing runner-up last month in Bangkok.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Janowicz: “This is just one more good step for me because I’m already thinking of being back in the Top 15. Now I’m going to fight next week in Wroclaw. I hope I’m going to stay healthy and be back as fast as possible.”
“The organisation here is really good. I’d say this was one of the best tournament directors I’ve ever had. It was nice to be here and the crowd is always unbelievable in Italy!”
A LOOK AHEAD
There are two Challengers on the schedule this week, with the $100,000 event in Wroclaw, Poland, taking top billing as it returns for the 13th year. Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu is the top seed and Lukas Lacko of Slovakia is the second seed. Halys, the fourth seed, and Janowicz look to continue their form from Bergamo. Former Top 10 player Jurgen Melzer of Austria is also in the draw.
The $50,000 event in Yokohama, Japan, is back for the 12th year. Local favourite Sugita is the top seed and Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland is the second seed. Korean #NextGenATP star Duckhee Lee is the third seed, while Uchiyama and Kavcic aim for another successful week in Japan.
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ATP CHALLENGER TOUR ON TWITTER: The ATP Challenger Tour has launched a dedicated Twitter account for the latest news and information about players and events. Follow @ATPChallengerTour at twitter.com/ATPChallengerTour.