Sock Back To Winning Ways In Stockholm

Oct182017

Fognini, Zverev also advance in Sweden

Two-time finalist Jack Sock snapped a five-match losing streak on Wednesday at the Intrum Stockholm Open. The third seed won 78 per cent of his service points and erased the lone break point faced to beat Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-4 and improve to 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

Sock improved to 12-4 in Stockholm and reached his eighth quarter-final (or better) of the season. The 25-year-old American will next face Italian Fabio Fognini, who drew on his big-match experience to save one match point in a thrilling end to a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7) victory over top Swede and #NextGenATP Elias Ymer.

The 21-year-old Ymer had come within two points of winning when serving at 5-4 in the deciding set. He then saved three match points from 0/40 at 5-6, before holding a 6/5 lead in the tie-break.

Fognini, who is through to his seventh ATP World Tour quarter-final (or better) in 2017, is now 35-21 on the season that includes a run to the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad title (d. Hanfmann). He also finished runner-up at the St. Petersburg Open (l. to Dzumhur).

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Ymer’s young brother, 19-year-old Mikael Ymer, also fell just short in an upset bid. Ymer led by a break in the third set but couldn’t put away German veteran Mischa Zverev, who advanced to the second round with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 win. The fifth-seeded Zverev will next play Serbian Viktor Troicki.

Eighth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco advanced to the quarter-finals for the fourth time (also 2004, 2013-14) after he knocked out lucky loser Jurgen Zopp of Estonia 6-4, 6-2 in 73 minutes. It was his 25th match win of the year, which includes a run to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final (l. to Murray) in February. He awaits the winner of second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, who is attempting to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, or South Korean Hyeon Chung, who is battling to book a spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals.

In other action, Polish qualifier Jerzy Janowicz beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in 87 minutes to set up a clash against fourth-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro. German Jan-Lennard Struff saved three match points in beating Marius Copil of Romania for a meeting against top seed and Nitto ATP Finals contender Grigor Dimitrov. Struff triumphed 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(12) in two hours and 11 minutes, saving match points at 4-5, 30/40 and at 6/7 and 10/11 in the deciding set tie-break.

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Nitto ATP Finals Contenders Start Doubles Campaign
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, who are currently No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London added 45 points for their 6-3, 6-4 first-round win over Jonathan Eysseric and Franko Skugor. The Austrian-Croatian team, now on 2,715 points are 305 points behind eighth-placed Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram. The pair will next face Jonathon Erlich and Nikola Mektic.

Konta splits with coach and ends her season

Posted: Oct 18, 2017

British number one Johanna Konta has split from her coach Wim Fissette after less than a year together and will not play again this season.

The 26-year-old, who has a foot injury, did not qualify for this month’s WTA Finals in Singapore and will not play in the WTA Elite Trophy the week after.

“Wim Fissette and I have mutually decided to end our working relationship,” she said on Wednesday.

“My foot is improving but it is still advisable to rest it further.”

She added: “Things ended very amicably and I wish Wim all the best. We’ve achieved a lot together and I want to thank him for all his patience, hard work and expertise.

Konta linked up with Belgian Fissette before the 2017 season after parting company with Esteban Carril at the end of 2016.

She will continue to work with hitting partner Andrew Fitzpatrick, strength and conditioning specialist Gill Myburgh, physio Milly Mirkovic and mental coach Elena Sosa.

Watson into Luxembourg quarter-finals

“I will be working with my team over the coming weeks to find the right way forward for me and my tennis,” she said in a statement.

“The goal is to get a new coach or coaches in place as soon as possible but the focus will be on making the right decision rather than a quick decision.”

Konta’s poor end to the season

Konta won the biggest title of her career at the Miami Open in April under Fissette’s guidance and then made the semi-finals of Wimbledon to climb to fourth in the world rankings.

But her season went rapidly downhill following her defeat in the last four by Venus Williams at Wimbledon, winning just two matches and losing her last five since that semi-final in July.

The five-match losing streak, coupled with a foot injury picked up before the Hong Kong Open earlier this month, saw her narrowly miss out on the WTA Finals in Singapore for the second year in a row.

Despite missing out on the WTA Finals, which begin on 22 October, Konta was still in line to qualify for the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, China, and could have travelled to Singapore as an alternate.

“Both are amazing events and I will really miss being part of them but I want to make sure I am fully fit to start preparations for what I hope will be an exciting 2018 season,” she said.

Analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller

The split appears amicable, but is also a sign Konta feels in need of fresh impetus to continue her rapid rise of the past two years.

Just as when she parted with Esteban Carril at the end of 2016, this is not without risk. Five consecutive defeats are a dispiriting way to end a season, but Konta enjoyed huge success under Fissette’s guidance.

She won in Sydney in January, Miami in April, and then climbed to number four in the rankings after becoming the first British woman for 39 years to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.

Konta will now consider her options at a time of the year when many coaches tend to come on to the market. She has the advantage of being the first leading player to ‘advertise’ a vacancy.

It would be handy to strike up a partnership before pre-season training gets into full swing in November. As things stand, Konta is unlikely to head off to the sun: preferring instead to stay at home to prepare for 2018.

Konta’s foot problem means an early end to the season, but after a break, she is likely to start training for next year in the UK.

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Benneteau, Sousa Advance To Antwerp QFs

Oct182017

Kyrgios, Darcis compete during the evening session

France’s Julien Benneteau swept past Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-1, 6-1 in 54 minutes to reach his second ATP World Tour quarter-final of the year (also ‘s-Hertogenbosch) on Wednesday at the European Open in Antwerp. The 35-year-old Benneteau will next play a compatriot, second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or qualifier Kenny De Schepper.

Portugal’s Joao Sousa withstood 18 aces and lost just seven of his first-service points (45/52) to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. He awaits the winner of third-seeded Australian Nick Kyrgios or Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium.

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Bryans Open Doubles Title Bid

Top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan saved all five break points they faced in a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Belgian wild card Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen for a place in the quarter-finals against Santiago Gonzalez and Julio Peralta. The American twins, who are looking to capture their 115th team crown this week, have already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.

Rafa Is The Only Top 100 Player Who Does This…

Posted: Oct 18, 2017

Rafa Is The Only Top 100 Player Who Does This…

Oct182017

Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers shows how the Spaniard’s grit and tenacity have helped him battle back on serve this season

One out of a hundred.

Ninety-nine players out of the Top 100 have a losing record holding serve in 2017 when falling behind 15/40. Only one player has won more than 50 per cent of his service games from this perilous point score.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the Top 100 players this week reveals that one player is World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. It’s an amazing achievement, considering the Spaniard does not possess a flame-thrower of a serve, or routinely ace his way out trouble. Nadal is ranked 33rd on tour this season in total aces hit at 278 from 75 matches – averaging 3.7 aces per match.

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He is not the fastest server, and he does not enjoy as many free points on serve as other players. But Nadal has been mentally and strategically the best this season at dealing with the adversity and pressure of overcoming 15/40.

The Spaniard holds serve 50.7 per cent (37/73) of the time from that scoreline. Second place goes to Grigor Dimitrov, who is back to his career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 8 this week and has a 40-17 record in 2017. Dimitrov has held serve 47.9 per cent (35/73) of the time from 15/40, just two service games back from Nadal.

2017: Top 10 of the Top 100 at Holding Serve from 15/40

Emirates ATP Ranking	Player	Games Held From 15/40	Total Games Down 15/40	Hold Percentage From 15/40
1	Rafael Nadal	37	73	50.7%
8	Grigor Dimitrov	35	73	47.9%
51	Ivo Karlovic	14	30	46.7%
6	Dominic Thiem	47	110	42.7%
9	Stan Wawrinka	25	59	42.4%
13	John Isner	16	38	42.1%
16	Kevin Anderson	18	45	40.0%
56	Borna Coric	21	53	39.6%
30	Mischa Zverev	35	89	39.3%
66	Florian Mayer	16	42	38.1%

Infosys Nia Data found correlation with where a player is ranked in the Top 100 and how well he holds serve from 15/40.

Four Top 100 Groups: Holding Serve from 15/40

Players Ranked 1-25 = Held 33%

Players Ranked 26-50 = Held 28%

Players Ranked 51-75 = Held 27%

Players Ranked 76-100 = Held 24%

On average, the Top 100 have held serve from 15/40 28 per cent of the time this year. That immediately creates a drill for the practice court, where the server starts 10 service games from 15/40. If you can win three of them, then that’s right at the Top 100 average. If you can win half, then you know what it feels like to be the No. 1 player in the world.

Diego Schwartzman has faced 15/40 115 times this season, which is more than anyone else in the Top 100. He has held 24 times (20.9 per cent), which puts him in the bottom quarter of the Top 100.

Dominic Thiem has come back from 15/40 more than anyone else in the Top 100 so far in 2017, winning 47 out of 110 games. That places the Austrian at fourth best in the Top 100 at holding from 15/40.

The point score of 15/40 is all about overcoming adversity. Staying positive, being aggressive, and looking for a Serve +1 forehand to hit right after the serve are all hallmarks of Nadal’s prowess in this precarious position.

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Ferrer, Milan Hopefuls Advance In Antwerp

Oct172017

Trio of #NextGenATP players keep their Milan dreams alive

Fifth seed David Ferrer saved a match point and fought for more than two hours and 20 minutes on Tuesday to advance at the European Open. The Spaniard beat 25-year-old Italian Stefano Travaglia 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) to move into the second round in Antwerp.

Ferrer was down 30/40 while serving at 4-5 in the third set but won three consecutive points to hold. The 35-year-old Ferrer, a titlist in Bastad earlier this year, will next face German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe or Belgian Steve Darcis.

#NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe bolstered his chances of reaching the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals next month in Milan by beating German Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4. Tiafoe won 47 per cent (28/60) of his return points in the 58-minute victory.

The 19 year old is currently in 10^th place in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan. The top seven in the Race will qualify for the eight-player tournament, to be held 7-11 November. The eighth spot is reserved for the winner of an Italian 21-and-under tournament.

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Tiafoe has 662 Race points, 98 behind seventh-placed Hyeon Chung of South Korea. Tiafoe faces top seed David Goffin in the second round. The right-hander held two match points against Goffin in their only prior FedEx Head2Head meeting before losing at 2016 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Two other #NextGenATP players with their hopes set on Milan also advanced in Antwerp. American Ernesto Escobedo, who reached the semi-finals earlier this year in Houston, beat Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in a #NextGenATP battle, 7-6(5), 6-4.

#NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas upset sixth seed Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 6-4. Cuevas has now lost nine consecutive matches.

Both Escobedo and Tsitsipas still could qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals. Escobedo is in 11^th place with 497 points, 263 behind seventh-placed Chung. Tsitsipas sits in 13^th place with 477 points, 283 behind Chung.

Escobedo next faces fourth seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina. Tsitsipas will meet Croatian Ivo Karlovic.