Tennis News

Murray Accepts Cincinnati Wild Card

Two-time champion Andy Murray and #NextGenATP American Sebastian Korda have accepted wild cards into the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, the tournament announced Tuesday.

Former World No. 1 Murray owns a 33-13 record at the ATP Masters 1000 event, at which he lifted the trophy in 2008 and 2011. Last year, the Scot beat Alexander Zverev in the second round of the hard-court tournament, which was held in New York due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

#CincyTennis bound ✈️

We can’t wait to see our two-time champion @andy_murray and @SebiKorda in action this summer. pic.twitter.com/BilRiFECy9

— Western & Southern Open (@CincyTennis) August 3, 2021

Murray most recently competed in the Tokyo Olympics in men’s doubles alongside Joe Salisbury for Great Britain. They reached the quarter-finals, where they lost against eventual silver medalists Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig of Croatia.

Korda will compete in the main draw of the Western & Southern Open for the second time. Last year, the American qualified before losing a tight three-setter against Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori in the first round.

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Nakashima Celebrates 20th Birthday With Washington Win

#NextGenATP American Brandon Nakashima gave himself a nice 20th birthday present on Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Australian Alexei Popyrin in the first round of the Citi Open.

The 20-year-old is in great form after making the final in back-to-back weeks in Los Cabos and Atlanta. Nakashima showed his confidence against this year’s Singapore titlist, converting all three of his break points to advance after 70 minutes.

Before the Mifel Open began two weeks ago, Nakashima had not won a tour-level match since last year’s US Open. Since beginning his run in Los Cabos, the American has gone 9-2, a stretch that propelled him into the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings on Monday for the first time at World No. 89.

Nakashima secured the critical break for 3-2 in the second set with great groundstroke depth, causing Popyrin to miss a forehand into the net. The home favourite lost just one more service point the rest of the way and earned his third service break to finish off his victory. Nakashima will next play sixth seed Daniel Evans of Great Britain.

Two more #NextGenATP Americans will also compete on Tuesday. Sebastian Korda will play Canadian Vasek Pospisil and Jenson Brooksby, who beat Kevin Anderson on Monday, will take on countryman Frances Tiafoe, the 16th seed.

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Washington Lobbyists: Why Kyrgios Lets Fans Tell Him How To Serve

Welcome to the Nick Kyrgios show. Now, pick your serve!

Two years ago at the Citi Open in Washington, Kyrgios went on one of the most memorable runs of his career to claim the ATP 500 title. Along the way, the Aussie gave a new dimension to fan engagement. The inimitable right-hander began asking fans where he should serve on match point.

“It’s kind of like the finale. Who’s the lucky fan to tell me where to serve on match point?” Kyrgios said. “I feel if it works, it’s a memory they’re going to keep for life.”

Kyrgios wants to provide an experience for the fans, not just a match. The 26-year-old loves putting on a show.

“Fans for me are the reason why I play. I love to entertain, I feel like it’s all a show,” Kyrgios said. “It’s not just me going out there hitting good forehands, hitting good backhands. It’s about making everyone in that crowd feel as if they’re in the match as well.”

The six-time ATP Tour titlist feels at home in the United States, and he has fond memories of his triumphant week in Washington. To some, asking fans for serving advice against the world’s best players might seem risky, but not to Kyrgios.

“I feel like I’m an ‘in-the-moment’ type of guy. I feel like that’s how you get the crowd involved,” Kyrgios said. “They’re maybe not ever going to be able to play that level one day, but they’re watching it and to make them feel involved, you ask them, ‘Alright, where do you think you want me to serve? Where would you serve if you were in this moment?’”

That was not the only way Kyrgios entertained that week. The Aussie also delivered Stefanos Tsitsipas’ spare shoes on one knee. Between the fun he had and defeating the likes of Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev en route to the trophy, it was a tournament Kyrgios will never forget.

“That was one of my favourite weeks of my life.”

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Felix Draws On 'Champion Mentality' In Washington

Felix Auger-Aliassime will channel what he deems a “champion mentality” as he looks to build on his most consistent season to date at this week’s Citi Open. Seeded second behind Rafael Nadal in Washington, D.C., the 20-year-old faces a tricky opener against his Roland Garros conqueror from this year, Italian veteran Andreas Seppi.

Despite that first-round boilover in Paris, the Canadian has not dwelled on the result. There have been ample positives since, including a second final of the season in Stuttgart, a run to the semi-finals in Halle and his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final at Wimbledon.

“I mean I’ve tried to come with consistent work ethic and effort in every week,” Auger-Aliassime said. “There’s been ups and downs and I think that’s the kind of season. We play so many tournaments, the season is 11 months so you’re never going to be always up but I felt like I’ve been able to capitalise well whenever I was feeling well, whenever I was playing well, to have some good results.

“It could sometimes be a little bit better, it could be worse, but in the end I’m happy where I am reaching the Top 15 ranking, my first Grand Slam quarter-final. Things are moving in the right direction for me.”

Under the guidance of Frederic Fontang and Toni Nadal, Auger-Aliassime said they had continued to build on his attacking game style – a player unafraid to come forward, while maintaining consistency. The mental component would always be a work in progress.

“This mentality with Toni, this champion mentality that I call it, for us we’re trying to build this mentality where I’m in the present of being humble, not too worried about the future, not too frustrated about the past and I feel like that’s what we’ve been trying to do and that’s the vision to be hopefully one day… close to that near-perfect balance of being in the present.”

While still searching for his maiden ATP Tour title, Auger-Aliassime finds himself second in the ATP Race to Milan for the NextGen ATP Finals and 15^th in the FedEx ATP Race to Turin. He could yet qualify for both as he shifts his focus to the North American hard-court swing.

“I think the start of the year I was playing well on the hard courts so I think I’m going to play well now on the hard court swing in the next couple of weeks to gain some confidence and bring some good results,” he said.

“I try to take it one week at a time. There are so many weeks in the season. I feel like to be consistent you really have to make an effort to stay in the present.

“It’s easy to catch yourself looking at the future and hoping I’m making either Turin [or Milan] Finals for me so I try to stay in the present. We don’t know what the future holds.”

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Emma Raducanu makes losing return to WTA Tour in San Jose after Wimbledon exploits

Britain’s Emma Raducanu is beaten in straight sets by world number 51 Zhang Shuai in her first match since her run to the last 16 at Wimbledon.

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Nishikori Flies From Tokyo Into Washington Second Round

Former champion Kei Nishikori’s Citi Open campaign is off to a flying start following a straight-sets win over familiar foe Sam Querrey on Monday. The Japanese World No. 67 clinched his seventh victory from 11 ATP Head2Head meetings against the American, 6-4, 6-4.

Nishikori arrived in Washington from Tokyo, where he had become the first man to reach three straight Olympics Games quarter-finals (l. to Djokovic). Despite the quick turnaround to adjust to conditions in the US capital, he broke three times and prevailed convincingly in 86 minutes .

“Yeah we have played a lot. It’s been many times,” the 2015 Citi Open champion said in his on-court interview. “It’s not easy playing Sam. He has a great serve and especially this surface he has more time to play but… I returned pretty good in those games and I’m very pleased how I played today.”

A former No. 4 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, Nishikori was rattling through his service games, as Querrey increasingly struggled to hold his own. No sooner had Nishikori fended off break points for the first time in the match at 2-3 in the second set than he turned the screws.

“That was toughest moment I think for today. If he had [won that] game I think he had the whole set,” Nishikori said. “I saved a couple of tough points… [I got a] little lucky but after that game I think I was a little more free and I was playing better.”

It was pivotal as he reeled off the last four games of the match to set a meeting with ninth seed Alexander Bublik for a place in the third round. The defeat consigned the 33-year-old Querrey to his fifth straight defeat, following his first-round win over Pablo Carreno Busta in the opening round at Wimbledon.

“I was really tired after coming from Japan and wasn’t sure if I was ready today but on the court I was fine, playing really good tennis,” Nishikori said. “First match is never easy, I wasn’t expecting 100 per cent but I hope I can keep going like this.”

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