Tennis News

Seventh Cincinnati Match Is The Charm For Zverev

The seventh time was the charm for Alexander Zverev at the Western & Southern Open.

After losing his first six main draw matches at the ATP Masters 1000 event, Zverev snapped that streak on Wednesday. The third seed battled past South African Lloyd Harris 7-6(3), 6-2 to reach the third round in Cincinnati.

“I’m happy with how I am, I’m happy where I’m at and I’m happy to get my first win in seven years here,” Zverev said in his on-court interview. “It’s obviously a great start to the week.”

Zverev is high on confidence following his run to the singles gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The 24-year-old has now won seven consecutive matches, from which six victories have come in straight sets.

“It’s great. When I came on court and they said Olympic gold medalist, it did give me goosebumps,” Zverev said. “It made me a little nervous at the beginning of the match, I have to say because it is a special feeling.”

Harris has played well this North American hard-court swing, earning the biggest win of his career against Rafael Nadal in Washington. The South African did not have enough firepower to break through his opponent, though.

Four-time Masters 1000 titlist Zverev hit a curling backhand passing shot just inside both the sideline and the baseline to seal the opening set in a tie-break, and never looked back. Zverev hit 11 aces and did not face a break point in his one-hour, 16-minute victory.

The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion will next face Argentine lefty Guido Pella, who beat Italian Fabio Fognini 6-1, 7-5 in one hour and 29 minutes. Zverev won their only previous ATP Head2Head meeting four years ago in the Munich final on clay.

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Rublev Rallies Past Cilic In Cincinnati

Andrey Rublev was down but not out on Wednesday in Cincinnati. The Russian rallied for an emphatic 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 comeback victory against former World No. 3 Marin Cilic to reach the third round of the Western & Southern Open. 

The last time the Russian star was in Ohio, two years ago, he was No. 70 in the FedEx ATP Rankings and on the mend from injury. He earned one of his biggest wins by upsetting seven-time champion Roger Federer.

Rublev is the fourth seed this edition and is pursuing his best ATP Masters 1000 run. Earlier this season, he advanced to his first semi-final at this level in Miami and his first final in Monte-Carlo.

The 23-year-old has now won four consecutive matches against the Croatian and leads their ATP Head2Head rivalry 4-1. Rublev hit 11 aces and saved four of the five break points he faced to advance after two hours and two minutes.

Next up for the fourth seed will be 14th seed Alex de Minaur or Frenchman Gael Monfils. If Monfils wins that match, it will be his 500th tour-level victory.

In the same section of the draw, home favourite John Isner battled past 11th seed Jannik Sinner 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-4 after two hours and 35 minutes.

Sinner was serving at 4/2 in the second-set tie-break when Isner snuck a low, weak return over the net. From inside the service box, the Italian missed a drop shot into the net. Isner did not lose a point the rest of the tie-break, and that point is when the match changed.

The 36-year-old then earned his first break of the match in the third set to advance to the third round, in which he will play Frenchman Benoit Paire, who upset Canadian Denis Shapovalov on Tuesday.

Isner is growing in confidence after lifting the trophy in Atlanta and making the semi-finals in Toronto last week.

Did You Know?
Rublev, who qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time last year, began the week in fifth in the FedEx ATP Race To Turin. This year’s season finale will be played in Turin from 14-21 November.

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Andy Murray: Former British number one loses to Hubert Hurkacz at Cincinnati Masters

Andy Murray is out of the Cincinnati Masters after a straight-set second-round loss to ninth seed Hubert Hurkacz.

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Dimitrov Dazzles To Reach Third Round In Cincinnati

Could Grigor Dimitrov be primed for another deep run in Cincinnati?

The 2017 champion defeated Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik 6-3, 7-5 to reach the third round at the Western & Southern Open for the fifth time. The Bulgarian will play top seed Daniil Medvedev or Mackenzie McDonald for a spot in the quarter-finals. 

Dimitrov has long enjoyed success at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, where he made the semi-finals in 2016 and captured his first ATP Masters 1000 title in 2017. The former World No. 3 is now 18-8 at the Ohio tournament.

The Kazakhstani recently beat Dimitrov in straight sets at Wimbledon and previously led their ATP Head2Head series 2-0. And although Bublik leads the ATP Tour in aces in 2021, he critically hit nine double faults.

Two-time Western & Southern Open champion Andy Murray earned an impressive win on Monday against Richard Gasquet in Cincinnati, but ninth seed Hubert Hurkacz halted his run on Wednesday.

The ninth seed broke through the Scot’s defences with an onslaught of 17 aces, defeating the former World No. 1 7-6(4), 6-3 to reach the third round. The Polish star will next play seventh seed Pablo Carreno Busta.

“Playing against Murray is something special. I never had a chance to play a match against him [before],” Hurkacz said in his on-court interview. “He’s such a great competitor. What he’s done for the sport is really amazing. He’s such a great player and a person. It’s a very big win for me.”

Hurkacz has enjoyed the best season of his career, including his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Miami and his first trip to a major semi-final at Wimbledon, where he upset Medvedev and Roger Federer. The 24-year-old began his week in ninth in the FedEx ATP Race To Turin as he pushes to make his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals in November.

Murray battled hard, saving four of the six break points he faced. But the wild card was unable to make the Pole too uncomfortable. Hurkacz’s next opponent, Carreno Busta, eliminated German lucky loser Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-2 in 80 minutes earlier in the day.

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Felix Claws Past Khachanov In Cincinnati Marathon

Payback was sweet for Felix Auger-Aliassime on Wednesday at the Western & Southern Open.

Two years after losing a three-set heartbreaker against Karen Khachanov at his home ATP Masters 1000 event in Montreal, the #NextGenATP Canadian clawed past the Tokyo Olympics singles silver medalist 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round in Cincinnati. Auger-Aliassime will next play close friend Matteo Berrettini, the fifth seed.

Khachanov has been in great form in recent weeks, reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals and advancing to the final in Tokyo. Despite getting outplayed by Auger-Aliassime for large portions of Wednesday’s clash, he battled hard to stay in contact with the 21-year-old.

But Felix kept chipping away. Despite letting slip 10 of his 13 break points, the eight-time ATP Tour finalist continued to play aggressive tennis and rely on his serve to cruise through his service games. 

Auger-Aliassime hit 39 winners — including 14 aces — to advance after a gruelling two hours and 53 minutes when Khachanov missed a final forehand. The World No. 17 will now try to earn his first victory against Berrettini, who leads their ATP Head2Head series 2-0.

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Brooksby & Nakashima Headline US Open Wild Cards

The USTA announced Wednesday that #NextGenATP Americans Jenson Brooksby, Brandon Nakashima and Emilio Nava as well as former World No. 8 Jack Sock and Ernesto Escobedo received main draw wild cards into the 2021 US Open, alongside NCAA singles champion Sam Riffice and USTA Boys’ 18s national champion Zachary Svajda.

Australian Max Purcell will receive a main draw wild card as part of a reciprocal agreement. The 2021 US Open will be played from 30 August through 12 September at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows.

Brooksby, 20, of Sacramento, Calif., has enjoyed a breakout season in 2021 and recently broke into the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. He is currently at a career-best World No. 99. Brooksby has won three ATP Challenger Tour titles this year, reached his first ATP Tour final at the US Open Series’ Hall of Fame Open in Newport and reached the semi-finals of the Citi Open in Washington/

Nakashima, 20, of San Diego, also achieved his career-high ranking this week, coming in at World No. 86 after a remarkable summer that saw him reach back-to-back ATP Tour finals in Los Cabos and Atlanta. He qualified for the main draw of Wimbledon and added his second ATP Challenger Tour title earlier this year.

Nava, 19, of Los Angeles, is currently World No. 381, a career-best. He was the boys’ singles finalist at the 2019 US Open, the last time the junior competition was held. He also reached the boys’ singles final at the 2019 Australian Open and is a two-time junior Grand Slam doubles finalist. He earned his first professional title earlier this year at an ITF World Tennis Tour M15 event in La Nucia, Spain.

Sock, 28, of Charlotte, N.C., is currently World No. 185 but has been ranked as high as World No. 8. Battling back after a number of injuries, Sock reached his first ATP Tour quarter-final since 2018 at the Hall of Fame Open. He also won an ATP Challenger Tour title in May.

Escobedo, 25, of Los Angeles, is currently World No. 179 and has been ranked as high as World No. 67. Recently, he qualified for the main draw of the ATP 250 event in Los Cabos, reaching the quarter-finals. Escobedo also advanced to the semif-inals at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Lexington, Ky. Earlier this year he qualified for the main draw of the Miami Open presented by Itau, reaching the second round.

Riffice, 22, of Orlando, Fla., is currently World No. 690. He won the NCAA men’s singles title in May representing the University of Florida after helping lead the Gators to the NCAA team national title as well. The following week, he reached the semi-finals of an ATP Challenger Tour event in his hometown of Orlando.

Svajda, 18, of San Diego, is currently World No. 716. He won the 2021 USTA Boys’ 18s national championship, defending his title from 2019 (the last time the event was held). He became the first player to win back-to-back boys’ 18s singles titles since Jack Sock did so in 2010 and 2011. Svajda memorably pushed ATP Tour veteran Paolo Lorenzi to five sets in the first round of the 2019 US Open at the age of 16.

Purcell, 23, of Sydney, Australia, is currently World No. 206 in singles. An accomplished doubles player, he will be making his US Open singles main draw debut.

The USTA also announced the men receiving wild cards into the US Open Qualifying tournament, held 24-27 August at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center:

Ulises Blanch (23; Orlando, Fla.), a former world No. 2-ranked junior and two-time ATP Challenger Tour winner; Christian Harrison (27; Shreveport, La.), who reached the semi-finals in Delray Beach in January and has improved his FedEx ATP Ranking by nearly 800 spots this year after returning from a number of injuries; Zane Khan (19; Houston), who has won three ITF World Tennis Tour titles this year; Aleks Kovacevic (22; New York), a former All-American at the University of Illinois and 2021 USTA Summer Collegiate Team member; Stefan Kozlov (23; Pembroke Pines, Fla.) a former World No. 115 who reached two junior Grand Slam finals and has won two ATP Challenger Tour titles; Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (24, New York) a former standout at the University of California, Santa Barbara who has won three ITF World Tennis Tour titles this year; Govind Nanda (20, Redlands, Calif.), a current UCLA star who competed in qualifying at the 2019 US Open after finishing runner-up at the USTA Boys’ 18s National Championships and recent winner of a ITF World Tennis Tour M25 title; Ben Shelton (18, Gainesville, Fla.), this year’s USTA Boy’s 18s singles finalist and rising sophomore at the University of Florida; and Eliot Spizzirri (19, Greenwich, Conn.), the 2019 US Open boys’ doubles champion and current University of Texas standout who also recently won a ITF World Tennis Tour M25 title.

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ATP's & WTA's Newly Integrated Marketing Team Serves Up A Second Season Of Tennis United

The ATP and WTA have today announced Tennis United: CrossCourt, a continuation of the award-winning digital content series originally released during the 2020 suspended season. Back by popular demand, the reimagined project marks the first major co-branded initiative to debut since the two Tours integrated marketing operations earlier this year.

Tennis United: CrossCourt goes behind the scenes of life on Tour through a series of intimate one-on-one conversations between ATP and WTA stars. Spanning eight captivating, short-format episodes, players explore a range of largely untouched subjects from within and beyond sport, offering fans a raw perspective on the experiences, pressures and privileges that make up life in professional tennis.

From Dominic Thiem and Madison Keys opening up on mental health, to tennis’ newlywed star couple Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina finding love on Tour – and how their proposal nearly took a very different turn – the series gets up close and personal like never before. Other episodes take a deep dive into the game itself, from Andrey Rublev and Aryna Sabalenka shedding light on dealing with defeat, to Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jennifer Brady unpacking the discussion around on-court coaching.

The complete episode list:
• Episode 1: Relationships (Gael Monfils & Elina Svitolina)
• Episode 2: Coaching (Felix Auger-Aliassime & Jennifer Brady)
• Episode 3: Mental Health (Madison Keys & Dominic Thiem)
• Episode 4: Doubles (Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Jamie Murray)
• Episode 5: Parenthood (Fabio Fognini & Elena Vesnina)
• Episode 6: Travel (Belinda Bencic & Grigor Dimitrov)
• Episode 7: Discipline (Hubert Hurkacz & Iga Swiatek)
• Episode 8: Locker Room (Andrey Rublev & Aryna Sabalenka)

This past January, the ATP and WTA transitioned to an integrated marketing operation, building on unprecedented collaboration between the Tours over the past 18 months. Under the alignment, key leadership roles across social media, digital and branding are now responsible for maximising engagement through joint storytelling and creating efficiencies on key projects. Collaboration across commercial and communications over the same period has further leveraged the unique appeal of both Tours, highlighted by recent joint-brand partnerships with TopCourt and Tennis Clash.

Dan Ginger, the newly appointed SVP, Brand and Marketing, said: “Few professional sports have the opportunity that tennis does, to tell an authentic story of male and female athletes united. This has always been our vision for Tennis United. Creating a centralised marketing team across the Tours allows us to further reduce fragmentation within the sport and focus on positioning tennis as a leading global entertainment property.”

New episodes of Tennis United: CrossCourt will debut every Wednesday across YouTube and ATP/WTA digital channels, starting from 25 August. Ideation and creative direction for the new season was supported by Racquet Magazine, which serves as presenting partner of the series. The show’s distinctive new visual identity was developed by award-winning London-based agency MATTA, whose recent joint projects include the ATP’s and WTA’s ‘Tennis is Life’ campaign.

To watch the official trailer, click here.

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US Open: Defending champion Dominic Thiem will miss US Open and rest of 2021 season

Defending US Open champion Dominic Thiem will miss this year’s tournament and the rest of the 2021 season with a wrist injury.

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Krawietz/Tecau Lead Doubles Winners Tuesday In Cincinnati

On a rainy Tuesday at the Western & Southern Open, fifth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau advanced to the second round with a 7-5, 6-3 victory against Argentines Federico Delbonis and Diego Schwartzman.

The German-Romanian duo won 86 per cent of their first-serve points and earned three service breaks to advance after one hour and 15 minutes. They will next play Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Fabio Fognini of Italy for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Krawietz and Tecau teamed this year once Krawietz’s usual partner, Andreas Mies, underwent knee surgery early in the season. Krawietz and Tecau are seventh in the FedEx ATP Doubles Team Rankings as they try to secure a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held in Turin from 14-21 November.

In other action, sixth seeds John Peers and Filip Polasek beat Matwe Middelkoop and Luke Saville 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 10-6 and Filip Krajinovic and Fabrice Martin ousted Rohan Bopanna and Ivan Dodig 1-6, 6-4, 10-7.

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Berrettini Battles Back In Cincinnati Behind 25 Aces

Matteo Berrettini did not get an easy welcome back to action on Tuesday in his first match since Wimbledon, but the fifth seed found a way to reach the third round at the Western & Southern Open.

The Italian star rallied past Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5 after two hours and 20 minutes to advance in Cincinnati. The 25-year-old had not played since the final of The Championships due to a thigh injury.

Berrettini has now won 15 of his past 17 matches and is 33-7 on the season. This year’s Belgrade and Queen’s Club champion will next play 12th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, one of his best friends on Tour, or Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Karen Khachanov.

The players did not begin their clash until just shy of 8 p.m due to more than four hours of rain. Berrettini, a 2019 Nitto ATP Finals competitor, was in trouble against Ramos-Vinolas, who proved a tricky foe for his first match in more than a month.

The lefty uses heavy spin on his forehand and rarely makes unforced errors, and that seemed to bother Berrettini, who was searching for rhythm. The Italian hit 25 aces in the match to stay in contact and escape difficult service games.

But in the deciding moments of the final set, the script flipped. Berrettini, who is known for his hammer-like forehand, used his backhand slice to force Ramos-Vinolas to play extra balls. And at 5-5 in the third set, the Spaniard made mistakes off those floating shots, missing an inside-out forehand to lose serve.

Berrettini closed out the match in the next game with a forehand drop shot, turning to his team and yelling “Vamos!” to celebrate. It was the World No. 8’s first victory in Cincinnati.

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