Baghdatis Powers Up In Nottingham

Jun192016

An executive summary of what every fan should know about the coming week on the ATP World Tour

James Ward and Marcos Baghdatis face off as Batman vs. Superman. A mini court was set up in front of Wollaton Hall, the building used as Wayne Manor in The Dark Knight Rises.

Nottingham Returns: The Aegon Open Nottingham is the final tournament before Wimbledon, which begins June 27. This is the second straight year Nottingham is hosting an ATP World Tour event (returned last year for the first time since 2008). The tournament was formerly held in Eastbourne from 2009-14. The 48-player draw features 12 of the Top 50 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings, led by World No. 20 Kevin Anderson, who is the top seed. Denis Istomin is the reigning champion. Andreas Seppi is the other former winner in the field (2011).

Aegon Open Nottingham (Nottingham): The top eight seeds are: Anderson, Pablo Cuevas, Joao Sousa, Alexandr Dolgopolov, last year’s runner-up Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson, Seppi and Gilles Muller. Other seeds in the Top 50 are: Marcos Baghdatis, Pablo Carreno Busta, Vasek Pospisil and Paolo Lorenzi.

Anderson Top Seed: Anderson is the top seed for the second time this season in an ATP World Tour tournament. In February in Delray Beach he was the top seed. He retired in the first round vs. Austin Krajicek due to an elbow injury. The 30-year-old South African comes in with a 3-8 match record on the season with his best results being the quarter-finals in Auckland and Nice (after 1R bye). He has not won back-to-back matches this season. Anderson has been bothered by a left knee and right elbow injury this season. He also retired in the first round at the Australian Open. Last week he qualified at The Queen’s Club and lost in the first round to Tomic.

The Reigning Champ: Istomin comes in as the defending champion after beating Querrey in two tie-breaks in the final. Istomin became the first player from Uzbekistan to capture an ATP World Tour singles title. This season Istomin has struggled with a 4-15 match record and he’s not won back-to-back matches in an ATP World Tour tournament.

Fritz Ranking Jump Leader: One year ago, Taylor Fritz made his main draw ATP World Tour debut here as a wild card. He came in ranked No. 761 and defeated Pablo Carreno Busta in the first round before losing to No. 16 Feliciano Lopez in the second round. Since then, the 18 year old has made the biggest jump in the Top 100 Emirates ATP Rankings. He has climbed to a career-high No. 63, making him the youngest in the Top 100. Fritz comes into Nottingham with a 9-10 match record on the season, highlighted by his maiden ATP World Tour final in Memphis (l. to Nishikori).

Local Title Hopes: The four wild cards are British players Liam Broady, Brydan Klein, Alex Ward and James Ward. There are two other British players in the draw: Kyle Edmund and Daniel Evans. Edmund is coming off his second career ATP World Tour quarter-final at The Queen’s Club where he posted his first Top 20 win over No. 18 Gilles Simon before losing to World No. 2 Murray in three sets.

Gilles Going Strong: No. 11 seed Gilles Muller has put together strong performances in the first two weeks of the grass-court circuit, reaching the final in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Mahut) and the quarter-finals at The Queen’s Club (l. to Tomic) where he saved 10 match points in his second-round win over John Isner. Muller is making his tournament debut.

Doubles Draw: The top seeds in the doubles draw are Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, who are No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings. Other seeds are: No. 2 Dominic Inglot and Daniel Nestor, No. 3 Treaty Huey & Max Mirnyi and No. 4 Juan Sebastian Cabal & Robert Farah. Huey & Mirnyi are No. 5 in the doubles team rankings and Cabal & Farah are No. 7 in the rankings.

In Case You Missed It

Andy Murray captured a record fifth title at the Aegon Championships. Read

Florian Mayer capped off a dream week by winning the Gerry Weber Open title over Alexander Zverev. Read

Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut successfully defended their Aegon Championships title. Read

Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram also retained their Gerry Weber Open crown. Read

Roger Federer takes positives from an “intense and busy” stretch on grass. Read

Lleyton Hewitt will return to the doubles court at Wimbledon. Read

Birthdays

21 June: Ricardas Berankis (26)

23 June: Vasek Pospisil (26)

25 June: Mikhail Youzhny (34)

Milestones