Andy Murray handed Miami Open wildcard for 2021 event
Britain’s former wold number one Andy Murray is handed a wildcard for this month’s Miami Open.
Britain’s former wold number one Andy Murray is handed a wildcard for this month’s Miami Open.
Wesley Koolhof and Lukasz Kubot bounced back from a lopsided second set on Monday to book their place in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships quarter-finals.
The third seeds overcame Marcelo Melo and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 0-6, 12-10 to reach their third quarter-final of the season. Koolhof and Kubot, who joined forces at the start of the this year, are aiming to capture their first team title in Dubai.
Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek recovered from 3-6, 1-3 down and saved three match points in a 28-point Match Tie-break to beat Marcelo Arevalo and Matwe Middelkoop 3-6, 7-5, 15-13. The fourth seeds, who failed to convert three consecutive match points at 9/6 in the Match Tie-break, were a point from elimination at 9/10, 11/12 and 12/13.
Dodig and Polasek converted their fifth match point to keep alive their hopes of a second title run this year. Last month, the pair claimed their first Grand Slam title as a team at the Australian Open.
Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic did not require a Match Tie-break in their Dubai opener. The second seeds moved past David Goffin and Joran Vliegen 7-6(2), 6-2 in 75 minutes.
Former World No. 1 Andy Murray has been awarded a wild card for the 2021 Miami Open presented by Itau, which begins on 24 March.
The two-time former Miami titlist told People Magazine, “It’s a city I love, and I’ve spent a lot of time here over the last 15 years, I feel comfortable. But over the next few months, I want to play matches — especially against the top players — work on my game and climb the rankings. I want to get back playing a sport I love.”
Carlos Alcaraz, Michael Mmoh, Hugo Gaston and Jack Draper have also received wild cards into the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
Happiest of Mondays! @andy_murray Can’t wait to see you on the court! https://t.co/AlJIqiLASB
— Miami Open (@MiamiOpen) March 15, 2021
British star Murray has not competed in Miami since 2016, undergoing hip surgeries in 2018 and 2019.
Murray also told People Magazine, “The last few years has been really hard. After the operation, there were no guarantees I would play again, but I’ve been working very hard on my conditioning and over the last few months I’ve felt the best I have for years. I’ll need to be mindful of my schedule moving forward but I’m excited to be back competing — with a metal hip.”
Murray and his wife, Kim, welcomed their fourth child on Friday last week. The 33-year-old last played on the ATP Tour at last month’s ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.
Richard Gasquet was only 15 when he became the youngest match winner in ATP Tour history (since 1990) with his first tour-level win at the 2002 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The Frenchman reached another milestone on Monday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, when he defeated Marco Cecchinato 6-4, 6-2 to record his 550th tour-level win.
Gasquet dropped just two points behind his first serve (27/29) to become only the sixth active player to clinch 550 victories. The former World No. 7 joins the Big Four and Fernando Verdasco in the exclusive club.
Most Career Match Wins (Active Players)
| Rank | Player | Wins |
| 1 | Roger Federer | 1,243 |
| 2 | Rafael Nadal | 1,008 |
| 3 | Novak Djokovic | 943 |
| 4 | Andy Murray | 677 |
| 5 | Fernando Verdasco | 552 |
| 6 | Richard Gasquet | 550 |
Gasquet, a 15-time ATP Tour titlist, improved his tour-level record to 550-331 with his win against Cecchinato. The two-time Dubai semi-finalist (2009, ’11) will face 13th seed Hubert Hurkacz for a spot in the third round.
Jan Lennard-Struff landed 16 aces en route to a 6-3, 6-2 win against Mikhail Kukushkin. The World No. 39 will face third seed Denis Shapovalov in the second round.
Lloyd Harris also booked a second-round encounter against seeded opposition. The South African recovered from a set down to overcome Aussie Christopher O’Connell 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1. Harris will meet top seed Dominic Thiem in the second round.
World No. 8 Andrey Rublev says he plays tennis like he plays chess, “take a Queen, or a forehand in tennis, and dictate”. It’s helped him get off to another strong start in 2021.
Ahead of his second appearance at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the chess fan said, “Chess can help tennis, maybe strategy wise. It gives you more patience, but I play chess like I play tennis. I try and take a Queen, or a forehand in tennis, and dictate. I prepare to attack.”
Only time will tell if the Russian can capture his fifth straight ATP 500 tournament crown this week at the Aviation Club in Dubai. Last year’s quarter-finalist expects the conditions to be tricky once again for his aggressive game.
“It’s always tough conditions to play here as the balls fly and it doesn’t suit my game style,” said Rublev. “It will be a great challenge for me, as I will need to find other ways to play matches.”
[WATCH LIVE 1]Rublev, who picked up five ATP Tour titles in 2020, has gotten off to a 13-2 start this year. Last month, he joined Daniil Medvedev, Aslan Karatsev and captain Evgeny Donskoy to help Russia capture the ATP Cup crown (d. Italy) and he also reached the Australian Open quarter-finals (l. to Medvedev). Earlier this month, he captured the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament trophy (d. Fucsovics).
“It’s tough to know what you need to do to produce good results,” admitted Rublev. “I’ve focused on myself to accept the things that I can’t change and do the best I can [each] today. This is the direction I am moving in and what has helped me. It also helped me to be better mentally.
“I feel like I am doing some things better than last year… I’ve always worked hard, it’s been a long journey of improvement. No one has ever told me to work or [needed] to motivate me. I was always doing things at 100 per cent and enjoying it. I then had some injuries [lower back stress fracture and right wrist] and stressful problems off the courts.”
“Little by little, things began to fix themselves. I knew I needed to focus on myself, be in the moment and just play tournaments. In the end, the puzzle came together and from last year, I have started to play better and better.”
Rublev, the second seed in Dubai, will face Australia’s Jordan Thompson or Finnish qualifier Emil Ruusuvuori in his opening match.
No. 73 Pierre-Hugues Herbert, +20
The Frenchmen rises 20 places to No. 73 in the FedEx ATP Rankings after reaching his fourth ATP Tour final at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille (l. to Medvedev). The 29-year-old beat Kei Nishikori and World No. 5 and two-time defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to the title match.
View FedEx ATP Rankings
No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, +1
The Russian has become the first player outside of the Big Four — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray — to occupy the No. 2 position in the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time since July 2005. Medvedev captured his 10th ATP Tour title on Sunday in Marseille. The 25-year-old has compiled a 14-2 match record so far in 2021, which includes helping Russia capture the ATP Cup title and also a run to the Australian Open final (l. to Djokovic).
No. 20 Cristian Garin, +2
The Chilean returns to the Top 20 for the first time since 12 October 2020 after capturing his fifth clay-court crown on Sunday at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open in Santiago (d. Bagnis).
Other Notable Top 100 Movers
No. 11 Roberto Bautista Agut, +2
No. 30 Taylor Fritz, +3
No. 36 Nikoloz Basilashvili, +6
No. 42 Aslan Karatsev, +3
No. 56 Frances Tiafoe, +8
No. 79 Federico Delbonis, +7
No. 96 Andreas Seppi, +11
The picture that stayed with us was that of Daniil Medvedev, index finger to ear, inviting, no, urging the Arthur Ashe Stadium assemblage to shower him with boos. But by then, he’d already won them over, a brazenfaced upstart who, after pushing their buttons for days, had come this close to toppling Rafael Nadal in a five-set final.
When Nadal fell to the court, the 2019 US Open title finally secured, it wasn’t so much out of jubilation as it was pure exhaustion. Up two sets and a break, it looked like the Mallorcan would be back in Midtown at a decent hour, maybe settling into a celebratory plate of pasta y gambas. But it took everything he had and more to hold off a Medvedev comeback, eking out a 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 victory in just under five hours.
“The way that he fought, the way that he played, is a champion’s way,” Nadal told the gathered media that evening.
That ‘champion’s way’ has paid off for Medvedev. Today, the Russian leapfrogs Nadal to seize No. 2 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, becoming the first player not named Federer, Nadal, Djokovic or Murray to occupy that spot in more than a decade-and-a-half.
For good measure, Medvedev celebrated the milestone one day earlier by winning his 10th title at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille. “I am really happy,” he said. “I knew that I would become No. 2… [but] it is always better when you step up the rankings when you do something great… it is great for the self-esteem that just before becoming No. 2 on Monday, I win a tournament.”
It’s a historic achievement, the breakup of a stranglehold that traced back to Lleyton Hewitt in July 2005. Did anyone, maybe not even Medvedev himself, truly see this coming? Didn’t tennis fans envision someone like Stan Wawrinka, Juan Martin del Potro, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych or Dominic Thiem getting there first? All came close. But it took Medvedev to make it happen.
“He’s just so solid,” observed Novak Djokovic, who’s thrice been on the losing end against Medvedev, but who last Monday become the longest-reigning World No. 1 in FedEx ATP Rankings history [read immersive tribute]. “I heard Jim Courier calling him a master chess player because of the way he tactically positions himself on the court, and it’s true. He’s definitely a very smart tennis player.”
Countryman Andrey Rublev said, “He reads the game really well and it’s amazing the patience he has to stay so long in the rallies, to not rush, to take his time, and these things are amazing because, in the end, these little details, they make him who he is. You need to be focused 100 per cent every point, because as soon as you relax or something, then he will use this opportunity.”
Has Medvedev now set a precedent? Will his ascension give belief to those who follow him?
Back at the 2019 US Open, New Yorkers were just as impressed by the first-time Slam finalist as Nadal, though it was perhaps Medvedev’s moxie, not his unorthodox game, that resonated most. In the third round, he had shown some stubbornness in his four-set dismissal of Feliciano Lopez, at one point snatching a towel from a ball kid a bit too hastily and, after a subsequent warning from the chair umpire, tossing his racquet. The fans, in turn, showed their disapproval with a chorus of boos.
Medvedev was all too happy to play the villain, telling fans, “Thank you all, guys, because your energy tonight gave me the win. If you were not here, guys, I would probably lose the match… So I want all of you to know, when you sleep tonight, I won because of you.”
Wait, did that really just happen? Did this Medvedev kid, who remained relatively unknown outside Russia despite playing consecutive finals in Washington, Montreal and Cincinnati, just out-Gotham Gotham City? These are the folks who invented The Bronx Cheer. Nobody, I mean NOBODY calls out a stadium-full of New Yorkers.
“I actually have no idea why the demons go out when I play tennis,” said Medvedev.
But Medvedev seemed to revel in his role as chief mischief-maker. He just kept on winning, taking out 2016 US Open champion Wawrinka in the quarter-finals and Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in the semi-finals, extending his winning streak to 12 consecutive matches.
By the time he reached the final against Nadal, something remarkable had happened: He’d won the crowd. You just had to admire the gumption, the gall to stand up to them like that. He might have been born in Moscow, but deep down he was one of their own.
“DANIIL MEDVEDEV IS MORE NEW YORK THAN MOST NEW YORKERS,” the New York Post called out.
Medvedev’s coach, Gilles Cervara, tried to shed some light on his gifted charge with the eccentric groundstrokes.
“His game is like his personality — very different,” explained the Frenchman, as Medvedev surged toward the final. “It’s like coaching a genius. Sometimes a genius, you don’t understand them. It’s like this. They’re different. And you have to connect to this guy like he is.”
By the end of 2019, Medvedev was no longer an unknown. He led the ATP Tour in wins that year with 59, highlighted by a 29-3 run that included six straight finals and his first ATP Masters 1000 crown (Cincinnati). Rising to No. 4 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, he became the highest-ranked Russian since Nikolay Davydenko in 2008.
Medvedev would carry that momentum into 2020, claiming wins in his last 10 matches of the year, including seven Top-10 victories. En route to the title at the Nitto ATP Finals, the baseliner defeated No. 1 Djokovic, No. 2 Nadal and No. 3 Thiem, becoming the first player to sweep the Top 3 in a single edition of the season finale.
Few were surprised when Medvedev, after helping lead Russia to the 2021 ATP Cup title, knifed his way through the draw at the Australian Open and reached the second major final of his career. Not even Stefanos Tsitsipas.
After falling to Medvedev, 7-6(5), 7-5, in the 2019 Rolex Shanghai Masters semi-finals, the Athenian had been dismissive of his opponent’s game. “I don’t mean to be rude at all, but it’s just boring,” said Tsitsipas. But prior to their semi-final clash in Melbourne, he was nothing but complimentary: “I might have said in the past that he plays boring, but I don’t really think he plays boring. He just plays extremely smart and outplays you. He’s somebody I really need to be careful with and just take my chances and press.”
Medvedev prevailed in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5.
Only days after his 25th birthday, he would come up short in the final against Djokovic, who captured his record ninth Australian Open title. But the 6’6” Muscovite had taken another step in his maturation, further establishing himself among the game’s elite. Beginning with his title run at the Rolex Paris Masters last November, through the Australian Open semi-finals, Medvedev won 20 consecutive matches and ran up a 12-match winning streak against Top-10 opponents.
That disrupter so many of us were first introduced to at the 2019 US Open? The one who welcomed the boos? He’s an established presence now, as formidable an opponent as they come. As the new World No. 2 continues his pursuit of his first Grand Slam crown, he’s given us so much to cheer for.
Biella Challenger Indoor 3 (Biella, Italy): Winning a title is always an incredible feeling. Winning your first as a father is even more special. That was the reality for Andreas Seppi on Sunday in Biella. The Italian veteran celebrated a return to the winners’ circle with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Liam Broady on the indoor hard courts of the Palasport Biella. The 37-year-old and former World No. 18 dropped one set all week.
It’s not often that a father wins a title on the ATP Challenger Tour. In fact, there were only two such champions in all of 2020. But, as Seppi emerged victorious for the first time since 2019, the Italian enjoyed a special moment with his family. He and his wife Michela had welcomed their first child, Liv Bernardi Seppi, one year ago.
Seppi lifted his 10th Challenger trophy, returning to the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. At the age of 37, he is the oldest champion from Italy in the history of the circuit. In addition, he joins Ivo Karlovic, Tommy Robredo and Stephane Robert as titlists aged 37 or older in the last four years.
Also a three-time champion on the ATP Tour, the Italian is targeting a long-term stay in the Top 100 in 2021. He rises to No. 96 on Monday.
Grand Palace Championship II by Formula TX (St. Petersburg, Russia): Entering the week, Evgenii Tiurnev had never reached an ATP Challenger Tour final. In fact, the Russian had posted only five match wins at the level since making his debut in 2015. But the 23-year-old would save his best tennis for a run on home soil. Tiurnev streaked to his maiden title on Sunday, punctuated by a 6-4, 6-2 win over Kacper Zuk in the championship.
An unseeded wild card sitting at No. 403 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, his run to the title was as impressive as it was improbable. Tiurnev dropped just one set all week, also including wins over former Top 100 stalwarts Mirza Basic and Marius Copil. After battling on the ITF circuit for more than seven years, the Russian finally had his moment in the spotlight on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Tiurnev’s victory was even sweeter when you consider it was also his first Challenger title as a father. He and his wife Ksenia are parents to a five-year-old boy.
Tiurnev, who hails from Gatchina, Russia – the same hometown as Alexander Bublik – will soar more than 100 spots to a career-high No. 293 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. He is the sixth player to claim his maiden title in 2021 and also the second unseeded wild card champion. Just last week, World No. 400 Carlos Gimeno Valero captured his first title in Gran Canaria.
Fourth seeds Simone Bolelli and Maximo Gonzalez edged past Federico Delbonis and Jaume Munar to clinch their first doubles title as a team at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open.
The Italian-Argentine tandem won 70 per cent of first serve points (31/44) and broke serve four times to take the victory 7-6(4) 6-4 in one hour and 30 minutes.
“It was tough to play our best tennis today, after all it was a final, but the conditions were also tough and the ball was flying,” Bolelli said. “But I still feel like we’ve played a very good tournament overall and made very few errors. We beat some good teams, and that will give us a lot of confidence in the rest of the season.
“We’re going to try to play as much as possible together. I still have to improve my doubles ranking, but with this victory it will help.”
The victory marks 35-year-old Bolelli’s sixth doubles title, and his first since 2016 in Dubai (w/Seppi). The Italian has lifted a Grand Slam trophy at the 2015 Australian Open with Fabio Fognini. For 37-year-old Gonzalez, the victory seals his fifth triumph in the ‘Golden Swing’, and ninth trophy overall with eight different partners.
“This is my ninth ATP trophy, and my first with Simone so I’m very happy that we were able to achieve this,” Gonzalez said. “We started playing together last year, post-pandemic around the time of the US Open. We have been playing well in the last few weeks, but we lost match points last week in Buenos Aires.
“We had that on our mind when we came to Santiago, but every day we’ve been playing better and better. We had to play more aggressive today, especially playing against two experienced clay-court players who are used to slugging out the points.”
Bolelli and Gonzalez led 4-0 with a double break in the first set, but found themselves in trouble as Delbonis and Munar began to fight their way back. The Argentine-Spanish team reeled off the next four games to level the score and led in the ensuing tie-break. But Bolelli Gonzalez reeled them back just in time to edge through the set.
The fourth seeds got on the scoreboard early in the second set and focussed on keeping the points short to close out their first ATP Tour title of the year. Bolelli and Gonzalez reached the quarter-finals last week at the Argentina Open and the third round at the Australian Open earlier in the season.
World No. 22 Cristian Garin had not won a match in 2021 before arriving at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open. But on home soil in his native Santiago, the top seed completed a strong return to form with a battling 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-5 victory over Facundo Bagnis in the championship match on Sunday.
Garin dropped only one set all week to seal his fifth ATP Tour trophy. He became the first Chilean player to win at a home event since Fernando Gonzalez at Vina del Mar in 2009.
His opponent Bagnis was in uncharted territory on Cancha Central as the Argentine contested his first ATP Tour final at the age of 31. Bagnis had to go through three seeded players to reach the final, including a major test against Frances Tiafoe in the second round.
After playing solidly all week long, one loose service game cost Bagnis late in the first set as Garin got going. The Chilean’s superior speed was on full display, running down every point as Bagnis looked to extend the rallies. The second set was a tighter contest as Garin saw his early lead evaporate and Bagnis increasingly dictating play. The Argentine was regularly rewarded when he ventured to the net, and leveled the score after taking the tie-break.
There was little to separate them in the third set as the 31-year-old Argentine found another gear to keep pace with Garin. Every time the top seed surged ahead, Bagnis reeled him in; Garin broke through first at 4-2, but Bagnis struck back a game later. He had to dig deep as he faced break points at 5-5, but he stayed cool and fired big groundstrokes to seal the break himself at 6-5. After two hours and 35 minutes, Garin fell to the clay in celebration of his first ATP trophy on home soil.
The victory extended Garin’s record in ATP Tour finals to 5-1, with Santiago marking his fifth consecutive championship match win. All of the Chilean’s titles have come on clay.
