Tennis News

Sinner Shines Against Ruud, Felix Falls In Vienna

Nineteen-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner needed nearly two hours on Wednesday to claim a straight-sets victory over Casper Ruud in a first-round battle between rising stars at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.

The Italian’s win booked him a second-round meeting against fifth seed Andrey Rublev as he seeks his third quarter-final of the season on indoor hard courts, after posting last eight appearances in Cologne and at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

The reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion came into Vienna with a career-high FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 43 after a scintillating run of tennis saw him reach the semi-finals at last week’s bett1HULKS Championship in Cologne, backing up a breakthrough at Roland Garros, where he reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final.

Sinner continued the momentum against World No. 27 Ruud in his Vienna opener, dropping serve only once across both sets and winning 76% of his first-serve points en route to a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory.

Fellow #NextGenATP star Felix Auger-Aliassime faced a different fate on Wednesday in Vienna. The Canadian crashed back to earth after a successful fortnight in Cologne, where he reached his sixth ATP final at the bett1HULKS Indoors and backed it up with a semi-final run at last week’s bett1HULKS Championship.

But he ran up against a battle-tested Pospisil, who was contesting his third match in Vienna after going the distance in back-to-back qualifying matches. Pospisil posted his first straight-sets victory of the week in style, triumphing against Auger-Aliassime 7-5, 7-5 after a one-hour, 50-minute clash.

Pospisil broke Auger-Aliassime’s serve in the final game of each set, helped along by a double fault on set point in the opening tilt. He honed in on 20-year-old Auger-Aliassime’s vulnerable second delivery, winning 53% of his return points and breaking the World No. 21 three times from eight chances.

The victory is Pospisil’s first against Auger-Aliassime, who is currently ranked 60 places higher, and improves his count in their ATP Head2Head record to 1-3.

Like Sinner, Pospisil advanced to face a high-seeded Russian opponent in the second round of Vienna in the form of fourth seed Daniil Medvedev. Pospisil and Medvedev have split their ATP Head2Head series at a win apiece, with Pospisil stunning Medvedev in their most recent clash at Rotterdam in February.

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Vienna Open: Novak Djokovic into quarter-finals & all but secures year-end top ranking

World number one Novak Djokovic beats Borna Coric to reach the Vienna Open quarter-finals and all but secure the year-end top ranking.

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Djokovic Survives Coric Scare, Reaches Vienna QFs

Borna Coric pulled Novak Djokovic into deep waters in the first set of their second-round match at the Erste Bank Open on Wednesday. But the top seed drowned the Croatian with unrelenting play to reach the quarter-finals.

Djokovic saved four set points in the opener before stepping on the gas in a 7-6(11), 6-3 victory over two hours and eight minutes against the two-time ATP Tour titlist. Djokovic is now guaranteed to finish as year-end No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings for a record-tying sixth time unless Nadal takes a wild card into Sofia. Should the Serbian win the Vienna title, he is certain to finish year-end No. 1 regardless of whether the Spaniard competes in Sofia.

“It was very tiring and very challenging. Obviously Borna is a great fighter. He’s a very good friend of mine. Off the court we’ve known each other for quite a long time. We speak the same language, we train a lot,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “He has kind of a similar style of tennis as I do. From the backhand corner [he’s] very solid, trying to create points with his forehand. He was serving very well, especially in the first set. It was very difficult for me to return his serve.”

Coric entered the clash with an 0-3 ATP Head2Head record against the World No. 1, losing all six of their previous sets. But the 23-year-old played tremendous tennis all-court tennis to earn four chances to win the first-set tie-break.

”The tie-break again like yesterday against Krajinovic decided the match, I guess. I read his passing shot at 5/6 in the tie-break. He had quite an easy backhand, I read him, I made a short forehand volley,” Djokovic said. “These kinds of things happen and I’m just really glad to stay focussed and play my best at the right time.”

At 5/6, Djokovic floated a backhand volley deep in the court, giving Coric plenty of time to unleash a backhand passing shot. But the top seed guessed the right direction and although he didn’t hit his forehand volley cleanly, he did enough to win the point. 

Coric missed forehands on set points at 7/6 and 8/7 before Djokovic painted the line on the fourth set point he faced at 9/10. The 2007 Vienna champion then escaped trouble when the Croatian missed a backhand long.

Djokovic is now 21-2 in tie-breaks since the start of last year’s Wimbledon final against Roger Federer. Once he got through the opener, he raised his level even higher. Coric hit his first double fault of the match when facing break point at 1-1 in the second set, and that proved costly.

Although Coric showed great baseline play throughout the match and even won some cat-and-mouse points against the Serbian, Djokovic consistently found a way to win the big points. The World No. 1 increased his aggression in the second set and saved all three break points he faced.

Djokovic will play Hubert Hurkacz or Lorenzo Sonego for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Did You Know?
Sampras holds the record with six year-end No. 1 finishes in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Jimmy Connors have accomplished the feat five times.

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With New Shoe, Stef Steps It Up Against Struff In Vienna

Stefanos Tsitsipas had to switch his shoe in the third set of his first-round match against Jan-Lennard Struff at the Erste Bank Open on Wednesday, but that didn’t stop the third seed from rallying past the German.

The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion raised his level as the match wore on to oust Struff 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 52 minutes. Tsitsipas will next play former World No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov, who also has triumphed at The O2 in London (2017).

“I’m happy that I was relaxed and in that kind of state of mind and mood. I think it helped overall my performance today,” Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. “For sure there are a lot of benefits you can take when you’re playing relaxed and when you’re not panicked.”

Tsitsipas and Struff entered this match tied at two wins apiece in their ATP Head2Head series, with three of their clashes going to a deciding set. The pivotal moment in Vienna came at 1-1 in the third set. Just before Struff served to begin the game, Tsitsipas realised he needed to switch his left shoe.

When play resumed, the Greek broke serve and he never looked back. Tsitsipas only lost three service points in the decider, landing 83 per cent of his first serves in the set to put pressure on the German. The World No. 5 clinched his victory with a forehand winner, advancing to the second round on his debut at the ATP 500.

“I think Jan played good today and we were both serving well, [playing well] from the baseline. I wouldn’t say there were many rallies,” Tsitsipas said. “It was a demonstration of serves and I managed to overcome the difficulties that were presented in his service games.”

For much of the early part of the match, Struff controlled play with his big serving and powerful groundstrokes. But he relinquished a pivotal break at the end of the second set by missing a high forehand volley into the net. That proved the opening Tsitsipas needed. He takes a 1-0 ATP Head2Head series advantage into his meeting against Dimitrov.

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Rafa In Class Of His Own In This Serving Stat

When returners dig into a service game and extend it to multiple deuces, they attempt to wear the server down both physically and mentally to eventually extract the prized break of serve.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the Top 10 from the 2019 season identifies that trend to be accurate, with one notable exception: Rafael Nadal.

The Top 10 averaged holding serve 79.1 per cent from the point score of deuce, and slightly lower at 78.8 per cent when the game involves 2+ deuces. Seven of the Top 10 players from the 2019 year-end FedEx ATP Rankings held serve less when the game went to multiple deuces, clearly showing which way this point score dynamic gravitates in our sport.

But Nadal totally bucks the trend, being more than seven percentage points higher holding serve when faced with multiple deuces. Nadal held 84.7 per cent (105/124) of the time from deuce and was the only Top 10 player to push through the 90 per cent threshold holding from 2+ deuces, at 91.8 per cent (122/142). Nadal is well known for his concentration, grit, focus and not rushing when serving, which all play a part in him elevating his game in this specific area.

Matteo Berrettini, who surged into the Top 10 for the first time in 2019, also showed a big bump in holding in extended deuce games, rising 6.6 percentage points compared to his deuce average. The only other Top 10 player to be better in extended deuce games was Roberto Bautista Agut, who improved 1.5 percentage points compared to holding from deuce.

A grouping of five players existed that were all within two percentage points of holding at 2+ Deuces compared to just at deuce. They were Dominic Thiem (-0.7), Stefanos Tsitsipas (-0.9), Roger Federer (-1.0), Novak Djokovic (-1.6) and Daniil Medvedev (-1.7). Alexander Zverev dropped off three percentage points, while Gael Monfils dropped off almost 10 percentage points holding in extended service games of 2+ deuces compared to deuce.

When Nadal’s serve ‘pitch count’ goes up, he is clearly rising to the challenge and holding serve even more as adversity comes knocking.

2019 Season: Year-End Top 10 Holding From Deuce & 2+ Deuces

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How Food & Strong Serving Helped Medvedev Make Strong Vienna Debut

Daniil Medvedev made an impressive Erste Bank Open debut on Wednesday, cruising past lucky loser Jason Jung 6-3, 6-1 in 65 minutes to reach the second round.

“It was a great start, I think. The most important thing in the first round is to win,” Medvedev said on court. “We always see tough matches in the first round, so really happy to be through and looking forward to the next matches.”

The fourth seed entered the match having lost four of his past five matches. But Medvedev didn’t look short on confidence in Vienna, breaking Jung’s serve four times and saving the five break points he faced to start well at the ATP 500. He added that he is certainly comfortable in Austria.

“It’s great. The hotel is good, the food is amazing, maybe the best of the year. These small things make tennis players happy all the time,” Medvedev said. “The most important is to play good on the tennis court, so the organisation is very good.”

Medvedev, who won four ATP Tour titles last season — including his first two ATP Masters 1000 crowns — is pursuing his first trophy of 2020. He will next play #NextGenATP star Felix Auger-Aliassime or Vasek Pospisil.

There were virtually no hiccups for Medvedev in his victory against Jung. The World No. 6 faced a break point in the opening game of the second set, but he quickly wiped it out with a big first serve down the T that his opponent was unable to put back into play. In the next game, Medvedev earned the break with a tricky cross-court forehand passing shot at the end of a cat-and-mouse point.

Medvedev didn’t look back from there. He won 82 per cent of his first-serve points in the second set and finished his triumph with a resounding smash.

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Tiafoe Upsets Kecmanovic For Nur-Sultan Quarter-final Spot

Frances Tiafoe powered into his second ATP Tour quarter-final of the year on Wednesday at the Astana Open. The 22-year-old American lost just five of his first-service points to upset second-seeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 7-5, 6-3 in 81 minutes.

Tiafoe, who also reached the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com last eight (l. to Humbert) in February, lost four points on serve in the second set. Kecmanovic captured his first ATP Tour title last month at the Generali Open in Kitzbühel (d. Hanfmann).

Tiafoe will next play Belarusian Egor Gerasimov, who avenged his 2020 Tata Open Maharashtra final loss to Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic with hard-fought 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over in one hour and 50 minutes. Gerasimov struck 14 aces for a place in his second ATP Tour quarter-final of the season (also Open 13 Provence in February).

Elsewhere, one break of serve in each set was enough for fourth-seeded Australian John Millman in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Fernando Verdasco of Spain. In the Nur-Sultan quarter-finals, Millman now challenges American Tommy Paul, the seventh seed, who swept past Radu Albot of Moldova 6-4, 6-0 in 72 minutes.

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Coronavirus: LTA warns a third of indoor tennis centres could close

The LTA says at least a third of Britain’s community indoor tennis centres could close if they do not receive further financial support from the government.

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Thiem Passes Early Test In Vienna

Dominic Thiem was made to work hard in his opening match at the Erste Bank Open on Tuesday, but fought well to overcome Vitaliy Sachko 6-4, 7-5 in Vienna.

The World No. 3 landed 20 winners and won nine of 13 net points to improve to 14-8 at the ATP 500. Thiem was regularly tested from late in the first set by Sachko, who broke the second seed on four occasions on his tour-level debut.

“The match was not easy at all. I heard pretty late last night that I was not going to play Kei [Nishikori] and that I was going to play Vitaliy,” said Thiem. “Of course, the past days I was practising towards Kei, preparing for Kei. I know him, we already had five matches. Suddenly, [I was] playing against an opponent who already had two good matches in qualifying, who maybe I only saw for two minutes on TV.”

Thiem is competing for the first time since reaching the quarter-finals at Roland Garros earlier this month. The 6’1” right-hander is seeking his third straight trophy in Austria, following consecutive title runs on home soil last year in Kitzbühel and Vienna.

“I wanted to present myself well in front of the home crowd and to find the right match intensity,” said Thiem. “The high match intensity was not easy and he was playing well, especially from the moment I was 5-1 up in the first set. From that moment on, I thought it was a pretty close and decent match. I am very happy with how I closed it out and how I found a pretty good intensity towards the end of the match.”

Thiem will next face the winner of the final match of the day between Stan Wawrinka and Cristian Garin. The 27-year-old owns a 1-3 ATP Head2Head record against Wawrinka and is yet to meet Garin at tour-level.

Thiem began the match in peak form, as he ripped groundstroke winners from the baseline and overpowered his opponent to stride into a 5-1 lead. But the Austrian lost his concentration and was dragged into a battle by Sachko, who began to find his range on his return to break Thiem’s serve on three consecutive occasions.

The US Open champion raised his level in the second set, as he varied the pace on his backhand and attacked with his forehand to open a 4-1 lead. Despite dropping serve for a fourth time, Thiem produced an impressive finish to close the match at 6-5. The second seed ended consecutive rallies with backhand winners up the line to book his spot in the second round.

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London Contenders Purcell/Saville Advance In Nur-Sultan

Max Purcell and Luke Saville boosted their hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals on Tuesday at the Astana Open.

The Australians dominated on serve, winning 40 of their 45 service points to defeat Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-4, 6-4 in 69 minutes. Purcell and Saville are currently in ninth position in the FedEx ATP Battle For London. Four teams have already booked their places at The O2 in London, with the remaining four slots still available.

The second seeds are chasing their first ATP Tour team title in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Purcell and Saville’s best team result came at the Australian Open this year, where they reached the championship match (l. to Ram/Salisbury).

The Aussie duo will next face Luke Bambridge and Divij Sharan or Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar for a place in the semi-finals.

Farah/Martin Eliminate Koolhof/Mektic In Vienna
Robert Farah and Fabrice Martin were clinical in crucial moments at the Erste Bank Open on Tuesday. The Colombian-French tandem saved all seven break points they faced and converted both of their break points to earn a 7-5, 6-3 win against Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic.

Koolhof and Mektic were attempting to improve their position in the FedEx ATP Battle For London. The US Open finalists entered the tournament in fifth position with 2,145 points. Farah and Martin will face Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals. The Russians dominated their Match Tie-break against fourth seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut to earn a 7-6(9), 3-6, 10-2 win.

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