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Bautista Agut beats Berdych to win Qatar Open

  • Posted: Jan 05, 2019

Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut won the Qatar Open with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 victory over Tomas Berdych in the final.

The world number 24 triumphed in one hour 55 minutes in Doha to claim his ninth ATP Tour title.

Seventh seed Bautista Agut beat world number one Novak Djokovic in Friday’s semi-final.

Bautista Agut, 30, had lost his past three meetings with Berdych, the 33-year-old former world number four who has slipped to 71 in the rankings.

Wildcard Berdych was playing his first tournament since Queen’s in June because of a back injury.

In the deciding set, Bautista Agut built a 4-1 lead but Berdych had two break points that would have reduced the deficit to one game.

He missed a forehand approach shot and Bautista Agut went on to serve out the match to love.

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Anderson wins ‘battle of giants’ in India

In India, world number six Kevin Anderson won the Maharashtra Open, beating Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-5) in the tallest ATP final in the Open era.

The 6ft 11in Karlovic saved two championship points in the final set to take it to a third tie-break in Pune against 6ft 8in South African Anderson.

Anderson, 32, hit 36 aces against Karlovic, who at 39 was the oldest finalist in an ATP event for 42 years – Australia’s Ken Rosewall was 43 in 1977 when he defeated Tom Gorman to win in Hong Kong.

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Bautista Agut Completes Dream Run In Doha

  • Posted: Jan 05, 2019

Bautista Agut Completes Dream Run In Doha

Spaniard upset World No. 1 Djokovic in the semis

Roberto Bautista Agut closed out one of the best weeks of his career in style, defeating former World No. 4 Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to win the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, his ninth ATP Tour title.

The victory comes just one day after upsetting World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who had won 29 of his previous 31 matches heading into their semi-final clash. Bautista Agut has now captured glory in January in four consecutive seasons after becoming the third Spaniard to win the title in Doha, joining Rafael Nadal (2014) and David Ferrer (2015). His triumph against Berdych also gives him 250 tour-level match wins.

“It was a great start to the season,” Bautista Agut said, before looking ahead to the rest of the season. “I wish to feel good physically, mentally, like I am now, like I felt this week. And if this happens, I think I can get better in the [ATP] Rankings, and why not be closer to the Top 10?”

Bautista AgutIt was by no means easy against Berdych, though, and it appeared that Bautista Agut’s path to victory was going to get complicated deep in the third set. The seventh seed gained a 4-1 advantage, and then held three consecutive break points to take a double-break lead. But Bautista Agut made surprising mistakes with an open court to allow Berdych to stay in the match.

After hanging onto his serve for 2-4, Berdych loosened up and played aggressively, especially with his forehand, to earn two break points of his own to get back on serve. But on the second of those opportunities, Berdych missed a sitting forehand approach shot, and that would be his last opportunity. Bautista Agut served out the match to love, striking a final forehand winner after one hour and 55 minutes, looking towards his camp and letting out a roar of ‘Vamos’!

“It was overall a very good match and I think the biggest difference was one game in the third set where I lost badly my serve where I hit two double faults in one game,” Berdych said. “In such a tight match, [that] just made the big difference and that’s why I think Roberto won today, because he was playing well overall and he had a great week.”

Last year, Bautista Agut won two titles — including the biggest victory of his career at the ATP 500 event in Dubai — to return to his career-high in the ATP Rankings of No. 13. But various injuries throughout the year saw the Spaniard miss three ATP Masters 1000 events and Wimbledon. 

That is all in the past now, as Bautista Agut is in superb form. This week, the Spaniard beat three players who have reached the Top 5 of the ATP Rankings, also defeating former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals. Bautista Agut’s run nets him 250 ATP Ranking points and $219,755.

“It’s always a very tough draw, very tough tournament with a lot of good players in the draw. And when I started the week, I was feeling good with the ball,” Bautista Agut said. “I was enjoying practising. I was playing match by match. And since the first moment of the tournament until the last point, I felt really good on the court.”

Despite the loss, it was an impressive week for Berdych, whose last event prior to arriving in Doha came at the Fever-Tree Championships last June, as the Czech missed time due to a back injury. Berdych, who was seeking his first title since Shenzhen in 2016, gains 150 points and earns $118,320 in prize money.

Did You Know?
Before this match, Berdych led Bautista Agut 4-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, and had won three consecutive matches against the Spaniard. All three of Bautista Agut’s victories against the Czech have come in three sets.

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Anderson Triumphs In Record-Breaking Pune Final

  • Posted: Jan 05, 2019

Anderson Triumphs In Record-Breaking Pune Final

Anderson lifts sixth title

One year after finishing as runner-up to Gilles Simon, Kevin Anderson placed his hands on the Tata Open Maharashtra trophy on Saturday.

The 32-year-old South African clinched his sixth tour-level title after two hours and 44 minutes, recovering from 2/5 down in the final-set tie-break to beat Ivo Karlovic 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 7-6(5) in the tallest ATP Tour final in the Open Era. Breaking the record previously set by Anderson and John Isner at the 2013 BB&T Atlanta Open, 6’8″ Anderson won 88 per cent of first-serve points (57/65) to overcome 6’11” Karlovic.

Now 7-1 in Pune, Anderson notched his fourth victory in five FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against the 39-year-old to improve his record in tour-level finals to 6-13. Last year, Anderson reached a personal-best five championship matches on the ATP Tour, picking up titles in New York and Vienna.

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In a set with few opportunities on return for either man, Anderson earned the only break points of the set in the tenth game. The South African connected on multiple returns and fired passing shots past the World No. 100 to manufacture two set points. Despite being unable to take advantage of either opportunity, Anderson soon moved into a one-set lead.

The World No. 6 capitalised on a costly double fault from Karlovic to earn the first mini-break of the tie-break before immediately doubling his advantage for a 5/2 lead. A low return placed at the laces of his opponent opened up the three-point gap, with Anderson eventually taking the first set courtesy of another double fault from his opponent.

Once again, Anderson applied pressure to Karlovic’s serve in the second set. But, despite earning four break points, the South African was unable to avoid a second tie-break as Karlovic found success charging the net under pressure. From there, Karlovic levelled the match as Anderson leaked uncharacteristic errors on his serve and forehand.

After Karlovic saved two championship points at 5-6 (15/40) with back-to-back aces, a final-set tie-break was required to decide the champion. Karlovic opened up an early lead and showed his best form at the net to maintain his advantage until 5/4. Facing two Karlovic serves, Anderson earned both points with back-to-back passing-shot winners before firing an ace out wide to claim the title.

As the oldest player to reach a tour-level final since a 43-year-old Ken Rosewall defeated Tom Gorman to win 1977 Hong Kong, Karlovic was aiming to secure his first tour-level crown in two and half years. In August 2016, Karlovic beat Feliciano Lopez in straight sets to lift his eighth ATP Tour trophy in Los Cabos.

Anderson earns 250 ATP Ranking points and gains $89,435 in prize money for lifting the trophy. Karlovic receives 150 ATP Ranking points and collects $47,105.

Did You Know?
In 2018, Anderson became the first South African to finish in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings since No. 10 Wayne Ferreira in 1996. The two-time Grand Slam finalist finished the season at No. 6 with a 47-19 record.

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Federer and Bencic retain Hopman Cup for Switzerland

  • Posted: Jan 05, 2019

Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic secured a 2-1 victory over Germany’s Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev to win the Hopman Cup for the second year in a row.

In a rerun of the 2018 final, Federer beat Zverev 6-4 6-2 to give the Swiss an early 1-0 lead.

Wimbledon champion Kerber then overcome Bencic 6-4 7-6 (8-6) to level the tie.

However, the Swiss claimed a tight 4-0 1-4 4-3 (5-4) win in the mixed doubles to claim their fourth Hopman Cup title.

The mixed doubles is played in a fast four format – the first team to four points wins, with a tie-break held if the scores are 3-3.

Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Federer is the first player to win three Hopman Cups – twice with Bencic and once with Martina Hingis, in 2001.

It has been reported that the Hopman Cup will be replaced by an ATP tournament from next year.

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Brisbane International: Naomi Osaka says she had 'worst attitude' in loss

  • Posted: Jan 05, 2019

US Open champion Naomi Osaka said she had “the worst attitude” in her loss to Lesia Tsurenko in the Brisbane International semi-finals.

The Japanese second seed was visibly frustrated as she was beaten 6-2 6-4 by Ukraine’s Tsurenko in just 66 minutes.

Osaka, who won her maiden Grand Slam title in September, said the defeat had taught her “a valuable lesson”.

“I was sulking a little bit, and there are moments that I tried not to do that,” the 21-year-old explained.

“I feel like I didn’t really know how to cope with not playing well.”

The world number five made 26 unforced errors against Tsurenko, and did not create a break opportunity until late in the second set.

Osaka told her coach Sascha Bajin during the match that she did not know why she was “flat”, adding: “I’m putting myself in the situation that either I win the match or I die.”

Speaking after the match, Osaka said: “I feel like, in a way, that this experience for me is better than winning the tournament.

“This helpless feeling I have, I learned sort of what I can do to improve the situation so there aren’t many moments that I feel like that.”

Osaka, who later withdrew from next week’s Sydney International, will move to fourth in the world rankings on Monday.

  • GB’s Konta & Watson claim qualifying wins

Teenager Andreescu reaches Auckland final

Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu continued her remarkable run as she beat Hsieh Su-wei to reach the Auckland International final.

The 18-year-old previously beat Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams to set up the meeting with the Taiwanese third seed.

Andreescu saved four break points and hit four aces en route to a 6-3 6-3 victory.

She will face defending champion Julia Gorges on Sunday, after the German beat Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova 6-1 7-6 (8-6).

In Shenzhen, Aryna Sabalenka secured the first WTA title of the year with victory over American Alison Riske.

The Belarusian won 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 to secure her third career title.

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