Highlights: Thiem Tames Struff In St. Petersburg 2018 Opener
Highlights: Thiem Tames Struff In St. Petersburg 2018 Opener
Sep212018
Simon beats compatriot Gasquet for the first time
Kei Nishikori continued his climb back toward the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings on Friday, battling past fifth-seeded Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of the Moselle Open.
“It was a tough, tough match today, but somehow I fought through and I’m happy to be in the semi-finals tomorrow,” Nishikori said. “He was playing better in the second [set]. I thought I played almost perfect game in the first set and I almost had it, but he came back. It was tough. He was up 3-1 in the third, and I had to refocus again and rebuild my confidence and had to play a little bit better in the end. It wasn’t an easy game.”
The Japanese star dropped as low as World No. 39 in April and was No. 28 as recently as July. But since, the 28-year-old has found form reminiscent of his days inside the Top 5. Nishikori, who advanced to the US Open semi-finals, is now just two wins from lifting his first ATP World Tour trophy since 2016 Memphis. He is currently in 10th position in the ATP Race To London for a place at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 11-18 November.
The top seed faced a stiff test against the free-swinging Basilashvili, who advanced to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows (l. to Nadal) and claimed his maiden tour-level title in Hamburg. But the 28-year-old won 83 per cent of first-serve points and won five of eight break points to reach the last four, where he will face qualifier Matthias Bachinger, who beat German Yannick Maden 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Bachinger arrived in Metz with just one tour-level match win in 2018. But not only did he reach his first ATP World Tour quarter-final since 2014 in Stockholm, the German can now advance to his first tour-level final.
Two-time former champion Gilles Simon broke an eight-match losing streak against Richard Gasquet, the fourth seed and 2004 finalist, with a 7-6(4), 6-2 victory over one hour and 34 minutes. The pair first clashed in June 2006 at Nottingham (Gasquet leads Simon 8-1).
Simon had come into the event having lost five of his past six matches, but with victory over Gasquet, the 33-year-old is one win away from his 21st ATP World Tour final (13-7 record). He won the Tata Open Maharashtra crown (d. Anderson) in the first week of the year, and also finished runner-up at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon (l. to Thiem) in May.
Moldova’s Radu Albot advanced to his first ATP World Tour semi-final, where he will challenge 2010 and 2013 Metz titlist Simon, after beating Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 7-6(4), 6-4 in one hour and 42 minutes.
Did You Know?
On nine occasions in the past 15 years, a Frenchman has won the Metz title.
Slovakian now plays Wawrinka or defending champion Dzumhur
Slovakian Martin Klizan, the 2012 champion, recovered from a set and 3-5 down to knock out seventh-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in two hours and four minutes on Friday at the St. Petersburg Open.
Klizan, who beat second seed Fabio Fognini in the second round, is playing in his first ATP World Tour tournament since lifting his sixth crown at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel (d. Istomin) on 4 August. The 29-year-old has a perfect 6-0 record in tour-level finals and now awaits the winner of sixth seed and defending champion Damir Dzumhur and former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka.
To an outsider, it seems like an unfortunate ending to an outstanding career. Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny played his final match on Thursday at the St. Petersburg Open, losing to Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3. The 36-year-old Youzhny, No. 110 in the ATP Rankings, will retire stuck on 499 wins, two sets away from becoming only the second Russian to earn 500 victories (Kafelnikov 609).
Youzhny, however, does not seem perturbed. “It’s just statistics,” he said. “I can think about a lot of things. I never made the final of a Grand Slam. I never made the semi-finals of an [ATP World Tour Masters] 1000 event. Many, many things I didn’t do in tennis.”
‘The Colonel’ should not despair; he has plenty of company. Other players, including former World No. 1s Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray, have come tantalizingly close to landmark achievements only to fall just short. ATPWorldTour.com remembers some memorable close calls:
2005 Nitto ATP Finals F, David Nalbandian d. Roger Federer 6-7(4), 6-7(11), 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(3)
Federer led Nalbandian two sets to zero in the final of the season finale, but the Argentine came back and won the fifth-set tie-break. Had Federer held on, he would have tied John McEnroe for the best single-season record in the Open Era. Federer finished 81-4; McEnroe went 82-3 in 1984.
1984 Roland Garros F, Ivan Lendl d. John McEnroe 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5
Of course, McEnroe, like all champions, had his near misses as well. During his record-breaking year, McEnroe let slip a two sets to zero lead in the Roland Garros final. He finished his career without winning the clay-court major.
2003 Coupe Rogers SF, Andy Roddick d. Roger Federer 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3)
No one will feel sorry for Federer having spent only 310 weeks at No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. But the Swiss could have arrived at the top spot a good six months sooner than when he first did, in February 2004. If Federer had beaten Roddick during the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 tournament in Montreal, he would have reached No. 1 in August 2003.
Roddick, however, was the man to beat during that North American hard-court swing, as he showed by winning the 2003 US Open. Federer, though, got Roddick back a few times, 17 to be exact. At the time, Federer led their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-1. Federer now leads their series 21-3.
2006 Internazional BNL d’Italia F, Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer, 6-7(0), 7-6(5), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5)
In one of the best matches of their historic rivalry, Federer held two championship points but Nadal ultimately prevailed. The Internazional BNL d’Italia in Rome and the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, both Masters 1000 tournaments, remain the only “Big Titles” Federer has never won. He is 0-4 in Monte-Carlo finals and 0-4 in Rome title matches.
Read More: Roger & Rafa: The Rivalry
2009 Wimbledon F, Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14
Ten times Roddick held to stay in the final against Federer, but even that monumental feat wasn’t enough to give the American his maiden Wimbledon title. The former No. 1 fell in his third and final Wimbledon title match, and wouldn’t reach another Grand Slam final before retiring after the 2012 US Open.
2013 US Open Doubles SF, Leander Paes/Radek Stepanek d. Mike Bryan/Bob Bryan 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
The Bryans were two matches away from winning the calendar year Grand Slam. But Paes/Stepanek denied the American greats a chance at history. The Bryans had a more-recent near-miss as well, when Bob Bryan fell hurt during the 2018 Mutua Madrid Open final and the twins had to retire against Nikola Mektic/Alexander Peya. Had the twins won the Spanish Masters 1000 title, they would have returned to co-No. 1s. But Bob Bryan hasn’t played a match since then, and he underwent hip surgery last month.
2013 Kuala Lumpur F, Joao Sousa d. Julien Benneteau 2-6, 7-5, 6-4
Julien Benneteau must know, a little bit at least, how Youzhny is feeling. The affable Frenchman, who played his last ATP World Tour match at the Winston-Salem Open last month, finished 0-10 in ATP World Tour finals. During his ninth final, in Kuala Lumpur, Benneteau held a championship point before falling to Sousa.
2004 Roland Garros F, Gaston Gaudio d. Guillermo Coria 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6
Coria was a heavy favourite in the all-Argentine final, but he lost and never came that close to a Grand Slam title again.
Other Notable Near Misses
Scot Andy Murray has played in five Australian Open finals but has never won the season’s first Grand Slam title nor has he pushed a Melbourne final to five sets.
Goran Ivanisevic, 2001 Wimbledon champion, ended his career with 599 wins.
Fifth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili continued the best season of his career on Thursday at the Moselle Open in Metz. The 26-year-old Georgian reached the quarter-finals by beating #NextGenATP Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 6-3.
Basilashvili become the first Georgian to win an ATP World Tour title in July in Hamburg. Earlier this month, he also become the first Georgian to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam at the US Open. He will next meet top seed Kei Nishikori.
Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis earned one of the biggest wins of his season, upsetting second seed and World No. 15 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 6-3. Berankis will next face Moldova’s Radu Albot, who beat Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 6-2.
Home favourite Gilles Simon erased two break points at 5-5, 15/40 in the third set against Serbian Filip Krajinovic and prevailed 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. The two-time champion (2010, 2013) Simon will play countryman Richard Gasquet in the quarter-finals.
In other action, Germany’s Yannick Maden beat Benoit Paire of France 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Maden will next play countryman Matthias Bachinger, who beat Frenchman Gregoire Barrere 6-0, 6-3.
The stars of the ATP World Tour thrill fans around the world. And now, those fans have an opportunity to pay back the players. For the first time, the International Tennis Hall of Fame is utilising fan voting as part of its process to decide who gains entry in the Class of 2019.
This year, five former ATP World Tour standouts were nominated: former World No. 1s in the ATP Rankings, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Thomas Muster, former No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings Jonas Bjorkman, 22-time tour-level champion Goran Ivanisevic and 1993-94 Roland Garros titlist Sergi Bruguera. Conchita Martinez, Li Na and Mary Pierce are also on the ballot. Fans can have their say until voting closes on 7 October at 11:59 pm ET.
“There is a real opportunity for fans to actually get someone over the hump and get someone in. And it’s something that should happen. Our memories are only as great as we remember them because of fan participation, whether it’s in a match or at practices or watching us on TV, so there’s no reason that should stop when it comes to the Hall of Fame,” former World No. 1 and Class of 2017 inductee Andy Roddick said in an interview with Tennis.com. “I think it’s a great idea, I think it’s a progressive idea, and I applaud the Hall of Fame for taking this step and I think it’s absolutely the right thing to do.”
Entry into the Hall of Fame requires a 75 per cent affirmative vote. In the past, only Hall of Famers, historians and journalists were allowed to vote. But now, the fans can make an impact. The Top 3 recipients in the Fan Vote will receive bonus points. The top vote-getter will add three percentage points to their total, the second-placed player will be awarded two extra points and the third-placed athlete will get one point.
As an example, if a player receives affirmative votes from 72 per cent of the Voting Group, but they win the fan vote, the three bonus percentage points they earn will bring them to 75 per cent, earning them entry into the Hall of Fame.
“We’re thrilled to add this new Fan Voting component to the Hall of Fame voting process,” said International Tennis Hall of Fame CEO Todd Martin. “Creating an authentic connection between tennis fans and the greatest champions of our sport will be an engaging execution of our mission to promote and celebrate tennis history. Tennis is such a global sport and the fans of our inductees come from every corner of the globe. We know they might not all be able to get to Newport to see an induction, but hopefully this voting program will offer an opportunity for them to enjoy being part of the process.”
More than 25,000 fans from more than 120 countries have voted thus far. As of 20 September, Ivanisevic leads the field, followed by Li Na and Mary Pierce.
Click here to vote
