British number one Johanna Konta continued her US Open preparation with a first-round win over Germany’s Laura Siegemund at the Connecticut Open.
Konta, now ranked 46th, won 6-2 7-5 against the world number 146.
The Briton lost four points on serve in the opening set but had to dig deeper in the second before breaking to lead 6-5 and serving out the win.
She is the only British woman with direct entry into main draw of the US Open, which begins on 27 August.
Konta, 27, was the seventh seed at Flushing Meadows last year, but lost to unseeded Serb Aleksandra Krunic in the first round and has dropped down the rankings since.
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However, the American hard-court season has given the 2017 Wimbledon semi-finalist a lift going into the US Open.
After inflicting a career-worst defeat on Serena Williams in San Jose, she beat Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka in Montreal.
Konta, making her first appearance in the main draw in New Haven, will play Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round.
Novak Djokovic describes his Cincinnati Masters title – which made him the first player to win all nine Masters 1,000 events – as a special moment in his career.
ATPWorldTour.com looks at the top Movers of the Week in the ATP Rankings, as of Monday, 20 August 2018
No. 6 Novak Djokovic, +4
The 31-year-old became the first player to achieve the Career Golden Masters after completing his collection of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophies at the Western & Southern Open. In his sixth final at the Ohio-based event, Djokovic lifted his first trophy after a straight-sets win over seven-time champion Roger Federer.
The 31-time Masters 1000 titlist was pushed to a deciding set in four of his six encounters in Cincinnati and beat three Top 10 opponents en route to the title. With 4,445 points, Djokovic climbs four places to No. 6 in the ATP Rankings. Read More & Watch Highlights
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No. 10 David Goffin, +1
Coming into the Western & Southern Open, Goffin had lost five of his seven most recent tour-level matches. But the Belgian found his form in Cincinnati, defeating Rogers Cup finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, Benoit Paire and Top 10 rivals Kevin Anderson and Juan Martin del Potro to reach the semi-finals. At No. 10, Goffin moves up one position to re-enter the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings.
No. 25 Milos Raonic, +4
The Canadian reached his fourth Western & Southern Open quarter-final in six visits to Cincinnati without dropping a set. Raonic defeated Dusan Lajovic, Malek Jaziri and countryman Denis Shapovalov before a three-set loss to eventual champion Djokovic in the last eight. The 27-year-old, now 24-10 at tour-level this season, rises four positions to No. 25 in the ATP Rankings.
Other Notable Top 100 Movers This Week
No. 28 Denis Shapovalov, +4
No. 40 (Career High) Marton Fucsovics, +8
No. 41 Leonardo Mayer, +9
No. 48 Robin Haase, +7
No. 82 Marius Copil, +10
No. 85 (Career High) Jaume Munar, +6
No. 88 Vasek Pospisil +6
No. 94 Paolo Lorenzi, +9
No. 95 Bradley Klahn, +7
No. 99 (Career High) Jason Kubler, +10
All eyes are on Winston-Salem, North Carolina, this week as the ATP World Tour descends on the 250-level event at the home of Wake Forest University.
Daniil Medvedev set a highly-anticipated second-round clash against Alex de Minaur at the Winston-Salem Open, advancing with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Mirza Basic on Sunday. The Russian enters the hard-court tournament on the heels of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 breakthrough in Toronto, where he reached the Round of 16 as a qualifier.
Medvedev is joined by Spaniards Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Roberto Carballes Baena as Day 1 winners. Garcia-Lopez edged Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(2), 6-4, while his countryman ousted Guido Pella 6-4, 6-2 in just one hour and 22 minutes. The win was Carballes Baena’s first on hard courts in nearly one year. He faces another Spaniard, 13th seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas, in the second round.
In other action, Italian veteran Andreas Seppi made efficient work of Joao Sousa, dispatching the Portuguese 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 23 minutes. He drew level in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series at 2-all, having also prevailed this year in Rotterdam. Also in Seppi’s quarter of the draw, Jan-Lennard Struff moved into the second round with a 7-6(5), 6-3 win over Benoit Paire and awaits fourth seed Marco Cecchinato next.
Pablo Carreno Busta, champion in 2016, leads the field in Winston-Salem, with Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey the top home hopes.
Just one ball in the court.
Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Western & Southern Open on Sunday with a one-shot rally accounting for a staggering 50 (39%) of the 130 points played.
Djokovic and Federer won 25 points each in the rally length of one shot, but collected them in very different ways.
Djokovic: One-Shot Rallies Won
• 4 aces
• 21 return errors from Federer (11 backhand / 10 forehand).
Federer: One-Shot Rallies Won
• 11 aces
• 14 return errors from Djokovic (8 forehand / 6 backhand).
Second-Serve Performance
Federer’s second serve return was often out of sync in the match, and he uncharacteristically missed more second-serve returns (11) than first-serve returns (10). Part of that was due to Djokovic going for more speed than normal on his second serve.
In the opening set, Djokovic’s average second serve speed was 98mph, slightly ahead of Federer’s 97mph. In the second set, Djokovic’s second serve speed dropped all the way down to 90mph, while Federer dialed his up to 102mph, trying to formulate a winning game plan.
Djokovic won an impressive 78 per cent (14/18) of his second-serve points for the match, which was considerably higher than his 2018 average of 54 per cent (638/1117) coming into the tournament.
Federer leads the tour with second-serve points won in 2018 at 62 per cent (642/1039), but that number got hammered down to just 47 per cent (15/32) against Djokovic in the final.
A head-turning stat from the match was that the average rally length behind Djokovic’s first serve was four shots, but that dropped down to just two shots behind second serves. Federer also averaged four shots behind his first serve, but the rally length climbed up to five shots behind his second serve.
The overall average rally length for shots in the final was a brisk 3.4 shots. Two shots in play for the server, but on average just one for the returner.
Two Shots In The Court
Djokovic won 12 more points than Federer for the match (71 to 59) with 10 of these coming in the rally length of two shots in the court. That means that either the returner hit a winner, or more likely, that the server missed their first shot after the serve, which was either a groundstroke or a volley.
2018 Cincinnati Final: Breakdown of Rally Length & Points Played / Won
|
Rally Length (Shots In) |
Total Points Played |
Federer Won |
Djokovic Won |
|
0 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
|
1 |
50 |
25 |
25 |
|
2 |
16 |
3 |
13 |
|
3 |
11 |
5 |
6 |
|
4 |
11 |
6 |
5 |
|
5 |
11 |
7 |
4 |
|
6 |
8 |
4 |
4 |
|
7 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
|
8 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
|
9+ |
9 |
4 |
5 |
|
TOTAL |
130 |
59 |
71 |
A contributing factor to Djokovic’s 10-point advantage in the rally length of two shots was the superior speed with which he hit returns back to Federer.
Average 1st Serve Return Speed
• Djokovic = 61mph
• Federer = 55mph
Average 2nd Serve Return Speed
• Djokovic = 66mph
• Federer = 64mph
Once a rally did evolve, both players looked to control the baseline with more forehands than backhands.
Djokovic Groundstrokes
• Total Forehands = 74 (average speed 71mph)
• Total Backhands = 65 (average speed 68mph)
Federer Groundstrokes
• Total Forehands = 83 (average speed 73mph)
• Total Backhands = 72 (average speed 66mph)
Djokovic played four consecutive three-set matches to reach the final, often having to battle from behind in the match as he searched for his peak form. It turned up on Sunday in spades.