Years ago, a Moldovan man was watching his television, clicking through the channels when he saw something he had never seen before: tennis. The man liked the sport, and decided his son should try it. That boy was Radu Albot.

“When I started playing tennis, I was not following it on TV. It was just fun for me, running after balls, running around the court, playing games besides tennis,” Albot said. “Just more like a fun activity, it wasn’t like a serious sport.”

The 29-year-old says that there are not many public courts in Moldova. Mostly, there are courts available at private clubs. The country is small, with just more than 3.5 million residents.

“There are enough courts to practise and enough to start playing there,” Albot said.

And that’s all the right-hander needed. Albot has set the bar for Moldovan tennis, and he hopes to inspire children in his country to take up the sport. Albot became the first player from his country to crack the Top 100 on 27 July 2015. Since 1984 Wimbledon, only two other Moldovans had reached the Top 500, so, as a kid, Albot found players from other countries to idolise.

“I was mostly following the Russian players like Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Marat Safin and I liked very much Roger Federer and David Ferrer,” Albot said. “I thought I was playing a little bit like David with my game style. I really admired him. When I got on the Tour, I tried to organise practice with him as much as I could.

“The first time you have a little bit of emotions, you’re excited to practise and to give your best in a practice. It’s a little bit like a dream. You see the guy for years on TV and suddenly you’re practising with him on the other side of the court, so that’s really cool and you could put it as an achievement in your career.”

Albot stands only 5’9”, but he makes up for his lack of height with his footwork and grit on the court, battling to make his opponents hit as many balls as possible.

“I’m an overall player, I’m fighting until the end, every point. Every time I play the ball in the court, so it’s really difficult to take me off the court,” Albot said. “For sure they think I’m a tough opponent to play.”

At the New York Open, Albot has defeated two of the tallest players in the sport in two consecutive years. On Wednesday, he defeated 6’11” Ivo Karlovic, withstanding a barrage of 37 aces to reach the second round. Last season, Albot ousted 6’10” John Isner, this year’s top seed.

“He competes very well. I think he has to, and his match today against Ivo was very indicative of that. He got aced almost 40 times, but he stayed the course and was able to win that match,” Isner said. “He’s a very little guy.,, He competes very well and he’s actually a pretty aggressive player for being someone who’s smaller in stature.

“I think a surface like this actually suits him pretty well because he likes to play aggressively and on his front foot. He takes the ball early. I know he plays Sam [Querrey] tomorrow, so I think that will be a pretty good match because Radu is very capable and I have a lot of respect for him.”

Albot is at a career-best No. 79 in the ATP Rankings, and in good form. He just reached the semi-finals of the Open Sud de France, losing to eventual champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. It took a while for the Moldovan to get to this level, as he was 25 when he made the Top 100 for the first time. But he was motivated to play in the main draw of more Grand Slam and ATP Tour events. Now that he’s there, Moldova’s tennis trailblazer will look to continue pushing forward.

“Now that I’m at my career-high, I want to be higher,” Albot said. “I had a goal for a couple of years now to break the Top 50 and I haven’t achieved it yet, but I really hope that in the future or in 2019 this will happen.”

Stan Wawrinka snapped a three-match losing streak against Milos Raonic on Wednesday, defeating the Canadian 6-4, 7-6(4) at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

The 2015 champion, whose last win over Raonic came en route to his lone title in Rotterdam, won 91 per cent of first-serve points (30/33) and landed 27 winners. Last month, Raonic defeated Wawrinka in a four-hour epic en route to the Australian Open quarter-finals (l. to Pouille).

“Tonight was a really good level, that is for sure,” said Wawrinka. “It is one of the matches I have played in many months now… So far I [played] two great matches, tonight was a great performance.”

For his career, Wawrinka has won eight of his 10 matches – which includes three straight wins against Top 15 opposition – at the opening ATP 500 tournament of the season.

Wawrinka improved to 5-3 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Raonic and will next meet #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov. The left-hander dominated Czech Tomas Berdych, hitting 33 winners to Berdych’s nine and advanced 6-4, 6-3. “I had a good rhythm on the strokes. I was really feeling good,” Shapovalov said.

The Canadian hit for an hour before his match, and the extra preparation paid off. Shapovalov won 77 per cent of the points that started on his racquet. The 19-year-old beat Wawrinka last October in Tokyo during their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter. “It’s going to be a really tough match, but it’s going to be fun,” Shapovalov said.

Wawrinka started strongly, defending well and attacking Raonic’s forehand to break for a 2-1 lead. The Swiss continued to impress throughout the set, striking 11 winners and dropping just two points behind his first serve (13/15) to move into a one-set lead after 45 minutes.

In a second set dominated by serve, Raonic grew in confidence to force Wawrinka into a tie-break. But the Swiss got off to the perfect start, firing a forehand passing shot past his opponent to earn the opening mini-break. Despite surrendering his advantage, Wawrinka continued to punish Raonic with power and accuracy on his backhand side before securing victory with a crosscourt forehand winner.

“I was moving way better and I was reacting better [than the past three matches against Milos],” said Wawrinka. “I was feeling great physically, so that is how I can start to engage the rally. [I was] returning better because I reacted better and that gave me way more chances to be aggressive.

“I was always trying not to give him too much time. [I was] trying to play aggressive with my game, to always dictate and put him under pressure. That is what I did well tonight.”

Did You Know?
The second set marked the 11th time in eight FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings that Wawrinka and Raonic have contested a tie-break (Wawrinka leads 7-4 in tie-breaks). At the Australian Open last month, Raonic defeated Wawrinka in four tie-break sets 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 7-6(11), 7-6(5).

Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau claimed their first victory of the 2019 ATP Tour season on Wednesday, beating Nikoloz Basilashvili and Matthew Ebden 6-3, 6-4 at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

The 2015 champions, who entered the match with a 0-3 record this year, saved all seven break points they faced to claim victory after 63 minutes. Rojer and Tecau will meet Wesley Koolhof and Jurgen Melzer for a place in the semi-finals.

Koolhof and Melzer upset third seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. The wild card pairing won 71 per cent of service points (39/55) en route to a 74-minute victory.

Ivan Dodig and Edouard Roger-Vasselin continued their fine run of form, beating top seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-3. The Open Sud de France champions dropped just seven points behind their first serves (39/46) and saved the only break point they faced to triumph after one hour and 31 minutes.

Marach and Pavic were defending 300 ATP Doubles Ranking points after reaching the championship match last year (l. to Herbert/Mahut). Dodig and Roger-Vasselin will face Jeremy Chardy and Henri Kontinen for a semi-final spot.

Fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Nikola Mektic also advanced, beating Dutch qualifiers Sander Arends and David Pel 7-5, 6-4. Granollers and Mektic will meet Philipp Kohlschreiber and Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals.