Rain has delayed the start of second-round play on Wednesday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.
No matches have taken the court yet, but World No. 1 Andy Murray is through to the third round after Bernard Tomic withdrew from their scheduled contest due to a lower back injury.
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When the weather clears, Feliciano Lopez will be up first against Albert Montanes, before nine-time champion Rafael Nadal takes to the court named in his honour.
Johanna Konta put a difficult week behind her to reach the second round of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart with victory over Japan’s Naomi Osaka.
Konta, who left the court in tears after being verbally abused by Romania captain Ilie Nastase in a Fed Cup tie last week, won 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-1.
The British number one found it tough but Osaka’s challenge faded in set three as she struggled with an injury.
Konta will face Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova in round two.
The 25-year-old told BT Sport: “I think obviously you could tell she [Osaka] was struggling, I hope everything is OK with her and she recovers quickly.
“It was just important for me to stay on my own game. Even though I lost the second set I didn’t feel like I did much wrong.”
Konta had not dropped a set in two previous meetings with 19-year-old Osaka but clay is her weakest surface.
The world number seven struggled for consistency in the opening two sets but the key moment came when she saved two break points in the third game of the third set before then breaking Osaka’s serve in the next.
Murray benefits from Tomic withdrawal
Andy Murray is through to the third round of the Barcelona Open after Australia’s Bernard Tomic withdrew before the match with an injured back.
Murray, 29, will play the winner between Spanish pair Albert Montanes and Feliciano Lopez in the last 16.
The world number one accepted a late wildcard for Barcelona after his third-round defeat by Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas in Monte Carlo on Thursday.
Fellow Briton Dan Evans faces Austria’s Dominic Thiem in the third round.
Both Evans and Murray will play their matches on Thursday.
Elsewhere, Britain’s Aljaz Bedene beat the Netherlands’ world number 46 Robin Haase 6-4 6-4 in the second round of the Hungarian Open in Budapest.
It was the 14th win in a row for Bedene, ranked 68th in the world, who will play either Ivo Karlovic or Damir Dzumhur in the next round.
Former world number one Maria Sharapova will find out on 16 May if she has been given a wildcard for the French Open.
The 30-year-old Russian’s 15-month ban for using meldonium ends on Wednesday when she plays in the first round of the Stuttgart Open as a wildcard entry.
French federation president Bernard Giudicelli said he would call Sharapova before the decision is made public on Facebook at 18:00 BST.
Sharapova is a two-time winner at Roland Garros, which starts on 28 May.
Giudicelli, who said he will discuss Sharapova’s wildcard with French Open tournament director Guy Forget on 15 May, added: “The tournament is bigger than the players.”
The five-time Grand Slam champion practised on Wednesday morning for the first time since her ban, before her match against Italy’s Roberta Vinci.
Vinci has questioned the decision to give the Russian wildcards, but it has been defended by WTA chief Steve Simon, who said it is in keeping with how former dopers are treated in other sports.
In addition to Stuttgart, Sharapova has been granted wildcards by the organisers of the events in Madrid and Rome.
She does not have a world ranking after her points expired during her suspension and would need to reach the final in Stuttgart to be eligible for French Open qualifying.
The Daily Telegraph reports that Sharapova is likely to be given a wildcard into qualifying at Roland Garros rather than the tournament’s main draw.
Meanwhile, the prize money for the French Open has been increased by 12% to 36 millions euros (£30.5m).
The winners will win 2.1 million euros each, a 100,000-euro increase from 2016, with first-round losers earning 35,000 euros.
Serena Williams says she revealed her pregnancy by accident, after mistakenly uploading a photograph on Snapchat.
The 23-time Grand Slam winner posted a picture on the social media app, posing in a mirror with the message: “20 weeks”, before deleting it, with her publicist later confirming the news.
Williams, 35, said she took photographs every week to track the pregnancy.
“I was just saving them [for myself]” she said. “I’ve been so good about it, but this was the one time it slipped.”
How can you win a Grand Slam when you’re pregnant?
The world number one, who is due to give birth in the autumn, said she discovered she was pregnant just two days before the Australian Open in January.
The American went on to beat sister Venus in the final and win her an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam singles title.
“It wasn’t very easy,” she said. “You hear all these stories about people when they’re pregnant – they get sick, they get really tired, really stressed out.
“I had to really take all that energy and put it in a paper bag, so to say, and throw it away.
“Pregnant or not, no-one knew and I was supposed to win that tournament. Every time I play, I’m expected to win. If I don’t win, it’s actually much bigger news.”
Williams, who is taking maternity leave for the rest of the 2017 season, said there was no change to her plan to return to the tour as a mother next year.
“I definitely plan on coming back. I’m not done yet,” said Williams, who credited 36-year-old sister Venus for inspiration.
“If she’s still playing, I know I can play. This [motherhood] is just a new part of my life. My baby’s going to be in the stands and hopefully cheering for me.”
On Tuesday, Williams called Ilie Nastase’s comments about her unborn child “racist”.
Nastase, a former world number one and two-time Grand Slam winner, was heard speculating whether Williams’ child would be “chocolate with milk?” at a news conference before Romania’s Fed Cup tie with Great Britain last week.
Fratangelo Upsets Simon In Budapest; Vesely Beats Coric
Apr252017
American qualifier springs an upset
American qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo claimed just his second career tour-level clay-court win on Tuesday as he upset fifth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of the Gazprom Hungarian Open in Budapest.
The 23-year-old Fratangelo sprung the upset in 79 minutes, breaking Simon four times from 11 opportunities and winning 75 per cent of his service points. The right-hander recorded his second tour-level win of the season as he set a second-round clash with Martin Klizan.
Another seed fell as Robin Haase ousted No. 8 Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 6-3. Schwartzman is at a career-high No. 34 in the Emirates ATP Rankings this week after reaching the quarter-finals last week in Monte-Carlo.
Next up for Haase is qualifier Aljaz Bedene, who continued his good run of form with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Marius Copil. Great Britain’s Bedene came into Budapest on the back of successive ATP Challenger Tour titles in Sophia Antipolis and Barletta.
Top seed Lucas Pouille will open his campaign against Jiri Vesely after the Czech defeated recent Marrakech titlist Borna Coric 7-6(4), 6-4 in the first round of this ATP World Tour 250 tournament, played in Hungary for the first time.
Andrey Kuznetsov will face third seed Fabio Fognini after edging Ryan Harrison 7-6(6), 6-3 in one hour and 33 minutes. Other first-round winners included Sergiy Stakhovsky and Marton Fucsovics.
For Some Players, There Is A Difference Between 30-all & Deuce
Apr252017
Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers shows the subtle differences between 30/30 and deuce
Is there any real difference between 30/30 and deuce?
On the surface, both scorelines clearly show competitors are even in the point score, and both scorelines sit just two points away from a player clinching the game. But once you dig a little deeper, subtle differences do emerge, with 30/30 occurring more frequently, while deuce adds two extra points of strategy and countermoves to the equation.
An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the current Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings uncovers varying degrees of performance when the players are serving and receiving at 30/30 and deuce.
2017 Top 10 Average Holding Serve
Overall, the Top 10 players average holding serve from both scorelines at almost identical percentages.
30/30 = 77.6%
Deuce = 77.4%
Total 30/30 points = 58% (787)
Total Deuce points = 42% (562)
Some players, such as World No. 1 Andy Murray, bucked the trend by being more efficient holding at deuce than at 30/30. Murray is holding serve a substantial 8.1 percentage points (80 per cent to 71.9 per cent) higher from deuce than he is at 30/30.
Milos Raonic also has performed better at deuce, holding serve 92.9 per cent of the time, a 4.5 per cent improvement over the 88.4 per cent he holds from 30/30.
2017 Top 10 Percentages of Holding Serve From 30/30 and Deuce
Ranking
Player
Serving 30/30
Serving Deuce
+/-
1
Andy Murray
71.9%
80.0%
8.1%
2
Novak Djokovic
75.8%
76.5%
0.7%
3
Stan Wawrinka
77.1%
75.4%
-1.7%
4
Roger Federer
87.2%
86.0%
-1.2%
5
Rafael Nadal
80.4%
81.3%
0.9%
6
Milos Raonic
88.4%
92.9%
4.5%
7
Kei Nishikori
73.6%
73.3%
-0.3%
8
Marin Cilic
72.0%
64.7%
-7.3%
9
Dominic Thiem
78.8%
76.7%
-2.1%
10
David Goffin
73.7%
73.9%
0.2%
AVERAGE
–
77.6%
77.4%
-0.2%
2017 Top 10 Average Breaking Serve
Once again, the slight edge goes to superior analytics from 30/30. The Top 10 broke serve 32.7 per cent of the time from 30/30, and 31.4 per cent of the time from deuce – a difference of 1.3 percentage points.
30/30 = 32.7%
Deuce = 31.4%
Total 30/30 points = 57% (906)
Total Deuce points = 43% (684)
Rafael Nadal, who won his 10th Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Sunday, moved up two spots in the Emirates ATP Rankings this week to No. 5. Nadal boasts the biggest difference (5.9 percentage points) in 2017 in breaking from deuce than at 30/30. He breaks at deuce 39.8 per cent of the time, compared to 33.9 per cent of the time at 30/30.
Other players, such as Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic, actually break more from 30/30, with Djokovic being 7.2 percentage points better and Cilic 8 percentage points better.
2017 Top 10 Percentages of Breaking Serve From 30/30 and Deuce
Ranking
Player
Return 30/30
Returning Deuce
+/-
1
Andy Murray
38.6%
40.3%
1.7%
2
Novak Djokovic
27.6%
20.4%
-7.2%
3
Stan Wawrinka
32.2%
27.1%
-5.1%
4
Roger Federer
34.5%
30.0%
-4.5%
5
Rafael Nadal
33.9%
39.8%
5.9%
6
Milos Raonic
31.9%
25.8%
-6.1%
7
Kei Nishikori
32.0%
37.5%
5.5%
8
Marin Cilic
28.6%
20.6%
-8.0%
9
Dominic Thiem
36.0%
31.3%
-4.7%
10
David Goffin
30.1%
31.5%
1.4%
AVERAGE
–
32.7%
31.4%
-1.3%
The chances of a player holding and breaking serve from these two specific scorelines in a game are very similar on average but can also move up and down considerably with each player. Tracking performance in these key areas throws new light on the inner workings of our sport.
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Spaniard’s first ‘Big Title’ in 12 months moves him closer to Race lead
In what has been a career full of frameable moments, years from now, Sunday afternoon should still stand out to Rafael Nadal. It could also prove to be the launch pad to his return to year-end World No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
His 10th Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters crown. His 29th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title. His 43rd “Big Title”, which inches him closer to longtime rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
But Nadal’s first title of 2017 might only be part of the prelude to what could be one of the Spaniard’s best years on the ATP World Tour. Nadal is currently second in the Emirates ATP Race To London, a calendar-year points race that started in the first week of January. The Spaniard is 810 Race points behind No. 1 Roger Federer, who has 4,045 Race points.
But with Federer resting and not planning to play until Roland Garros, Nadal could catch the 35 year old during the next seven weeks and then some. The Spaniard could take home 2,500 Race points at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, the Mutua Madrid Open and the Internazionali BNL d’Italia before Federer rejoins the tour in Paris.
In addition to his 19 combined Monte-Carlo and Barcelona titles, Nadal has won Madrid four times, and he’s hoisted the trophy in Rome seven times.
“[In Barcelona], I am playing another very important event for me at home and I’m excited about that. Then I going to keep playing at home in Madrid,” Nadal said. “There are so many opponents to play before [Roland Garros], so many important matches. Every event in this part of the season for me, in my heart, is so special. I enjoy every day.”
Current and Former Champions’ Big Titles Won (Records Since 1990)
Player
Grand Slams
ATP Finals
1000s
Total (Avg)
Roger Federer
18/69
6/14
26/125
50/208 (4.2)
Novak Djokovic
12/49
5/10
30/96
47/155 (3.3)
Rafael Nadal
14/47
0/7
29/101
43/155 (3.6)
Pete Sampras
14/52
5/11
11/83
30/146 (4.9)
Andre Agassi
8/61
1/13
17/90
26/164 (6.3)
Andy Murray
3/44
1/8
14/94
18/144 (8)
Boris Becker*
2/26
2/6
5/51
9/83 (9.2)
Thomas Muster
1/29
0/4
8/53
9/86 (9.6)
Gustavo Kuerten
3/33
1/3
5/67
9/103 (11.4)
Jim Courier
4/38
0/4
5/71
9/113 (12.6)
Stefan Edberg**
3/28
0/4
1/24
4/56 (14)
Marcelo Rios
0/26
0/1
5/56
5/83 (16.6)
Michael Chang
1/50
0/6
7/86
8/142 (17.8)
Marat Safin
2/41
0/3
5/87
7/131 (18.7)
Andy Roddick
1/46
0/6
5/75
6/127 (21.2)
Lleyton Hewitt
2/66
2/4
2/75
6/145 (24.2)
Patrick Rafter
2/35
0/2
2/48
4/85 (21.3)
Sergi Bruguera
2/33
0/3
2/63
4/96 (24)
Juan Carlos Ferrero
1/45
0/3
4/84
5/132 (26.4)
Carlos Moya
1/47
0/5
3/76
4/128 (32)
Stan Wawrinka
3/48
0/4
1/94
4/146 (36.5)
Yevgeny Kafelnikov
2/38
0/7
0/77
2/122 (61)
* Becker’s four other Grand Slam titles came before 1990. ** Edberg’s three other Grand Slam titles came before 1990.
Nadal’s high place in the Race means he’s in contention to compete for year-end No. 1 with Federer and likely challengers, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, who have much ground to make up after sluggish starts to 2017.
Federer and Nadal are the Race frontrunners in what has been an unlikely start to the year. When Murray and Djokovic battled in an epic Doha final to kick off the season, everyone thought the battle for year-end No. 1 would be a two-man race between the Scot and the Serbian. But both have underperformed to start the year.
A slow start to the season and not being in the first three places of the Race after Miami can make it very difficult to finish year-end No. 1. Since 2004, there’s been only one occasion when someone came from outside the Top 3 in the Race after Miami to finish year-end No. 1. In 2010, Nadal was placed sixth in the Race after Miami but finished year-end No. 1.
Murray and Djokovic’s start is especially surprising when you consider this: Only three times since 1990, and never since 1999, have the players who finished the previous year ranked No. 1 and No. 2 not reached at least one final at the four big events to start the following season: the Australian Open, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Miami Open presented by Itau and the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
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Dan Evans continued his unlikely run at the Barcelona Open as he made the third round with a 6-4 6-4 win over German world number 35 Mischa Zverev.
British number three Evans, 26, won for the first time on clay at ATP Tour level on Monday when he beat Thiago Monteiro in his tournament opener.
He will play world number nine Dominic Thiem next after the Austrian beat Britain’s Kyle Edmund 6-1 6-4.
Meanwhile, British number four Aljaz Bedene beat Marius Copil in Budapest.
Bedene was supposed to take on Federico Delbonis, but the Argentine failed to recover from an injury that caused him to retire from an event in Morocco earlier this month.
Instead, Bedene overcame his Romanian stand-in Copil 7-5 6-2 in an hour and 26 minutes.
Bedene has now lost only once in his past 19 matches after three tournament wins on the second-tier Challenger circuit. He will face Dutchman Robin Haase in the next round.
Elsewhere, British world number one Andy Murray will face Bernard Tomic in Barcelona on Wednesday after the Australian beat Dustin Brown in three sets.
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