Recapping Wednesday doubles action
Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi remain on track to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after beating local wild cards Antoine Bellier and Marco Chiudinelli 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of the Swiss Indoors Basel on Wednesday. Huey/Mirnyi are currently No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London. There are three more berths up for grabs for the year-end showdown.
No. 2 seeds Nicolas Mahut, who is already qualified for London alongside usual partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 7-6(5). The Frenchmen landed 78 per cent of first serves and saved both break points faced.
Vienna: Bryans A Win Away From 1,000
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan are within sight of a tremendous milestone. They notched their 999th team win at tour-level with a 6-0, 6-1 rout of hometown favourites Dennis Novak and Dominic Thiem in the first round of the Erste Bank Open 500. The Bryans, seeded second, dropped only five points on serve and needed just 38 minutes to dispose of the Austrians.
Top seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares rallied to win 4-6, 7-5, 10-6 against John Isner and Scott Lipsky. Murray/Soares bore down in the Match Tie-break, winning all four second-serve return points to prevail in 82 minutes.
No. 3 seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, who are already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, knocked out Austrian wild cards Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 7-6(5). Knowle was chasing his 400th tour-level doubles win.
Argentine will face Goffin in second round
Two-time champion Juan Martin del Potro returned to the Swiss Indoors Basel on Wednesday for the first time since he had beaten Roger Federer in the 2013 final. Apparently there were no hard feelings as a packed crowd in St. Jakobshalle welcomed the Argentine back with a rowdy applause. Del Potro thanked them with his 11th consecutive win in the Swiss city, dismissing Dutch qualifier Robin Haase 6-3, 6-4.
The 6’6” right-hander converted all four break points and won nearly 60 per cent of his second-serve points in the one-hour, 22-minute contest. After beating Federer in both the 2012 and 2013 Basel finals, del Potro missed the 2014 and 2015 tournaments because of a left-wrist injury that caused him to miss almost all of those seasons.
He’s made quite the comeback this year, though. When he returned in Delray Beach in February, del Potro was No. 1,042 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. He entered Basel as No. 42 and fresh off his first ATP World Tour title in more than 33 months. Del Potro won the If Stockholm Open title on Sunday (d. Sock).
“This year is very special… I’m just trying to enjoy all my matches,” del Potro said. “My wrist is OK. My biggest goal for this year is to finish healthy and then, if I’m still winning matches, that would be great.”
The 28-year-old del Potro, who received a wild card into Basel, will meet fifth seed David Goffin in the second round. The Belgian is in close contention for a spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Goffin is currently in 10th place in the Emirates ATP Race To London, 190 points behind No. 9 Tomas Berdych.
Goffin needs to reach the Basel final to pass Berdych. The top eight players at the end of the season will qualify for the year-end championships, to be held 13-20 November at The O2 in London.
View the Emirates ATP Race To London
Pella, Sock also advance indoors
Kei Nishikori overcame a spirited effort from Italian Paolo Lorenzi to advance to the Swiss Indoors Basel quarter-finals on Wednesday 7-6(3), 6-2. Nishikori spilled 18 unforced errors in the first set as the top Italian retrieved nearly everything back to him.
But the World No. 5 cleaned up his play in the second set, reducing his unforced error tally to six to prevail in one hour and 38 minutes. The 26 year old is going for his second title of the season, having won his lone title indoors at the Memphis Open in February.
Argentine Federico Delbonis joined Nishikori in the quarter-finals by outlasting Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-3. Argentine Guido Pella moved into the second round after Frenchman Richard Gasquet retired down 6-2, 2-1 36 minutes into the match. Gasquet won his second title of the season on Sunday at the inaugural European Open in Antwerp (d. Schwartzman).
Eighth seed Jack Sock also continued his strong play indoors. The 24-year-old American saved all five break points in a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. Sock made the If Stockholm Open final for the second consecutive year on Sunday (l. to del Potro).
Andy Murray reached the Erste Bank Open second round with a hard-fought victory over Martin Klizan in Vienna.
British number one Murray, 29, beat the Slovak world number 35 6-3 6-7 (5-7)6-0 to set up a tie with French world number 25 Gilles Simon.
The winner will meet American John Isner, ranked 27 in the world, in round three.
Scot Murray is looking to close the gap on world number one Novak Djokovic, who is not competing in Austria.
Were Murray to win the Erste Bank Open and the Paris Masters, which begins on 29 October, Serb Djokovic would need to reach the Paris final to retain top spot in the rankings.
World number two Murray is aiming to become the oldest player to reach number one for the first time in his career since Australian John Newcombe, who achieved the feat aged 30 on 3 June 1974.
Murray led 4-3 and 6-5 after breaking serve in the second set, but 27-year-old Klizan – playing his best tennis of the match – twice broke back to force a tie-break as Murray lost his composure.
Although Murray continued to shout and admonish himself, he dominated the final set, winning 27 of the 35 points played.
Tickets currently on sale for Sofia
Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov will participate in the second edition of Garanti Koza Sofia Open. Thiem is currently No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. He has won four ATP World Tour tournaments this season and made the semi-finals of Roland Garros in Paris. The 23-year-old Austrian has shown great talent and impressed with his one-handed backhand.
“I am waiting impatiently to play in Sofia. I know it is a beautiful city and there will be great tennis fans. [This year] has been perfect for me, and I hope I will go on the same way in 2017. Sofia Open is a really important tournament, and I hope I will be able to show my best tennis there,” said Thiem.
Go Behind The Scenes With Thiem In Vienna
Dimitrov, Bulgaria’s No. 1, found his way back to the Top 20 this season. He played well in Asia and made the semi-finals of the If Stockholm Open before losing to Juan Martin del Potro. Dimitrov also reached the Beijing final (l. to Murray) and beat Rafael Nadal, Milos Raonic and Lucas Pouille along the way. The former World No. 8 reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2014.
“It is a great pleasure to me to take part in the Garanti Koza Sofia Open in February. It will be an honour for me to play in my country and to share my excitement with world tennis. We will have the chance to enjoy tennis of the highest level in Sofia. See you soon!” said Dimitrov.
Paul McNamee, the former tournament director of the Australian Open and Hopman Cup, will take the duty of the Garanti Koza Sofia Open tournament director. He said, “Thiem and Dimitrov are the future of world men’s tennis. We are excited that they will show their great talent in Sofia. It is always exciting for the fans when one of the tournament stars is a local guy.”
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Svetlana Kuznetsova became the first player to reach the last four of the WTA Finals following victory over Karolina Pliskova in Singapore.
Kuznetsova, 31, beat Czech Pliskova 3-6 6-2 7-6 (8-6) but her semi-final spot was sealed by Agnieszka Radwanska’s 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 win over Garbine Muguruza.
Defeat eliminated Spain’s Muguruza at the group stage.
The winner of Polish defending champion Radwanska’s final White Group match with Pliskova will also go through.
Both Kuznetsova and Pliskova served for the match in the third set, before Kuznetsova converted her fourth match point,
“I felt the support of the crowd and I couldn’t let anyone down. I had to fight,” she said.
On Monday, Kuznetsova also saved a match point in beating Radwanska, after cutting her own hair during a changeover because she said it was affecting her play.
She earned the eighth and final place at the Finals by winning the Kremlin Cup on Saturday.
The top two players from each group will qualify for the semi-finals.
In the Red Group, world number one Angelique Kerber has all but secured her place in the last four, while Madison Keys and Simona Halep remain in contention.
| White Group | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | Sets won-lost | Games won-lost | |
| Svetlana Kuznetsova | 2 | 4-2 | 31-30 |
| Agnieszka Radwanska | 1 | 3-2 | 29-24 |
| Karolina Pliskova | 1 | 3-3 | 33-30 |
| Garbine Muguruza | 0 | 1-4 | 14-19 |
| Red Group | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | Sets won-lost | Games won-lost | |
| Angelique Kerber | 2 | 4-1 | 27-21 |
| Madison Keys | 1 | 2-2 | 18-17 |
| Simona Halep | 1 | 2-2 | 18-18 |
| Dominika Cibulkova | 0 | 1-4 | 20-27 |