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Johanna Konta beats Sam Stosur in opener at WTA Elite Trophy

  • Posted: Nov 02, 2016

British number one Johanna Konta made a winning start at the Elite Trophy, beating Australia’s Sam Stosur 6-4 6-2 in Zhuhai, China.

The tournament features the leading 12 players who did not qualify for last week’s WTA Finals in Singapore.

The players are divided into four pools of three, with the group winners qualifying for the knockout stage.

Konta, the top seed, will face world number 23 Caroline Garcia of France in her other pool game.

The Briton looked strong against 2011 US Open champion Stosur, breaking serve four times and dropping just one service game.

The 25-year-old is set to finish the year in the top 10, and would rise to number eight should she win the tournament in China without losing a match.

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Murray, Djokovic Headline Full Wednesday In Paris

  • Posted: Nov 02, 2016

Murray, Djokovic Headline Full Wednesday In Paris

Battle for No. 1 continues at BNP Paribas Masters

DAY 3 PREVIEW: The No. 1 and 2 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, headline a big Wednesday schedule at the BNP Paribas Masters. Overall, there are eight of the Top 10 seeds in second round action. Four Frenchmen are also on the order of play, including 2008 champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

All eyes will be on reigning three-time (four overall) BNP Paribas Masters champion Djokovic and Murray, who is the hottest player on the ATP World Tour since May. Murray, who lost to Djokovic in last year’s final, has reached the final in 10 of the 11 tournaments he has played in the past six months, winning a career-best seven titles. Now Murray is within striking distance of becoming No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time in his career.

The 29-year-old Briton needs to reach the final with Djokovic losing before the semi-finals or Murray can also pass Djokovic by winning the Paris title over any opponent other than the Serb. Both players come into the tournament with 15-match winning streaks. Murray won a Davis Cup match (d. Pella) in September and then captured three straight titles in Beijing, ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai and Vienna. Djokovic has won 15 straight matches in Bercy since 2013. He has ranked No. 1 for 122 consecutive weeks since July 7, 2014 and 223 overall in his career.

Djokovic is the fourth match on Court Central against big-serving left-hander Gilles Muller, who is 0-3 (0-8 in sets) against the World No. 1. Muller is 9-35 lifetime against Top 10 opponents (2-4 this season). Djokovic is trying to post his 60th match win of the season and extend his streak to 10 consecutive years with 60 (or more) match wins.

You May Also Like: Gasquet, Raonic Advance In Paris Openers

In the evening session, Murray brings an 11-1 career record against Fernando Verdasco. Murray has won the past six meetings against the Spaniard since Verdasco’s lone win came in the 4R at the 2009 Australian Open. Murray has won the most matches (69) on the ATP World Tour this season and he’s looking to win 70 matches for the second straight year. He won a career-best 71 last season. Verdasco has 22 career Top 10 wins and his last win over a World No. 2 came against countryman Nadal at 2012 ATP Masters 1000 Madrid.

In the last match on Court Central, No. 3 Stan Wawrinka takes on German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff for the first time. Wawrinka is one of four players on the ATP World Tour this season to win at least four titles.

There are two spots remaining to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Six players in contention are in action, including Dominic Thiem, who is 7th in the Emirates ATP Race to London. Thiem is 2-0 against top American Jack Sock. Marin Cilic, who holds the 8th and final spot, takes on big-serving countryman Ivo Karlovic for the fifth time (tied 2-2). Karlovic leads the ATP World Tour this season with 1,121 aces. Top Belgian David Goffin, who is 400 points behind Cilic, opens against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut on Court 1. Goffin has won two of the previous three meetings, including a three-set QF in Metz in September.

View the Emirates ATP Race To London

Other Frenchmen in action are: No. 11 Tsonga (vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas), No. 13 Lucas Pouille (vs. Feliciano Lopez), and Gilles Simon (vs. No. 10 Roberto Bautista Agut). Tsonga and Pouille are facing the same opponents for the second straight week. Last week in Vienna, Tsonga beat Ramos-Vinolas 62 76 in the quarter-finals and Pouille lost to Lopez 64 26 75 in the 1R (after holding match point). Simon owns a 3-1 head-to-head advantage against Bautista Agut.

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Frenchmen Keep London Hopes Alive

  • Posted: Nov 02, 2016

Frenchmen Keep London Hopes Alive

Home favourites trying to qualify for season finale

Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin kept their London hopes alive on Tuesday with a 2-6, 6-0, 10-6 win against Pablo Cuevas and David Marrero at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin are currently in 12th place in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, 875 points behind Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, who currently hold the eighth and final qualification spot into the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

But Huey/Mirnyi lost in the first round in Paris, giving Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin an opportunity to make up ground at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. The Frenchmen will face fifth seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez in the second round.

View the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London

Frenchmen Lucas Pouille and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga knocked out countrymen Jonathan Eysseric and Tristan Lamasine 7-5, 3-6, 10-7. Martin Klizan and Joao Sousa advanced past Fabrice Martin and Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-7(2), 10-7. Philipp Kohlschreiber and Dominic Thiem needed only 55 minutes to prevail against Paolo Lorenzi and Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 7-5.

You May Also Like: Gasquet, Raonic Advance In Paris Openers

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Sock Comforts Injured French Boy In Paris

  • Posted: Nov 02, 2016

Sock Comforts Injured French Boy In Paris

American learns it could have been worse

Jack Sock should have been celebrating his first-round win at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. But after his straight-sets win on Tuesday, the American could only think about the little boy who had been seen by paramedics during the match.

Was he OK? Is he still around? Where is he? Sock quizzed others after his win.

During the latter part of the second set, Sock had hit a first serve that landed out but bounced into the first row and hit the French boy in the mouth. The boy started crying. Play was stopped. On-site paramedics came and gave the boy an ice pack. Sock worried.

“Obviously I couldn’t see exactly what happened,” he said. “At first when I saw the serve go over and it hit him, I thought it could be his eye and he was wearing glasses, so could have been a disaster.”

Jack Sock

The 24 year old would soon learn the situation wasn’t as bad as he had feared. The boy, who was with his dad in the stands, had stuck around after the match. He had endured a bloody nose from Sock’s serve but not much else, Sock said.

The World No. 24 comforted the boy and posed for some photos with him. Sock also gave him one of his wristbands.

“It was better than I thought it was,” Sock said. “I’m glad he’s OK.”

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'Editor' Murray Tackles Serious Issue

  • Posted: Nov 02, 2016

'Editor' Murray Tackles Serious Issue

The World No. 2 served as guest editor on Tuesday for the Huffington Post

Andy Murray is addressing mental health and male suicide in his role on Tuesday as guest editor for the Huffington Post. The World No. 2 is teaming up with HuffPost UK as they launch Building Modern Men, a month-long focus that raises awareness of the suicide epidemic among men and the issues they face around identity. Murray penned an editor’s letter discussing his own experiences handling difficult emotions and the high rates of male suicide in the U.K.

You may have noticed I work in a pretty emotional job. Whether I’m winning or losing there’s a huge amount going on under the surface. The pressure is always there and quite honestly, at times it’s hard to hide.

In my younger years I sometimes struggled to manage what was going on in my head. Moments of anger or frustration would spill out and it rarely helped me win.

But when I cried on the centre court at Wimbledon after losing to Roger Federer, some people saw me in a different light.

People didn’t laugh or think less of me, it was the opposite. It felt like they respected me more. They respected me for letting off the pressure cooker of emotion and for letting the mask slip.

Sadly, many men don’t feel they can let the mask slip. Many men express their stresses and emotions in self-destructive and sometimes life-ending ways. They build up emotion and don’t have the tools to deal with what’s going on in their lives.

Suicide rates in the UK identify a glaring problem for men. In 2014 there were 6,109 suicides in the UK. 4,623 of these were male, which means suicide is the biggest single killer of men aged under 45 in this country. It’s time to act.

Suicide is very much a male epidemic, with men almost four times more likely than women to take their own life – but the reasons why are unclear.

Read Andy’s full editor’s letter

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