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Monfils Soars Past Sousa At Rogers Cup

  • Posted: Jul 27, 2016

Monfils Soars Past Sousa At Rogers Cup

Lu also advances on Tuesday

Gael Monfils opened up his Rogers Cup campaign in style on Tuesday, scoring a convincing opening-round win over Joao Sousa, 6-3, 6-3.

“I think I’ve put in good work with my team. What I try to do is keep working with them and then see the results later,” said Monfils. “I like to think when I’m in my top game and with consistency, I can beat a lot of players at the top.”

Monfils won 50 per cent of his return points (compared to 38 per cent for Sousa) and fired eight aces. The Frenchman is on a six-match win streak after prevailing last week at the Citi Open.

Next up for Monfils is the winner of the match between Vasek Pospisil and Jeremy Chardy. Monfils leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Pospisil by 2-0 and with Chardy by 2-1, but Chardy won their most recent match last month in the opening round at Wimbledon.

Yen-Hsun Lu continued his outstanding 2016 with a first-round win over #NextGen star Alexander Zverev on Tuesday at the Rogers Cup, 7-5, 6-2.

Zverev went up a break in the opening set to lead 4-3, but Lu responded by breaking his opponent in the next game and then again at 6-5 to grab a one-set lead.

After being sidelined for six months due to elbow surgery, Lu returned to action in May and produced outstanding results on the ATP Challenger Tour. He won two-grass court titles (Ilkley, Surbiton) and finished as runner-up in two other events (Manchester, Seoul), all in less than two months.

Next up for Lu is fourth seed and home favourite Milos Raonic. The Canadian leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-0, but the haven’t played in over two years.

“If a 10,000 [person] crowd is against you, even if you prepare for it, it’s still a shock,” said Lu about his upcoming match against Raonic. “I will be a little bit nervous, but I respect him. I’m happy for him. I hope I can play my best tennis and try to enjoy the 10,000 people against me!”

You May Also Like: Shapovalov Stuns Kyrgios In Toronto

John Millman moved into the second-round after Jared Donaldson was forced to stop play during their match on Tuesday at the Rogers Cup, 6-4, 4-3, retired. Millman has climbed 25 spots this year in the Emirates ATP Rankings to his current standing of No. 67.

Next up for him is the winner of the match between No. 15 seed Steve Johnson and Fabio Fognini. The Aussie has never played Fognini, but Johnson leads their FedEx ATPHead2Head rivalry 3-0, with all three wins coming in 2016.

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Bester/Shamasdin Beat Djokovic/Zimonjic In Toronto

  • Posted: Jul 27, 2016

Bester/Shamasdin Beat Djokovic/Zimonjic In Toronto

Canadian duo tops Serbian pair in Rogers Cup first-round action

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic partnered with fellow Serbian Nenad Zimonjic in doubles at the Rogers Cup. The duo began their bid on Tuesday in Toronto, but fell to home favourites Philip Bester and Adil Shamasdin. The Canadians won 7-5, 4-6, 10-2.

”It’s an exciting match-up, kind of like a popcorn match,” said Bester. “At the end of the day, I was also excited to go out there with Adil and I knew that we had enough skill and enough game to beat these guys. That’s what happened today, so I couldn’t be happier.”

“I thought we served really smart and tried to keep it away from their strengths,” added Shamasdin. “Going into a match like this we are focused on what we are doing on our end, and we are not really kind of worried about what they’re going to do.”

Bester/Shamasdin saved seven of the eight break points they faced to beat Djokovic/Zimonjic in 82 minutes and reach the second round. They next face seventh seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram.

Third seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo will open their campaign in Toronto against Croat tandem Marin Cilic and Marin Draganja, who fired six aces and saved the one break point they faced to beat Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-4. 

John Isner and NextGen star Alexander Zverev defeated Robert Lindstedt and Sam Querrey 7-6(4), 6-3 to set a second-round meeting with fifth seeds Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau. Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock beat Gilles Muller and Benoit Paire 6-4, 6-2 in 53 minutes to set a second-round clash with sixth seeds Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil.

Australian-Serbian duo Bernard Tomic and Viktor Troicki had few difficulties seeing off the Canadian wild card pairing of Felix Auger Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov. Tomic and Troicki won 89 per cent of first-serve points and were never broken. They next meet No. 2 seed Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares.

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Berdych Fights Through Coric At Rogers Cup

  • Posted: Jul 27, 2016

Berdych Fights Through Coric At Rogers Cup

Stepanek upsets Paire on Tuesday

Fifth seed Tomas Berdych rallied from a set down on Tuesday at the Rogers Cup to move into the third round over #NextGen star Borna Coric, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

The Croatian broke Berdych to start the match and never gave his opponent a chance to return the favour, dropping just four points on serve throughout the opening set. But Berdych responded strongly by going on a five-game run in the second set, breaking Coric twice to force a deciding set.

Little separated the pair in the final set, but it was Berdych who grabbed the lone break of serve to lead 2-1. He denied Coric any break point opportunities throughout the set and served out the contest on his first try, improving his record in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry to 3-0.

Next up for Berdych is the winner of the match between ninth seed John Isner and qualifier Ryan Harrison. Berdych has never played Harrison, but leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Isner by 6-2 and has won their past five matches.

Qualifier Radek Stepanek continued to turn back the clock at age 37 with a convincing first-round win over No. 14 seed Benoit Paire, 6-1, 6-3. Stepanek, ranked No. 129 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, saved all six break points against him during the match. The victory gave the Czech player just his second Top 30 win since June 2014. Next up for Stepanek is local wild card Peter Polansky.

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Rogers Cup: Britain's Johanna Konta defeats Shelby Rogers

  • Posted: Jul 26, 2016

British number one Johanna Konta progressed to the second round of the Rogers Cup with a straight-set win over American Shelby Rogers.

The 25-year-old, who won her first WTA Tour title on Sunday, won 6-4 6-2 in one hour 21 minutes in Montreal.

The world number 14 will play either Hungary’s Timea Babos or American Vania King in the next round.

Britain’s Naomi Broady will face Spain’s world number three Garbine Muguruza in the second round later.

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Tennis at the Rio 2016 Olympics: All you need to know

  • Posted: Jul 26, 2016
Olympic Games on the BBC
Venue: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Dates: 5-21 August Time in Rio: BST -4
Coverage: Watch on BBC One, BBC Four, Red Button and up to 24 HD video streams on mobile, desktop and connected TVs, plus follow on Radio 5 live and via live text commentary.

The sport in brief: There are five gold medals up for grabs – men’s and women’s singles and doubles, and mixed doubles. All matches are best-of-three sets – except for the men’s singles final, which is a best-of-five match.

Anything new for Rio 2016? Tie-breaks will be used in the deciding set in singles and men’s and women’s doubles matches. Unlike in recent previous Olympics, there are no ranking points on offer.

British prospects: Andy Murray is the defending champion and comes into the Olympics having won Wimbledon for a second time. Murray and brother Jamie have done well in the Davis Cup so will fancy their chances in the men’s doubles. Johanna Konta is having the best season of her career, while Heather Watson won the mixed doubles at Wimbledon.

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Who are the favourites? Besides Murray, world number one Novak Djokovic will be aiming to bounce back after his premature Wimbledon exit, and Rafael Nadal will be aiming to make amends for an injury-hit season. Defending women’s singles champion Serena Williams will arrive in Rio fresh from equalling Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles. She and sister Venus will be among the women’s doubles favourites, having already won Olympic gold in the event three times.

I didn’t know that: John Boland, the first Olympic men’s singles champion in 1896, did not have any tennis shoes with him so played in a pair of shoes with leather soles and heels.

Previous British medallists: Forty two (16 gold, 14 silver, 12 bronze)

Most recent British gold: 2012 – Andy Murray (men’s singles)

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Behind The Scenes At Washington DC 2016

  • Posted: Jul 26, 2016

Behind The Scenes At Washington DC 2016

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Roger Federer to miss Rio 2016 Olympics and rest of season with knee injury

  • Posted: Jul 26, 2016

Swiss tennis great Roger Federer will miss the Olympics and the rest of the season with a knee injury.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion said he needs “more extensive rehabilitation” if he wants to prolong his career.

Federer, 34, had knee surgery in February before missing May’s French Open with a back problem.

Federer said on his Facebook page he was “extremely disappointed” to not be representing Switzerland in Rio and it was “tough” to miss the rest of 2016.

“I am as motivated as ever and plan to put all my energy towards coming back strong, healthy and in shape to play attacking tennis in 2017,” he added.

Federer won doubles gold at Beijing in 2008, but has never won an Olympic singles title and lost to Britain’s Andy Murray in the final at London 2012.

Federer twice required treatment during a five-set semi-final defeat by Canada’s Milos Raonic at Wimbledon this month, but found a “silver lining” in his injury-troubled year.

“This experience has made me realise how lucky I have been throughout my career with very few injuries,” he said.

“The doctors advised that if I want to play on the ATP World Tour injury free for another few years, as I intend to do, I must give both my knee and body the proper time to fully recover.”

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Emirates ATP Rankings 25 July 2016

  • Posted: Jul 26, 2016

Emirates ATP Rankings 25 July 2016

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Shapovalov Reacts To Kyrgios Toronto 2016 Win

  • Posted: Jul 26, 2016

Shapovalov Reacts To Kyrgios Toronto 2016 Win

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