Monfils Bluffs Zverev, Delivers Hot Shot Washington 2016
Monfils Bluffs Zverev, Delivers Hot Shot Washington 2016
Jul242016
Karlovic will play in his 16th ATP World Tour final; Monfils, his 25th
Ivo Karlovic remained perfect on his serve in Washington and will play for his first ATP World Tour 500 title on Sunday. The 37 year old blasted 14 more aces and erased all five break points to beat American Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-4 at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center.
Karlovic now leads the tournament with 80 aces and has held all 43 service games. The 6’11” Croatian will face Frenchman Gael Monfils, who dismissed NextGen star Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-0 in one hour. Monfils controlled the match from the start, breaking the 19 year old to open the semi-final contest, the first of four service breaks the second seed would secure.
Monfils also landed nearly 70 per cent of his first serves, compared to 44 per cent for Zverev, who is the youngest player in the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. In the second set, Monfils dropped only three points (12/15) on his serve.
The 29-year-old will go for his first Citi Open title and his first ATP World Tour title since Montpellier in 2014. He also played for the Washington title in 2011 (l. to Stepanek). Monfils is 5-19 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals. Sunday’s match-up will mark his third final of the season (Rotterdam, Monte-Carlo).
He is 2-2 against Karlovic in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. It will be Karlovic’s first final at the Citi Open. He reached the semi-finals in 2007 but lost to Andy Roddick. Clutch serving and opportunistic returning ensured that Karlovic wouldn’t fall to another American on Saturday.
At 1-all, he saw a break point and converted. It was the only chance to break he’d have all set long as Johnson otherwise kept up his consistent serving. Up to that game, the 26-year-old American was 33/33 on his serve.
The second set mirrored the first when, at 1-all, Karlovic sliced a backhand service return past a charging Johnson to earn another break. He’d serve out the set with his 14th ace.
Karlovic will try to win his eighth ATP World Tour title on Sunday. He’s played in 15 finals, including the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships final in Newport on 17 July (d. Muller).
On Friday, Karlovic said that winning an ATP World Tour 500 event was one of his goals for the next few years. He’ll have a chance to cross it off the list on Sunday in Washington.
Slovakian improves to 9-0 in ATP World Tour finals
Martin Klizan and David Marrero won their second Konzum Croatia Open Umag title on Saturday, needing only 59 minutes to defeat Croatians Nikola Mektic and Antonio Sancic 6-4, 6-2. The Slovakian/Spaniard duo erased two break points and pounced on the Croatians’ second serves, winning 16/21 help them earn three breaks.
It’s Klizan/Marrero’s second overall ATP World Tour team title (Umag 2013). Klizan remained perfect in ATP World Tour finals: 4-0 in doubles finals and 5-0 in singles. Marrero improved to 13-14 in finals and won a title for the second consecutive week. He and countryman Marcel Granollers won the Bastad doubles title on 17 July. Klizan/Marrero will receive 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €25,070.
Mektic/Sancic were making their ATP World Tour doubles final debut. They had been 1-5 in ATP Challenger Tour finals. They’ll receive 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €13,170.
Spaniard to play Haase in Sunday final
Top seed Feliciano Lopez returned to the final of the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open for the first time in 10 years with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Dustin Brown on Saturday.
“It’s a long time since my last final here,” said Lopez. “I have great memories and it’s definitely a great feeling to be in the final here because it means I can still be competitive after 10 years.”
Lopez plays Robin Haase for the championship at this ATP World Tour 250 tournament. The Dutch player defeated 2007 champion and eighth seed Paul-Henri Mathieu in the second semi-final, 7-6(4), 7-6(2). He’s into his first ATP World Tour final since Vienna in October 2013 and now seeks his first ATP World Tour title since winning back-to-back tournaments in Kitzbuhel in 2011 and 2012.
Haase leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-1, including a 2013 semi-final win in Gstaad. “I’m very happy,” he said. “My goal is to win [tomorrow]. I’ve played him here before, I won and I hope I can take that as an advantage into tomorrow.”
The 34-year-old Spaniard needed one hour and 30 minutes to defeat Brown in their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. Brown, 31, was playing in his second ATP World Tour semi-final (Montpellier 2016, l. to Gasquet), and had beaten two former Swiss Open champions in his last two matches: two-time titlist Thomaz Bellucci (second round) and 2013 champ Mikhail Youzhny (quarter-finals).
“Dustin is a difficult player to play. He plays tricky shots, serves very good and has very good hands when he comes to the net. It was a tough match for me to play, but I think overall I had a great performance,” said Lopez. “I’ve played against [Robin] many times, so it’s going to be very tough.”
Haase saved four break points in his opening service game, but he and Mathieu traded routine service holds throughout the rest of the opening set to force a tie-break. The tie-break was even at 3/3 when a rain delay forced both players off the court. When they returned, Haase raced to a 6/3 lead and converted on his third set point.
The Dutchman earned the first break of the match by breaking Mathieu to love and grabbing a 2-0 lead, but the Frenchman fought back by breaking his opponent in the next game. They each held serve all the way to the tie-break, where Haase went on a four-point run to take a 5/2 lead and closed out the semi-final on his second match point.
Fourth Seeds Book Final Berth
Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos, fourth seeds in Gstaad, edged the unseeded Dutch-Austrian pairing of Sander Arends and Tristan-Samuel Weissborn 6-1, 3-6, 11-9 in the semi-finals. The Chilean-Argentine duo will face top seeds Mate Pavic of Croatia and Michael Venus of New Zealand in Sunday’s final.
British number one Johanna Konta is through to the first WTA final of her career after beating world number 12 Dominika Cibulkova in Stanford, USA.
Konta, ranked 18th, played superbly to win 6-4 6-2 and set up a final against Venus Williams or Alison Riske.
The 25-year-old Briton hit seven aces and dropped just six points on serve as she won in one hour and 14 minutes.
“It’s just a release of emotions,” said a jubilant Konta, who is still in the doubles with American Maria Sanchez.
“I needed to do a very good job of just focusing on myself. It was about focusing on breathing and enjoying playing in front of such a great crowd.”
Konta reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January, and again at Eastbourne in June.
She is playing her first tournament since losing to Eugenie Bouchard in the second round at Wimbledon last month.
Lorenzi spoke to ATPWorldTour.com after winning his first title
Paolo Lorenzi beat Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel to capture his first ATP World Tour title. At 34 years, seven months, the Italian became the oldest first-time winner in ATP World Tour history. It was his second ATP World Tour final, having finished runner-up in Sao Paulo in February 2014.
ATPWorldTour.com spoke to Lorenzi after his victory in Kitzbuhel.
How does it feel to be holding your first ATP World Tour singles trophy at the age of 34?
I think it’s great to win an ATP trophy. I don’t look at the age. I can say that I’m really happy and I don’t mind if it’s happening at 34.
When you were growing up, was it a goal of yours to win an ATP World Tour event?
When I was younger, I think the dream is to become No. 1 and win a Grand Slam, but of course it’s not so easy and only a few players can do this. But a goal of this year was to win one trophy, so this is great for me.
Did you have a different approach for this final compared to your other one in Sao Paulo in 2014?
I think I had a different approach because I already made it to one final. In Sao Paulo, I was one set up. Today, I was one set and one break up, but I was just thinking about playing my best tennis.
What are your goals for the rest of the season?
My goal was to play the Olympics for Italy, so I will go to Rio now. Afterwards, I will try to play more big tournaments with my ranking and try to do my best.
When you look at this season, what do you think has improved the most in your game?
I’m changing a lot. I’m still too far behind the baseline sometimes, so I need to be more aggressive. We’re working every day to try and do something more. I need to improve a lot of things, so this is just the start.
What do you think are the strengths of your game?
I think my mentality. During the match, I’m just thinking about what I have to do and trying to do my best on every point.
Who are the players you looked up to growing up?
Growing up, I liked Boris Becker because my brother was for Stefan Edberg, so we need to fight each other. I’m not enjoying the tennis like before because now when I see a player, I’m trying to study them. But before, it was Boris.
What do you like to do for fun?
When I have time, I read a lot. I read almost a book a week. And when I have a few days off for a holiday, I always go to the sea with my girlfriend.
Who has helped you through your career to get where are you today?
My family. My parents, my brother and in the last year my girlfriend have helped me so much, so I have to say thanks to them.
Canadian enjoys baseball experience
It was a night of firsts for Vasek Pospisil on Friday in Toronto as he threw out the first pitch at the Blue Jays’ game against the Seattle Mariners.
“That was the first time I’ve ever thrown a baseball in my life so I’m pretty happy with how it went,” said Pospisil. “It’s also the first time I’ve ever been to a baseball game so I’m really pumped.”
The Canadian is in Toronto ready to compete at the Rogers Cup, the sixth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the season, which begins on Monday.
Pospisil is looking for a return to form at the tournament where he made his breakthrough three years ago, when it was held in Montreal, by reaching the semi-finals (l. to Raonic). The 26 year old opens his bid against Jeremy Chardy and also competes in the doubles alongside countryman Daniel Nestor.
Top seeds Wesley Koolhof/Matwe Middelkoop won their second ATP World Tour title of the year on Saturday at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel, saving a championship point to prevail over wild cards Dominic Thiem/Dennis Novak, 2-6, 6-3 11-9.
“We had a few tough matches [this week],” said Middelkoop. “We won with four match tie-breaks. We learned how to deal with pressure and dealt with it in a good way.”
The Austrian pair opened the match by breaking serve and converted on both of their break point chances in the opening set. But the Dutch pair fought back, earning the lone break of serve in the second set to lead 3/1 and holding onto the momentum to force the championship into a match tie-break.
Thiem/Novak rallied from 4/8 down in the match tie-break to win five straight points, but couldn’t convert on their championship point at 9/8. Koolhof/Middelkoop won the final three points to take the title.
“To play against Dominic Thiem in such a big court and at such a big event is a dream come true,” said Middelkoop. “It was a big honour to play for that crowd.”
Koolhof added, “This was the first time I played in front of a big crowd like that [with 5,500 people in the stadium]. It was a great atmosphere.”
Koolhof/Middelkoop won their first-ever ATP World Tour doubles title February at the Garanti Koza Sofia Open in February. They split €25,070 in prize money and earned 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points.
Thiem was appearing in his first ATP World Tour doubles final and Novak in his first ATP World Tour final of any kind. They split €13,170 and 150 points.