Kitzbuhel 2016 Tournament Director Reflects
Tournament director Alex Antonitsch talks about the scenic backdrops in Kitzbuhel and the impact of Dominic Thiem on tennis in Austria.
Tournament director Alex Antonitsch talks about the scenic backdrops in Kitzbuhel and the impact of Dominic Thiem on tennis in Austria.
Italy’s Marco Cecchinato has been banned for 18 months and fined 40,000 euros (£33,500) for match-fixing, says the Italian tennis federation.
The 23-year-old world number 143 was found guilty of altering the outcome of his match against Kamil Majchrzak at an ATP Challenger in Morocco in October.
Riccardo Accardi and Antonio Campo have also been banned and fined for their roles in attempts to fix matches.
Accardi was given a 12-month ban while Campo was suspended for four months.
Cecchinato, who is able to appeal, was found guilty of “several other instances of sports corruption” and suspended until January 2018.
British number four Dan Evans has beaten 12th seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-4 to reach the last 16 of the Citi Open in Washington.
The 26-year-old world number 82 had three match points at 5-2 in the second set but Dimitrov saved all three.
The Bulgarian, ranked 40, then broke – but Evans held his nerve when serving for the match for a second time and converted his fifth match point.
He will play either Lukas Lacko or Jack Sock for a place in the quarter-finals.
Brit looks to improve upon impressive Wimbledon run
Daniel Evans’ blistering July continued at the Citi Open in Washington on Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-4 win against former Top 10 player Grigor Dimitrov. Evans, who reached the third round in Wimbledon, overcame a late slip-up to sweep the Bulgarian, who was the 12th seed at the ATP World Tour 500 event.
Evans led 5-2 in the second set and had three match points at 5-3 but Dimitrov raised his level to get to 4-5. Serving for the match a second time, Evans converted on his fifth match point when Dimitrov netted a backhand slice.
The Brit, No. 82 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will next face American Jack Sock or Slovakian Lukas Lacko in the third round. Lacko prevailed against Canadian wild card Denis Shapovalov, the Wimbledon boys’ singles champion, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4.
Read More: Wimbledon Junior Champ Shapovalov Ready To Transition
The 28-year-old Lacko converted his only break point in the third set to move past the 17-year-old Ontario resident, who was playing in his first ATP World Tour match. “It’s tough to talk about what I did well after such a loss, but I think I was going for my shots pretty well. For the most part I stuck to my game plan,” Shapovalov said. “I felt like he was just solid the whole match. He did not drop his level a whole lot. I think that’s what the difference was today.”
#NextGen player Yoshihito Nishioka moved past Ivan Dodig after the Croat had to retire down 6-2, 4-2.
“Today was very tough… I could see he wanted to play short points, go for forehand winners and service winners, so I did my best to lengthen the rallies and make him move,” said the 20-year-old Japanese, who trained in the U.S. from age 15 to 18. “[The U.S.] is like a second home to me. Everything is comfortable for me here.”
A trio of Americans also advanced to the second round in Washington. Donald Young overcame countryman Ernesto Escobedo 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 47 minutes. Young, who’s making his sixth main draw appearance in Washington, erased six of seven break points and won 84 per cent of his first-serve points.
The 26 year old is looking to surpass his best showing in America’s capital, where he reached the semi-finals in 2011 and 2014. He will next play third seed Bernard Tomic. Young leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0, with both wins coming on hard courts last season.
American Brian Baker edged past Aussie Sam Groth 7-6(3), 7-6(5). Neither player faced a break point in the contest.
American qualifier Ryan Harrison also earned a first-round victory, gliding past Frenchman Stephane Robert 7-6(1), 6-3. Robert was making his Washington debut and playing at a career-high No. 59 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after reaching the semi-finals in Hamburg last week (l. to Klizan, eventual champion). Harrison will look to achieve his best showing in Washington with a second-round win against 10th seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia.
Damir Dzumhur came out on top in a first-round battle on Tuesday at the Konzum Croatia Open Umag, upsetting fifth seed Nicolas Almagro after nearly two hours of play, 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.
Almagro had the advantage when he was able to play first-strike tennis, winning all 11 points in the final set when he got his first serve in. But Dzumhur had greater success in more neutral rallies, winning a higher percentage of second serve points (58 per cent to 41 per cent) and overall return points (40 per cent to 31 per cent). Next up for Dzumhur is the winner of the match between Thomas Fabbiano and wild card Franko Skugor.
In other first-round matches on Tuesday, Teymuraz Gabashvili didn’t drop serve once in defeating wild card Nino Serdarusic, 6-4, 6-2. Gastao Elias saved all seven break points against him in the second set to record a convincing win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-1, 6-2. Andrej Martin rallied from 0-4 down in the first set and saved a set point to defeat Sergiy Stakhovsky, 7-6(6), 6-4.
British number three Naomi Broady won her first WTA Tour main-draw match since April with victory in the Citi Open first round in Washington.
Broady, 26, beat American world number 70 Irina Falconi 6-3 6-4.
World number 84 Broady lost to Elina Svitolina in round one at Wimbledon and had not won on the WTA Tour since the Katowice Open three months ago.
She will face American second seed Sloane Stephens or Japan’s Risa Ozaki in round two.