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Wawrinka Dominates Rublev In Chennai

Posted: Jan 06, 2016

Wawrinka Dominates Rublev In Chennai

Jan062016

Three-time champion into quarter-finals

Top seed Stan Wawrinka defeated youngster Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday at the Aircel Chennai Open. The Swiss moved past the 18-year-old Russian wild card in just under one hour to improve to 20-4 in Chennai. He is the two-time defending champion in the Indian metropolis and also took home the 2011 singles title.

The No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings was rock-solid on serve, striking six aces and converting over 80 per cent of points on both first and second deliveries. Wawrinka was equally menacing on the return, breaking Rublev three times on nine opportunities in the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

Next up for Wawrinka is fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who eliminated Croatian qualifier Ante Pavic 7-6(5), 6-1.

The 26-year-old Pavic, ranked No. 449 started strongly against the No. 27 Garcia-Lopez. The 32-year-old Spaniard was pushed to the limit by the underdog before sneaking off with the set in a tie-break after an hour.

Energized by the narrow escape, the 2005 Chennai semi-finalist raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set and closed on win on his first match point. In the quarter-finals, Garcia-Lopez will aim for a fourth win in 10 attempts against Wawrinka.

Also victorious was eighth seed Borna Coric, who eliminated American Austin Krajicek 6-2, 7-5 in 90 minutes. The Croatian broke Krajicek three times (3/10) and saved the lone break point faced to secure his third match win in Chennai and move into the final eight for the first time in India. He is slated to meet fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the next round.

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Edmund reaches Qatar quarter-finals

Posted: Jan 06, 2016

British number three Kyle Edmund beat Spain’s Daniel Munoz de la Nava 5-7 6-3 7-6 (7-3) to reach the last eight of the Qatar Open.

It is a first ATP quarter-final for Edmund, 20, who next plays world number six Tomas Berdych.

Yorkshireman Edmund, ranked 102nd in the world, is projected to better his career-high ranking of 99th when the new standings are released next week.

He is joined in the quarter-finals by world number one Novak Djokovic.

The Serb beat Fernando Verdasco 6-2 6-2, while world number five Rafael Nadal progressed with a 6-3 6-2 win over Robin Haase.

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Nishikori Pulls Double Duty In Brisbane

Posted: Jan 06, 2016

Nishikori Pulls Double Duty In Brisbane

Jan062016

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Thiem v Kudla Highlights Brisbane 2016

Posted: Jan 06, 2016

Thiem v Kudla Highlights Brisbane 2016

Jan062016

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Thiem Moves On In Brisbane 2016

Posted: Jan 06, 2016

Thiem Moves On In Brisbane 2016

Jan062016

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Aussie Duo Upsets Kubot/Matkowski In Brisbane

Posted: Jan 06, 2016

Aussie Duo Upsets Kubot/Matkowski In Brisbane

Jan062016

Duckworth/Guccione advance to semi-finals

The unseeded team of James Duckworth and Chris Guccione scored a 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 upset of third-seeded Poles Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski on Wednesday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. The Aussies converted on their lone break point to complete the upset in 70 minutes.

In the final four, they will face Grigor Dimitrov and Kei Nishikori, who booked their spot in the Brisbane semi-finals by knocking out last year’s US Open champions and top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 4-6, 6-1, 10-7 in 70 minutes.

In the bottom half of the draw, second seeds John Peers and Henri Kontinen were 7-6(2), 6-3 victors over Ivan Dodig and Sam Groth. They will now meet fourth seeds Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt or wild cards Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith.

Inglot and Lindstedt were 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-7 winners over Americans Scott Lipsky and Eric Butorac, while Reid and Smith defeated Mate Pavic and Michael Venus 7-6(1), 6-4.

Rojer/Tecau Dominate In Doha

Top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau needed just 43 minutes to overcome Teymuraz Gabashvili and Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-1 in the Doha quarter-finals.

The reigning Barclays ATP World Tour Finals champions did not face a break point and broke their opponents five times en route to setting a semi-final match-up against fourth seeds Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya, who downed David Marrero and Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-4.

Wild Cards Win In Chennai

The Indian partnership formed by N. Sriram Balaji and Ramkumar Ramanathan delighted the home crowd by defeating fourth seeds Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak 2-6,7-6(5), 10-5 in the first round. The wild cards only won 63 points to their opponents’ 72, but secured the win in 86 minutes after a Match Tie-break.

Third seeds Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin survived Aljaz Bedene and Treat Huey 4-6, 6-4, 10-5. Bedene and Huey took the early lead and saved six of eight break points faced, but succumbed after 79 minutes.

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Thiem Looks To Consolidate Top 20 Ranking

Posted: Jan 06, 2016

Thiem Looks To Consolidate Top 20 Ranking

Jan062016

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Thiem Targets Consolidation Not Domination In 2016

Posted: Jan 06, 2016

Thiem Targets Consolidation Not Domination In 2016

Jan062016

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Kyrgios beats Murray in Hopman Cup

Posted: Jan 06, 2016

Andy Murray lost to Nick Kyrgios for the first time as he suffered a straight-set defeat in the Hopman Cup.

Australia’s Kyrgios won 6-4 7-6 (7-5) in the team event, where Britain’s Murray is partnering Heather Watson.

Watson plays Daria Gavrilova later on Wednesday before the four players take part in a mixed doubles rubber.

Both teams won their opening ties in the round-robin event in Perth, which is a warm-up for the Australian Open in Melbourne, starting on 18 January.

World number two Murray, 28, won his first four encounters against the 20-year-old, including victories at the Australian, French and US Opens last year.

Kyrgios, ranked 30th, broke Murray in the third game of the match and although the Scot saved two set points at 4-5, a backhand winner secured the set for the Australian at the third opportunity.

Murray was broken from 40-0 up in the first game of the second set but immediately broke back.

The two-time Grand Slam winner had a set point at 5-4 but Kyrgios saved it with a fierce forehand and went on to close out the match in a tie-break.

Kyrgios and Gavrilova make up Australia Green – one of two squads representing the host country in the eight-team event.

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Broady wins controversial encounter

Posted: Jan 06, 2016

British number three Naomi Broady is into the ASB Classic third round after a controversial match against Jelena Ostapenko, who escaped disqualification for throwing a racquet at a ball boy.

Broady saved two match points to win 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 before an angry exchange with the Latvian at the net.

Ostapenko claimed her racquet slipped from her hand in the second-set tie-break and was let off with a warning.

Broady disagreed saying her opponent should be “straight disqualified.”

“You’ll see on the replay, there’s no way it was accidental. She threw the racquet and it hit the ball boy,” Broady told the umpire in an on-court exchange.

WTA rules state that “players shall not at any time physically abuse any official, opponent, spectator or other person…for the purposes of this rule, physical abuse is the unauthorized touching of an official, opponent and spectator or other person”.

Players can be disqualified for incidents by the umpire and fined up to $10,000 (£6,830) for each violation.

Former British number one Tim Henman was disqualified from Wimbledon in 1995 after accidentally hitting a ball girl with a ball struck in frustration, while David Nalbandian was thrown out of the Queens final in 2012 after kicking out at an advertising hoarding, cutting the shin of a line judge.

World number 88 Ostapenko, ranked 38 places higher than Broady, was allowed to continue after a tour supervisor was called to court, with Broady appearing to be near tears over the incident.

The Briton knuckled down in the third set, reeling off six successive games to snatch victory before becoming involved in an argument following the post-match handshakes.

“Jelena commented that my behaviour was terrible, which I thought was a bit out of order considering the events that had gone on in the match,” said Broady of the row.

Broady, who beat former world number one Ana Ivanovic in the first round, will now play American Sloane Stephens.

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