Tennis News

One of the top seeds at the 2015 Madrid Masters event is its defending champion Rafael Nadal, who will look to overcome a turbulent first quarter of the season to complete a successful title defence campaign in his home country of Spain. He will begin his week in the second round, where he will contest a intriguing match-up against Steve Johnson for the first time on the ATP World Tour.

The clay-court king has suffered some unexpected losses on the red clay this season. While Nadal holds 329 clay court wins to just 27 losses in his career, he has already compiled three losses so far this season on clay, two of which came against Fabio Fognini. He has only won 1 of four clay court tournaments this season on his beloved surface and is faced with the issue of confidence in himself and his abilities following another injury layoff.

Most recently, Nadal lost his third round match in Barcelona to Fabio Fognini in straight sets. It was surprising, given that took on his longtime rival Novak Djokovic in an entertaining semi-final battle the previous week in Monte Carlo, and while he succumbed to the in-form Djokovic 6-3, 6-3, it was a far more competitive battle than the scoreline suggests. Overall, while he was pushed to three sets against the likes of John Isner, Nadal finds solace in the fact that he was able to pull through various obstacles en route to the final four of the tournament.

Nadal’s first opponent this year in Madrid is Steve Johnson, who reached the second round of the tournament with a three-set effort against Colombian Alejandro Gonzalez. The American rallied from a set down, struck 11 aces, won 77% of his first service points and saved five break points to close out the match 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) in two hours and 19 minutes.

This will mark the first meeting on the tour between Rafael Nadal and Steve Johnson. Nadal will be highly motivated to work his way out of the recent slump and an impressive showing against the American is exactly what he will be looking to achieve.

Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka will attempt to alter his misfortunes on clay this season, as he is scheduled to face Joao Sousa in his opening match at the Madrid Masters. It will mark just the second time the two Europeans will meet on the World Tour following their first encounter last year at Wimbledon. Wawrinka leads the head-to-head series 1-0.

Following a turbulent first quarter of the season that included a first round loss at Indian Wells, a second round loss in Miami, a failed title defence bid in Australia and only one title to his name (Rotterdam), Wawrinka began his clay court season hoping for a positive upswing. Instead, he was handed a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing by Grigor Dimitrov that had him unceremoniously eliminated from the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters event.

The Swiss No. 2, who won Monte Carlo last season for his first ever Masters 1000 event, recently came public with personal issues that seemingly impacted his performances, so it will be interesting to see if he has adjusted over the past few weeks.
In a surprisingly swift effort, Joao Sousa downed Polish no. 1 Jerzy Janowicz in straight sets to advance to the second round of the Madrid Masters. The Brazilian withstood 10 aces from Janowicz, won 88% of his first service point and saved all three of the break points he faced to earn the 6-4, 7-5 victory in one hour and 27 minutes.

This is the second time that Sousa and Wawrinka will meet on the ATP World Tour and it could make for a very interesting contest. While Wawrinka won their only meeting on the tour last season at Wimbledon, the Brazilian is a far different competitor on clay. Given that Wawrinka has not been his best recently, this is certainly a match to keep an eye on Tuesday.

Following an impressive couple of days in Madrid, Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki are through to the third round of the Madrid Open, where they will meet to determine who will advance to the following stage. This marks the 12th time that the two competitors will cross paths on the WTA Tour, with Wozniacki leading the Head to Head series 7-4.

Seeded ninth at this year’s event due to her drop in ranking, Radwanska scored her second straight sets victory in a row this week with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Casey Dellacqua. The Pole was not broken once in the match and showed positive signs in her service games and movement. She is clearly motivated to perform this week in Madrid and the stats in her second round match make this abundantly evident; Aga won 71% of her first service points, saved all six of the break points she faced and needed only 69 minutes to earn the victory.

Later on in the day, Wozniacki was faced with a tougher match-up against Christina McHale, who forced her to contest a marathon opening set that lasted nearly as long as several other matches that day. She rallied from a break down at 2-4 to snatch the set 7-5. From there she stormed to victory with a bagel set to finish 7-5, 6-0. Unlike the grueling opening set, the second lasted a total of 24 minutes. Overall, she struck five aces, won 74 percent of her first service points and converted six break points to earn the victory.

This is the 12th time that Radwanska and Wozniacki will meet on the professional circuit with the Dane leading the head-to-head series 6-4. After Aga had won three consecutive encounters between 2012-13, Wozniacki won their most recent two meetings, one at the Cincinnati Masters event, while the other was during the Round Robin stage of the WTA Championship. Given that Radwanska is yet to find consistency, it is difficult to pick against Wozniacki.

It has been a turbulent few months for Agnieszka Radwanska. The Polish No. 1 has been on a disappointing trend of surprise losses and upsets that were anything but normal from one of the craftiest players on the tour. This week in Madrid, she was able to regain some of her long-lost fervor and secured her spot in the second round of the tournament. There, she will come up against Aussie Casey Dellacqua, whom she has only faced once previously on the professional tour. Radwanksa leads the head-to-head series 1-0.

Seeded ninth due to her drop in ranking, Radwanska produced a performance that fans had not seen in months, as she stormed to a 6-4, 3-0 lead against Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena before closing out the match six games later.

“Clay is not really my favorite surface, and every win for me is a good win,” Radwanska said. “I know Spaniards are very dangerous on clay, so I knew I’d have to run a lot today. We had a lot of good rallies. I think we had a really good match, so I’m happy I could win in straight sets today.”

Her opponent, Casey Dellacqua also needed just a pair of sets to advance to the second round of the tournament, as she beat Italian wildcard Francesca Shiavone 6-4, 7-6(5) to set up the rematch.
This is just the second time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional series, with Radwanska leading the head-to-head series 1-0. The Pole’s victory took place during a Wimbledon encounter last season, which does not add much to their upcoming clay-court encounter. While the Pole should find solace in her solid showing on Sunday, she will have to show consistency if she is to advance on a surface that she doesn’t find overly comfortable.

Following an excellent start to her 2015 season, which included title wins in Dubai and Indian Wells, and most recently reached the semi-final stage in Miami, Simona Halep was dealt a significant blow on Sunday when she was ousted from the Madrid Open in her opening round match.

Faced with the inconsistent game of French No. 1 Alize Cornet, many assumed that Halep would be victorious en route to the second round of the tournament. However, the Romanian played an off-colour match and eventually surrendered the contest in straight sets.

The former finalist at this event, who worked her way through a tough draw last year before she was denied the title by Russian superstar Maria Sharapova, was unable to rework some of that magic this season and once she lost the opening set tiebreak, she seemed to lose the remainder of her motivation. She eventually allowed Cornet to close out the affair 7-6(6), 6-3.

Cornet, who is ranked No. 28 and holds a 10-9 win/loss record so far this season, will come up against Italy’s Roberta Vinci in the second round of the tournament.

Halep was not the only player who was eliminated unceremoniously in her opening round match, as Eugenie Bouchard continued her disappointing trend with yet another first round loss, this time to Barbora Strycova. The Canadian was up 6-0 but still lost the match in baffling fashion, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 to Strycova.

The bizarre seeded action concluded with yet another untimely upset, as Angelique Kerber had her undefeated clay court run in 2015 snapped unceremoniously following a three set loss to Samantha Stosur.  The German lost the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Following a disappointing exit in Stuttgart, where she was a three-time defending champion, Maria Sharapova began her run in Madrid in more promising fashion, as she defeated the in-form Timea Bacsinszky to secure her spot in the second round of the tournament. She will next encounter Mariana Duque-Marino for the first time on the professional tour.

Sharapova, formerly ranked No. 2 before suffering her surprise exit in Stuttgart, played a solid opening match at the start of the day in Madrid on Sunday, as she beat Bacsinszky in the rubber match to settle the score. Timea had won their first ever meeting last year but now Sharapova has overtaken her with consecutive victories in their most recent meetings on the tour. The latest ended 6-2, 6-3 after Maria struck 28 winners during the contest.

“Facing an opponent I’d lost to previously in Wuhan in two sets, and someone that’s been playing really good tennis this year, I knew this would be a tough match,” Sharapova said. “There’s no doubt about this and I was ready after having a good practice week,”

In a Herculaen effort late in the day, Mariana Duque-Marino rallied back from a bagel set down against Heather Watson to defeat the British No. 1 following a grueling third set tiebreak. She won the match 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(11) after saving several match points and battling beyond expectations. It was an exciting, albeit rollercoaster affair that brought attention to Court 7. The Colombian will now look to follow up on the momentum when she challenges Maria Sharapova in the second round.

This marks the first time that Sharapova and Mariana Duque-Marino will cross paths on the WTA Tour. While the qualifier produced a strong showing in her main draw opener against Watson, Sharapova is an entirely different beast and will be merciless in her dissection of the Colombian qualifier.

It was not the most outstanding of weeks for world No. 2 Roger Federer, but he was still able to secure his 85th career title on Sunday afternoon at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner won his third title of the season following a straight sets victory against Pablo Cuevas. Federer stormed through the firsts set in 33 minutes but was slowed in the second set, where he fended off set point and required five match points to down the Uruguayan. In the end, he handed Cuevas his first defeat in an ATP World Tour final.

“It’s been a tough week; four tough matches,” said Federer. “I thought the final was my best one. I’m very happy. I’m very proud to be the first champion here at the first-time tournament here in Istanbul. In Turkey, I’ve had a wonderful week. On and off the court, I was able to visit the city a little bit, meet a lot of people, enjoy the crowd support and experience Turkey.

“It’s been crazy, in a good way, and I hope I can do it again one day. Right now, I’m just happy I was able to win the tournament. It’s always the best feeling for an athlete to be the champion at the end of a long tough week.”

Prior to his first meeting with Federer, Cuevas was undefeated in ATP World Tour finals (3-0) and on his way to a fourth. However, he was simply unable to secure his second title of the season. Instead, he took home 42,100 Euros for his effort.

“It’s difficult to face Roger, not only because of his game but also to stay focused on the game and not get distracted,” said Cuevas. “It was a very good experience for me, and I think it will help me in the future.”