European Open: Dan Evans beats Frances Tiafoe in Antwerp
British number one Dan Evans wins consecutive ATP Tour matches for the first time since February to reach the European Open quarter-finals.
British number one Dan Evans wins consecutive ATP Tour matches for the first time since February to reach the European Open quarter-finals.
France’s Ugo Humbert saved 10 of 12 break points on Wednesday to cause an upset at the European Open when he battled to beat second seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 33 minutes.
Humbert won the first three games of the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting and led 5-2 in the first set before Carreno Busta fought back. Humbert saved four breaks points at 2-3 in the decider and broke at 4-4 when Carreno Busta struck three consecutive groundstroke errors.
[WATCH LIVE 1]The World No. 38, who improved to an 18-11 match record on the season, which includes the ASB Classic title (d. Paire) in January, now plays American Taylor Fritz or qualifier Lloyd Harris of South Africa in the Antwerp quarter-finals. Humbert recorded the biggest win of his career over No. 5-ranked Daniil Medvedev at the Hamburg European Open en route to his first ATP 500 quarter-final (l. to Ruud).
Carreno Busta, who was making his debut at the ATP 250 tournament, reached the US Open semi-finals (l. to Zverev) for a second time last month. The 29-year-old is now 16-10 on the year.
Seventh seed Fritz was impressive on serve by withstanding 19 aces from fellow American Reilly Opelka in a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory over 67 minutes. Fritz lost six of his first-service points (39 of 44) and won 16 of Opelka’s 21 second-serve points.
Fifth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic recorded his fourth straight win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia for a place in the second round, where he will meet Briton Cameron Norrie.
Raonic struck 17 aces and won 40 of 44 first-service points to win 6-3, 7-6(4) in 86 minutes. Bedene, who hit 11 aces and won 31 of 36 first-service points, saved two match points from 15/40 when serving at 5-6 and Raonic bounced back from 1/3 down in the tie-break.
Raonic, who advanced to last week’s St. Petersburg Open semi-finals (l. to Coric) and his fourth ATP Masters 1000 final at the Western & Southern Open (l. to Djokovic) in August, is now 18-8 on the season.
Fourth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov meets Pablo Andujar of Spain and another Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez, tackles eighth seed Alex de Minaur of Australia during the evening session.
Jannik Sinner is playing the best tennis of his young career, fresh off making his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros. The Italian is still able to keep things in perspective, though. While he is enjoying success on court, there are millions in the world going through tough times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It has been a tough year. Every one of us is obviously playing tennis, but the most important thing is having friends, having family,” Sinner said. “It’s a little bit of a messy year, especially in Italy. At the beginning it was very, very bad. I tried to help a little bit, obviously [it was] not that much [in the big picture]. It’s tough to see the world, how it’s going on. It’s already changing, wearing the masks, keeping distance. It’s different.”
Sinner, in conjunction with his management company, StarWing Sports, and coach, Riccardo Piatti, donated €12,500 to Cesvi, a humanitarian organisation, to aid with medical emergencies in Bergamo, he announced in April.
The ATP Tour was suspended for more than five months due to the pandemic, so Sinner is thankful to be able to compete again. Action resumed in August. On Tuesday, Sinner won his first-round match at the bett1HULKS Championship against James Duckworth.
“The ATP Tour and everyone is [doing] an incredible job making these kinds of tournaments happen. Playing without a crowd, it’s not what we want at the end of the day, but I think they are [doing] an incredible job,” Sinner said. “Huge thanks to them, but it’s tough to see what’s going on.”
[WATCH LIVE 2]Sinner, the reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion, is at a career-high No. 46 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. The Italian lost against Rafael Nadal in straight sets at Roland Garros, but he impressively held his own from the baseline against the 13-time champion for most of the match.
“[It’s] just about improving day after day,” Sinner said. “Obviously it was a great test against Rafa on clay. I played well in the first and second sets and the third set he pushed more. He was playing better in the third set.”
Most 19-year-olds would be nervous to play one of the sport’s all-time greats on Court Philippe Chatrier. Beating Nadal on that court has proven as difficult as any achievement in sports. But Sinner’s mental approach proved key, and that is one of the reasons why the spotlight on him shines brighter daily.
“I felt ready playing against him,” Sinner said. “I went on court with the right attitude, which I’m trying to do every match and trying to improve day after day.”
World No. 528 Zizou Bergs pulled the stunner of the week on Tuesday evening at the European Open, battling past Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-5, 7-5 in his first tour-level match. To say the 21-year-old was excited would be a major understatement.
“I’m definitely a guy who loves emotions. I have amazing friends, amazing family and I’m playing at home in Belgium, in Antwerp,” Bergs said. “I just love the emotions. I love screaming it out. I love to see [the fans’] reactions. It’s just really why I want to play tennis, because I like the atmosphere… those are things that I live for. It’s the way I want to play, it’s the way I want to enjoy the games and it’s my nature, so I just love the atmosphere.”
Bergs was comfortable with his draw, despite Ramos-Vinolas having 459 more tour-level matches’ worth of experience. The Belgian felt he would have time to play his aggressive style against Ramos-Vinolas.
[WATCH LIVE 1]Although this was his first ATP Tour main draw match, he had played qualifying at the European Open on three previous occasions, facing Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Two years ago, he had two match points against Auger-Aliassime before succumbing in a final-set tie-break.
“Today I proved that I took the experience from the past times and I just kept fighting,” Bergs said. “Eventually things turned my way. It was very nice.”
Bergs saved two set points on his serve in the second set before Ramos-Vinolas, the 2017 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters finalist, served at 5-4 to force a decider. The Belgian, who has climbed as high as World No. 386, showed no fear of the moment, crushing a forehand winner to get back on serve. He never looked back.
“I think it was a great game. I knew I could play his level. I was training really good,” Bergs said. “Sometimes I was a bit surprised when I was playing the big guys in training how good in points it was with [my] results. The belief came and I was full of confidence. Although the results lately were not what I wanted in other tournaments, but I knew the level was there and I was actually very confident I could win today.”
The home favourite will try to continue his run when he challenges third seed Karen Khachanov in the second round.
Italian #NextGenATP star Jannik Sinner wasted little time in his first-round match at the bett1HULKS Championship on Tuesday, dismissing Australian James Duckworth 6-1, 6-2 in 61 minutes.
“Not many unforced errors, I served quite well,” Sinner said on court after his win. “I’m very happy about my first match.”
One year ago this week, Sinner was still outside the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. After reaching his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros, the 19-year-old is up to a career-high World No. 46.
[WATCH LIVE 2]The only moment of difficulty Sinner faced came in the second set at 2-2, a service game in which he needed nearly 12 minutes to hold. After getting through that game unscathed, Sinner broke in the next game when Duckworth missed a forehand volley wide. The Italian broke the Aussie’s serve five times in the match.
“I felt great on court, moving quite well,” Sinner said. “Obviously the second set there was one game when I was serving in which he pushed a little bit more the ball, so I was a little bit rushed. But I think it was a solid performance.”
Sinner will next play aggressive Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who rallied from a break down in the deciding set to eliminate American Tennys Sandgren 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours and 17 minutes.
Top seed Alexander Zverev will face John Millman in the second round after the Aussie defeated Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 39 minutes. Last week in Cologne, Verdasco beat former World No. 1 Andy Murray in the first round before falling against Zverev in his next match.
Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina recorded his 10th match win of the year on Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over qualifier Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 72 minutes. Last week, the 21-year-old reached the second ATP Tour semi-final of his career at the bett1HULKS Indoors (l. to Zverev), which was also held in Cologne. Davidovich Fokina now plays American Steve Johnson in the second round.
Lucky loser Oscar Otte advanced at his home event with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph against Austrian qualifier Dennis Novak.
Rafael Nadal confirmed on social media Tuesday that he will chase a record-tying 36th ATP Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Paris Masters.
It’s indoor season time… this picture was earlier today practicing at the @rnadalacademy … And yes… getting ready for #ParisBercy ??? pic.twitter.com/SajEB4JMEW
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) October 20, 2020
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic earned a record 36th trophy at the elite level at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. But with a victory in Paris, Nadal will be able to tie that mark.
Nadal will compete at the indoor hard-court tournament, where he owns a 19-5 record, for the eighth time. The World No. 2 has made at least the quarter-finals in each of his seven previous appearances. In his 2007 debut, Nadal made the final (l. to Nalbandian).
[ATP APP]The legendary lefty just won his 13th Roland Garros title, tying Roger Federer’s mark for most Grand Slam triumphs with 20. Nadal is 22-4 this season with two titles. The Spaniard did not lose a set en route to earning the crown in Acapulco or at Roland Garros.
Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev lost in the first round in Cologne last week. Their second try at the same venue was the charm on Tuesday at the bett1HULKS Championship.
The Zverev brothers defeated Dominic Inglot and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-4, 6-2 in 71 minutes to reach the second round. The Germans saved all three break points they faced and won 43 per cent of their return points to triumph. The unseeded duo advances to face back-to-back Roland Garros champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies or Spaniards Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Fernando Verdasco.
[WATCH LIVE 2]Australian Open finalists Max Purcell and Luke Saville continued their push for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals with a 7-6(3), 6-7(1), 10-7 victory against Felix Auger-Aliassime and Robert Lindstedt.
Four spots remain in the doubles field at The O2. Purcell and Saville began the week in ninth place in the FedEx ATP Battle For London.
FedEx ATP Battle For London: Doubles Standings
| Team | Points |
| 5. Wesley Koolhof/Nikola Mektic | 2,145 |
| 6. John Peers/Michael Venus | 1,810* |
| 7. Jurgen Melzer/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin | 1,535 |
| 8. Jamie Murray/Neal Skupski | 1,500 |
| 9. Max Purcell/Luke Saville | 1,425* |
| 10. Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah | 1,350 |
*Points entering this week’s play
British number one Dan Evans ends his five-match losing run by beating qualifier Salvatore Caruso in the European Open first round.
Britons Daniel Evans and Cameron Norrie both completed hard-fought wins on Tuesday afternoon at the European Open in Antwerp.
Evans hit nine aces to work his way past Italian qualifier Salvatore Caruso 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 55 minutes, including a solid serving performance in the decider for his 14th match win of the season. He will next challenge American Frances Tiafoe in the second round.
Norrie recovered from 0-3 down in the second set of a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Finnish qualifier Emil Ruusuvuori in one hour and 37 minutes. The World No. 70 now challenges fifth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic or Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia.
[WATCH LIVE 1]Elsewhere, Spain’s Pablo Andujar powered his way past lucky loser Federico Coria of Argentina 6-2, 6-3 in 82 minutes to set up a second-round meeting against fourth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Coria replaced Kei Nishikori, who withdrew on-site due to a right shoulder injury.
Eighth-seeded Australian Alex de Minaur will take on Richard Gasquet of France during the evening session.
Felix Auger-Aliassime lost Sunday’s bett1HULKS Indoors final in straight sets, slipping to 0-6 in ATP Tour finals. But his opponent, World No. 7 Alexander Zverev, had no doubt that it’s only a matter of time before the Canadian breaks through.
“Felix, you’re an unbelievable player. I know it doesn’t mean much right now, but I’m sure you are not only going to win one title, you’re going to win multiple, multiple titles in your career, bigger titles than this,” Zverev said during the trophy ceremony. “We know each other incredibly well… you’re going to be lifting a winner’s trophy very soon.”
The 20-year-old was left searching for answers after his disappointing performance against the top seed. After an impressive win against second seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the semi-finals, Auger-Aliassime wasn’t sure why he was unable to find his best tennis against Zverev.
“Tough to say. [For it to happen] again in a final, it’s tough. I don’t play good [in finals]. I’m not able to play my game,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It’s just tough to accept, so I don’t have much to say outside of I’m disappointed with my level today overall and I’ll try again.”
The Canadian admitted nerves might have played a role.
“For sure,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I’ll try to work and find away around it.”
One reason to remain optimistic is that at only 20, Auger-Aliassime has already played in six tour-level finals. When the Canadian made the Marseille championship match in February, he became the youngest player to reach five tour-level finals since an 18-year-old Rafael Nadal at 2005 Miami.
“That number is good,” Auger-Aliassime said. “But one day I’ll need to find a way to win one of them.”
Auger-Aliassime is the fifth seed at this week’s bett1HULKS Championship. He will play Egor Gerasimov in the second round.
