British number one Dan Evans saved three match points in the deciding set as he reached the quarter-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
World number 37 Evans, back on court just 24 hours after his first-round win, secured a narrow 7-5 3-6 7-6 (9-7) over 79th-ranked Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
Evans, 29, came from 5-2 down to take the first set and trailed 4-6 and 6-7 in the deciding tie-break.
However, a Herbert error gave Evans victory after two hours and 46 minutes.
He next plays sixth seed Andrey Rublev, who defeated Filip Krajinovic 7-6 (7-3) 6-0.
Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame a familiar foe on Wednesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Five days on from beating Alexander Bublik en route to a successful title defence at the Open 13 Provence, second seed Tsitsipas defeated the Kazakhstani 7-6(1), 6-4 in one hour and 36 minutes for a place in the quarter-finals.
The 21-year-old Greek, who finished runner-up to Roger Federer in last year’s Dubai final, is now 9-4 on the 2020 season. He will next challenge Jan-Lennard Struff, who swept past Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 6-0 in just 39 minutes.
“Things were going quite well, although we reached the tie-break in the first set,” said Tsitsipas. “I knew I needed to serve well and takes risks, which gave me confidence. I experimented a little bit with other things in the second set. I’m trying to save as much energy as I can on court. I’ve had two two-sets wins this week and I need to keep the right attitude on the court.”
Bublik recovered from 15/40 at 5-6 in the first set, saving the first set point with a gutsy serve-volley play, and then an unreturned serve. But Tsitsipas was aggressive in a near-perfect tie-break to take the 54-minute set.
Tsitsipas dug deep at 3-4 in the second set, saving four break points, then gained a break to love in the next game when Bublik overhit a forehand. Tsitsipas completed his ninth match win of the year with a backhand slice winner.
Andrey Rublev needed to fight hard on Wednesday afternoon at the Aviation Club. The sixth-seeded Russian, who improved to 15-2 on the season, avenged his recent ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament quarter-final loss to Filip Krajinovic in a 7-6(3), 6-0 victory over one hour and 41 minutes.
Rublev recovered from 1-4 down in the first set, prior to saving one set point with Krajinovic serving at 5-3, 40/30. The Serbian hit a backhand approach only to see Rublev strike a forehand passing shot. Rublev closed out the tie-break with his fifth ace and dominated the second set, with Krajinovic winning only 10 points.
“He had so many chances, two breaks and serving with one set point,” said Rublev, who hit 32 winners in their fourth ATP Head2Head meeting. “There was no key, I was just lucky and broke back. It wasn’t in these conditions. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy as I lost to him two weeks ago in Rotterdam.”
Rublev will next play Briton’s Daniel Evans, who saved three match point in the deciding set tie-break of a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(7) victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France in two hours and 47 minutes. Herbert, who struck 17 aces, failed to convert match points at 6/4 and 7/6. Evans closed out with a forehand winner.
Nick Kyrgios accused the Mexican Open crowd of “disrespect” after he was booed off court following his first-round retirement against Ugo Humbert.
Kyrgios, 24, was only on court for 32 minutes before retiring with a wrist injury after losing the first set 6-3.
It was his first appearance since last month’s Australian Open because of wrist and shoulder injuries.
“I’m not healthy. I tried to come here, I tried to play,” said Kyrgios, who later swore during the news conference.
Kyrgios, who was defending champion in Acapulco, was 4-1 down when he called a medical timeout so he could receive treatment on his wrist.
He managed to continue and twice hold his serve, but after Frenchman Humbert saw out the set Kyrgios signalled that he was unable to continue.
Once the crowd realised Kyrgios was retiring, he was booed.
“I’ve been doing media for the tournament, been helping out,” added Kyrgios. “I tried to give the fans a little bit of tennis. And their disrespect?”
Kyrgios had not played since his fourth-round defeat by Rafael Nadal in Melbourne, where he had received praise for his improved on-court behaviour as well as his response to the Australian bushfires.
The Australian said he had “made progress as a human” after having been placed on a six-month probationary period and given a suspended 16-week ban in September for “aggravated behaviour” on court.
Santiago hosts first ATP Tour event in the country since 2014
At the Club San Carlos de Apoquindo, everything looks sparkling new. There’s a feeling in the air that only comes with a brand new tournament on the ATP Tour as tour-level tennis returns to Chile after a six-year absence with the Chile Dove Men+Care Open.
However, the scene in the Precordillera is one of perfect organisation. The tournament staff have also successfully hosted other editions of this tournament, with Tommy Robredo winning the most recent event held in Santiago in 2011. The Los Condes venue, both spacious and compact, allows concepts to be put into action that improve spectator hospitality, make it a fan-friendly event and ensure that everything meets expectations to satisfy the tournament organisers, fans and players.
Tournament Director Catalina Fillol acknowledged that the process leading up to the event had been both challenging and entertaining.
“Once you start to see everything you’re planning and imagining, it’s a nice feeling,” Fillol said. “For example, Court Central starts with the size, the seating plan… And that’s on a piece of paper, so seeing it in real life was exciting. It’s wonderful now to see it in action.”
The tournament is a family experience. Catalina is the fourth daughter of Jaime Fillol Sr., who peaked at No. 14 in the FedEx ATP Rankings in 1974. Fillol Sr. and his brother, Alvaro Fillol, ran the country’s biggest tennis tournament from 1993-2014, which alternated between venues in San Carlos de Apoquindo, Santa Rosa and Vina del Mar.
Since that last edition of this event at 2014 Vina del Mar, the goal has been to once again have an ATP Tour event in the country. From there came the SACS group (a Spanglish acronym for sisters, friends, brothers-in-law and members), which includes the five Fillol Haggstrom children and their spouses. The goal of organising themselves as a professional outlet started with ATP Challenger Tour events, allowing them to maintain the family tradition and bring world-class tennis back to Chile.
Their big break back came last year when Octagon, the company that owns the rights to this tournament and the Cordoba Open, was looking for a new city to host an ATP Tour event. Santiago was an attractive prospect with interesting ingredients. Tennis had become far more popular in Chile and the country had star power with local favourite Cristian Garin, who recently broke into the Top 20.
“Tennis has grown greatly here in recent years thanks to the new players. It’s a strong Latin Swing and Chile was a great chance to go back to a country with a lot of history”, said Jorge Salkeld, Vice President of Octagon. “With Garín in the Top 20 and a country that is behind the event… It’s the perfect combination. To him, it’s a great platform where he can play at home, which is always special.”
Catalina is one of the few female tournament directors in the world. She said it made her immensely proud to be the only one for an ATP Tour event in South America, but quickly pointed out that getting this event off the ground was a family affair.
“Setting up the event in two months was non-stop work… But here we are. The history continues,” she said. “Now our families are working at the head of the tournament and our children are supporting us. I have children and nieces and nephews working as ball boys and girls, others are doing accreditations, my niece is in hospitality. It’s unique and we’re passionate about it.”
The tournament has produced great moments throughout its history, with several former World No. 1 players competing in Chile including Rafael Nadal, Gustavo Kuerten, Carlos Moya, Marcelo Rios, Mats Wilander and Jim Courier. This year, Catalina expects that fans will rally around home favourite Garin, who won his first ATP 500 event last week in Rio de Janeiro (d. Mager).
“He was always a quality player. He had huge potential and maybe it took a little longer and more hard work, but it was something that we were hoping might happen and he is doing it,” she explained. “He deserves credit. He is showing that he has the presence, the game and the status to be there.”
With the semi-finals and final already sold out and the venue expected to host more than 3,500 people each day, the tournament is shaping up to be a week-long party in Santiago. As long as players and fans are enjoying themselves, Catalina will consider the event to be a success.
“If the players feel that they are having a good time, that they like it and feel at home… we’ll be more than happy,” she said. “We want it to be a sports event and also a show for the public. We’ve said that we want to create the best tournament in South America and we’re only just starting.”
Second seed Alexander Zverev shook off a slow start and rounded into form on Tuesday at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, moving past qualifier Jason Jung of Chinese Taipei 7-6(6), 6-1 to reach the second round in Acapulco.
”The longer the match went, the better I started to play,” Zverev said in his on-court interview. “My serve is something that I need to improve, but all in all, it’s the first round that I expected. It could have been a lot tougher.”
The German quickly trailed 0-3 in the first set after three double faults led to him being broken in his opening service game. He found the range on his groundstrokes and broke Jung at 2-4 to get the set back on serve, which eventually moved into a tie-break.
Zverev reached set point at 6/5, but squandered his chance with an ill-advised drop shot. A backhand from Jung at 6/6 found the top of the tape and Zverev grabbed the early advantage with an aggressive approach.
The second seed relaxed considerably in the second set, breaking Jung three more times to advance in 73 minutes. Last year’s runner-up (l. to Kyrgios) will face another qualifier in the second round when he meets American Tommy Paul.
Defending champion and sixth seed Nick Kyrgios saw his title defence in Acapulco last just 32 minutes. The Aussie was forced to retire with a left wrist injury against Ugo Humbert after the Frenchman took the first set 6-3.
Humbert moved to 10-4 this season, with the 21-year-old clinching his maiden ATP Tour title last month in Auckland. He’ll play Taylor Fritz in the second round after the American defeated Aussie John Millman 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
Fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime continued his winning ways with a tight 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over Aussie lucky loser Alex Bolt. The #NextGenATP Canadian bravely saved two set points on his serve at 4-5 in the second set before going on to prevail in one hour and 36 minutes.
Auger-Aliassime has won nine of his past 11 matches after finishing runner-up this month in Rotterdam (l. to Monfils) and Marseille (l. to Tsitsipas). Awaiting him in the next round is Brit Kyle Edmund, who took his second ATP Tour title earlier this month in New York (d. Seppi).
Fifth seed John Isner hammered 22 aces and didn’t face a break point in dismissing German wild card Mischa Zverev 6-3, 7-6(4). He’ll take on a qualifier in the next round when he faces fellow American Marcos Giron.
Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers looks at Nadal’s clutch play in close return games
The longer it goes, the more Rafael Nadal thrives.
An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of players who break serve the most after extending service games to Deuce identifies that Nadal has no peer. The data set includes players who have had a minimum of 100 attempts to break from Deuce in the past five seasons from 2015-2019.
Nadal is the only player to break through the 40 percentile barrier with this specific metric, breaking serve 41.39 per cent (382/923) of the time when pushing the game to Deuce. And once you isolate the Spaniard just on clay, that percentage fast approaches a dead-even contest.
2015 – 2019: Nadal Breaking Serve From Deuce Clay = 48.72% (190/390)
Hard = 35.12% (164/467)
Grass = 42.42% (28/66)
Combined = 41.39% (382/923)
Nadal has actually been above 50 per cent breaking from Deuce on clay in four of the past five seasons (2019, 2018, 2017, 2015), with the highest being 52.56 per cent (41/78) in 2018.
Andy Murray is ranked second overall in the past five seasons on all surfaces, breaking serve 38.10 per cent (253/664) of the time from Deuce. Murray is the hard-court leader in this category, breaking serve 37.56 per cent (157/418) on this surface from 2015-2019. The Brit was also the single-season leader in 2016, when he broke serve almost 44 per cent of the time from Deuce. The leaders over the past five seasons are.
2015-2019: Single Season Leader 2015: Rafael Nadal = 44.93% (93/207)
2016: Andy Murray = 43.86% (100/228)
2017: Yoshihito Nishioka = 48.84% (21/43)
2018: Rafael Nadal = 46.54% (74/159)
2019: Rafael Nadal = 41.12% (81/197)
Novak Djokovic sits in third place overall, breaking serve 36.62 per cent (377/1038) of the time from Deuce on all surfaces. 23-year-old Chilean Cristian Garin impressively sits in fourth position, breaking 36.25 per cent (58/160) of the time. Garin currently boasts a career-best FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 18 after winning the Cordoba Open and Rio Open.
The leading 10 players breaking from Deuce over the past five seasons are:
2015-2019: Breaking Serve From Deuce
#
Player
Break % From Deuce
Breaks Total
1
Rafael Nadal
41.39%
382/923
2
Andy Murray
40.38%
253/664
3
Novak Djokovic
36.62%
377/1038
4
Cristian Garin
36.25%
58/160
5
Damir Dzumhur
35.82%
197/550
6
Yoshihito Nishioka
35.14%
104/296
7
Richard Gasquet
35.07%
229/653
8
Fabio Fognini
34.14%
267/782
9
David Goffin
34.10%
313/918
10
Diego Schwartzman
34.06%
264/775
Pushing the server to Deuce is not an easy task in itself. These players are the best of the best at going the extra step and securing the break after an extended arm wrestle to Deuce and beyond.
Seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov wasted no time getting down to business on Tuesday at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, powering past Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina 6-3, 6-3 to reach the second round in Acapulco.
“Amazing crowd out here. It’s a very special tournament for me,” Dimitrov said in his on-court interview. “I was glad to get it going again as I haven’t played in a while and am happy to get that first win.”
The Bulgarian won 92 per cent of his first-serve points (24/26) and broke Dzumhur three times to advance in 74 minutes. Dimitrov now looks for his first quarter-final of the season when he meets Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the next round.
Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez continued his outstanding form with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 victory over Moldovan Radu Albot. The 22-year-old entered this season having never won a tour-level match, but has prevailed in all five of his opening-round matches this year. Next up for Martinez is a second-round clash with third-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka.
Soonwoon Kwon outlasted Japanese lucky loser Taro Daniel 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. The 22-year-old South Korean sits at a career-high FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 76 after reaching three quarter-finals this month in Pune, New York and Delray Beach. He awaits the winner of eighth-seeded Serbian Dusan Lajovic and American Steve Johnson.
Top seed Rafael Nadal begins his Acapulco campaign on Tuesday night. The two-time champion (2005, 2013) starts with an all-Spanish battle against Pablo Andujar.
Britain’s Katie Boulter is through to the third round of the Mexico Open after coming back from a set down to beat lucky loser Francesca di Lorenzo.
Boulter, 23, defeated Di Lorenzo 2-6 6-3 6-2 after the 22-year-old American had replaced Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, who withdrew through illness.
She will now face China’s Lin Zhu in the last 16.
Fellow Briton Heather Watson plays Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko in the second round on Wednesday.
Boulter, who was the British number two before suffering a stress fracture in her back last year, has slipped to 394th in the world rankings after reaching a career-high 82 in February 2019.
Andy Murray could return to the tour as early as next month, but admits there is also a real possibility he may need a further operation.
The Scot has not played since November because of a bruise on his pelvic bone.
The former world number one says the last few months have been “unbelievably complex, challenging and difficult”.
Murray, 32, now believes his lack of progress is caused by a common side effect of the hip resurfacing operation he had in January 2019.
The three-time Grand Slam champion resumed practice and running a few days ago.
He says the next few weeks will determine whether he needs another operation, or will be able to return to the ATP Tour – potentially as soon as the Miami Open at the end of next month.
“I have not had lots of clarity as to what the issue actually is, because it is difficult to tell,” Murray said.
“What I need to do just now is build up in these next couple of weeks to really test it. I will really test the hip out. Hopefully it responds fine.
“I should know by the end of next month whether I’m good to play or not with it. But I think I am now at a point where we’re pretty sure as to what is going on.”
‘I want to keep playing – it’s just whether I’m able to’
Murray was diagnosed with a mild bruise on his pelvic bone after beating Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands in Great Britain’s opening tie of November’s Davis Cup Finals in Madrid.
A month earlier, he had won the European Open in Antwerp to claim his first singles title since 2017.
But he continued to experience discomfort in the groin area into the new year, and now believes that was caused by bone growing in soft tissue around his new metal hip.
The medical term is heterotopic ossification, but it is difficult to be absolutely certain as a scan of a metal hip can be hard to interpret.
Murray hopes rest has allowed the condition to stabilise – and that he will now be in a position to resume his career.
But he accepts an operation to remove the growth may be necessary.
To further complicate matters, Murray has been told the bone could continue to grow for another few months. That means any operation is likely to be delayed, which in turn would almost certainly rule him out of Wimbledon and the defence of his Olympic singles title in Tokyo.
“The issue is if you try to remove that too early, while it is still active in the process of growing, it just grows straight back,” he continued.
“If I have to have that removed because it is what is causing the problem, then that is a pain … It’s not that long an operation really in terms of the rehab and stuff. But it’s just if I wasn’t able to have it until May or whatever, with six to eight weeks’ rehab, then that would mean missing that period.”
The best case scenario, though, is to imagine Murray’s name appearing in the draw for the Miami Open, which begins in Florida on 25 March.
“There’s no reason not to, because I don’t have an injury as such. It’s just whether that settles with time and the body gets used to it, and whether you are able to manage it when playing.
“I would [then] play on clay, for sure. If physically I am fine and this responds well to the training again, there is no reason for me not to. In many ways, the clay should actually be better for a metal joint because it is softer impact-wise.
“I do want to keep playing. It’s just whether I’m able to or not is the question. I want to play in the Slams again. That’s what excites me and interests me. That is the thing that I have missed over these last few years.
“Missing the Australian Open for me this year was rough. At the end of last season I was actually starting to play pretty well, I was feeling good – and then this happened.
“From chatting about it, I feel it’s [coming across as] really negative. The negative thing for me would be if something really bad was wrong with the prosthesis. But there hasn’t been any problem with that at all.
“I might be playing in the next few weeks. That’s what I hope, but over the last couple of years I have become quite pessimistic about time frames and stuff because of what has gone on, and what has been said to me.”
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina came within two points of defeat on Tuesday, before claiming a 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 victory against Andrej Martin at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open.
The #NextGenATP Spaniard, who trailed Martin 5/4 in the second-set tie-break, saved eight of 11 break points to record his second tour-level win of the year. It is Davidovich Fokina’s first victory since reaching the Australian Open second round last month.
The 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier will meet top seed Cristian Garin in the second round. Garin enters his home tournament on a nine-match winning streak, following title runs in Cordoba and Rio de Janeiro.
Juan Ignacio Londero headlined the night session with a 6-4, 6-2 win in his all-Argentine clash with Federico Coria. The fifth seed moved to 6-3 during the Latin Swing and set up a second-round clash with #NextGenATP Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild.
Seventh seed Federico Delbonis reached the second round at an ATP Tour event in South America for the third straight week, beating Martin Klizan 6-1, 7-6(5). The Argentine will face Salvatore Caruso for a spot in the quarter-finals. Caruso beat Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia 6-2, 6-3 in 79 minutes.
Eighth seed Thiago Monteiro rallied from a set down to defeat Leonardo Mayer 6-7(0), 6-3, 6-4. The Brazilian saved each of the five break points he faced and will meet Roberto Carballes Baena in the second round. Carballes Baena overcame countryman Jaume Munar 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in his opening-round match on Monday.
Alejandro Tabilo delighted the home crowd with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Italian Paolo Lorenzi. The 22-year-old has jumped more than 420 spots in the FedEx ATP Rankings over the past 12 months and sits at a career-high standing of No. 166. Next up for Tabilo is second-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud, who captured his maiden ATP Tour crown two weeks ago in Buenos Aires (d. Sousa).
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