Briton Dan Evans surged into the Delray Beach Open quarter-finals in Florida with an emphatic 6-0 6-2 win against South African wildcard Lloyd Harris.
The 28-year-old British number three, a qualifier in this event, won the first nine games and secured a comfortable victory in an hour and eight minutes.
At the Rio Open, British number two Cameron Norrie lost a marathon second-round match to Jaume Munar of Spain.
World number 66 Munar won 7-6 (8-6) 5-7 7-6 (7-4) in three hours, 19 minutes.
Evans, who beat defending champion Frances Tiafoe in the previous round, faces Italian Andreas Seppi next.
Sixth seed Seppi beat Australian Jordan Thompson 6-3 4-6 6-1.
Daniel Evans on Wednesday advanced to his third tour-level quarter-final, defeating 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals alternate Lloyd Harris 6-0, 6-2 at the Delray Beach Open presented by VITACOST.com. The Brit has won four matches this week after coming through qualifying.
“Still a lot of tennis left this week and hopefully [I’ll] keep going,” said Evans before speaking of the windy Florida conditions. “I’m moving really well, I think. It’s just the way it is. I’m moving great and the wind actually suits my game quite well. It’s difficult to hit off the slice as well. I feel I’m playing good.”
Evans will play Italian Andreas Seppi for a spot in his third ATP Tour semi-final, as he is trying to stay undefeated (2-0) in the last eight at this level. The World No. 148, who upset defending champion Frances Tiafoe in the first round, has never faced Seppi.
“He’s a great player,” Evans said. “I love the way he plays. It’s going to be good fun.”
After his victory, Evans revealed to ATPTour.com the last time…
I missed a flight? Dubai in 2016. Just slept through the alarm.
I lost something important? My bank card last week. I had to borrow my coach’s credit card for the week. I had to close it.
Being famous helped me? Never helped.
I strung a tennis racquet? A long time ago, probably when I was a junior. It was pretty easy, I enjoyed it. Took me about 20, 25 minutes.
I cooked for myself and others? I can’t cook, don’t cook, won’t cook.
Favourite meal someone cooked for you? Chicken fajitas, pretty good.
I met a childhood idol? Tim Henman was here this week, so that was pretty good.
I shared a hotel room with another player? I shared an apartment in the pre-season this year, stayed in an apartment with some other players in Bradenton. It was a group of us, so that was cool.
I asked someone famous for an autograph or selfie? I would have been very young. Probably at a tennis tournament when I was watching. It was great fun seeing the guys who were the stars of the tournament at that time. It probably would have been Wimbledon.
Italian plays Johnson in the Delray Beach second round
In the first weekend of February in 2018, Paolo Lorenzi was in Japan for Italy’s Davis Cup tie against Japan, one he did not play in. Then 36 years old and No. 46 in the ATP Rankings, he hurt his left foot. The next week in Quito, Lorenzi broke the fascia in that foot, his first serious injury since turning professional in 2003.
“I think it was frustrating because it was the first time. I didn’t know what to expect,” said Lorenzi, who missed nearly two months. “I was thinking that when I came back on court, everything would be the same. I needed time and tennis players don’t want to wait. We want everything to be fast and easy, so it was something different. But I think it helped me grow up. You’re never too old to grow up.”
After returning at an ATP Challenger Tour event at San Luis Potosi at the end of March, things didn’t go as planned. Lorenzi lost four consecutive matches, winning just one set during that stretch. While he claimed two Challenger titles later in the year, in Sopot and Cordenons, Lorenzi won just four tour-level matches in 2018 after his return.
“I think that last year for me was tough because I was unlucky. In my tennis life I’d never had a big injury. But I had one for the first time,” Lorenzi said. “I know that it’s not easy, because I’m not young anymore, but of course I’m trying my best and I’m happy. I’m happy that I’m playing some tournaments and I’m happy to stay on the circuit. Sometimes you don’t think how lucky you are until you’re out.”
Lorenzi has found his best tennis later in his career. He first broke into the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings just before his 28th birthday, and he hit his career-high of No. 33 when he was 35, less than two years ago.
“To be there at the beginning of his career always at Challengers and striving to get to the Top 100, I think many players would have quit playing. He was always just working hard,” said fellow Italian Andreas Seppi. “Seeing him now at 37 at a good level, is of course inspiring. Physically it’s not easy, but you can see he’s still doing a good job.”
Lorenzi fell as low as No. 116 in the ATP Rankings after suffering his foot injury, and he currently sits at No. 105. Considering there are only three players older than him in the Top 200, one would expect it to be hard to battle back. But that’s not the case for Lorenzi.
“I love this sport. I love to wake up in the morning and go to practice. I like to play tournaments and I like the adrenaline of the match, so I think that’s the key,” Lorenzi said. “If you like what you do, that’s the most important thing. I’m lucky because my passion became my work, so I’m trying to enjoy it as long as I can.
“I think that I’ve always loved it. This is the key of my tennis life. I always say it doesn’t matter if I’m here to play an ATP Tour event or I’m playing a Challenger, I always love what I’m doing. I think this is the most important thing and to like what you do, you have to do it, if you can.”
Perhaps Lorenzi’s biggest win came at Kitzbuhel in 2016, when he earned his maiden ATP Tour trophy. The raw emotions of that victorious moment stays with Lorenzi to this day, the crown jewel of a successful career.
“I think I’m happy. When you start playing tennis you want to be No. 1 in the world, you want to win a Slam, at least if you tell me I would do this, I’d be really happy,” Lorenzi said. “I won one ATP Tour title, I was No. 33 in the world, I was No. 1 in Italy for one year. So I think that I really enjoy what I’ve done and I think I’ve done a pretty good job.”
In a meeting of past Rio Open presented by Claro titlists, 2016 winner Pablo Cuevas reached the second round after defending champion Diego Schwartzman retired with a right leg injury during their first-round encounter on Wednesday.
Cuevas, who was leading 6-1, 4-1 when Schwartzman was forced to shake hands, converted five of nine break points to earn a commanding lead on Quadra Central. Improving to 6-2 during the 2019 ‘Golden Swing’, the 33-year-old Uruguayan will meet Cordoba Open champion Juan Ignacio Londero for a place in the quarter-finals.
Taro Daniel recovered from a set down to beat Brazilian wild card Thiago Seyboth Wild 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. The Japanese saved five of six break points to reach the second round after two hours and eight minutes.
Daniel will meet Laslo Djere for a quarter-final spot. On Tuesday, Djere upset top seed and 2017 champion Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-3.
Robert Lindstedt, who turns 42 in a month, is not going anywhere. The Swede might be the second-oldest player inside the Top 100 of the ATP Doubles Rankings, behind only 45-year-old Leander Paes, but Lindstedt is not planning to retire anytime soon.
“It’s more fun now than it’s ever been,” Lindstedt said. “A year or so ago I realised it’s pretty amazing what we all get to do. We actually get to travel the world and do this. There’s a lot of pressure and a lot of training that goes into it, but everybody’s got to mature sometimes and I feel at almost 42, it’s about time I do it, too.”
The 2014 Australian Open champion has accomplished plenty in his career, ascending as high as World No. 3, winning 22 tour-level titles and lifting at least one trophy in each of the past 12 seasons. So why does he continue on?
“I question that myself at times, but you can always accomplish more,” Lindstedt said. “I chase titles at this point and it’s also a good feeling to be the old guy at tournaments and still win.”
Despite turning professional in 1998, before the likes of Denis Shapovalov and Alex de Minaur were born, Lindstedt is motivated by what he’s still able to do on the court. Just last year, Lindstedt partnered Dutchman Robin Haase to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, where the duo succumbed in four sets to Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor. Lindstedt is currently No. 53 in the ATP Doubles Rankings.
“I want to continue to be able to win titles. I still feel I have a deep run at a Slam left in me,” Lindstedt said. “I thought Wimbledon last year was going to be it. We had chances in the quarters. But I still feel like I have that lift. I feel like when Venus and Jupiter are aligned perfectly, those are going to be my two weeks. And that’s really why I continue. It’s all about the big moments. It’s impossible for me to not train towards that.”
During the off-season, the Swede spent some time with Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in Florida. The American twins have won 116 tour-level titles as a pair. So Lindstedt joked at practice: “I’ve hated them since ‘97, and that hatred has only grown ever since. They’ve stolen so much money from me, so many titles. We all know if they weren’t around, I would have had their careers… combined!”
“He’s had a very illustrious career. Three Wimbledon finals, he’s won a ton of tournaments with a bunch of different partners,” said World No. 1 Mike Bryan. “We’ve been playing him since the NCAA days back at Stanford, he was at Pepperdine. It’s been fun battling him for 20 years. He’s beaten us, we’ve beaten him. I’d like to think we’ve maybe won a few more times, but it was funny, we had those comments in December and he beat us in the first match of the year. He’s still playing some great, great tennis.”
At the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com, Lindstedt is competing with German Tim Puetz, with whom he last week made the New York Open semi-finals.
“My 75th year on Tour is coming along okay,” Lindstedt said. “I had a very good pre-season, so my body feels better than it has in a long time.”
So long as he is healthy, Lindstedt has no reason to stop. The Swede is trying to finish his 16th consecutive season inside the world’s Top 100.
“I think an injury will go like, ‘Nah, you’re done’. It’s just too much fun at this moment. [My fiancee] Tina and I, we enjoy traveling and being on Tour, so I am going to do it as long as I can,” Lindstedt said. “Every single friend of mine back home who has played, they all say the same thing. ‘Robert, don’t stop. Don’t be an idiot. Don’t stop’.”
Former world number one Angelique Kerber suffered a 5-7 6-4 6-0 defeat against unseeded Hsieh Su-wei in the last 16 at the Dubai Championships.
World number 31, Hsieh, who beat Simona Halep at Wimbledon last year, won 12 of the last 13 points to secure victory in one hour 44 minutes.
The 33-year-old Taiwanese next faces fourth seed Karolina Pliskova, who beat Alison Riske 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-5).
Third seed Halep saw off Lesia Tsurenko 6-3 7-5 to advance to the last eight.
The 2015 champion, third seed in this year’s event, won the first set in just 36 minutes and, after losing her serve in the ninth game of the second, won the next three games.
She will now await the winner between eighth seed Aryna Sabalenka and Belinda Bencic.
Current world number one Naomi Osaka, the reigning Australian and US Open champion, lost in round two to Kristina Mladenovic of France.
Mladenovic’s run ended with a 7-5 7-5 defeat in one hour 53 minutes against Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.
Second seed Petra Kvitova lost the second set 6-1 to American qualifier Jennifer Brady but won the decider 6-3 to wrap up victory in two hours 12 minutes.
Pliskova saved two set points in the second against Riske, who ousted 13th seed Julia Goerges in the opening round, and sealed her win in two hours four minutes when the American double-faulted on match point.
British number one Kyle Edmund said he was “sad to announce” that his coach Fredrik Rosengren is retiring.
The Swede became the 24-year-old’s coach towards the end of 2017.
“You’ve been an integral part of the team over the last year and a half,” said Edmund, who reached the Australian Open semi-finals in 2018.
“Together we’ve reached a top 15 ranking, Grand Slam semi-final and won a title in Antwerp in October. I will be forever grateful, enjoy retirement.”
Edmund, who was born in Johannesburg and grew up in Yorkshire, was beaten in straight sets by Tomas Berdych in the first round of this year’s Australian Open.
He has not played since because of a knee injury and he is currently ranked number 28 in the world.
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