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Mercedes Cup: Roger Federer beats Guido Pella to reach Stuttgart semi-finals

  • Posted: Jun 15, 2018

Roger Federer is one match away from regaining the world number one ranking following his quarter-final victory over Guido Pella at the Mercedes Cup.

The Swiss beat world number 75 Pella 6-4 6-4 in 67 minutes in Stuttgart.

Federer dropped just 12 points on serve and saved both of the break points he faced against the Argentine to claim his 14th consecutive grass-court win.

He will face Nick Kyrgios in Saturday’s semi-finals, after the Australian beat Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-4 3-6 6-3.

Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion, needs to reach the final to replace Rafael Nadal at the top of the rankings.

Elsewhere, Australia’s Bernard Tomic reached his first ATP semi-final for two years with a win over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco at the Libema Open in s’Hertogenbosch.

Tomic beat the fourth seed 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to set up a meeting with either France’s Richard Gasquet or Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.

In the men’s doubles, Britain’s Dom Inglot and Croatia’s Franko Skugor reached the final with a 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 10-6 win over Pole Lukasz Kubot and Brazil’s Marcelo Melo.

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Fantastic Federer Flies Closer To No. 1

  • Posted: Jun 15, 2018

Fantastic Federer Flies Closer To No. 1

Jun152018

The Swiss will face Kyrgios or Lopez in the semi-finals

Roger Federer is now one win away from reclaiming the No. 1 ATP Ranking from Rafael Nadal.

The Swiss No. 1 seed defeated Argentine Guido Pella 6-4, 6-4 at the MercedesCup on Friday in his second match since 24 March. Federer needs to reach the final in Stuttgart to guarantee his third stint atop the rankings this season, trailing Nadal by just 100 points entering the week.

The 36-year-old has doubled his victory total in Stuttgart this week after arriving in Germany this year with a 2-2 record at the event. One year ago, Federer fell against then-World No. 302 Tommy Haas in his opening match. This year’s Australian Open and Rotterdam champion is attempting to win a grass-court trophy for the sixth consecutive year. With his triumph against Pella, Federer has won 14 consecutive matches on the mown lawns dating back to title runs at Halle and Wimbledon last year.

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The Swiss showed his prowess on the surface, frequently swooping to net with swift aplomb against the left-handed Pella, who had not won a tour-level grass-court match (0-4) before this tournament. Federer lost just one point on serve in the first set, earning a break with a whipping inside-out forehand winner. He didn’t let slip the momentum, dancing on the grass to hit an inside-in forehand passing shot for an immediate break in the second set. 

The 17-time tour-level grass-court champion faced only one moment of difficulty, falling behind 15/40 while serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set. But Federer battled through with strong serving. He will next face talented Aussie Nick Kyrgios or 2017 Fever-Tree Championships winner Feliciano Lopez.

Did You Know?
Roger Federer got off to a career-best 17-0 start in 2018, before losing back-to-back matches in the Indian Wells final (l. to Del Potro) and his Miami opener (l. to Kokkinakis).

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Nature Valley Open: Britain's Katie Boulter loses in straight sets to Ashleigh Barty

  • Posted: Jun 15, 2018

Britain’s Katie Boulter went out of the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham with a straight-set quarter-final defeat by top seed Ashleigh Barty.

Australian Barty needed just 59 minutes to wrap up a 6-0 6-2 victory.

It was the 21-year-old British number four’s first WTA quarter-final, having beaten 2011 US Open champion Sam Stosur in the previous round.

Barty will play either Japan’s Naomi Osaka or Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu in the last four.

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Nature Valley Open: Britain's Dan Evans reaches semi-finals with victory over Brayden Schnur

  • Posted: Jun 15, 2018

Britain’s Dan Evans reached his second successive ATP Challenger semi-final with victory over Canadian qualifier Brayden Schnur at the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham.

Evans – who is continuing his comeback after a year’s ban for taking cocaine – won 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.

It marked the 28-year-old’s 15th victory in 18 matches since returning from his ban in April.

Four of those wins have come against players ranked in the world’s top 200.

Evans – who is ranked 530th in the world – will play either Spain’s Marcel Granollers in the semi-finals.

The former British number two reached the semi-finals of the Surbiton Trophy last week and the last 16 of the Loughborough Trophy at the end of May.

However, compatriot James Ward lost his Nottingham quarter-final against Belarusian fourth seed Ilya Ivashka 6-4 6-3.

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Dominic Thiem: 2018's Iron Man

  • Posted: Jun 14, 2018

Dominic Thiem: 2018’s Iron Man

Jun142018

Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers shows how the Austrian could be poised for a return to the Top 5 of the ATP Rankings

Dominic Thiem is the Iron Man of the 2018 season.

Nobody has played more matches (42) or won more total games (597) than the 24-year-old Austrian. He thrives on a robust schedule and has delivered a 35-9 record and two ATP World Tour titles, in Buenos Aires and Lyon.

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An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Thiem’s year reveals that he crafts his advantage more on the serving side of the equation than returning. Thiem is No. 1 on Tour this season in Service Games Won and has opened a considerable gap in this specific statistic over the rest of the Tour.

2018 Top 5: Service Games Won
1. Dominic Thiem 456
2. Alexander Zverev 416
3. Juan Martin del Potro 386
4. Kevin Anderson 374
5. Marin Cilic 358

Thiem has made 60 per cent of his first serves this season, winning 76 per cent of them. He has won 52 per cent of his second-serve points.

Not surprisingly, Thiem has also played the most service games in 2018. What will make you look twice is that he has played 103 more service games than fifth-placed Kevin Anderson.

2018 Top 5: Service Games Played
1. Dominic Thiem 533
2. Alexander Zverev 507
3. Fabio Fognini 442
4. Juan Martin del Potro 441
5. Kevin Anderson 430

Thiem has been a model of consistency this season, only twice failing to reach the quarter-finals out of 12 tournaments, while reaching four finals. Thiem has lost two matches in a row only once this season, which occurred when he lost in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, and then lost his first match at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome the following week to Fabio Fognini.

When we look to the returning side of the game, Thiem comes in a very close third with Return Games Won.

2018 Top 5: Return Games Won
1. Alexander Zverev 145
2. Rafael Nadal 144
3. Dominic Thiem 141
4. Diego Schwartzman 130
5. Fabio Fognini 126

When you look at the Austrian’s complete body of work, Thiem has outworked all opponents so far in 2018 to win the most combined serve and return games.

2018 Top 5: Total Games Won
1. Dominic Thiem 597
2. Alexander Zverev 561
3. Juan Martin del Potro 493
4. Fabio Fognini 469
5. Kevin Anderson 453

Thiem’s current ATP Ranking is No. 7, and he boasts a career-high ranking of No. 4, which he achieved in November 2017. By November 2018, he should be right back around his career best or possibly higher as he only has 22 per cent of his points to defend for the rest of 2018, including fourth-round runs at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Look for the Austrian workhorse to crack the Top 5 again very soon.

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