Raonic, Johnson Advance On Tuesday Tokyo 2017 Highlights
Raonic, Johnson Advance On Tuesday Tokyo 2017 Highlights
Oct032017
Alexander Zverev inched closer to clinching his debut appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals in London on Tuesday.
The second seed started his China Open with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory against 22-year-old Kyle Edmund of Great Britain in a match that finished after midnight local time. The 20-year-old Zverev broke in the third and ninth games of the first set.
Edmund raised his level in the second set and had a set point on his racquet at 5-4 after breaking Zverev. But the German broke back and sprinted through the tie-break, winning the final four points for the straight-sets win.
Zverev improves to 2-0 against Edmund in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. The 6’6” German is in third place in the Emirates ATP Race To London with 4,220 points, behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Fourth-placed Dominic Thiem, who lost on Tuesday in Tokyo, is 505 points behind Zverev.
The Hamburg native will next meet Italian Fabio Fognini. Zverev leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 1-0, a 6-3, 6-3 win earlier this year in Rome en route to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title.
World number one Rafael Nadal saved two match points as he came from a set down to beat France’s Lucas Pouille in the first round of the China Open.
Nadal, making his first appearance since last month’s US Open win, was 4-6 down in the second set tie-break before winning four consecutive points.
The Spaniard, 31, then converted his only break point of the match in the final set to win 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-5.
“I am very, very happy to be through,” said Nadal.
“He played well, I think, very aggressive. He’s serving well. For me it was a little bit difficult at the beginning, then I started to play better.
“But still, I didn’t have the control of the match for almost all the time.”
Nadal, who won his 16th Grand Slam title in New York three weeks ago, goes on to play Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the next round.
Elsewhere in Beijing, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios beat Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1 6-2, Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov beat Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur 6-1 3-6 6-3 and Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro is also through after a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win against Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.
American John Isner reached the second round with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri, while Czech Tomas Berdych beat American Jared Donaldson 6-3 0-6 6-2.
In Tokyo, Canada’s Milos Raonic made his return to action following a wrist problem with a 6-3 6-4 win over Serbia’s Viktor Troicki at the Japan Open.
“It was a good match for me in a lot of ways disciplined, competed well – considering the circumstances,” said Raonic, who missed the US Open during a seven-week lay-off.
“The injury developed over the past 10 years, the pain had been manageable. But I hit a breaking point and the pain was not tolerable.”
British number one Johanna Konta has pulled out of next week’s Hong Kong Open with a foot injury, but hopes to return in Moscow the following week.
Konta, 26, currently holds the eighth and final qualifying position for this month’s season-ending WTA Finals.
Losing to Monica Niculescu in this week’s China Open took her losing streak to five matches and opened the door for other players to overtake her.
Her Finals place could be sealed depending on results at the China Open.
She was beaten by Romania’s world number 65 Niculescu in her opening match in Beijing on Sunday, continuing a winless run that will now extend to at least eight weeks.
The world number seven described herself as “very disappointed” after a left-foot injury forced her to pull out of Hong Kong.
The WTA Finals get under way in Singapore on 22 October, and Konta might still need to earn points in Moscow the week before to secure her place.
She missed out on qualifying for the first time on the last day of the regular season in 2016.
Rafael Nadal returned to tour-level action with a dramatic victory on Tuesday, saving two match points to oust Frenchman Lucas Pouille 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 at the China Open in Beijing.
The top-seeded Spaniard was down 4/6 in the second-set tie-break, but won four consecutive points to even the match at one set-all. In the decider, Nadal earned his lone break of the match in the 11th game and served out the first-round contest a game later to 15.
The World No. 1 extends his match win streak to eight after reeling off seven in a row last month to win the US Open, his 16th Grand Slam title. The Spaniard, a 2005 champion in Beijing, improves to 21-5 in the Chinese capital.
Pouille had won their most recent FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting and their only prior match-up on hard courts, outlasting Nadal in a fifth-set tie-break during the fourth round of the 2016 US Open. The Frenchman was aggressive in Beijing as well, blasting 46 winners to 47 unforced errors.
But it was the World No. 1 who steadied his nerves the most in the big moments. Nadal finished 10/10 at the net and converted his lone break opportunity in the third set.
The top seed will next face #NextGenATP Karen Khachanov or Chinese wild card Di Wu.
Maria Sharapova beat fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova in three sets to reach the China Open third round.
The five-time Grand Slam champion, ranked 104th in the world, beat world number 33 Makarova 6-4 4-6 6-1.
Wildcard entry Sharapova will next play Romanian world two Simona Halep, who was leading 6-2 2-1 when Slovak opponent Magdalena Rybarikova retired with illness.
Halep lost to Sharapova in the US Open first round in August.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat America’s Varvara Lepchenko 6-4 6-4 in Beijing.
The Czech 12th seed will play Denmark’s world number six Caroline Wozniacki in the next round.
London hope Querrey falls to Gasquet in opener
Milos Raonic made a winning return to the ATP World Tour on Tuesday after a seven-week absence. The Canadian settled quickly on Centre Court at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, where he is a three-time finalist (2012-14), to triumph 6-3, 6-4 and extend his FedEx ATP Head2Head lead to 6-1 over Viktor Troicki of Serbia. Third seed Raonic struck 16 aces, breaking serve in the sixth game of the first set and third game of the second set in a 72-minute encounter.
“It was a good match for me in a lot of ways, disciplined and competed well – considering the circumstances,” said Raonic. “I couldn’t hit over a backhand, but I made the most of it.”
Raonic, who underwent left wrist surgery in August [the week between the Western & Southern Open and the US Open], is now 28-11 on the year that includes two final runs at Delray Beach (W/O vs. Sock) and Istanbul (l. to Cilic).
“The injury developed over the past 10 years, the pain had been manageable, but I hit a breaking point and the pain was not tolerable,” said Raonic. “The surgery was not structural, more taking away swelling. It’s been frustrating, having more than a dozen injuries that have kept me away from tennis.”
He will next face 2015 Tokyo runner-up Benoit Paire of France or Japan’s Yuichi Sugita, who is enjoying a career-best season.
France’s Richard Gasquet won his third straight match in four meeting against sixth seed Sam Querrey, to dent the American’s hopes of adding valuable points in the Emirates ATP Race To London for a place at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.
Gasquet, the 2007 finalist, saved all five break points he faced to knock out Querrey 6-4, 7-6(2) in 89 minutes for his 22nd match win of the season. Querrey is currently No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, with eight other contenders – competing this week in Tokyo or at the China Open in Beijing – all hoping to join Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the English capital.
Gasquet will now await the winner of Japanese wild card Taro Daniel or Yen-Hsun Lu Chinese Taipei.
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Cameron Norrie entered the final week of July at No. 275 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. What the Brit has done since is nothing short of remarkable. Norrie clinched his second ATP Challenger Tour crown on Sunday in Tiburon, soaring to a career-high No. 136. He has now won 21 of his last 25 matches, including a 6-2, 6-3 win over Tennys Sandgren for the title. The former Texas Christian University standout had won his maiden title in Binghamton two months ago.
Take a bow, @cam_norrie! Champion at @TiburonChallngr with a 62 63 win over Tennys Sandgren. Second #ATPChallenger ? for the ??. pic.twitter.com/7MWMZv0LPH
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) October 2, 2017
A second trophy for you, Cam. Compare where you are now to where you were before Binghamton.
Ranking wise, I feel I am making improvements. I am coming forward a bit more and my volleys have gotten better. I just feel way more confident now and there’s a place in the Top 100 that I have a very good chance of making. I’m enjoying my tennis and working to improve every day. I’m in a good place mentally.
On a grander scale, how is your body holding up in doing this week in and week out?
My body is perfect. It’s been a physical week and it’s good shape. I haven’t really given myself a chance to test it mentally because I haven’t played too many tournaments in a row. In the grass-court season, I did it slightly but it’s different because they weren’t many Challengers. I’m going to see how these tournaments pan out and I know I’m going to go away mentally at some point, but I’ll test it and see how far I can go while sustaining my level. It will be a good learning curve over the next couple of tournaments and going into the indoor swing as well. I’m looking forward to that.
In the Tiburon final, you’ve known that Tennys has the ability to track down many balls. It looked like he was struggling with depth early and you were being more aggressive. Then, it switched early in the second set. What adjustments did you have to make?
At the end of the first and start of the second, I was winning the majority of the longer rallies. That’s what [coach] Facu [Lugones] told me. Tennys enjoys those long points and that’s how he wins most of his matches. He started to overpress slightly and that’s how I broke him. At the start of the second, he came at me very aggressively and I managed to absorb his pace and battle through a couple of tough service games. It was a good match and very clean for me.
It looked like a routine scoreline, but it was far from it. What happened with all those double faults? You had six in two games.
I have no idea where that came from. My second serve completely went away there. I tightened up a little bit and started thinking about the future and about winning the tournament. I need to stay in the present and relax a little bit. I’ve hit millions of second serves in my life. I know I can do it, but I managed to bring it back mentally. I didn’t hit any more at the end of the match. I’ve been struggling with double faults all tournament, but I managed to bring it back each time. I’m really proud with where my focus is.
What did you learn about going from Binghamton to Lexington in July, in terms of how you comport yourself the week after winning a Challenger?
It’s going to be tough and I’ve played a lot of matches. In Lexington, I didn’t play a great match right after winning the title, so I know what to expect now. I just want to take this momentum into the next tournament. I know not to panic. In my first match in Lexington I was getting down on myself, so I know to just relax and focus on my game and let things happen. There’s going to be ups and downs.
What are you doing to celebrate?
I’m going to San Francisco with one of my good friends, one of my old teammates at TCU. Then, I’m leaving for [the Challenger in] Stockton. I’ll enjoy it now and get back on the road to prepare for my next match. Not much celebrating, but hopefully after the next tournament.
It’s family first for Belgian
For Steve Darcis, the future is now. The Belgian isn’t dwelling on a mid-season slump, during which he won just two of nine matches from Roland Garros through Wimbledon. He’s also not thinking about what could have been due to lost time.
On Monday, Darcis cruised past Emirates ATP Rankings No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta 6-0, 6-4 in the first round of the China Open, continuing his reversal of fortune. Last week, Darcis defeated Ze Zhang before falling to World No. 4 Zverev, 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in a tightly contested second-round match at the Shenzhen Open.That performance followed his Davis Cup heroics, where he pushed Nick Kyrgios to five sets before winning the decisive rubber against Jordan Thompson to lead Belgium into the Davis Cup final against France.
Monday’s victory over the recent US Open semi-finalist Carreno Busta is the result of a two-year effort to produce better outcomes as Darcis enters the next phase of his career. In May, at 33, Darcis achieved a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 38 after reaching the Istanbul quarter-finals and winning the Bordeaux Challenger. And although he endured lean times in June through August, Darcis seems to have recaptured some of his best form.
“Physically, I’ve improved with my new coach,” Darcis said. “We’re a good fit. Since I’ve improved physically, I’ve also managed to better my on-court game.”
Instead of lamenting the heart-breaking loss to Zverev in Shenzhen, Darcis is instead focusing on what he can accomplish this week in Beijing. “You have to fight all the time,” Darcis said. “Sometimes, you suffer a tough loss, like I did last week against Zverev. Of course, that loss stays in your mind, but you have to move past it as soon as possible. The key is to have no regrets and to fight as hard as you can.”
Darcis might have a chance to erase that result from his memory and exact revenge against Zverev should both players reach this week’s semi-finals. Zverev, the China Open’s second seed, meets England’s Kyle Edmund, and is positioned in the same half of the Beijing draw as Darcis.
Darcis would relish the opportunity to face the rising star again, rather than back down from it.
“It’s a big deal; that’s why you take up tennis — to play big matches on the big courts,” Darcis said. “One day, [Zverev] will be the World No. 1. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish off last week’s match, despite so many chances, but I was very happy with how I played.”
Besides Zverev, Darcis fancies his chances against other Top-10 players. “There isn’t much of a difference between Top-10 and Top-30 players,” Darcis said. “[Top-10 players] are just more stable throughout the year; that’s why they are in the Top 10. I have chances against a lot of guys; I can cause problems against a lot of my opponents. Even though I lost against ‘Sascha’ last week, I still feel like I accomplished something.”
The recent return to form comes after Darcis missed a significant chunk of the summer swing due to injury and personal matters. The Belgian was forced to retire during his second-round match against David Ferrer at Wimbledon due to a back injury. He remained inactive for a month before returning at the Meerbusch Challenger in Germany.
“This year, it wasn’t so much the injuries,” Darcis said. “I had a back problem at Wimbledon, but my daughter also had surgery and I had to attend to that. When you have a family, you have to be at home. It’s family first, then tennis.”
Through it all, Darcis has managed to remain strong, play at a high level and maintain a solid spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings. “I’m happy to be able to have stayed in the Top 100, considering the few number of tournaments I was able to play,” Darcis said. “It’s good to have my family’s support — and it also helps when you’re winning.”