Montreal 2017
Montreal 2017
Aug052017
The content of this article took place at Coupe Rogers
Main draw action starts on Monday
In a sight that many tennis fans wouldn’t have expected at the start of the season, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are once again the top seeds at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event as the Coupe Rogers kicks off next week in Montreal. It marks the first time since 2009 that Federer and Nadal have held the top two spots in Canada.
Federer and Nadal have won four of the five ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events held this year. The Swiss star won both hard-court events in Indian Wells and Miami, while Nadal prevailed in Monte-Carlo and Madrid.
Should Nadal reach the semi-finals in Montreal, he will unseat Andy Murray for the top spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Winning the title on Sunday would also have the Spaniard break a tie with Novak Djokovic and set a new record for most ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles won (31). Federer won’t be able to take No. 1 this week, but he could take it later during this American hard-court swing as he and Nadal are in a hot two-way battle for year-end No. 1 honours.
Second seed Federer looks to build on his second Grand Slam title of the year at Wimbledon by winning his first title in Canada since 2006. Federer, who has a first-round bye, is guaranteed to open his week against a Canadian when he plays the winner between wild cards Vasek Pospisil and Peter Polansky. Looming ahead is a possible third-round clash with 15th seed Jack Sock and quarter-final battle with fifth seed and 2016 runner-up Kei Nishikori.
Federer leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Nishikori 5-2 and has won their past four matches, including a five-set win this year in the fourth round of the Australian Open. He also leads the rivalry with Sock 3-0 and has yet to drop a set to the American, including in their most recent match this March at the BNP Paribas Open.
Meanwhile, top seed Nadal has a bye in the opening round and will start his campaign against Borna Coric or a qualifier/lucky loser. His draw doesn’t get easier from there, with other potential roadblacks including red-hot 14th seed John Isner or Juan Martin del Potro in the third round and home favourite Milos Raonic, seeded sixth, in the quarter-finals.
If Federer and Nadal make it to the final, it would be their first meeting in Canada. Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 23-14, but Federer has won their past four matches and all three encounters in 2017. Nadal leads 12-6 in their ATP World Tour Masters 1000 matches.
More: What Everyone Overlooks About Federer And Nadal’s Game
Third seed Thiem is in the same half of the draw as Federer and kicks off his Montreal quest against Diego Schwartzman or a qualifier/lucky loser. The Austrian will be eager to rebound after squandering a match point this week in his third-round loss to Kevin Anderson at the Citi Open.
Fourth seed Alexander Zverev is in the same half of the draw as Nadal and starts out against local wild card Brayden Schnur or Richard Gasquet. The 20-year-old German clinched his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown this May in Rome (d. Djokovic).
The most intriguing first-round match will be between Isner and del Potro, with the American riding an eight-match win streak after back-to-back titles this past month in Newport and Atlanta. Other notable first-round matches include Gilles Muller taking on Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson facing Gael Monfils.
World number two Simona Halep was forced to retire from her Washington Open quarter-final against Ekaterina Makarova with a heat-related illness.
After complaining that severe heat left her feeling “a bit dead” on Wednesday, Romanian Halep was trailing 2-6 6-3 1-0 when she withdrew in the third set.
The on-court temperature reached a punishing 47C on Wednesday.
In the men’s event, Canadian Milos Raonic lost 7-5 6-4 to USA’s Jack Sock in their quarter-final.
World number 10 Raonic has now gone 30 tournaments since lifting his last trophy in Brisbane in 2016 – a drought of 19 months.
Sock, ranked 19th, will face the winner of Yuki Bhambri, ranked 200th, and South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, who defeated Austrian top seed Dominic Thiem.
Next up for Makarova is a semi-final on Saturday against the winner of French fifth seed Oceane Dodin and Germany’s Sabine Lisicki.
Elsewhere, Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza reached the semi-finals of the Stanford Classic with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Croatia’s Ana Konjuh.
US Open champion Stan Wawrinka will not defend his title in New York later this month because of a knee injury.
The 32-year-old announced on Facebook he has had surgery on the problem and will return to action in 2018.
Last month, the Swiss struggled and needed ice on his knee as he was knocked out in the first round of Wimbledon by Russia’s Daniil Medvedev.
“I love this sport and I will work hard to get back to my top level and play many more years,” said Wawrinka.
This season, the three-time Grand Slam champion reached the final of the French Open and the semi-finals of the Australia Open.
He added: “After talking with my team and doctor I had to make a difficult decision to undergo a medical intervention on my knee. This was the only solution to make sure I will be able to compete at the top level for many more years.
“This is obviously extremely disappointing, but I am already looking ahead and planning my recovery. I love this sport and I will work hard to get back to my top level and play many more years.
“I also want to take this opportunity to thank my fans for sending plenty of messages of support during the last couple of days. I will see you all in 2018.”
Former world number one Novak Djokovic will also miss the US Open because of an elbow injury.
Swiss star sidelined, aims to be back in 2018
Stan Wawrinka announced on Friday he will sit out the rest of the 2017 ATP World Tour season in order to recover from a long-term knee injury.
“After sitting together with my team and considering all options, I have made the very difficult decision to end my 2017 season as I need to undergo medical intervention on my knee,” said World No. 4 Wawrinka.
“This is obviously extremely disappointing, but I’m already looking ahead and planning my recovery. I love this sport and I will work hard to get back to my top level and play for many more years. I also want to take this opportunity to thank my fans who have sent plenty of messages of support during the past few days.”
The 32-year-old Wawrinka finished the year with a 26-11 match record, including one ATP World Tour title at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open (d. M. Zverev). He also reached the finals of the BNP Paribas Open (l. to Federer) and at Roland Garros (l. to Nadal).
On 26 July, Novak Djokovic confirmed he will not return until 2018 as a result of a right elbow injury.
A proposal to reduce Davis Cup singles matches to the best-of-three sets has been rejected – but could still be implemented on a trial basis in 2018.
The proposal fell short as it was was backed by 63.54% of voters at the AGM, with a two-thirds majority required.
ITF president David Haggerty said the vote result was “disappointing”.
However, a later resolution gave the ITF board the power to make changes on a trial basis from 2018 without wider approval from the general membership.
“This is a ground-breaking decision,” added Haggerty.
“The resolution gives the board the latitude and flexibility of trialling changes to Davis Cup and Fed Cup without waiting for approval of the AGM.
“In a fast-changing world, we need to be agile and nimble to make decisions, and this resolution gives us that ability.”
World number one Andy Murray has called for Davis Cup matches to be shortened to increase the participation of top players.
A motion was approved guaranteeing both the Davis Cup and women’s Fed Cup finalists the choice of hosting their first-round ties the following year.
German has a 7-9 record in ATP World Tour finals
Philipp Kohlschreiber will attempt to lift his second Generali Open trophy on Saturday in his hometown of Kitzbühel. The German will look to add to his 2015 crown against Portugal’s Joao Sousa or Austrian wild card Sebastian Ofner in the final.
The 33-year-old Kohlschreiber booked his spot in a 17th ATP World Tour title match after he knocked out second-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini 7-5, 6-3 in 90 minutes on Friday afternoon. Kohlschreiber, who broke serve four times, is now 6-2 lifetime against last week’s J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad champion.
Kohlschreiber finished runner-up to #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric in April at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech and his seventh – and last trophy – came in May 2016 at the BMW Open by FWU in Munich (d. Thiem).
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Cuevas/Duran Through To Doubles Final
Fourth seeds Pablo Cuevas and Guillermo Duran edged past Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 in 77 minutes for a place in the doubles final. The duo will face Julian Knowle and Matwe Middelkoop or Hans Podlipnik-Castillo or Andrei Vasilevski on Saturday.
Cuevas has a 7-8 record in team finals, with a 2-1 record this year, including title runs at the Rio Open presented by Claro (w/Carreno Busta) and the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (w/Bopanna). Duran is perfect in finals with a 3-0 mark, including the recent Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag (w/Molteni).