Top seed Pablo Carreno Busta finished off a flawless week at the Millennium Estoril Open by taking the title with a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory over third seed Gilles Muller.

The Spaniard picks up his first ATP World Tour title of 2017 after finishing runner-up this February in Rio de Janeiro (l. Thiem). Carreno Busta didn’t drop a set in navigating through a difficult draw that included former Top 5 player Tommy Robredo, defending champion Nicolas Almagro, fourth seed David Ferrer and Muller. He earns 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points and a cheque for €85,945.

Despite the loss, Muller can be satisfied with reaching his first clay-court final. The 33-year-old Luxembourg native is enjoying his best year on tour, winning his first ATP World Tour title in Sydney and reaching a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 27 the following month. He picks up 150 Emirates ATP Rankings points and a cheque for €45,265.

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Carreno Busta and Muller traded service holds in the first two games of the match, but the Spaniard quickly found his footing while Muller struggled for form. The top seed went on a five-game run after Muller gave away a break at 2-2 with a backhand into the net and a double break at 2-4 after sending a forehand wide. Carreno Busta comfortably wrapped up the set on serve after the third seed sent another forehand wide. 

But Muller settled down in the second set and produced the high quality tennis he’d shown all week. Both players held serve throughout to force a tie-break. Carreno Busta raced to a 5/2 lead, but Muller leveled the score with a gorgeous drop shot winner. Carreno Busta earned a match point at 6/5 and converted when Muller sent a backhand volley long after one hour and 22 minutes.

Both men are scheduled to compete this week at the Mutua Madrid Open. Muller takes on Tommy Haas, while Carreno Busta squares off against Benoit Paire. 

Roman Jebavy and Jiri Vesely did not put a wrong foot during Sunday’s doubles final at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open. The Czech duo were ruthless in completing a 6-0, 6-0 victory over wild cards Tuna Altuna and Alessandro Motti for their first team title.

Jebavy and Vesely needed just 41 minutes to lift the trophy, saving all three break points faced, while converting six of nine of their own. It was the first double bagel in an ATP World Tour final since 2010, when Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach did not drop a game in winning the Acapulco title.

“We definitely didn’t expect to win the final with a score like that,” said Vesely. “But we played great, didn’t miss many returns and put every ball back. We put the pressure on their side and played great all week. We deserved to win.

“After losing early in the singles, I was even more motivated to go far in the doubles. I know Roman for a long time. I think we did a really good job and hopefully we can keep it up.”

For 23-year-old Vesely, it was his second ATP World Tour doubles title, having prevailed with another countryman – Frantisek Cermak – in Moscow in 2014. Jebavy, 27, claimed his first career doubles crown on the ATP World Tour.

“We played really good all week,” said Jebavy. “We are happy to do it in Istanbul.”

The Czech tandem, who previously teamed for the Prague Challenger title in 2014, entered the week with an 0-3 record together in tour-level events. They claim 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split € 23,780.

Altuna and Motti, meanwhile, were teaming together for the first time and earned all three wins in Match Tie-breaks to reach the final. The Turkish-Italian pair claim 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split € 12,500 in prize money.

In some ways, not much has changed for Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic since the 2016 Mutua Madrid Open.

A year later, both men still sit atop the Emirates ATP Rankings, and this year, just like last, the Scot and the Serbian are among the favourites to win the season’s second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament on clay.

But in other ways, much is different for the World No. 1 and No. 2, as both players head to this week’s Mutua Madrid Open seeking similar reboots to their 2017 campaigns if they plan to keep their comfortable advantages atop the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Djokovic, the 2016 Madrid champion, will be defending 1,000 Emirates ATP Rankings points, and Murray, last year’s finalist, could see 600 Emirates ATP Rankings points roll off.

Both players also will be looking to regain their sky-high confidence levels that have seemingly been missing thus far in 2017. Djokovic started the year by beating Murray in Doha for his 67^th career title but has struggled since, failing to reach a semi-final in his four other tournaments. Murray backed up his Doha final run with a title in Dubai but hasn’t reached another final since that February crown.

But Madrid might be just the spot for their restarts to take place. Last year, Murray battled Djokovic for three sets in the Madrid final before avenging his loss to the Serb one week later in the Rome final. Djokovic then had the final say on clay, beating Murray in the Roland Garros final.

“I think the week as a whole and the clay season so far has been positive for me. I just need to try to find the way for whole weeks and not drop my intensity at certain moments,” Murray said after the Madrid final.

In 2016, Djokovic had his greatest year on the red dirt, and that run started in Madrid, where he won his 29^th Masters 1000 crown and his 64^th tour-level title, tying Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras on the all-time titles list. From there, Djokovic made the final in Rome and completed his career Grand Slam with his first Roland Garros title.

Should Djokovic and Murray slip in Madrid, look to the “King of Clay” to continue making up ground in the Emirates ATP Rankings. World No. 5 Rafael Nadal has been his usual stellar self on the red dirt so far this year. The left-hander won his 10^th Monte-Carlo and Barcelona titles last month. He has won the Madrid title four times, best among the “Big Four” of Murray, Djokovic, Roger Federer and himself.

The Spaniard has thousands of points to gain during the next five weeks as well, after his injury-shortened clay-court stretch last season. In 2016, Nadal reached the semi-finals in Madrid, the quarter-finals in Rome and withdrew before his third-round match in Roland Garros because of a left-wrist injury.

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The TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open will play host to an all-Top 10 final clash on Sunday, as World No. 6 Milos Raonic duels with World No. 8 Marin Cilic.

Raonic set their third FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting after dismissing Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-3 in just 66 minutes. The top-seeded Canadian will appear in his first clay-court final, having not dropped serve all week in Istanbul. He is bidding for his ninth ATP World Tour title and first since lifting the trophy to open the 2016 season in Brisbane.

“I’ve come back from many injuries, so I know how to find my level,” said Raonic, who is competing in his first tournament since withdrawing from Miami in March with a hamstring injury. “It took me a few matches to find it, but I think that I’m moving more in the right direction to getting to my best level.

“Today, I had nothing to lose by being aggressive on return. I knew I would hold my serve and I haven’t lost it during the tournament, so why not try something different when returning. I found my rhythm early and kept going as the match went on.”

Raonic and Cilic split their two previous encounters, with the Canadian prevailing in Valencia 2011 and the Croatian exacting revenge in Indian Wells 2013. 

Cilic overcame Diego Schwartzman’s comeback bid in Saturday’s first semi-final, battling past the defending champion 6-1, 7-6(7). The big-hitting Croatian, who celebrated his 400th tour-level match win on Friday, advanced to his first final on the ATP World Tour this year. He will seek his first clay-court crown since 2012 in Umag.

“I’m definitely very excited for the final tomorrow,” said Cilic. “It’s something I was looking forward to at the beginning of the week. I’m really happy with my tennis and hope I can continue with great tennis tomorrow.”

Cilic converted five of 12 break chances during the one-hour and 39-minute affair, but it was far from straightforward for the World No. 8. A dogged Schwartzman looked to replicate his comeback heroics from a year ago in the Istanbul final, when he battled back from a set and a break down to defeat Grigor Dimitrov. Cilic surged to a 6-1, 4-0 lead on Saturday, behind great depth and power from his forehand wing. But his Argentine opponent recovered both breaks in the second set and would draw level once again when the Croatian served for the match at 5-4. 

Second seed Cilic would stay the course in the ensuing tie-break, turning aside three set points and eventually sealing the victory on his first match point when a Schwartzman backhand found the net. It was the first meeting between 6’6″ Cilic and 5’7″ Schwartzman, who falls to 0-11 against Top 10 opponents.

“It was an amazing match,” Cilic added. “The first set and a half I was playing amazing tennis, but things turned around a bit. I started hitting some unforced errors and Diego played much better. Suddenly I was down 6-5 and it definitely wasn’t easy. I found a way and that’s the most important thing in the end.”

Wild Card Duo Reach Doubles Final
The unseeded wild card team of Tuna Altuna and Alessandro Motti will look to cap a dream week in Istanbul after reaching the final on Saturday. The Turkish-Italian pair defeated Antonio Sancic and Adil Shamasdin 3-6, 6-1, 10-5 and will face Jiri Vesely and Roman Jebavy for the title. Altuna, No. 311 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, and No. 148 Motti are teaming up for the first time this week.

Top seed Pablo Carreno Busta continued his outstanding form on Saturday at the Millennium Estoril Open, storming into the final with a 6-3, 6-3 win over fourth seed and fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.

Carreno Busta picks up his 21^st win in 2017 and is through to the final in Estoril for the second straight year, having finished runner-up last year to Nicolas Almagro. The World No. 21 in the Emirates ATP Rankings is into his second ATP World Tour final of the season after also recording a runner-up finish in Rio de Janeiro (l. Thiem).

He will play third seed Gilles Muller in Sunday’s championship after the Luxembourg native defeated Kevin Anderson 7-5, 6-4 to reach his first ATP World Tour clay-court final. The 33 year old is enjoying his best year on tour, winning his first title this January in Sydney and reaching a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 27 the following month.

Carreno Busta and Muller are even in their FedEx ATP Head2Head at 1-1, but the Spaniard won their most recent match in the 2015 Estoril quarter-finals.

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The semi-final showdown between Carreno Busta and Ferrer opened with lengthy rallies fitting for clay-court tennis. Ferrer handed the top seed a break of serve at 2-3 in the first set with two double faults and a backhand error. Carreno Busta struggled trying to close out the set at 5-3, with four set points flying by after a pair of forehand errors from Carreno Busta and pair of forehand winners from Ferrer. But Carreno Busta made good on his fifth chance after Ferrer sent a backhand long.

Former World No. 3 Ferrer found himself playing catch-up from the start of the second set, saving three break points for a hold in his opening service game. Carreno Busta came through with a break of serve at 2-2 and hit a backhand volley winner on his first match point to close out the contest in one hour and 21 minutes.

Carreno Busta evens his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Ferrer at 1-1.

The end of the opening set between Muller and Anderson was filled with twists and turns. Anderson saved five break points on his serve at 4-4, but Muller erased three set points serving at 4-5 with a strong first serve, forehand winner and an ace. The third seed converted on the lone break point of the match at 5-5 with a backhand error from Anderson and then comfortably held serve to take the early lead.

Muller started the second set with a break of serve after an Anderson backhand found the net. The slight advantage was all Muller needed as he continued to easily hold serve to prevail in one hour and 38 minutes. He now leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Anderson 3-2.

DOUBLES

Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus are through to the final after saving three match points to defeat Ariel Behar and Aliaksandr Bury 4-6, 7-6(7), 10-3. Behar/Bury squandered a match point trying to serve out the semi-final at 5-4 in the second set, and Harrison/Venus rallied from 4/6 in the second-set tie-break before ultimately prevailing in one hour and 40 minutes.

Harrison/Venus will play Spaniards David Marrero and Tommy Robredo in the championship match.