Fritz Ready To Seize The Moment
Fritz Ready To Seize The Moment
Apr272017
Sugita stuns Carreno Busta on Thursday
Rafael Nadal put on a serving clinic on Thursday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, not facing a break point en route to a convincing 6-3, 6-4 victory over Kevin Anderson to reach the quarter-finals.
“It wasn’t a day where I took a lot of free points because the court was very heavy. But I was serving well, at a good speed and changing directions well,” said Nadal. “I had the chance to hit my forehand after my serve and take control of the rallies, so I’m very happy with how I played.”
Competing on Pista Rafa Nadal, the third seed dropped just nine points on serve and continued to apply pressure in his return games by accumulating 10 break points. A single break in each set was all the third seed needed to advance in one hour and 33 minutes. Nadal improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Anderson to 4-0.
After becoming the first man in the Open Era to win the singles title at an event on 10 occasions with his victory last week at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Nadal could replicate that feat just seven days later in Barcelona. His win over Anderson marked his 50th victory in the Spanish city.
More: Murray Continues Lopez Dominance
Next up for Nadal is the winner is qualifier Hyeon Chung, who prevailed in an all-#NextGenATP match against eighth seed Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-4. Chung went on a six-game run beginning at 1-1 in the opening set and controlled the majority of the baseline rallies. Although he missed the chance to serve out the match at 5-3 in the second set, he responded by breaking Zverev in the next game to prevail in one hour and 21 minutes.
“This is my first quarter-final at the 500 level, so I’m very excited. I tried to be focused on every single point and stay calm. That was the key,” said Chung. “When I started playing tennis, I wanted to play Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, so I’m very excited about tomorrow.”
The 20-year-old Korean, who has yet to drop a set this week, is through to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final since Houston in April 2016. Since returning to competition this past September after sitting out four months with an abdominal injury, Chung has dominated the ATP Challenger Tour by winning three titles in Kaohsiung, Kobe and Maui.
Lucky loser Yuichi Sugita continued his dream run by advancing to the last eight with a 6-3, 6-3 win over seventh seed Pablo Carreno Busta. Having already earned the biggest victory of his career on Tuesday by defeating World No. 23 Richard Gasquet in the opening round, Sugita scored a new career-best result by breaking the Spaniard three times to take the match in 77 minutes.
“It was my best win. It’s unbelievable,” said Sugita. “This was very important for my life, so I’m really glad about it.”
The 28-year-old Japanese player only entered the main draw when Kei Nishikori withdrew due to a right wrist injury. Sugita becomes the first lucky loser to reach an ATP World Tour quarter-final since Lucas Pouille reached the final four at last year’s ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Rome.
This is Sugita’s first ATP World Tour quarter-final in more than five years, with his maiden run to the last eight coming in Chennai in January 2012. He has excelled this year on the ATP Challenger Tour, capturing titles in Yokohama, Japan, and Shenzhen, China.
More: Montanes Retires In Barcelona
Sugita will look to continue his inspired form when he plays fourth seed Dominic Thiem, a 7-6(5), 6-2 winner over Daniel Evans. Both players traded holds throughout the first set, but the fourth seed went on a six-point run in the tie-break before converting on his fourth set point. Thiem had a much easier time in the second set, breaking Evans twice to wrap up the win.
The Austrian has already enjoyed success on clay this year by winning the Rio Open presented by Claro in February (d. Carreno Busta).
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The Italian is No. 34 in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan
A first ATP World Tour match win and a new coaching set up have given Gianluigi Quinzi a fresh impetus towards his 2017 goal.
“I have been through a period that wasn’t that good, I wasn’t winning a lot of matches, but I’ve changed coaches to work with Fabio Gorietti,” said Quinzi. “It’s only the third week of working together and I’m feeling very good.”
The switch has provided instant results. The 21 year old opened his account on the ATP World Tour earlier this month at the Grand Prix Hassan II with a 7-6(8), 6-3 victory over Paul-Henri Mathieu. The left-hander then narrowly fell 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4 to countryman and World No. 38 Paolo Lorenzi.
“We have already gone through qualifying at an ATP World Tour event, in Marrakech, and I won another match too, which gives me unbelievable confidence, knowing I can be competitive with these guys at that level,” added the Italian. “Lorenzi is a top player, especially for his age and I only just lost.”
“I then came to China feeling confident. In the China International Challenger Qingdao 2017, I played ok and managed to beat (Blaz) Kavcic, before a tough match with Kimmer Coppejans. Here at the 2017 Kunming Challenger, I came through qualies again. I’ve played great, but I came up against a guy (Oscar Otte) with great confidence, who made a final in Qingdao last week.”
Quinzi hopes that breaking new ground on the ATP World Tour and keeping up promising performances on the ATP Challenger Tour can provide the catalyst for his charge to qualify for the inaugural #NextGenATP Finals.
The tournament, to take place 7-11 November, will feature the world’s top seven plus one wild card 21-and-under singles players just a few hours drive from where Quinzi grew up in Cittadella, Padua.
“It’s a big goal for me, especially because it is in Italy. Milan is amazing. I hope I can play, but for now it is just a dream,” revealed Quinzi. “I would be so happy to qualify, it’s near my city and would be in front of home support. All the crowd would be with me! It’s unbelievable as I didn’t expect it to be in Italy, which makes it 10 times better.”
Quinzi is No. 252 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and is targeting the Top 200 as a successful campaign. However, he is realistic regarding the task ahead.
“Last year I played well on the ATP Challenger Tour, especially in Italy, making the Cordenons semi-finals (l. Daniel), but the level now is getting harder,” added Quinzi. “I have only played one ATP World Tour tournament, in Marrakech, and the level was obviously much higher.
“You have to be ready to train every day, to be focused on every tournament, every game, every point, because you have very good guys who are also competing week in and week out like this.”
In order to fulfil his goals, Quinzi is aware all aspects on and off the court have to be improved and adjusted.
“In my game I can work on everything every day, but I’d like to learn to play more aggressively,” said Quinzi. “Physically you have to be strong and learn how to recover from playing. Mentally you have to be strong, you must train for your matches so that you believe you can beat players with a better ranking, so you don’t get down in these harder matches. All areas you have to be strong.”
British number one Johanna Konta is out of the Stuttgart Open after a second-round defeat by Anastasija Sevastova.
Konta, 25, broke in the opening game but failed to hold her own serve until her fourth attempt and was beaten 6-3 7-5 by the Latvian world number 26.
Konta broke to go 3-1 up in the second set but lost that advantage in the next game and was broken again at 5-5, as Sevastova clinched victory.
Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova beat Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets.
Sharapova made it two wins out of two following her return from a 15-month doping ban by defeating fellow Russian Makarova 7-5 6-1.
The five-time Grand Slam winner dominated Makarova, ranked 43 in the world, wrapping up the victory in just one hour, 20 minutes.
Sharapova was powerful on serve, as she had been in Wednesday’s win over Italy’s Roberta Vinci, but struggled at times with her return.
Once she had claimed the first set with a late break of serve, she powered through the second, breaking twice before wrapping up the match with an ace.
“Practice and playing are so different and you can only prepare the best you can,” Sharapova said.
“The reaction and anticipation you need are so hard to replicate in training and these are the things I need.”
In the last eight, the 30-year-old faces Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit, who was a 2-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-1 victor over Spanish fifth seed Garbine Muguruza.
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller:
She may not have figured in any draw for 15 months, but it appears Sharapova still has a strong mental hold on so many of her opponents.
Makarova had a glorious chance to hit a backhand winner into open court to break for a 6-5 lead, but missed. She then dropped her serve to concede the set, and only won one more game after that.
It was another strong performance by Sharapova, and she then moved to the media centre to make it clear she no longer wishes to discuss the details of her positive test for meldonium.
She says she has done “numerous interviews in the past few months” – which overlooks the fact that journalists and publications, like the fashion magazine Vogue, have been very carefully selected.
Konta, meanwhile, admits her clay-court game is a work in progress, but thinks she is playing well enough to prove effective on the surface.
She says she needs to improve her movement and her point construction, but was not too downhearted by her start to the clay season. She has won two and lost two, and will next play in Madrid in 10 days time.
Wednesday’s first-round victory over Naomi Osaka was just Konta’s third WTA Tour win on clay.
She began well on Thursday with a break of Sevastova’s serve in the first game but lost the next three games and did not hold her own serve until the fourth attempt.
Sevastova, ranked 19 places below Konta at 26, produced three successive aces en route to clinching the opening set before recovering from 3-1 down in the second to level.
A missed forehand opportunity then cost Konta as she was broken in the 11th game and Sevastova served out the victory with her sixth ace.
Had Konta won, she would have faced Romania’s Simona Halep in the third round.
Those two were involved in Sunday’s controversial Fed Cup meeting in Constanta, which Halep won 6-1 6-3 after Konta left the court in tears.
The Spaniard is playing at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell for the 17th time
Feliciano Lopez has set a new record this week at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell by becoming the first player in history to contest this ATP World Tour 500 clay-court tournament 17 times.
“Playing 17 straight years here, or 60 consecutive Grand Slams, shows that you’ve had a bit of luck with injuries to be able to have such a long career,” said Lopez. “I’ve worked hard for it. I’ve taken care of myself and it’s an honour to be here another year because for me every ‘el Godo’ is a gift.
“There aren’t many tournaments like ‘el Godo’ left, that are played in a club like this. And in my case, it’s even more special because I was brought up here,” continued the Toledo-born Lopez. “I came here when I was 13 and I feel a lot of love for the people at this club. For everyone who works here, from the people at the entrance, the serving staff, the locker room attendants. It’s very special.”
The 35-year-old Lopez, No. 40 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, had a special opening match this week when he faced another tournament veteran, Albert Montanes. It was the Catalan’s last professional match.
“These are difficult matches to play, there are lots of feelings,” said Lopez. “I tried to forget all that and focus. In the end, he said goodbye in his favourite city, at his favourite tournament, and for me it’s an honour to have been able to be part of that day.”
Next up for Lopez is a clash with World No. 1 Andy Murray, who is yet to strike a ball in Barcelona after Bernard Tomic withdrew from their second-round clash. “He’s the type of player that has a different talent to everyone else, with an incredible ability to adapt,” said Lopez. “That’s why he’s so good and why he is No. 1.
“For me it will be spectacular to play in my club against the World No. 1. It is a great match. These are the matches I keep playing tennis for.”
Dan Evans’ run at the Barcelona Open came to an end in the third round courtesy of a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 defeat by Austria’s Dominic Thiem.
British number three Evans, who had never won on clay at ATP Tour level prior to this event, competed well in the first set but lost in a tie-break.
He was broken early in the second by the fourth seed and never recovered.
Thiem, who beat another Brit, Kyle Edmund, in round two, faces Japan’s Yuichi Sugita in the last eight.
World number one Andy Murray will also reach the quarter-finals if he beats Spain’s Feliciano Lopez on Thursday afternoon.
The WTA is “sending out the wrong message to kids” by allowing Maria Sharapova to resume her playing career, says 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard.
“Cheat” Maria Sharapova should not have been allowed to play again, says 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard.
Russian Sharapova beat Roberta Vinci on Wednesday at the Stuttgart Open on her return from a 15-month doping ban.
In October, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said Sharapova was not an “intentional doper”.
However, Canadian Bouchard said: “She’s a cheater and I don’t think a cheater in any sport should be allowed to play that sport again.”
Bouchard, 23, now ranked 59th in the world, told TRT World: “I think from the WTA it sends the wrong message to young kids: cheat and we’ll welcome you back with open arms.
“I don’t think that’s right and she’s not someone I can say I look up to any more.
“It’s so unfair to all the other players who do it in the right way and are true.”
Five-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova, who was suspended in March 2016 after testing positive for meldonium, was given a wildcard for the tournament.
The 30-year-old has also received wildcards for the tournaments in Madrid and Rome and will find out if she has been given one for the French Open on 16 May – 12 days before the competition.
That decision has been defended by WTA chief Steve Simon, who said it was in keeping with how former dopers were treated in other sports.
Sharapova says she would “play in the juniors” if it meant competing in this year’s French Open and Wimbledon.
She won her first grand slam title at Wimbledon aged 17 in 2004 and won the last of her five major titles at the French Open in 2014.
The Russian does not have a world ranking after her points expired during her suspension and would need to reach the final in Stuttgart to be eligible for French Open qualifying.
Speaking to BBC Sport, former world number one Sharapova said: “If I get the opportunity to be in a draw then I will take it.
“I’m being offered wildcards from tournament directors and I’m accepting them.
“I’m coming with no ranking and I’m not getting a wildcard to receive a trophy or a golden platter. I have to get through the matches and I still have to win them.”
Wednesday’s match was a positive start to the process of rebuilding her world ranking points against Vinci, who is ranked 34th in the world.
Sharapova was understandably rusty but brushed off a nervous start to break at the first opportunity after losing her first service game, showing ominous signs with a string of big winners.
Vinci was then taken to deuce in every subsequent service game until the pressure finally told, with Sharapova taking a 6-5 lead and then serving out the first set.
Sharapova started the second set with another break of serve to win her fourth game in a row and leave Vinci reeling.
The Italian held on to take the set to 4-3 but ultimately the Russian’s superiority showed with a break to love and an easily won final service game.
There was no noticeable bad reception for Sharapova, who hit 11 aces and 39 winners and will now face fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” she said. “It’s the best feeling in the world, those first few seconds before you enter the arena.
“I spent a long time without hitting any balls. I went to school, I grew my business and had a normal life. I put the racquet away for a little bit.
“There were a lot of things that I did that I probably would never have done in my twenties.
“I felt I had to grow as a person and I think I’ve done that. But this is what I’ve done for so long. I’m a competitor – that’s when I’m at my best.”
Spaniard takes part in court naming ceremony for Pista Rafa Nadal
A handful of ATP World Tour legends have had a stadium named in their honour long after their playing days, but Rafael Nadal received that recognition while still at the top of his game at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.
Nadal took part in a special court naming ceremony on Wednesday that officially crowned the stadium Pista Rafa Nadal. The nine-time champion also scored a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 second-round victory that day over Rogerio Dutra Silva.
“I want to thank the club for this honour. It’s one of the most important tournaments for me, one of the courts where I had the best moments of my career,” said Nadal. “This place has meant a lot to me and the club deciding to name the centre court with my name makes it even more special”.
After becoming the first man in the Open Era to win the singles title at an event on 10 occasions with his victory last week at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Nadal could replicate that feat just seven days later in Barcelona. He plays Kevin Anderson on Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals.