Thiem Enjoys Sugita Win At Barcelona 2017
Thiem Enjoys Sugita Win At Barcelona 2017
Apr282017
World No. 1 Andy Murray avoided a second defeat in two weeks to a red-hot Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The 10th seed served for a spot in the final four, but Murray fought through the Spaniard and a vocal crowd on Friday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell to advance 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4).
“It was very similar to the match in Monte-Carlo, except in that match I was the one who had chances there, and today he had more chances to win. I feel like I was a little more aggressive at the end of the second and third sets and then played a good tie-break,” said Murray. “I’m obviously tired, but that’s why it was important for me to get matches, especially ones like today. It’s good physically to have the long ones.”
The victory was particularly meaningful to Murray, who let a 4-0 lead slip in the deciding set of their match last week in the third round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. Murray will next play fourth seed Dominic Thiem, who had a much easier time in defeating lucky loser Yuichi Sugita 6-1, 6-2 in 52 minutes. Murray leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Thiem 2-0, but they have never played on clay.
“I’ve never reached the semi-finals here before, so that’s good. It’s nice to do that, but I’d like to reach the final now,” said Murray. “It’s one of the biggest clay-court events on the ATP World Tour just because of the history. A lot of great players have played here and won in the past.”
More: Murray Extends Lopez Dominance In Barcelona
Murray struggled to find his footing early in the match, allowing Ramos-Vinolas to go on a five-game run before the Spaniard comfortably held serve to grab the opening set. The top seed was in danger as he trailed 0/40 on his serve at 4-4 in the second set, but he saved all three break points. Murray then converted on his first break point chance in the next game to send the match into a decider.
Both men began to feel the pressure of the occasion, with Ramos-Vinolas showing visible frustration at his mistakes and Murray questioning several line calls. A pair of forehand errors from Murray at 4-4 in the final set gave Ramos-Vinolas a crucial break and a chance to close out the contest, but the 10th seed shockingly hit three unforced errors to level the set at 5-5.
The battle went into a tie-break, where Murray came alive with a backhand return winner for a 2/0 mini-break advantage. A gorgeous serve-and-volley play produced a 6/3 lead for the top seed and he made good on his second match point to wrap up the match just one minute shy of three hours.
Fourth seed Thiem lost serve at the beginning of both sets against Sugita, who has had a career week with wins over Tommy Robredo, Richard Gasquet and Pablo Carreno Busta. But Thiem ended the strong run of the Japanese with victory in under an hour, hurting the right-hander with his sliced backhand.
“Today the conditions were very good for my game,” said Thiem of the warm, sunny weather, compared with cool and wet conditions earlier in the week. “It’s a little bit higher bounce. Yesterday was really tricky, very cold.
Watch Thiem Hot Shot
“Today was my best match. I was very focused and aggressive from the beginning. I knew he was in great shape after beating three great players before me. My game plan was to take him out of his comfort zone. I sliced a lot and tried to play with high spin.”
The 23-year-old Thiem is bidding to win his second ATP World Tour clay-court title of the season, following victory in Rio de Janeiro in February (d. Carreno Busta).
There is to be a significant increase in the amount of drug testing in tennis, and more samples will be stored for future analysis.
Up to 8,000 samples will now be taken every year, with those provided by the highest-ranked players the most likely to be placed in long-term storage.
There were 4,899 samples taken in 2016.
An anti-doping budget increase of over 50% to £3.48m will help “ensure tennis is and remains a clean sport”, the International Tennis Federation said.
President David Haggerty added: “Protecting the integrity of tennis is an ongoing priority and these enhancements will make a positive contribution to achieving that.”
The most recent high-profile case of doping in tennis came when Maria Sharapova was banned for 15 months.
The five-time Grand Slam winner, 30, returned from suspension at this week’s Stuttgart Open, where she reached the semi-finals on Friday.
The former world number one was called “a cheat” by 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard on Thursday.
Sharapova said she was “way above” replying to criticism of her comeback by her rivals.
Britain’s Aljaz Bedene continued his winning run with a straight-sets win over second seed Ivo Karlovic to reach the Hungarian Open semi-finals.
British number four Bedene broke the Croat’s serve early in both sets on his way to a 6-4 6-3 victory, and a 15th-straight win.
The 27-year-old, ranked outside the top 100 at the beginning of March, has climbed to world number 68.
He faces fourth seed Fernando Verdasco or fellow qualifier Laslo Djere next.
Bedene came through qualifying in Budapest to reach his first ATP Tour semi-final since January 2016.
He also won back-to-back titles on the second-tier ATP Challenger Tour earlier this month.
The clay court specialist has now won 22 of his past 23 matches, with the only defeat coming on hard courts at the Miami Masters.
#NextGenATP player Khachanov advances on Thursday
Top seed Andy Murray made a late debut this year at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, but was in fine form on Thursday as he advanced to the quarter-finals with an impressive 6-4, 6-4 win over Feliciano Lopez.
“I was happy to play today. It was nice to get through and have another match tomorrow,” said Murray. “I didn’t feel so good at the start, but I played good tennis in some of the important moments today.”
Murray finally took the court for the first time this week after receiving a first-round bye and a walkover in his second-round match against Bernard Tomic. Showing improved form compared to last week at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Murray raced to a 5-3 lead in the opening set. Although he was unable to serve out the set, he responded by breaking Lopez in the next game to grab the early advantage.
Both players traded service holds throughout the second set, but Murray found a new gear in the final game by breaking Lopez to take the match in one hour and 49 minutes. He extends his FedEx ATP Head2Head dominance over Lopez to 11-0 and picks up his second win on clay against the Spaniard.
Next up for Murray is tenth seed and last week’s Monte-Carlo runner-up Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who prevailed in an all-Spanish battle over sixth seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Murray lost his lone FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting with Ramos-Vinolas last week in the third round of Monte-Carlo.
“I had never played against him before [Monte-Carlo], so now I’ll be a little more aware of his game,” said Murray. “Obviously last week was a frustrating loss, being up 4-0 in the third set, but I’ll hopefully have learned from it and try to play a little differently this time.”
#NextGenATP Russian Karen Khachanov scored his first win over a Top 10 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings by defeating fifth seed David Goffin in a lengthy 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-4 tussle. The Russian saved three set points in the opening set tie-break before Goffin grabbed the early advantage at 8/7. But Khachanov regrouped strongly, striking his forehand with more authority and grabbing the lone break in each of the final two sets to advance in two hours and 34 minutes.
“I feel amazing. It’s the biggest win of my career,” said Khachanov. “I was just very competitive, trying to stay in the points for the whole match and remain solid.”
The best win of Khachanov’s career prior to today also came in Barcelona, when he defeated then-World No. 17 Bautista Agut last year to reach the third round. The victory today puts the 20-year-old Russian into his first ATP World Tour quarter-final of 2017 and marks the first time he’s won three consecutive matches since capturing his maiden ATP World Tour title this past October in Chengdu.
Standing between Khachanov and the final four is Horacio Zeballos, who recorded a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) win over Benoit Paire. The Argentine couldn’t convert on a match point on Paire’s serve at 5-4 in the deciding set, but raced to a 5/1 lead in the tie-break and ultimately prevailed in two hours and 18 minutes.
DOUBLES
Florin Mergea and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi caused the upset of the day by upsetting top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 6-4 in 64 minutes to reach the semi-finals. They’ll play the winner of the match between Lukasz Kubot and Mischa Zverev, and Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. Kubot/Zverev won the lone first-round match of the day over fourth seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez 5-7, 6-4, 10-6.
French duo Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin also advanced into the final four by defeating Marcin Matkowski and Daniel Nestor 6-3, 7-6(4). They’ll take on Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya, who defeated Goffin and Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3, 4-6, 10-7.
Top seed Lucas Pouille withstood a strong test from Jiri Vesely in his opening match at the inaugural Gazprom Hungarian Open on Thursday. The Frenchman saved two match points to advance to the quarter-finals, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4).
“I’m pleased with the win because it was difficult conditions,” said Pouille. “We both wanted to finish tonight. Now I need to recover for tomorrow.”
Pouille’s next opponent will be Martin Klizan, who beat American qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3, 6-2. Klizan capitalised on five of his nine break point chances in the 71-minute victory.
Andrey Kuznetsov upset third seed Fabio Fognini 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4). The Russian saved eight of the 12 break points he faced to overcome the Italian in two hours and five minutes and advance to the quarter-finals. Kuznetsov will next face another Italian, sixth seed Paolo Lorenzi, who defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
“It was a long and exhausting match for me,” said 26-year-old Kuznetsov. “Before the match, I knew that I could win, that I would have chances. I was playing confidently, especially in the beginning and I had a good fight in the end of the match. It’s not easy against Fabio.”
In doubles, Robin Haase and Dominic Inglot reached the semi-finals after knocking out top seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 7-6(5), 7-5. Haase/Inglot next face third seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who advanced with a 7-6(2), 4-6, 10-5 win over Paolo Lorenzi and Julio Peralta.
Second seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi advanced to the last four with a 7-6(8), 4-6, 10-7 win over Sam Groth and Robert Lindstedt. Huey/Mirnyi will next face fourth seeds Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic.
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).
Barcelona 2017
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