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Zverev Upsets Cilic, Wawrinka Falls To Paire

  • Posted: May 11, 2017

Zverev Upsets Cilic, Wawrinka Falls To Paire

Dimitrov, Coric advance on Wednesday

Alexander Zverev scored his first win on clay over a Top 10 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings, reaching the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Wednesday in a late-night thriller over seventh seed Marin Cilic 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4. 

The #NextGenATP German boosts his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Cilic to 3-1 and has won their past three matches.

He’ll now take on 11th seed Tomas Berdych for a place in the last eight after the Czech player defeated Robin Haase 7-6(5), 6-3. Zverev trails his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Berydch 1-4, but won their most recent meeting this past September in St. Petersburg.

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Cilic recovered from being a break down at 3-4 in the opening set and held the lead throughout the tie-break to take the early advantage. Zverev was forced to save six break points in his first two service games of the second set, but the momentum swung in his favour after clearing that hurdle. He only needed a single break of serve in each set to claim victory in two hours and 34 minutes.

Zverev has been a hot streak after prevailing on home soil last week in Munich to win his fourth ATP World Tour title and second of the season. He currently sits at No. 19 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, one spot off his career-high standing, but could surpass that with another big run this week.

You May Also Like: Nadal Made To Work For Madrid Win

Benoit Paire recorded the first major upset of the tournament on Court Manolo Santana, hanging tough to defeat third seed Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

The Frenchman improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Wawrinka to 3-7 and picks up his first win on clay against the former Roland Garros champion.

Next up for Paire is Pablo Cuevas, who won a marathon 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 match against Nicolas Mahut. The World No. 52 in the Emirates ATP Rankings leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head over Cuevas 3-0, including a win this March at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami.

Wawrinka was left to rue a series of missed opportunities in the first set. The Swiss star was up 4-2, 40/0, but let Paire back in with several errors and the Frenchman earned the break back with a volley winner. A forehand sent well long by Wawrinka gave Paire a 6-5 lead and the unseeded player comfortably wrapped up the set on serve in the next game.

A 15-minute rain delay pulled both men off the court at 2-2 in the second set. When they returned, it was Paire who stumbled out of the gate by double faulting to give Wawrinka a 3-2 lead. The third seed missed a chance to serve out the set at 5-3, but ripped a forehand return winner on set point in the next game to force a decider.

Wawrinka had momentum in his favour, but played a loose opening game in the third set to drop his serve. He then gave Paire an insurance break at 2-4 with a backhand error. Paire served out the match in the next game to advance in one hour and 48 minutes.

More: Djokovic Fights Hard For Almagro Win

In other second-round matches, 12th seed Grigor Dimitrov defeated Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 7-5 and will next play eighth seed Dominic Thiem. #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric, a lucky loser in the draw, moved past qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-5, 6-4. The 20 year old is rewarded for his efforts with a round of 16 showdown against top seed Andy Murray.

Local favourite David Ferrer advanced without hitting a ball when 10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was forced to withdraw due to a shoulder injury.

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Nadal, Kyrgios Square Off Thursday In Madrid

  • Posted: May 11, 2017

Nadal, Kyrgios Square Off Thursday In Madrid

Djokovic confronts Lopez, while Murray meets #NextGenATP’s Coric

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following match-ups Thursday at the Mutua Madrid Open & vote for who you think will win! 
Nadal v Kyrgios | Djokovic v Lopez | Murray v Coric | Nishikori v Ferrer

View Thursday schedule

• Five of the Top 6 seeds are in third-round action at the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday, including past champions Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Murray meets #NextGenATP player Borna Coric, who could become the first lucky loser ever to reach the Madrid quarter-finals. Djokovic takes an 8-1 head-to-head record into his match with Madrid native Feliciano Lopez.
 
• Nadal, who leads all players with 30 wins in 2017 and four Madrid titles, faces No. 16 seed Nick Kyrgios for the third time. Their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry is even at one win each. Kyrgios hit 37 aces to stun then-No. 1 Nadal at 2014 Wimbledon as a 19-year-old wild card ranked 144th. But when they met again on the clay courts of Rome last May, Nadal rallied from a set down for the win.

• Spaniard David Ferrer seeks his 700th win for a second straight day after receiving a walkover from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Ferrer tries again against 2014 finalist Kei Nishikori, who defeated him at Caja Magica in 2014 and 2015. No. 11 seed Tomas Berdych is nearing a milestone of his own. The 2012 Madrid finalist, two wins shy of 600, meets #NextGenATP player Alexander Zverev.

• No. 5 seed Milos Raonic and No. 9 seed David Goffin will renew their rivalry, which includes the Canadian’s comeback from two sets down en route to the 2016 Wimbledon final. The 26-year-olds are both ranked in the Top 10 after reaching two finals each in 2017. They’ve come a long way from Australian Open qualifying in 2011, when then-No. 152 Raonic defeated then-No. 205 Goffin.

• Another all-seeded showdown pits No. 8 seed Dominic Thiem against No. 12 seed Grigor Dimitrov. Thiem and Dimitrov are among the four remaining players with one-handed backhands, joining Lopez and Pablo Cuevas. The unseeded Uruguayan meets Benoit Paire for a spot in his third ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final of 2017 (0 QFs in 28 prior ATP Masters 1000 appearances).

700-WINS CLUB (ALL PLAYERS)

Rank            Player                         Wins

1            Jimmy Connors                     1,256

2            Roger Federer*                     1,099

3            Ivan Lendl                              1,068

4            Guillermo Vilas                        929

5            John McEnroe                         877

6            Andre Agassi                           870

7            Rafael Nadal*                          836

8            Stefan Edberg                         801

9            Ilie Nastase                             780

 10         Novak Djokovic*                      766

11           Pete Sampras                         762

12           Boris Becker                           713

13            David Ferrer*                         699

* Active Player

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Bryans Reach Madrid Quarter-Finals

  • Posted: May 11, 2017

Bryans Reach Madrid Quarter-Finals

Five-time champions advance to last eight

Second seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan advanced to the Mutua Madrid Open quarter-finals with a 5-7, 6-2, 10-7 win over Fabrice Martin and Daniel Nestor on Wednesday. The Americans capitalised on both of their break point chances to reach the last eight in Madrid, where they will face Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock.

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, the third seeds, defeated Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-3, 7-6(4) in 82 minutes to set a quarter-final clash with sixth seeds Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. The Frenchmen advanced with a 7-6(6), 7-6(3) win over Robin Haase and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo needed just 64 minutes to advance 6-3, 6-4 over Brian Baker and Nicholas Monroe. The fourth seeds await the winner of the match between seventh seeds Ivan Dodig/Marcel Granollers and Fabio Fognini/Treat Huey.

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Ouch! Diego Cops It Where It Hurts

  • Posted: May 11, 2017

Ouch! Diego Cops It Where It Hurts

Schwartzman suffers blooper moment against Nishikori

Diego Schwartzman had a far more eventful warm-up than he would have liked against Kei Nishikori on Wednesday at the Mutua Madrid Open, with a shot from the sixth seed hitting him directly in the groin. 

Both Schwartzman and Nishikori had a laugh at the incident and the crowd even gave Schwartzman a sympathetic round of applause as he briefly collected himself. But the most crushing blow that Nishikori delivered was a backhand winner to wrap up a 1-6, 6-0, 6-4 second-round win in exactly two hours.

Nishikori next plays local favourite David Ferrer in the round of 16 on Thursday.

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Madrid Open 2017: Novak Djokovic & Rafael Nadal into third round

  • Posted: May 10, 2017

World number two Novak Djokovic reached the Madrid Open third round by winning his first match since parting company with his coaching staff on Friday.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion beat Spanish wildcard Nicolas Almagro 6-1 4-6 7-5 and plays Feliciano Lopez next.

Defending champion Djokovic, 29, described Friday’s decision as “shock therapy”, and will be on the tour alone until he appoints a new coach.

Rafael Nadal also went through with victory over Italian Fabio Fognini.

The Spaniard won 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-4 in a match that lasted just under three hours to set up a tie with Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.

Britain’s Andy Murray is already through to round three after Tuesday’s straight-set victory over Romanian Marius Copil.

He will play Croatia’s world number 59 Borna Coric, who beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 7-5 6-4 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Djokovic said he may appoint a new coach before the French Open, which begins on 28 May.

“I’m going to think about who I want in my team and I don’t yet have anyone. But I think by the French Open, or after the French Open, I’m going to have someone,” he said.

“I understand people are trying to speculate and create a list because I was saying I would like to have someone who was kind of in my shoes before.”

Kerber to reclaim number one spot

In the women’s tournament in Madrid, Eugenie Bouchard advanced to the quarter-finals after top seed Angelique Kerber retired from their match through injury.

World number two Kerber was trailing 6-3 5-0 against the Canadian, who beat Maria Sharapova – the woman she called a cheat – on Monday.

Despite the third-round exit, Germany’s Kerber is still guaranteed to overtake American Serena Williams as world number one when the latest WTA rankings are published on Monday.

Bouchard, ranked 60 in the world, goes on to play Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova, the world number nine.

Analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller:

This was a stuttering start to life without the coaching team which had been such a huge part of his career, but Djokovic played very soundly in the deciding set from 3-0 down, as Almagro’s purple patch faded spectacularly.

The world number two was watched by his brother Marko and Pepe Imaz – a former pro, who now promotes a ‘Love and Peace Tennis Experience’ – and has been part of Djokovic’s wider team for a few years.

Fognini, meanwhile, reminded us of his exquisite talent in a mesmerising match with Nadal. He saved one match point with a 90mph forehand onto the baseline, but once again, for the 11th time out of 11 on clay this year, Nadal ran out the winner.

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