Nishikori Downs Wawrinka 2017 Brisbane SF Highlights
Nishikori Downs Wawrinka 2017 Brisbane SF Highlights
Jan072017
What a way to start the 2017 season. World No. 1 Andy Murray and World No. 2 Novak Djokovic are facing off for the Qatar ExxonMobil Open title in Doha.
The Saturday evening final is the 36th time the two have met during their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry. Djokovic leads the series 24-11, including a 19-8 record on hard courts, but he lost the last time they played – the ATP Finals title match in November. That match decided the year-end No. 1 Emirates ATP Ranking. No matter what happens on Saturday, though, Murray will stay No. 1.
Djokovic, the defending Doha champion, advanced to the final by delivering one of his career-best escape acts. The Serbian saved five match points against Fernando Verdasco in the semi-finals to win 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3.
Murray, the top seed and two-time champion in Doha (2008, ’09), dismissed third seed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-4 on Friday. The Scot hasn’t dropped a set all week.
Novak Djokovic withstood a comeback from Sir Andy Murray to defend his Qatar Open title and end the Briton’s winning streak of 28 consecutive ATP Tour matches.
Murray remains world number one despite the 6-3 5-7 6-4 defeat by the Serbian world number two.
The Scot saved three match points to come from a set and a break down to win the second set and level the match.
But Djokovic broke in game seven of the decider to win in two hours 54 minutes.
Both players now head to Melbourne for the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam, which starts on 16 January.
“Its a tough one to lose,” said Murray, 29. “It was high level tennis, some of the points were physically tough. But it’s a great way to star the new year and I look forward to the next few weeks.”
This was the 36th meeting between the pair and Murray had won the last time they met at the ATP Tour Finals in November, a victory that kept him at world number one.
The Scot has never beaten the Serb after losing the first set and he was soon trailing as Djokovic broke in the eighth game following a string of unforced errors from Murray.
Djokovic broke again in the second set and served for the match at 5-3 but Murray fought back and reeled of four straight games to level.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion looked to be tiring in the third and was 0-30 on his own serve at 2-3 down but he fought back to hold and then broke Murray for the third time in the match as he won his second title in Doha.
“To win here, against the biggest rival, is a dream start,” said Djokovic, who was penalised a point in the second set for smashing his racket.
Djokovic is the defending champion in Melbourne, having won his sixth Australian Open title last year as he condemned Murray to a fifth defeat in the final of the tournament.
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
The end of his winning streak will be less of a concern to Murray than the fact he was beaten by Djokovic – who appears to be nicely back on track.
The world number two played a phenomenal deciding set – showing great resilience after Murray had turned the second set on its head. The win is sure to give Djokovic renewed confidence as he heads to Melbourne as a six time Australian Open champion.
But Murray also looks to be in fine form: if they stay free of injury, these two look likely to dominate 2017 as well.
Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut will meet Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Chennai Open on Sunday.
Second seed Bautista Agut, 28, won 6-3 6-3 against France’s Benoit Paire, the man who beat British number four Aljaz Bedene in the quarter-finals in India.
Unseeded Medvedev, 20, reached the final with a 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 win over Dudi Sela of Israel in the last four.
Medvedev is 99th in the rankings, but will need to beat an opponent who is 14th in the world.
The top seed in the competition was Marin Cilic of Croatia, but he suffered a shock defeat against Josek Kovalik of Slovakia in the last 16.
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France won the Hopman Cup for the second time after beating the United States in the final in Perth.
France took the lead in the mixed team event as Richard Gasquet beat Jack Sock 6-3 5-7 7-6 (8-6) in the men’s match.
But the United States levelled thanks to Coco Vandeweghe’s 6-4 7-5 win over Kristina Mladenovic in the women’s tie.
That set up a deciding doubles match, with Gasquet and Mladenovic triumphing 4-1 4-3 (5-0) to deny the United States what would have been a seventh title.
France’s only previous success in the Hopman Cup came in 2014, when Alize Cornet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat the Polish duo of Agnieszka Radwanska and Grzegorz Panfil.
Great Britain had a team in this year’s competition but Dan Evans and Heather Watson went out in the group phase after losing against Switzerland, France and Germany.
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Bulgarian to play Nishikori for title
Seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov continued his stellar record against top seed and defending champion Milos Raonic on Saturday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, winning the last five games of their semi-final battle to score a 7-6(7), 6-2 upset win.
“Milos is one of the biggest servers out there. I knew what to expect, so I just had to execute it the right way,” said Dimitrov. “I played a quite solid game to break him [in the second set] and after that, I was just solid overall. I was reading his serve pretty well after that. From then on, it was just smooth sailing.”
This is Dimitrov’s third consecutive win against Raonic, allowing him to improve his record in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series to 3-1.
Standing between Dimitrov and the title is third seed Kei Nishikori, who defeated second seed Stan Wawrinka earlier in the day. The Japanese star leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Dimitrov 3-0, including a quarter-final win last July at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Toronto.
“We played a pretty close match last year. I felt like I had my chance and my momentum,” said Dimitrov. “I’m not playing anything next week, so I’m going to get out there and leave it all on the court.”
Although Raonic said he was disappointed by the loss, he remains confident about being able to regroup and continue raising his level for the Australian Open.
“I feel very good about it. I stepped up this week and did quite a few very good things. It’s about cleaning things up and now I have some time to do that,” said Raonic. “I feel like I’ve done a lot of things to be a much better player. If I can avoid that hiccup, I can have a very, very good time in Melbourne.”
Neither Raonic or Dimitrov faced a break point on serve in the opening set. In the tie-break, Dimitrov saved a set point on his serve at 5/6, forcing Raonic to do the same down 6/7. But the Bulgarian grabbed the crucial mini-break at 7/7 and made good on his second set point chance.
Dimitrov finally earned the first break of the match to lead 3-2 in the second set and it appeared to break Raonic’s spirits. The seventh seed began rifling winners at will, taking 14 of the last 18 points in the match to secure the victory.
Karolina Pliskova claimed the Brisbane International title with a 6-0 6-3 victory over France’s Alize Cornet.
The third-seeded Czech raced to victory after taking just 18 minutes to secure the first set.
Cornet recovered in the second set but Pliskova’s powerful serve ensured she sealed a 66-minute victory.
The win sees her move above Dominika Cibulkova to fifth in the world rankings before the Australian Open, which begins on 9 January.
Japanese star faces winner of Raonic-Dimitrov for the title
Kei Nishikori is making a statement with his tennis at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. The third seed didn’t drop serve on Saturday in scoring a 7-(3), 6-3 upset over second seed Stan Wawrinka.
Nishikori will now play the winner of the semi-final between top seed Milos Raonic and seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov. He has dominated his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Dimitrov 3-0, including a win last August at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Toronto. Nishikori also leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Raonic 5-2, but the Canadian prevailed in a third-set tie-break when they faced off in the 2015 Brisbane semi-finals.
Wawrinka and Nishikori traded service holds in the opening set to force a tie-break, but it was the Japanese star who grabbed the first burst of momentum. Nishikori went on a five-point run to take a 6/2 lead and grabbed the early lead on his second set point opportunity.
The third seed finally earned the first break of the match to lead Wawrinka 3-1 in the second set, but the Swiss player fought back by immediately breaking back in the next game. Nishikori calmly responded with a second consecutive break of Wawrinka and held the lead this time, easily closing out the match on serve at his first chance.
This is Nishikori’s second straight victory over Wawrinka, with the previous win coming last November at the ATP Finals. He evened his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Wawrinka to 4-4.
Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov beat top seed and defending champion Milos Raonic in the semi-final of the Brisbane International on Saturday.
Seventh seed Dimitrov saved a set point in the opener on his way to a 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 win over the Canadian world number three.
The world number 17 will face Japan’s third seed Kei Nishikori in the final.
World number five Nishikori beat US Open champion Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 in the first semi-final.
Swiss Wawrinka had knocked out British number two Kyle Edmund in the quarter-finals.
“Nishikori is one of the trickiest players out there,” Dimitrov said after his win. “He has a tremendous fighting spirit. He has quite a few weapons if you think about it.”
The Brisbane international is a warm-up event for the Australian Open, which begins on 16 January.
Aussie wild cards march into first ATP World Tour doubles final
After 15 months away from the ATP World Tour due to injury, Thanasi Kokkinakis is wasting no time making headlines at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp.
Competing in his first tournament back, Kokkinakis and fellow Australian Jordan Thompson advanced to the doubles final on Saturday. The wild card pairing delighted the home crowd by winning nine of the final 10 games in a convincing 6-3, 6-1 win over fourth seeds Daniel Nestor/Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
“We weren’t originally going to play together in this tournament, but a couple of injuries happened and we ended up teaming together,” said Kokkinakis. “Obviously it worked out.”
Kokkinakis underwent shoulder surgery in December 2015, then tore a pectoral muscle leading into the US Open and finished his unfortunate 2016 with a groin injury. But after all of the frustration dealing with his health, he said producing top form this week is vindication of his efforts.
“It’s unbelievable. Fifteen months off with injury, just missing [tennis] and rehabbing every day. It’s been a brutal time out,” said Kokkinakis. “I wasn’t quite ready to play singles, but thought I’d put my name in the hat for doubles and here we are in the final.”
This is the first ATP World Tour final of any kind for Kokkinakis or Thompson. Kokkinakis reached the Brisbane doubles semi-finals in 2015 (w/Dimitrov), while Thompson won four ATP Challenger Tour doubles titles in 2016.
The Aussie duo will now play Gilles Muller/Sam Querrey for the title.
“Sam beat Novak at Wimbledon this past year. They’re big servers, both have big games,” said Thompson. “They’re monsters out there.”
Meanwhile, Kokkinakis and Thompson will have to put their friendship aside next week at the Apia International Sydney. The duo are scheduled to square off in opening round singles action, which will mark Kokkinakis’ first ATP World Tour singles match since October 2015 in Valencia.