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Fognini Sets Djokovic Clash In Shanghai

  • Posted: Oct 09, 2016

Fognini Sets Djokovic Clash In Shanghai

Italian advances to second round at Shanghai Rolex Masters

Fabio Fognini extended his dominant FedEx ATP Head2Head over Albert Ramos-Vinolas to 7-0 with a 7-5, 6-3 win on Sunday at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Fognini’s reward? A second round date with top seed and three-time champion Novak Djokovic, who owns a 7-0 mark of his own against the Italian. Fognini prevailed over Ramos-Vinolas in one hour and 33 minutes, converting six of 13 break chances.

The 29 year old joins Kevin Anderson, Janko Tipsarevic and Di Wu as first-round winners on Day One of the penultimate ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year. Anderson will face sixth seed Gael Monfils after routing China’s Zhe Li 6-1, 6-3, while Tipsarevic continued his comeback campaign with a 6-2, 6-4 win over fellow 32-year-old Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Tipsarevic, who is battling back from foot surgery and a knee injury, has soared from outside the Top 600 of the Emirates ATP Rankings to his current position of World No. 173. He most recently reached the semi-finals at the Shenzhen Open, his first appearance in the final four of an ATP World Tour event in nearly four years.

Di Wu, meanwhile, scored one of the biggest upsets of the year on the ATP World Tour in edging 16th seed Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2). It was the Chinese wild card’s first win in six main draw appearances in Shanghai. The World No. 184 became the first Chinese to win an ATP Challenger Tour title earlier this year in Maui, U.S.A. (d. Edmund). He awaits either Gilles Simon or Pablo Carreno Busta next.

#NextGen Stars Edmund, Fritz Qualify
Kyle Edmund and Taylor Fritz will make their debut appearances at the Shanghai Rolex Masters after advancing through qualifying on Sunday. 18-year-old Fritz, the youngest player in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, opens against 36-year-old Stephane Robert, the second-oldest member of the Top 100. Edmund, a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 winner over Dusan Lajovic, will face Federico Delbonis.

Also qualifying for the main draw were Mikhail Youzhny, Mischa Zverev, Vasek Pospisil, Yuichi Sugita and Lukas Rosol.

Tsonga/Zimonjic Win Doubles Opener
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nenad Zimonjic won the lone doubles match on Sunday, defeating Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4. They advance to face fifth seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram. Tsonga lifted the doubles trophy with Julien Benneteau in 2009, while Zimonjic finished runner-up with Michael Llodra in 2011.

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Dynamic Defence Gives Murray Hot Shot Honours Beijing 2016

  • Posted: Oct 09, 2016

Dynamic Defence Gives Murray Hot Shot Honours Beijing 2016

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Murray Reflects On Winning Beijing 2016 Title

  • Posted: Oct 09, 2016

Murray Reflects On Winning Beijing 2016 Title

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Nishikori Overcomes Tsonga In 2011 Shanghai Classic Moment

  • Posted: Oct 09, 2016

Nishikori Overcomes Tsonga In 2011 Shanghai Classic Moment

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Murray wins fifth singles title of 2016 with China Open victory

  • Posted: Oct 09, 2016

Andy Murray secured his fifth singles title of 2016 – and 40th of his career – by beating Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 7-6 (7-2) in the China Open final.

World number two Murray was seriously tested by his Bulgarian opponent but the Scot ended a near-faultless week in Beijing with the main prize.

The British top seed did not drop a set during the tournament.

Earlier, British number one Johanna Konta was beaten 6-4 6-2 by Agnieszka Radwanska in the women’s final.

“It’s been the most consistent year of my career, getting to the latter stages of most of the events I have played,” Murray told Sky Sports after the match on Sunday.

“It was a great week for me. Today’s match was a very high-level match. Grigor fought right to the end and made it extremely tough to finish it in two sets.

“It’s been an excellent week and I’m very happy with the way that I have played the last couple of matches. I will look forward to Shanghai now.”

Relive finals day at the China Open

World number 20 Dimitrov made it through to the final after his semi-final opponent, Milos Raonic, was forced to withdraw with an ankle injury.

It looked a formality for the Briton who broke his opponent’s serve in the opening game and saved a break point at 3-2 before serving out the set.

Dimitrov rallied in the second set, breaking as Murray served for the match at 5-4.

In the tie-break, Murray gained the mini-break with the first point and although Dimitrov hit back, the Scot won six of the next seven points to earn his maiden China Open title.

Murray narrows Djokovic’s lead

Murray has targeted overtaking Novak Djokovic as the world’s top-ranked player and, with the Serb missing the China Open through injury, the Scot has narrowed the gap.

While Murray has triumphed at Wimbledon and the Olympics this year, Djokovic’s form has dipped since beating his rival to the French Open title.

Djokovic was beaten in the early rounds at Wimbledon and Rio 2016, and although he reached the US Open final last month, he lost to Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka.

Analysis – Murray within striking distance

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller

By winning the China Open, Murray pocketed a fifth title of the year and 500 precious ranking points, which takes his total to 9,345, but he still trails Novak Djokovic in the No 1 spot on 14,040.

Murray now heads to Shanghai – where he will be reunited with Djokovic – who knows he still has work to do to finish as number one for the fifth time in six years.

Djokovic still has a healthy lead but Murray is within striking distance, should there be too many slips. And the world number two is even better placed to make a run at the top spot in the first three months of 2017, where Djokovic has titles to defend at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami.

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Raonic Qualifies For The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals

  • Posted: Oct 09, 2016

Raonic Qualifies For The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals

Canadian to make second appearance at The O2

Milos Raonic will make his second appearance at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after becoming the fourth player to qualify for the prestigious season-ending tournament, to be held from 13-20 November at The O2 in London.

The Canadian’s spot in London was confirmed following Saturday’s results in Beijing and Tokyo and the release of the Shanghai Rolex Masters draw. 

In 2014, Raonic became the first Canadian and the first player born in the 1990s to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals singles competition. 

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“I have had my best ever season so far this year and it is a great reward to be one of the first few players to qualify for London,” said Raonic. “I love playing indoors and I look forward to finishing 2016 hopefully on a high note.”

The 25 year old started his season winning his eighth ATP World Tour title at the Brisbane International, avenging defeat to Roger Federer from the year before. It paved the way for a maiden run to the Australian Open semi-finals, where he defeated former champion Stan Wawrinka en route, before falling to Andy Murray. Three times he finished runner-up in 2016 – at the BNP Paribas Open (l. to Djokovic) and at the Aegon Championships (l. to Murray) before again falling to Murray in his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon.

View Emirates ATP Race To London

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has welcomed more than 1.8 million fans to The O2 arena over the past seven years, establishing itself as the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world since moving to London in 2009. A record 102 million broadcast viewers also tuned in across the eight days of competition in 2015. The ATP announced last year that the event would remain at The O2 through to 2018. Tickets can be purchased at: www.BarclaysATPWorldTourFinals.com.  

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Johanna Konta beaten by Agnieszka Radwanska in China Open final

  • Posted: Oct 09, 2016

British number one Johanna Konta was overpowered 6-4 6-2 by world number three Agnieszka Radwanska in the final of the China Open.

Konta, 25, was chasing the biggest title of her career but unravelled against the Polish number three seed after a battling first-set display.

The 11th seed, who has made the world top 10, fought back from 4-2 but could not make it 5-5 after missing a volley.

“I’m very pleased with this week, it was pretty spectacular,” said Konta.

“I’m really enjoying my journey and looking forward to matches like this against players like Agnieszka,” she added.

Konta became the first British woman for 32 years to make the world top 10 after reaching the final. The last British woman to achieve that before her was Jo Durie in 1984.

Relive finals day at the China Open

Battling performance

After dropping her serve twice in each set, Konta tried to even the scoreline in the second, pushing Radwanska to two break points in the sixth game.

However, Radwanska shot a forehand down the line to save her service game.

Konta held the next with a forehand drop shot, only for her opponent to then serve for the title, firing her only ace of the match.

Analysis – good week for Konta

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller

Konta was well beaten in the end by the world number three, but will officially be a top-10 player on Monday morning and now has a very good chance of qualifying for the season-ending championships in Singapore.

Konta has moved into the eighth and final qualifying position, but has only a 10-point advantage over ninth-placed Slovak Dominika Cibulkova.

There are two qualifying weeks remaining, with Konta now heading to Hong Kong, where she has drawn fellow Britain Naomi Broady in the first round.

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Nick Kyrgios beats David Goffin to win Japan Open title

  • Posted: Oct 09, 2016

Australian Nick Kyrgios claimed his third ATP singles title with a 4-6 6-3 7-5 win over Belgium’s David Goffin in the Japan Open final in Tokyo.

The 21-year-old world number 15 lost the first set and saved five break points to hold for 2-1 in the next before breaking to level the match.

Kyrgios, seeded six, claimed the key break in the 11th game of the deciding set against the fifth seed.

He completed victory in two hours.

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Granollers/Matkowski Win Tokyo Title

  • Posted: Oct 09, 2016

Granollers/Matkowski Win Tokyo Title

New team finds immediate success

For Marcel Granollers and Marcin Matkowski, the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 titlists, a winning run started with a text massage.

“I was at home in Spain during the US Open and sent Marcin a text, because I was looking for a partner in Tokyo,” said Granollers, who teamed with the big-hitting Pole to defeat Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 6-2, 7-6(4) on Sunday. “He was still playing in New York and I was already out. I knew he is a great player and I’m happy he accepted.”

The duo found instant chemistry in their first tournament together, upsetting the No. 3 seeds Dominic Inglot and Jean-Julien Rojer in a Match Tie-break before sweeping their final two matches in straight sets. Despite playing mostly with Polish and Spanish-speaking partners respectively, Matkowski and Granollers did not find the adjustment difficult to make.

“We both speak good English, so it was not a problem to communicate on the court,” Matkowski said. “I’ve always played the ad court on returns and Marcel likes to play on the deuce side, so that was easy to sort out as well.”

The final loss was a setback for Klaasen and Ram, but the pair, currently No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, is still well-positioned to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

“We could have started better,” Ram said. “I lost my serve right out of the gates, and if you give them a head start, they’re going to be tough to beat.”

“If we had a little bit more energy at the start of the match and kept it close, the outcome could have been different,” Klaasen added. “It took us a while to figure out how to make the match competitive. We took care of our serve and executed much better in the second set.”

Granollers/Matkowski will share 500 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and $91,470, while Klaasen/Ram will split 300 points and $43,220.

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