Argentine downs Johnson
Juan Martin del Potro took a stroll down memory lane at the US Open on Thursday, emerging with a convincing 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-2 second-round win against American Steve Johnson on the site of his greatest triumph. The Argentine wild card won the 2009 US Open title against Roger Federer on the same Arthur Ashe Stadium court and returned to Flushing Meadows seven years later older and wiser.
“I’m trying to play as I was in 2009, but it’s not easy as I’m getting older. I took all my chances during the match, and at the end I played very well,” del Potro told ESPN’s Brad Gilbert during an on-court interview after the match.
Del Potro’s huge popularity meant that he was on equal footing with Johnson when it came to crowd support. Both players were evenly matched in the first set until the Argentine’s superior serving made the difference in the tie-break. Johnson bounced right back, breaking for a 2-1 lead in the second set by ripping a massive forehand pass from 10 feet behind the baseline before holding at love for 3-1.
The surge represented the high point of Johnson’s evening. Del Potro drew on his positive memories at Flushing Meadows to capture 20 of the final 22 points of the second set. Unable to find a solution against del Potro’s inside-out forehand attack, Johnson dropped serve in the opening game of the third set and again at 2-4 before succumbing in two hours and eight minutes. He finished with 24 winners and 35 unforced errors while del Potro fired 33 winners and only made 23 unforced errors.
“I think the fans are proud to see me playing tennis again after all my surgeries,” del Potro said in his post-match press conference. “They know what I have been through. I’m having great days at the US Open. I am really enjoying the attention from the fans around the world.
“I served much better than in my first-round match. I focused on the important moments of the game. I played great in the tie-break. At the end, I saw him physically a little tired, so I took all my chances to close out the match in three sets.”
“I just didn’t execute my game plan tonight,” Johnson said. “I had a chance to do well in the second, had my chance to get back on serve in the third. I’ve been winning a lot of those points in the past three months. Unfortunately today I didn’t win those points to get back in it.
“He’s a great player. Look, he’s 6’6″, great serve, can move well, long wingspan, gets his racquet on a lot of balls. That’s why he’s a Grand Slam champion. He’s no slouch.”
The Argentine has not been past the third round of a Grand Slam event since his semi-final showing at Wimbledon three years ago and last made the second week of the US Open in 2012, when he reached the quarter-finals.
Ivo Karlovic backed up his historic first-round win with a solid follow-up performance against Donald Young. The Croat, who blasted a US Open-record 61 aces in his opening match against Yen-Hsun Lu, added 24 to his tally in beating the American left-hander 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-4. Karlovic had 52 total winners and saved all six break points faced in the two-hour, 20-minute match. He will take on #NextGen star Jared Donaldson in the third round. The 19-year-old Donaldson is the youngest American to reach the third round at the US Open since Young in 2007.
#NextGen star near untouchable on his first serve
Nick Kyrgios produced a serving masterclass Thursday night at the US Open en route to a commanding 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 win over Horacio Zeballos to reach the third round without conceding a set.
The #NextGen Aussie won 23 of his first 24 first-serve points, eventually winning 45 of 48 for the match (94 per cent) against the left-handed Argentine. He served 27 aces – including one 125 mph second serve to seal the first set – against just one double fault.
Kyrgios, currently 13th in the Emirates ATP Race To London, could surge into qualifying contention for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals should he have a deep run at Flushing Meadows. After clubbing 48 winners to just 18 unforced errors against Zeballos, Kyrgios next plays the winner of Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko and Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Kyrgios, who did not face a break point tonight after being broken just once in his opening-round win over Brit Aljaz Bedene, will now attempt to reach the US Open fourth round for the first time following a fourth-round showing at Wimbledon and third-round runs at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
With family and friends surrounding Court 9 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Eric Butorac bade farewell to the doubles circuit. The affable former ATP Player Council president played his last professional match alongside good friend Scott Lipsky, falling to Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6-4 at the US Open on Thursday.
“Scott’s a really good friend, so it’s fun to play with someone I’ve been close with my whole career,” said former doubles World No. 17 Butorac, who is also in the mixed doubles draw with Timea Babos. “And the two guys on the other side of the net were probably the two I’ve spent most of my time with. I spent a few years with both Raven and Rajeev. I know them as well as anyone. It’s weird, but fitting to go out to them. We didn’t have much of a chance in the match, so there was a little less emotion. But to end here and finish my playing career at a place where I’ll now have an office, is fitting in that way too.”
Butorac was recently named the USTA’s Director of Professional Tennis Operations and Player Relations. Ironically, Butorac’s best result in Flushing Meadows came in reaching the 2014 quarter-finals with Klaasen, falling to Lipsky and Ram. The 35-year-old father of two is an 18-time doubles champion on the ATP World Tour. He won at least one title in each of the past 10 seasons, including five with Jean-Julien Rojer and three with Klaasen, Lipsky and Jamie Murray. He most recently lifted the trophy at the Millennium Estoril Open with Lipsky in April, his third title at the ATP World Tour 250 event.
It was an honor and privilege to share a court with @ebutorac in his last doubles match. The guy is a total legend! D3 to ATP! Love you Boot
— Scott Lipsky (@scottlipsky16) September 1, 2016
“I never expected to have a career like this,” added Butorac, whose best Grand Slam result came in the 2014 Australian Open, finishing runner-up alongside Klaasen. “I moved to France to play money tournaments, then stumbled into Futures and Challengers and later moved my way up. It was a surprise to be out there doing it. To look back and say I did it for 13 years is a strange feeling, but also quite rewarding. I feel accomplished, I worked really hard and got to see the world and meet great people. It was a great experience.
“Off the court, being a part of the Player Council was something really special for me. It was something I stumbled into and someone nominated me for it. I took it very seriously, spending eight years on the council and doing two as president. That was something I’m very proud of. As much as anything I achieved on the court, for the good of the sport I was able to do a lot more off it.”
Great guy and big part of how doubles has gotten bigger and better on the @ATPWorldTour https://t.co/FhB4R9rzU1
— Treat Huey (@TreatHuey) September 1, 2016
A tweet is not enough to describe Booty, total class act. Tour is gonna miss you buddy. Wish you only the very best. @ebutorac #gamechanger
— Bruno Soares (@BrunoSoares82) September 2, 2016
Klaasen and Ram progress to face Chris Guccione and Andre Sa in the second round. The South African-American duo is looking to build on a No. 7 position in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, as they bid to secure a spot among the final eight teams at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, currently No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, suffered a setback in their London qualification bid, falling to Nicolas Almagro and Victor Estrella Burgos 6-4, 6-4. Huey/Mirnyi’s loss represented an opportunity for Henri Kontinen and John Peers, currently eighth in the race, to make up precious ground. The Finnish-Australian duo won their opening match 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3 against Federico Delbonis and Guido Pella. They came into New York only 445 points behind Huey/Mirnyi and 340 points behind Klaasen/Ram and will next face Robert Lindstedt and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, who won 6-3, 6-4 over Carlos Berlocq and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
In other action, Daniel Nestor was forced to retire from his opener with Vasek Pospisil, due to a left calf strain. The Canadian duo conceded the match to American teens Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul after just four games.
Sixth seed through to third round for first time since 2014
Kei Nishikori is through to the US Open third round after withstanding a serving barrage from #NextGen player Karen Khachanov on Thursday. The Japanese No. 6 seed had never met the 20-year-old Russian before and needed all his guile to hold off his opponent’s all-court game in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory.
Nishikori’s six aces paled in comparison to the Russian’s 20 and while his 35 winners were five fewer, his consistency in the key moments shone. The 2014 runner-up’s 36 unforced errors were 13 less.
A runner-up at the Rogers Cup in Toronto leading in, Nishikori closed the match out with an ace at the two-hour, 36-minute mark to set up a showdown with French veteran Nicolas Mahut, a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 winner over countryman Paul-Henri Mathieu. He returns to the third round at Flushing Meadows for the first time since his run to the final in 2014.
Austrian one win away from his best Flushing Meadows result
Eighth seed Dominic Thiem is through to the US Open third round for the third straight year after a comfortable 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win over Ricardas Berankis on Thursday. The 22-year-old Austrian will be thankful for the straight-sets win following a tough five-set victory over Australia’s John Millman in the first round.
Currently fifth in the Emirates ATP Race To London and on track to make his debut at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Thiem improved to 51-16 on the year
“It was a rough starting being down 1-4, but the rain break came at a pretty good time for me because I just made a re-break to 4-all,” Thiem said. “It’s never easy with a rain delay, especially here as there is nowhere really to relax. But I had a very good start after the break to take the set 6-4 and I was able to carry this for the rest of the match.”
Thiem had been in a mini slump after his sizzling start to the season. After reaching the Roland Garros semi-finals he began the grass season with his third title of the year in Stuttgart and then reached the Halle semi-finals, where he suffered a surprise loss to World No. 192 Florian Mayer. He lost in the Wimbledon second round and first-round exits followed on home soil in Kitzbuehel and Toronto. He reached the Cincinnati quarter-finals with one win and a walkover.
Thiem attributed his form reversal to playing too much. But he believes he is now physically and mentally refreshed and approaching his best form.
“I just played so many matches that the body and mind say ‘That’s enough now’. At Wimbledon and a little bit after I carried it until maybe after Toronto and little bit to Cincinnati. Then everything went the right direction. Cincinnati was very lucky but I had a good practice week last week and my fitness level and level of my game went the right way. Now it’s on a pretty high level again.”
Thiem next plays World No. 39 Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who rallied from two sets down to defeat Janko Tipsarevic 3-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 in a match that was interrupted by rain late in the third set.
Last week Carreno Busta won his first ATP World Tour title when he defeated countryman Roberto Bautista Agut in the final of Winston-Salem. The 25 year old previously reached the US Open third round in 2014.
World No. 1 headlines ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event
World No.1 and three time champion at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, Novak Djokovic, heads a star-studded line up of players for the tournament’s milestone eighth anniversary to be played at the futuristic looking Qi Zhong Stadium, 9 to 16 October, 2016.
The direct entry field boasts representation from 22 different nations of which nine have multiple players. France leads the number of singles players with seven followed by Spain with six.
There are 44 players making the cut-off for the main draw. The cut-off ranking will be No. 43.
“We are ready for what is going to be an amazing tournament once again,” Tournament Director Michael Luevano said. “The world’s greatest tennis players will grace the courts at Qi Zhong for what will be a festival of amazing matches.
“Our fans and all of us at the Shanghai Rolex Masters are so looking forward to welcoming the best of the best and to celebrate the important eighth anniversary of our tournament, which is also their tournament.
“For the Chinese people, eight is a lucky number. This makes the 2016 Shanghai Rolex Masters a very special tournament and we hope that every player, from our qualifiers to our doubles teams to the singles players right up to the top, will feel special.”
While Djokovic is the first player into the main draw, the last one to slip in under the cut-off is Argentine Federico Delbonis, joining his countryman Juan Martin Del Potro, who was awarded the tournament’s first wild card.
There are seven players on the direct acceptance list who have either won or reached the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafa Nadal, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin Del Potro, Gilles Simon and David Ferrer.
Two players, Florian Mayer and Janko Tipsarevic who had been off the tour for quite some time due to injuries, are using their protected ranking to secure places in the much sought after main draw.
View Direct Acceptance List On Tournament Website
Tickets for the 2016 Shanghai Rolex Masters are available through www.jusstickets.com or www.shanghairolexmasters.com .
Tickets can also be purchased by calling the booking hotline Ph: (+86-21) 962123.
| US Open |
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| Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 29 August-11 September |
| Coverage: Live radio commentary on Radio 5 live sports extra from 22:00 BST plus live text coverage on selected matches on the BBC Sport website. |
Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska saved four set points on her way to beating British number three Naomi Broady in the second round of the US Open.
The Pole came back from a break down and edged a dramatic tie-break before going on to win 7-6 (11-9) 6-3.
Broady, ranked 82nd, was playing in the second round of a Grand Slam, and up against a top-five opponent, for only the second time in her career.
Top seed Serena Williams beat fellow American Vania King 6-3 6-3.
Williams, chasing record seventh US Open and 23rd Grand Slam singles titles, earned her 306th Grand Slam win to tie Martina Navratilova’s all-time record.
Romania’s Simona Halep, the fifth seed, beat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-3 6-4, while sixth seed and two-time former champion Venus Williams beat Germany’s Julia Goerges 6-2 6-3.
Radwanska could overtake Serena Williams and become world number one if results go her way at Flushing Meadows – but she was given a severe test by Broady on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The 26-year-old from Stockport used her 6ft 2in frame to regularly send down serves above the 120mph mark, backing them up with 35 winners from the net and some flashing groundstrokes.
“She was serving unbelievable,” Radwanska said. “120mph serves are not easy to return.”
Radwanksa, 27, recovered from 5-2 down to earn a tie-break in the first set and saw off four set points, with Broady failing to make three returns and sending a volley long.
It was Radwanska who prevailed when a Broady forehand floated long, but it had taken the former Wimbledon finalist 69 minutes to take the set, and she found herself 2-0 down in the second.
The errors were increasingly coming from Broady’s end of the court, however, and Radwanska levelled at 2-2 before firing a backhand winner from out wide to get the decisive break at 4-4.
“I’m so pleased I could come back in that first set,” said the Pole. “It was the key set. There was a lot of running and a lot of struggling but it was another two sets for me.”
Aegon Championships to be bigger and better
More people will be able to watch tennis at The Queen’s Club than ever before during the Aegon Championships, 19-25 June, 2017 with the tournament expanding its Centre Court capacity by 30%.
More than 2,000 additional seats will be added to the current 6,651 on Centre Court.
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), which owns the tournament, has also signed a new 10-year agreement to continue staging the Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club, up to and including at least 2026. The tournament was first staged at The Queen’s Club in 1890.
“In 2017, the Aegon Championships will be bigger and better than ever,” said Tournament Director, Stephen Farrow. “Last year, we sold out within 24 hours and enjoyed a 20% increase in hospitality sales, so the demand for an increase in capacity is clear. We have worked on these plans for a long time, and we are delighted that we can now move forward with our partners at The Queen’s Club via a new, long-term agreement to take the event to the next level and enable more people to attend than ever before.”
Andrew Stewart, Chief Executive of The Queen’s Club, said:
“The Aegon Championships is the highlight of the Club’s calendar and we are delighted to have secured this new agreement for the next 10 years. While the increase in capacity will allow more people to enjoy the event, both we and the LTA will ensure that the intimate atmosphere for which Queen’s is so well known will be retained.”
Tara McGregor-Woodhams, Head of Brand and Sponsorship Aegon UK, added:
“This is smashing news for tennis fans. The continued success of British tennis is helping to get more and more youngsters involved with the game as well as attracting an army of new fans. Increased capacity at The Aegon Championships will give more people the opportunity to watch some of the best tennis players in the world”.
The Aegon Championships has been broadcast live on BBC television and radio for more than 35 years and is an established part of the British sporting calendar.
The champion at The Queen’s Club has gone on to win Wimbledon in the same year on 22 occasions. The 22nd was Andy Murray in 2016.
Murray won a record fifth title in the process, defeating Milos Raonic in a thrilling three-set final just two days after the tournament had celebrated other four-time champions Roy Emerson, John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Lleyton Hewitt in an on-court presentation.
Murray vs. Raonic would be reprised three weeks later in the Wimbledon final, with Murray taking the title at The All England Club for a second time.
The Aegon Championships will be broadcast live in 2017 by the BBC and Eurosport in UK.
The Aegon Championships has been voted Tournament Of The Year by the players for the past three years, twice as an ATP 250 event, and also last year in the higher ATP 500 category.
Hospitality packages for the Aegon Championships are currently available goo.gl/3ddSV3. Tickets will go on sale in the new year.
The LTA’s mission is to get more people playing tennis more often, and its role is to develop, promote and govern tennis in Britain.
| US Open |
|---|
| Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 29 August-11 September |
| Coverage: Live radio commentary on Radio 5 live sports extra from 22:00 BST plus live text coverage on selected matches on the BBC Sport website. |
Andy Murray beat Spain’s Marcel Granollers to reach the third round of the US Open as rain hammered down on the new roof above Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The Briton, seeded second, won 6-4 6-1 6-4 as a storm passed over New York, suspending play on the outside courts.
Murray goes on to face Frenchman Gilles Simon or Paolo Lorenzi of Italy in the last 32 on Saturday.
Fellow Britons Dan Evans and Naomi Broady are scheduled to play on Thursday, along with Serena Williams.
A flurry of resistance from Granollers at the end of the first set, and a stadium reverberating to the noise of spectators and rain, could not derail Murray.
“It’s tough, you couldn’t really hear the ball, which makes it tricky, but we’re lucky to play under the roof because otherwise there’d be no tennis right now,” said Murray.
The Scot, 29, went through in two hours and 22 minutes to take his record to 24 wins and one defeat since the beginning of Queen’s Club in June.
There were 34 winners but a first-serve percentage of just 43% and 28 unforced errors will give him something to work on before he returns to action on Saturday.
Granollers, ranked 45th, quickly fell 5-2 behind but a shift to more aggressive tactics made Murray work hard to close out the set, the second seed needing 23 minutes and seven set points to clinch the final two games.
Murray also had to see off a couple of break points early in the second set but then eased away with five games in a row for a two-set lead.
The match had begun under the new roof that covers the 23,000-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium, which has the effect of keeping out the rain but also trapping in the noise of the spectators.
With a torrential downpour beating on the new structure, the second half of the contest was played out amid a persistent buzz of noise, but Murray remained focused and grabbed the decisive break at 4-4 in the third set.
“I hit quite a lot of winners, although first-serve percentage wasn’t great,” Murray said.
“I won a lot of points behind my first serve. I would have liked to make a few more first serves but it is a little bit different serving under the roof, a little heavier conditions.”