Follow Emirates ATP Rankings Battle
Follow Emirates ATP Rankings Battle
Apr082016
Former world number one Venus Williams’ attempt to win her 50th WTA title at the Volvo Car Open ended when she lost to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.
The 35-year-old American lost 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 6-4 in the last 16 in Charleston.
Putintseva’s victory over the third seed, who is seventh on the WTA’s all-time wins list, set up a quarter-final with Italy’s Sara Errani.
It was the first time the 21-year-old had beaten Williams in four career meetings.
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Top seeds into semi-finals
Five-time Houston champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan beat young Americans Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3 to move into the semi-finals of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. US Men’s Clay Court Championship on Thursday. The top seeds broke the 18 year olds four times (4/5) and secured the win in 58 minutes.
The Bryans, who are looking for their first title since Montreal 2015, survived two match points in a first-round win over countrymen Denis Kudla and Donald Young. They will face Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey in the final four. Johnson and Querrey, the fourth seeds in Houston, saw off Chris Guccione and Andre Sa 6-3, 2-6, 10-8.
Dragana/Qureshi Into Marrakech Final
Unseeded duo Marin Draganja and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi advanced to the Grand Prix Hassan II doubles final by defeating Rohan Bopanna and Denis Istomin 7-6(5), 7-6(5). The two teams combined to save all 15 break points in the 94-minute match. Draganja and Qureshi only won one more point than their opponents (77-76).
Taking part in the other semi-final will be Guillermo Duran and Maximo Gonzalez, who upset second seeds Marc Lopez and David Marrero 6-4, 6-4. They will face third seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus, 6-4, 6-3 winners over Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Jiri Vesely.
Fourth seed Jack Sock defeated qualifier Matthew Barton 6-2, 7-6(5) on Thursday to move into the quarter-finals of the Fayez Sarofim & Co US Men’s Clay Court Championship. The defending champion won 80 per cent of first serve points and secured his sixth consecutive win in Houston in 75 minutes. He has not lost a set in Houston since the first round last year (d. Souza).
“It’s never easy playing a guy you’ve never faced before and who you haven’t seen,” Sock said of Barton. “He’s very athletic and has a pretty big serve. He hit a couple at 138mph. I didn’t realise he had that massive of a serve.
“I’ve been here for a week practicing, so I was a bit anxious to get on the court and play my first match. I felt happy with my one-two punch. I dictated well with my forehand.”
Twelve months ago, Sock earned his maiden ATP World Tour title by defeating countryman Sam Querrey in the final as unseeded player. Now No. 25 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Sock improved to 8-6 on the year and earned his first clay-court win of 2016. He is looking to reach his second final of the season, having retired due to illness against Roberto Bautista Agut in Auckland in January.
Wild card Tim Smyczek dismissed fellow American Donald Young 6-2, 6-4 in 56 minutes to reach his second quarter-finals of the year (l. to Querrey in Delray Beach). A resurgent Smyzcek, who only had five tour-level wins last year (5-13), is already 6-5 in 2016.
Awaiting the Milwaukee native is Feliciano Lopez, who eliminated Lukas Lacko 7-6(4), 6-1. The third seed won all but four points on his first serve (27/31) and improved to 2-0 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against the Slovak. The left-handed Spaniard topped Smyczek 7-5, 6-4 in their lone past tour-level meeting (2014 Toronto).
Czech earns third win of the season
Jiri Vesely had to battle for more than three hours on Thursday to reach the Grand Prix Hassan II quarter-finals.
The eighth seed recorded just his third match win of the season by overcoming qualifier Nikola Mektic 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-6(5). Vesely hit 15 aces to Mektic’s 10.
“It was a tough match today,” said Vesely. “I didn’t play with a lot of confidence because I only won one match before the beginning of this tournament. I’m very happy about this victory. I kept fighting and never gave up. It was a very important win for me.”
Vesely will next play top seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who broke a three-match losing streak against Nicolas Almagro in a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. Garcia-Lopez won the 2014 title (d. Granollers) when the ATP World Tour 250 tournament was played in Casablanca.
Seventh seed Pablo Carreno Busta lost just five of his first service points in a 6-3, 7-6(5) win over Denis Istomin.
British number three Naomi Broady lost 6-4 7-5 to Pauline Parmentier in the second round of the Katowice Open.
Broady, ranked 78 in the world, failed to take either of her two break points as Parmentier, 30, took the first set.
The Briton, 26, fought hard but was broken when serving to stay in the match in the second set.
France’s Parmentier, ranked 113th, beat defending champion Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in straight sets in the first round in Poland.
Men’s tennis will return to Eastbourne in 2017 as part of a reshuffle of the pre-Wimbledon grass court season.
The ATP 250 event which is currently staged in Nottingham will move to Eastbourne and be held alongside the long-running WTA tournament in Sussex.
A joint men’s and women’s event was staged at Eastbourne’s Devonshire Park between 2009 and 2014.
Nottingham will now hold a WTA event – the Aegon Open – alongside a $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event.
Meanwhile, the Lawn Tennis Association has doubled the prize fund for the Aegon Surbiton Trophy, a joint ATP Challenger and ITF Pro Circuit event, to $200,000.
“This is all about delivering a bigger and better set of grass court tournaments for the players and our fans,” said LTA chief executive Michael Downey.
“It represents another major step in the evolution of the British grass court circuit.”
The grass court season has been changed after a three-week gap between the end of the French Open and the start of Wimbledon was created in the calendar last year.
The move allowed the Aegon Championship at Queen’s Club to be upgraded to an ATP 500 status, while Nottingham held a WTA event for the first time.
5-11 June
12-18 June
19-25 June
26 June – 1 July
3-16 July
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It seemed like a routine interview with Marcos Baghdatis in Houston until it was abruptly interrupted by a blaring warning.
The culprit? Despite there not being a cloud in the sky, the neighbouring golf course lightening siren sounded.
Watch what happened next…
Argentine downs Paire
Juan Monaco, the 2012 champion of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, made a statement in Houston with a 6-3, 7-5 second-round win over second seed Benoit Paire. The former Top-10 player, who defeated Gerald Melzer in the first round, last posted consecutive tour-level wins in Nice 13 months ago (l. to Mayer in QF).
The 32 year old from Tandil has more clay-court wins than any other participant in this year’s tournament (229-136). The Argentine saved 10 break points (10/12) in the 93-minute encounter and improved to 3-1 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Paire.
In beating Paire, No. 22 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Monaco scored his first Top-25 win since Miami 2015 (d. Garcia-Lopez). His opponent in the quarter-finals will be Sam Querrey, who downed Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-3.
The big-hitting Querrey needed only 50 minutes to defeat Becker. He hit 13 aces and saved both break points faced to improve to 3-0 against the German. A two-time finalist (2010 and 2015) in Houston, Querrey is now 13-6 at the event. The fifth seed has never beaten Monaco on clay (0-3) and trails 1-4 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry.
Recapping Wednesday’s doubles action from Houston and Marrakech
Second seeds Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya edged Paolo Lorenzi and Diego Schwartzman 7-6(1), 7-6(3) in the first round of the Fayez Sarofim & Co US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston on Wednesday. The German/Austrian duo saved four break points and advanced in 96 minutes.
Top Seeds Upset In Marrakech
Top seeds Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech by Marin Draganja and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 6-3, 7-6(2) in 75 minutes. Draganja/Qureshi saved the lone break point faced and only dropped two points on their second serve (14/16).
Third seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus advanced to the quarter-finals after downing Argentines Facundo Bagnis and Federico Delbonis 7-6(7), 6-2. Pavic/Venus took the first set despite winning six fewer points than their opponents (38 to 44) before hitting their stride and closing out the match in 85 minutes.