ATP 50: 10 Defining Rivalries In ATP History
ATP 50: 10 Defining Rivalries In ATP History
ATP 50: 10 Defining Rivalries In ATP History
Top seed returns to favoured hard courts
Playing in his first match since June and making his debut at the Abierto de Tenis Mifel, Daniil Medvedev eased back into competition with a 6-4, 6-3 result against Australian wild card Rinky Hijikata.
The World No. 1 earned his 250th match win as he returned to his favoured hard courts for the first time since his run to the Miami Open quarter-finals in March.
“Somebody told me this a few days ago at media day, otherwise I would not have known,” Medvedev said of the reaching the 250-wins landmark. “That’s probably a milestone in a a way. For sure I want more victories but that’s also nice to have 250. We’ll try to get more.”
Medvedev secured his first break of the match to seal the opening set as he settled in on the stadium court, then converted on his fifth break point of the second midway through the set.
“It’s definitely not that easy to play after you stop for a while, especially [playing my] first match on hard courts since a long long time, since Miami,” he said. “Sensations were not bad. I could have just broke a little bit more, but when you win everything is fine. I have to play like this in the next matches.”
Hijikata, a North Carolina Tar Heel and the World No. 224, did not go down quietly. Enjoying the occasion, the 21-year-old created his share of highlights by using his athleticism to cover the court and made Medvedev work for over 90 minutes on court.
Medvedev next faces Ricardas Berankis, who defeated Facudon Bagnis 7-6(4), 6-3 on Wednesday.
Nick Kyrgios will have to beat three Americans in as many days to reach the Citi Open quarter-finals. After easing past Marcos Giron in the opening round, the 2019 Washington champion scored a 6-3, 6-4 decision in an entertaining evening match against 14th seed Tommy Paul on Wednesday.
That sets up a Round-of-16 showdown with fourth seed Reilly Opelka, who leads the pair’s ATP Head2Head 2-0.
“I always seem to find my best tennis when I play Tommy,” said Kyrgios, who also beat Paul in Houston in April. “I played pretty two flawless matches from a return and serve standpoint.”
The Australian saved all four break points he faced against Paul, who used his athleticism and consistency to play his part in a crowd-pleasing match under the D.C. lights. The American created three of those break points at 2-2 in the second set as he began to pick up the Kyrgios serve, but could not edge in front.
Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios did not create a break point in the second set until the final game, when his third break of the match closed it out after one hour and 25 minutes. He also earned a straight-sets win against Marcos Giron on Tuesday, claiming a win in his first singles match since his first major final.
“I feel as if all these matches are so crucial. As I didn’t get any [Pepperstone ATP Rankings] points from Wimbledon, I’m trying to stay locked in,” the World No. 63 added in his post-match presser. “But in a way, it’s good because I’m still putting in some really good performances.”
Opelka hit 28 aces in a a 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4 win against countryman Denis Kudla. The fourth seed saved an early break point in the second set before winning 19 straight points on serve to take set. He produced three more love service holds in the final set after taking command with an instant break.
The American defeated Kyrgios last season in Toronto and again this year in the Houston semi-finals. He has not lost a match on home soil since Miami and owns a 14-3 record in the U.S. this season with titles in Dallas and Houston.
Felix Auger-Aliassime used a quick start and a finishing flurry to open his account with a win at the Abierto de Tenis Mifel in Los Cabos. Playing against home favourite Alex Hernandez on Wednesday, the second seed denied the Mexican wild card a famous victory by taking a 6-3, 7-5 decision.
The Canadian won the first three games of the match but twice found himself down a break in the second set as Hernandez gave the Stadium CSC crowd plenty to cheer about. The World No. 521 was aided by his opponent’s 58 per cent first-serve percentage, though Auger-Aliassime dominated when he did connect on his first delivery, winning those points at an 83 per cent clip (35/42).
From 2-5 down in the second set, Auger-Aliassime won the last five games of the match — but not before a nervy final game in which he saved two break points after leading 30/0.
The victory sees the Canadian advance to his 10th tour-level quarter-final of 2022, equalling his personal best for a single season (2021). He will next face seventh seed Thanasi Kokkinakis or Steve Johnson.
More to follow…
The sixth ATP Masters 1000 event of the season will see the ATP Tour’s best compete at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the tournament in Montreal:
The 2022 National Bank Open Presented by Rogers will be held from 8 August-14 August. The hard-court ATP Masters 1000 tournament, established in 1881, will take place at Stade IGA in Montreal, Canada. The tournament director is Eugene Lapierre.
The Montreal field will feature five-time champion Rafael Nadal, reigning titlist Daniil Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz and more.
The Montreal draw will be made Friday 5 August at 4 p.m.
*Qualifying: Saturday 6 August – Sunday 7 August starting at 11 a.m.
*Main Draw: Monday 8 August – Friday, 12 August sessions starting at 12 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
* Saturday 13 August, sessions starting at 12 p.m. and 6 p.m.
*Doubles Final: Sunday 14 August at 1:30 p.m.,
*Singles Final: Sunday 14 August not before 4 p.m.
*View on official website
The prize money for the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers is $5,926,545 and the Total Financial Commitment is $6,573,785.
SINGLES
Winner: $915,295 / 1,000 points
Finalist: $499,830 / 600 points
Semi-finalist: $273,320 / 360 points
Quarter-finalist: $149,085 / 180 points
Round of 16: $79,745 / 90 points
Round of 32: $42,760 / 45 points
Round of 56: $23,690 / 10 points
DOUBLES ($ per team)
Winner: $280,830 / 1,000 points
Finalist: $152,550 / 600 points
Semi-finalist: $83,790 / 360 points
Quarter-finalist: $46,230 / 180 points
Round of 16: $25,420 / 90 points
Round of 32: $13,870 / 0 points
ATP Tennis Streaming Online – Watch Tennis Live (tennistv.com)
TV Schedule – Montreal
Hashtag: #NBO22
Facebook: Omnium Banque Nationale
Twitter: @obnmontreal
Instagram: @obnmontreal
Daniil Medvedev won the 2021 National Bank Open Presented by Rogers title with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Reilly Opelka in the championship match (Read & Watch). Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury lifted the doubles trophy, defeating Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 6-3, 4-6, 10-3 in the final (Read More).
Most Titles, Singles: Ivan Lendl (6)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (5)
Oldest Champion: Rafael Nadal, 33, in 2019
Youngest Champion: Michael Chang, 18, in 1990
Highest-Ranked Champion: No. 1 Bjorn Bjorg in 1979, John McEnroe in 1984-85, Ivan Lendl in 1987-89, Andre Agassi in 1995, Roger Federer in 2004 & 2006, Novak Djokovic in 2011 & 2016, Rafael Nadal in 2018
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 95 Mikael Pernfors in 1993
Last Home Champion: None
Most Match Wins: Ivan Lendl (57)
View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown
Toronto 2021
Open Gallery
Three years ago Andy Murray and Jamie Murray defeated Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the first round of the Citi Open. On Wednesday, the Frenchmen earned their revenge.
Mahut and Roger-Vasselin eliminated Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 6-3, 6-7(7), 10-4 to reach the quarter-finals in Washington. They will next play Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock.
The Frenchmen have claimed seven tour-level titles together, most recently lifting the trophy in Tokyo in 2019.
In other doubles action in the United States’ capital, fourth seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek defeated Emil Ruusuvuori and Luke Saville 6-4, 6-4 to set a clash against Daniel Evans and John Peers.
Canada’s Denis Shapovalov was known to have a stuffed animal wolf in his player box in his early days on the ATP Tour. But on Wednesday at the Citi Open, he had to contend with J.J. Wolf across the net.
The unseeded American won the battle of 23-year-olds 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3 to advance to the Washington third round, breaking serve on five of seven chances. Despite hitting three aces to Shapovalov’s 20, Wolf was more successful on both first and second serve and posted a strong 81 per cent (46/57) win rate on his first delivery.
Fuelled by the home support, the former Ohio State Buckeye also found success at net, winning 13 of his 16 approaches in the two-hour, 17-minute contest. The victory sets up a meeting against ninth seed Holger Rune for a place in the quarter-finals.
Entering the ATP 500 event as a newly minted member of the Top 100 for the first time, Wolf is up nine spots to No. 90 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings this week. With a 6-4 record on the season, he has twice before reached the Round of 16 on the ATP Tour this year (Acapulco, Houston). He also picked up wins at the ATP Masters 1000s in Indian Wells and Miami after qualifying for both events.
Wolf was one of 10 home-nation favourites in action Wednesday in Washington, including three all-American matchups. Third seed Taylor Fritz and Sebastian Korda also advanced in early action with a pair of comfortable victories.
Playing in his first match since his heartbreaking loss to Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, Fritz was a 6-4, 6-3 winner against Alexei Popyrin, scoring a late break in each set against the Aussie. Fritz did not face a break point until he saved two from 15/40 to serve out the victory.
The American is seeking his third title of the season (Indian Wells, Eastbourne) in just his third Washington appearance. He improved to 17-5 on hard courts this season with his opening win and faces 16th seed Daniel Evans next.
Korda earned his second straight-sets win in as many days with a 6-1, 6-4 decision against 12th seed Sebastian Baez. The American won the first five games of the match then made his move in the seventh game of set two before saving a pair of late break points. Fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov awaits in the Round of 16.
On Wednesday evening, 13th seed Maxime Cressy stormed back against Jack Sock to earn a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory to gain a measure of revenge after Sock’s four-set win in the Wimbledon second round. He will next face top seed Andrey Rublev.
In the two other all-American matchups, 10th seed Frances Tiafoe takes on Christopher Eubanks and fourth seed Reilly Opelka faces Denis Kudla. Tommy Paul, seeded 14th, is set to take on Nick Kyrgios in the D.C. evening session.
Emil Ruusuvuori lost the first set of his Citi Open run 1-6 against Mackenzie McDonald. The Finnish star has not looked back since.
After rallying past McDonald on Tuesday, Ruusuvuori upset second seed Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 7-6(3) on Wednesday to reach the third round at the ATP 500 event in Washington. The 23-year-old saved all four break points he faced against the Pole to triumph after one hour and 44 minutes.
“I just was able to hang in there in the first couple games. He had an early break point, but then I was able to keep that service game and give myself a chance to break him and I was able to use it and then just try to keep my own serve,” Ruusuvuori said in his on-court interview. “I didn’t have many chances until the [second-set] tie-break and then I got a look at a couple second serves and [made] a couple deep returns, so that gave me the chance.”
Hurkacz battled hard until the end, relying on all the skills in his all-court game, even winning a point in the second set with a backhand skyhook and trying to pump up the crowd with a forehand passing shot. But Ruusuvuori won back-to-back points on his opponent’s serve late in the tie-break and that proved decisive.
“I just tried to hang in there and tried to stay as tough as [I] can,” Ruusuvuori said. “[The] long rallies, they really drain you and you start to feel dizzy during the points, so [it was] very tough. But it’s a part of the game during this period of the year.”
Ruusuvuori climbed to No. 43 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, one spot off his career high. He will next play 15th seed Aslan Karatsev or Swede Mikael Ymer.
With a bit of help from the crowd, Nick Kyrgios began his Citi Open campaign with victory on Tuesday, when he overcame Marcos Giron in straight sets.
The Australian lifted the trophy in Washington 2019 and during that run, he frequently asked fans where to serve on match point, with the entertaining strategy proving effective.
Three years on and in front of a packed crowd at the ATP 500 event, the 27-year-old was at it again, engaging with a supporter in the front row on match point to help him finish the job against Giron.
“In 2019 I was just doing that on match point, just asking someone in the crowd. I think it’s a cool experience for someone that’s paid money to come watch you play and potentially to go home with that memory,” Kyrgios said in his post-match press conference.
“If it’s a young kid or an older lady like today, I think that’s something that’s pretty cool. I wish I had that experience when I was watching tennis matches.”
Moments prior…
“Where do you want me to serve it?”
It had to be done 😂 @NickKyrgios https://t.co/ybozSmGSpu pic.twitter.com/o8Yl1X7xJl
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 3, 2022
Kyrgios was competing in singles for the first time since he enjoyed a run to his maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon last month.
The World No. 63, who lost in the first round in Washington last year, admitted he was happy with his return to Tour and feels his tennis is in better shape compared to 12 months ago.
“Today I just came out pretty nervous. Obviously had won this tournament before, but I wanted to make sure I had a really good performance this year,” Kyrgios said. “I have been training really hard. I just feel like I’m in such a better place with my tennis. Mentally as well. I wanted to show that to the fans.
“Last year was a really poor performance from me. I just really wanted to make sure I came out and gave them a good show, just to redeem myself. Just looking around the crowd, [it is] such an amazing tournament.”
Kyrgios now holds a 22-7 record on the season and will look to improve that when he plays Tommy Paul in the second round.
Emma Raducanu’s preparations to defend her US Open title get under way with a win over Louisa Chirico at the Washington Open.
