Andy Murray to face Facundo Bagnis in Australian Open warm-up tournament
Andy Murray will play Facundo Bagnis of Argentina in his first match of 2022.
Andy Murray will play Facundo Bagnis of Argentina in his first match of 2022.
Daniil Medvedev described Russia’s 2-1 victory against France on Sunday at ATP Cup as one of the most emotional days of his career as he partnered Roman Safiullin to ensure the reigning champion made a winning start in Sydney.
The World No. 2 watched Safiullin battle back to defeat Arthur Rinderknech, before the 25-year-old teamed with the World No. 167 to win the decisive doubles match, after Medvedev had lost to Ugo Humbert in a third-set tie-break in his singles rubber.
“I definitely had some emotional moments in my career, but this one would be in the top three, top five, because just look at Roman’s match,” Medvedev said in Russia’s post-match press conference. “The way he fought back after [a] tough first set where we can say he lost it quite easily, and then the way he fought back, the way he played was unreal.
“Today was really emotional. In the doubles match I had a partner close to me and [it] is different when you have somebody by your side. The emotions I felt during the match already in the doubles when we broke in the second set was unbelievable, and I think I could hold them, but I didn’t want to.”
Following the withdrawals of Andrey Rublev and Aslan Karatsev, Safiullin gained his opportunity for Team Russia and he capitalised on it, earning Russia two points in their opening Group B tie on his debut at the 16-team event.
“It was [a] great day for me,” Safiullin said. “I just won one point. The second point I share with Daniil because we both won, of course. It’s not like I brought two points and Daniil was sitting, like, ‘Come on, Roman’.”
Russia next plays Australia on Qudos Bank Arena on Tuesday.
Rafael Nadal makes a welcome return to the ATP Tour this week at the Melbourne Summer Set, where he has been drawn in the same half of the draw as Nick Kyrgios. Another former World No. 1, Andy Murray, also begins his 2022 campaign at the ATP 250 event that begins on Tuesday.
Spanish superstar Nadal, who has not played competitively since 5 August 2021 at the Citi Open due to a left foot injury, will challenge Marcos Giron or a qualifier in the second round. The 88-time tour-level titlist could face fourth seed David Goffin or Kyrgios in the semi-finals.
Nadal leads Goffin 4-2 in their ATP Head2Head series and the 35-year-old has a 5-3 advantage over Kyrgios, having won their past two meetings (2019 Wimbledon, 2020 Australia Open). Six of the 11 sets they have played in their past three matches, including Kyrgios victory at 2019 Acapulco, have been tie-breaks.
Kyrgios will first attempt to break a five-match losing streak in his first match since September against Alex Molcan, who lost to Novak Djokovic in last year’s Belgrade Open final.
Second seed Reilly Opelka and third seed Grigor Dimitrov feature in the bottom half of the draw, which includes fifth seed Benoit Paire, eighth seed Mackenzie McDonald, former World No. 3 Kevin Anderson and Murray.
Opelka, who reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Toronto last year, could face Paire, Anderson or Jaume Munar in the quarter-finals. Should Murray overcome Facundo Bagnis in the first round, he’d then challenge Dimitrov for the 12th time (Murray leads 8-3).
In a bid to get matches under his belt, Nadal is also participating in the Melbourne doubles draw with Munar. They face Australians Marc Polmans and Alexei Popyrin in the first round. Dimitrov and Goffin are also teaming up in a field led by Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski. Raven Klaasen and Ben McLachlan are the second seeds.
Dan Evans gets Great Britain’s ATP Cup campaign off to a winning start with a straight-set victory in the opening singles tie against Germany.
John Peers and Luke Saville completed the Australian turnaround Sunday at ATP Cup to give the home nation lift-off in Group B in Sydney.
The pair downed Matteo Berrettini and Simone Bolelli 6-3, 7-5 to secure a 2-1 victory for Australia against Italy in front of a lively crowd that was fully engaged following Alex de Minaur’s win over Berrettini in the second singles rubber.
Peers and Saville rose to the task throughout against the Italian duo, saving a set point on serve at 4-5 in the second set as they won the last nine points of the match to triumph after 84 minutes.
Australia will next face reigning champion Russia on Tuesday, while Italy plays France, with both ties on Qudos Bank Arena.
Photo Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour
Earlier, home favourite De Minaur lifted the roof off Ken Rosewall Arena Sunday when he kept alive Australia’s opening tie hopes against Italy at ATP Cup.
The 22-year-old earned his fifth Top 10 win of his career as he upset World No. 7 Berrettini 6-3, 7-6(4) in Group B.
“This court brings out the best in me,” an emotional De Minaur said. Reflecting on a tough 2021, he added, “It’s not about how many times you get knocked down. It’s about how many times you get knocked down and get back up.”
The 22-year-old demonstrated great agility and grit in his first match of the season and recovered from squandering a 5-3 lead in the second set to triumph after 86 minutes, levelling their ATP Head2Head series at 1-1.
“My whole career I have had a couple of setbacks but look, I am back,” De Minaur said. “I worked really hard to be here, I am in the best shape of my life and I am ready to have a big year.”
De Minaur was impressive on return throughout, stepping inside the baseline to make good contact from Berrettini’s delivery as he dictated points with his powerful forehand.
The World No. 34, who won two tour-level titles in 2021, is making his third ATP Cup appearance, earning victories against Alexander Zverev and Denis Shapovalov in 2020.
Earlier, Jannik Sinner had produced a comprehensive performance on his ATP Cup debut to give Italy a 1-0 lead against home nation Australia.
The 20-year-old struck his groundstrokes powerfully and dominated the longer rallies to defeat Max Purcell 6-1, 6-3 in 64 minutes on Ken Rosewall Arena to earn his first victory of the year.
“It was a great match from my side,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “I am very happy to have the first point for Team Italy and hopefully Matteo can finish it today. I felt very, very solid. I knew I had to play solid from the baseline because when he comes to the net it is very, very tough to pass him, so I tried to play deep. For the first match of the year, it could not have gone any better.”
Sinner enjoyed an impressive 2021 season, earning four tour-level titles and cracking the Top 10 in the ATP Rankings. The 2019 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals champion, who struck 13 winners and committed just three unforced errors against Purcell, is Italy’s No. 2 singles player at the 16-team event and will next play Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech on Tuesday.
ATP Cup format sees the No. 2 singles played first, with the No. 1 singles following. Doubles, with no-ad scoring and a match tie-break in place of a third set, is the final rubber of the tie.
Semi-final Qualifying Scenarios
Group B
If Australia defeats Russia and Italy defeats France, Australia wins the group and advances to the SF
If Russia defeats Australia and France defeats Italy, Russia wins the group and advances to the SF
Group C
No team can clinch the group by winning their next tie. USA and Great Britain winning their next tie would set up a winner takes all on day 6.
Daniel Evans proved the inspiration for Great Britain on Sunday when he won two matches, including a deciding doubles with Jamie Murray, for a 2-1 victory over Germany in the Group C tie at the ATP Cup.
Evans, who first beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 2 singles match, returned to the court at Qudos Bank Arena following Alexander Zverev’s 7-6(2), 6-1 win over Britain’s Cameron Norrie, to partner Murray to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Kevin Krawietz and Zverev in 78 minutes.
Great Britain will next challenge Canada on Tuesday, while Germany meets the United States. Both ties will be contested on Ken Rosewall Arena.
Evans ensured Great Britain got off to a perfect start, with the World No. 25 mixing up his tactics to keep Struff on the back foot. “It’s a good way to start 2022,” said Evans. “I’ve been practising well, but I didn’t expect to play the match this well.”
Evans completely dominated to extend his perfect record to 3-0 against Struff. The first set lasted 32 minutes, as Evans hit 12 winners and committed just four unforced errors. From 1-1 in the first set, the 31-year-old secured nine straight games to lead 4-0 in the second set. Evans played with high energy, nullified Struff’s powerful serve and got returns low over the net when the German serve-volleyed.
Zverev levelled the tie to ensure a doubles decider. The World No. 3 saved one set point in the first set to beat No. 12-ranked Briton Norrie in 87 minutes.
Having been in control on serve, Zverev dropped his first-serve percentage at 4-5 in the first set to gift Norrie a set point at 30/40. Zverev saved it with a solid first delivery and approach winner, then applied pressure to force Norrie to save a break point in the next game. The German, who beat World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2-ranked Daniil Medvedev in his final two matches of the 2021 season for the Nitto ATP Finals crown, raised his game in the tie-break that ended with a Norrie backhand into the net.
After 54 minutes of high-quality tennis, Norrie came close to breaking Zverev in the first game of the second set. But, unable to convert, Zverev responded to secure service breaks in the fourth and sixth games. He has now won 13 of his past 15 matches. “The first match of the year is never going to be the best match of you’re life,” said Zverev. “But I’m pretty happy as I did my job. We’re here to try and win.”
The ATP Cup format sees the No. 2 singles played first, followed by the No. 1 singles and doubles.
Unheralded Russian Roman Safiullin has seized his opportunity to play a starring role at ATP Cup, rallying from a set down to give the defending champion a 1-0 lead on Day 2 in Sydney.
The 24-year-old World No. 167 Safiullin, who got his opportunity to play following the withdrawals of Andrey Rublev and Aslan Karatsev, raised his game to topple Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the No. 2 singles.
World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev now has the opportunity to clinch the tie for Russia when he meets Ugo Humbert in the No. 1 singles.
Safiullin came up clutch in pressure moments, saving 15 of 19 break points he faced in the two-hour, 26-minute contest.
“It feels great to win the first match, to get the point for the team and now we wait for Daniil to go out and show his tennis,” Safiullin said. “The second set was really tight and I tried to make as many balls as I could and put pressure on him.
“Before the match Daniil said to go out and play with no pressure, just to play my best and fight for every point.”
ATP Cup format sees the No. 2 singles played first, with the No. 1 singles following. Doubles, with no-ad scoring and a match tie-break in place of a third set, is the final rubber of the tie.
John Isner made a quick start for the United States at the ATP Cup on Sunday when he defeated Canada’s Brayden Schnur 6-1, 6-4 in 66 minutes.
The American had to scramble at the last moment when he learned he would play Schnur instead of Shapovalov, who withdrew from the tie’s No. 2 singles match due to fatigue. But the 36-year-old took care of business with a comprehensive performance in which he saved the only break point he faced.
“I surprised myself with how well I played out here,” Isner said in his on-court interview. “You always work hard in the offseason, but you never really know what could happen in that first match of the year.”
Isner broke twice in the first set and used his booming serve to capitalise on the advantage. The American never looked back, hitting 10 aces and winning 46 per cent of his return points in his victory inside Qudos Bank Arena.
“I actually really like this court. It’s not too fast, which I prefer. It gives me a little time to swing out on my shots being so big. That helps me out a lot,” Isner said. “We’re off to a good start, hopefully we can keep this going.”
Did You Know?
This was Isner’s first win at the ATP Cup. Two years ago, he represented his country at the team event, but did not earn a victory.
Canadian Denis Shapovalov has withdrawn from his opening singles match of the season on Sunday at the ATP Cup due to fatigue. Brayden Schnur stepped in to face John Isner of the United States.
Shapovalov is still getting up to speed after testing positive for Covid-19 upon his arrival in Sydney. The 22-year-old followed all protocols including isolating in his hotel room before being released upon completion of those protocols.
“I’m disappointed not to be able to play the first match, but I just didn’t feel ready physically yet, so we did what is best for the team,” Shapovalov said.
The lefty is joined on Team Canada by Felix Auger-Aliassime, Brayden Schnur and Steven Diez. It is Shapovalov’s third appearance in the ATP Cup.
Stefanos Tsitsipas withdraws from his ATP Cup singles match because of an elbow issue but returns to play in Greece’s opening doubles win.
