Indian Wells: Andy Murray beats Adrian Mannarino to reach second round
Andy Murray reached the second round of the Indian Wells Masters with a 6-3 6-2 win over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
Andy Murray reached the second round of the Indian Wells Masters with a 6-3 6-2 win over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
Britain’s Emma Raducanu loses on her return to court for the first time since her US Open triumph.
South African former World No. 5 Kevin Anderson has improved his ATP Head2Head record to 3-0 against Australia’s Jordan Thompson after a straight-sets win in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open on Friday.
The three-time Indian Wells quarter-finalist had never dropped a set to the 27-year-old and maintained that record with a 7-5, 6-2 victory in 84 minutes. In his 10th appearance in the California desert Anderson struck 10 aces and dropped only three points on his first serve to set a second-round meeting with 17th seed Lorenzo Sonego.
It was better news for Thompson’s countryman, John Millman, in the following match on Stadium 2. The World No. 58’s mental toughness shone as he withstood 2017 semi-finalist Jack Sock 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 31 minutes.
Millman won 66 per cent of first-serve points, including four aces, and broke five times. He recovered from 1-3 down in the deciding set to reel off the final five games and set a showdown against 10th seed Jannik Sinner.
Earlier, Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori finished emphatically to deny German Dominik Koepfer in their first-round clash. The 22-year-old saved nine of 11 break points for a 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-0 victory, which set a meeting with 24th seed and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Karen Khachanov.
If Andy Murray was put off by his stinky-shoe, wedding-ring dilemma from earlier this week in Indian Wells, he certainly did not show it on court Friday evening.
The former World No. 1 eliminated tricky Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round of the BNP Paribas Open. The Scot will next play #NextGenATP star Carlos Alcaraz for a spot in the third round.
“It’s been four years since I was last here. I think it’s one of the best places to play tennis on Tour,” Murray said in his on-court interview. “It’s been a tough road to get back and it was so nice that so many people managed to come out and support today. I really enjoyed it.”
Murray was the talk of social media in recent days, as he enlisted the fans’ help in finding his missing tennis shoes and wedding ring. After retrieving the items, the 34-year-old returned his attention to the tournament, where he beat his lefty opponent in one hour and 24 minutes.
The three-time major champion did not face a break point until the last point of the match. Mannarino often proves a difficult foe for players with his flat groundstrokes, but Murray never appeared out of his comfort zone.
The wild card flashed his shotmaking abilities on multiple occasions, including one incredible point in the first set that he finished with a perfect backhand lob to the delight of the crowd. He cracked a forehand winner to earn the key break in the second set and then broke for a third time on the night to give himself breathing room.
Murray completed his triumph when Mannarino missed a drop shot. The 2009 Indian Wells finalist then pumped his fist and gave a clap for the California crowd inside Stadium 1.
“I thought my mentality was good tonight. I sort of focussed just on every single point. I don’t know if it felt it inside the stadium, but it was pretty breezy on the court, especially in the first set. Maybe some of the points were not that consistent, but I fought for every single point. That was the goal coming into the match and it got me the win.”
Murray has spoken highly of his next opponent, Alcaraz, who is making his tournament debut. The Scot told ATPTour.com in August that if he had to pick a future World No. 1 from the young players on the ATP Tour, he would select Alcaraz.
“I think [Carlos] Alcaraz is really, really good,” Murray said. “I think he’s got a good chance at it.”
It will be the first ATP Head2Head meeting between the pair, with Murray 16 years older than the 18-year-old.
After Chilean Alejandro Tabilo defeated American Denis Kudla 6-1, 7-6(0) on Friday at the BNP Paribas Open to earn his first main draw win at an ATP Master 1000 event, he jogged over to his team for lengthy embraces. It was an emotional moment for the 24-year-old, who has waited for a moment such as this on one of tennis’ biggest stages.
But it got even more emotional once he left the court and called his father Ricardo, mother Maria and brother Sebastian.
“My dad was just coming back from work. He was watching the whole thing at work. He was in the car so happy. My mom was at home with my brother and they were all yelling and ecstatic,” Tabilo told ATPTour.com. “For me, seeing everything they’ve done for me, I love seeing them happy with my results.”
What it means? pic.twitter.com/bgH2czYTY1
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 8, 2021
Family is everything for Tabilo. The No. 184 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings credits his parents, who met in Canada and still live in Toronto, for helping him get to this stage and motivating him daily.
“Jano” first was introduced to tennis earlier than he can remember. As a toddler, he would go with his father and brother to watch them play.
“From what my parents say I was always yelling and crying because I was too young to play,” Tabilo said. “But I remember always going to the club with my brother, waking up early. If the club wasn’t open, we would look for parks around to play in. I remember the struggle, the grind just to practise.”
Tabilo’s earliest memories are driving with his parents to those early-morning practices. His father owns a cleaning company, and often would get home so late that he would immediately wake Alejandro and go straight to practise.
“It was tough for them,” Tabilo said of his parents. “I always saw the sacrifices they made for me, so I’m always going to be thankful. All of this I always do for them. They are the first people I call and they’re always there with me.
“Everything I do is just trying to make them happy, show them that everything they worked for, all the sacrifices they made was worth something. It’s always something that is in the back of my head.”
Tabilo’s journey has not been a simple one. At 13, he moved to an academy in Florida, where he spent nearly a decade. Three years ago, he moved to Santiago.
“Most people are actually surprised that after going from Canada to the U.S. I moved to Chile. Everybody in Chile is like, ‘Why would you come here?’ Most of them say they look to leave Chile,” Tabilo said. “For me it’s been better because growing up with my Chilean family, South America is more about family, it’s more intimate. Everybody took me in really well. Even when I go there, it’s not an academy vibe. It’s like family. It’s like home.”
Photo Credit: Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour
The Chilean is a hard worker who plays with a chip on his shoulder. When the lefty serves, you can see a tattoo on his upper arm. There is a lion with bands around it.
“My dad always wanted me to get a tattoo around there, so I wanted to do something a little more symbolic,” Tabilo said. “The bands represent more strength and the lion represents more courage, so it’s something I always want to show on court and be fierce.”
Tabilo will try to show that in the second round in Indian Wells, where he will play Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini. It will be his first match against a Top 10 opponent.
“There’s always hope and I’m coming with confidence,” the qualifier said. “I feel like I can do something.”
For those who watch Tabilo for the first time as he steps on court under the California sun, the 24-year-old does not want them to notice one stroke or physical part of his game. Instead, he hopes they notice his attitude.
“On court I’m always a fighter. I don’t like to lose. I’m always going to be there trying to get every point, every ball back. Like my family, I fight for everything,” Tabilo said. “It’s been tough to get up here, so I don’t take anything for granted.”
#NextGen ATP American wild card Jenson Brooksby has boosted his chances of qualifying for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, following a straight-sets opening-round triumph over Turkish qualifier Cem Ilkel at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday.
In his Indian Wells debut, the 20-year-old scored a 7-6(5), 6-4 win on Stadium 1. At fifth in the ATP Race to Milan, he is next in line to qualify and holds a one-point lead over sixth-placed Lorenzo Musetti, an earlier loser to Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Day 2.
At 26, Ilkel was contesting his first ATP Masters 1000 main draw and stuck with his younger opponent throughout the opening set as neither player surrendered serve. After taking the tie-break on his second set point, Brooksby landed the first break for 3-2 in the second set and sustained the advantage as he prevailed at the one-hour, 44-minute mark. Brooksby dropped just four points on his first serve, won 68 per cent on his second serve and did not face a break point throughout.
He next meets German third seed Alexander Zverev for a place in the round of 32. One of six American men in action on Day 2, Brooksby has enjoyed a breakthrough run since the ATP Tour headed to his home turf after Wimbledon. He reached his maiden tour-level final at Newport in July (l. to Anderson) and defeated Kevin Anderson, Frances Tiafoe, Felix Auger-Aliassime and John Millman without dropping a set to reach the semi-finals in Washington.
Brooksby then made the fourth round at a Grand Slam for the first time where he took a set off World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. He arrived in Indian Wells at a career-high No. 79 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, having started the year at No. 307.
Aslan Karatsev and Andrey Rublev are playing doubles together for just the third time. But on Friday, the powerful Russians showed why they are a formidable duo.
The unseeded pair defeated Australian Alex de Minaur and American Reilly Opelka 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round of the BNP Paribas Open. Karatsev and Rublev, this year’s Doha champions, are now 5-1 as a duo, and they have not lost a set in any of their victories.
The Russians earned four service breaks and won 44 per cent of their return points against De Minaur and Opelka. They will next play fourth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah or Italian Simone Bolelli and Argentine Maximo Gonzalez.
In other action, second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury clawed past Briton Cameron Norrie and Australian Luke Saville 4-6, 6-3, 10-8. This year’s US Open champions had never previously won a match together in Indian Wells.
Singles star Denis Shapovalov and his partner, Indian Rohan Bopanna, also advanced with a 6-1, 2-6, 10-4 victory against reigning Rolex Paris Masters champions Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hubert Hurkacz.
Budge Patty, the debonair American who won the 1950 Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles in a 15-year amateur career, has passed away at a hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland, aged 97.
Patty, a serve-volleyer on the court and playboy off it when he settled in Paris after the Second World War, became a fluent French speaker. In 1950, the year he decided to give up smoking, Patty claimed three straight fifth-set triumphs at Roland Garros, culminating in a 6-1, 6-2, 2-6, 5-7, 7-5 final victory over Jaroslav Drobny and he received the warmth of the crowd. A year earlier he had finished as runner-up to fellow American Frank Parker.
One month after his victory on Parisian clay, Patty built a service and return strategy to overcome Frank Sedgman in the Wimbledon final. Having watched Sedgman in Paris and at Queen’s Club, Patty realised that the Australian didn’t like to rush the net and instead preferred to dictate the tempo of the match. Patty warmed up for the Wimbledon final on an outside court with Tony Trabert, barely hitting a ball into the court. But by the time he walked onto Centre Court, the 26-year-old settled quickly and won 6-1, 8-10, 6-2, 6-3.
International Tennis Hall of Fame President Stan Smith said, “Budge Patty was one of the great American players of the 1940s and 50s. Winning over 70 tournament titles is remarkable, and to win Wimbledon and Roland Garros back-to-back is a massive feat. While he competed before my time, I’ve often heard about how beautiful and elegant his game was. He will be remembered as a standout among tennis history’s greatest champions”.
Photo: STF/AFP via Getty Images
Born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the Patty family soon moved to Los Angeles, California. He first played tennis aged nine with his older brother, who nicknamed him ‘Budge’ for his laziness and “failure to budge”, on the courts of the Los Angeles High School and at Queen Anne Park. As a junior, he practised every Saturday at 6am with five-time major singles champion Pauline Betz, who lived nearby.
After Patty won the novice championships of Los Angeles aged 13, Betz heard of a tennis pro called Bill Weissbuch, an assistant to Eleanor Tennant and coach of five-time major singles winner Alice Marble, who was looking to develop a young talent. Betz promoted 13-year-old Patty, who caught the attention of actors Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor, and for the next two years won every tournament he entered. He took lessons with Weissbuch at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club, which was owned and operated by Fred Perry and Ellsworth Vines.
Weissbuch pushed the need to play aggressive tennis, and it was a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Bill Tilden at the club that forced the then 5’4” Patty to ditch his baseline game. Recounting the match in his 1951 autobiography, Tennis My Way, Patty wrote, “Tilden told me at the end, ‘Sonny, you play a pretty good game of tennis, but you will never be any better than you are right now unless you learn to play a little more aggressive type of game. Learn to volley and attack as much as possible. That’s the only way you’ll ever become a champion’.”
Patty won the under-15 US national title in 1939, the under-18 singles and doubles titles in 1941— saving one match point against Vic Seixas in the singles final — and worked on his game the following year, when he retained the title, once he left high school. He’d planned to go to the University of Southern California in 1942, but a few days after enrolling he was called up to the US Army. After six months, he was permitted to leave the camp each day in Salt Lake City to train for three straight weeks in order to win the Utah state championships title. Afterwards, Patty spent two years in Italy with the 12th Air Force Public Relations department and was discharged in January 1946.
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Within four years of first appearing at 1946 Wimbledon, where a number of the Centre Court seats were still roped off because of bomb damage, John Olliff, a former Davis Cup player and tennis correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, adjudged Patty to be the World No. 1 amateur in 1950. To date, Patty is only one of three American men — Don Budge in 1938 and Trabert in 1955 — to have achieved the Roland Garros and Wimbledon title double.
At Wimbledon in 1953, Patty failed to convert six match points on Drobny’s serve in a third-round match that lasted four hours and 20 minutes — a record at the time for the longest continuous tennis match. In doubles, Patty won the 1946 Roland Garros mixed title with Betz and partnered Gardnar Mulloy, who passed away aged 102 in November 2016, to the doubles title at Wimbledon in 1957. He also finished doubles runner-up with Mulloy at the US Championships two months later.
Often criticised for not playing enough on American soil, Patty later worked as a travel agent from his Paris residence (his home since 1948) and had bit parts in movies, before moving into real estate. He married the daughter of a Brazilian engineering magnate, Marcina Maria Sfezzo, his wife of 60 years and they lived in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1977, made annual visits to the All England Club, Wimbledon, and continued to play three or four times a week until his late 80s, often using his old wooden frames.
Patty is survived by his wife and their two daughters, Christine and Elaine.
John ‘Budge’ Edward Patty, tennis player, born 11 February 1924, died 3 October 2021.
Following 48 hours of stress and worry for Andy Murray, it’s down to business for the former World No. 1 at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday, with #NextGenATP stars Lorenzo Musetti, Jenson Brooksby, Brandon Nakashima and Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune also in first-round action.
Reunited with his wedding ring, which he tied to his sweaty shoes and left under his car overnight to air Wednesday, Murray has wriggled out of the bad books with his wife Kim and now has his sights set on beating France’s Adrian Mannarino in the last match on Stadium 1.
In their two previous hard-court meetings, contested in 2015, the same year as Murray married his wife, Kim, and first tied his wedding ring in his shoelaces, the Briton recorded victories at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati prior to a five-set tussle at the US Open.
“He is a very tricky player, quite unorthodox and plays differently to most of the guys on Tour,” said wild card Murray, who reached the 2009 final (l. to Nadal) and has a 25-12 match record in Indian Wells. “The majority of players play with heavy topspin and have big, long swings to generate power and spin. He hits very flat off both sides and on the forehand he has probably the shortest swing on Tour. He plays a lot with his timing. His quick lefty serve is difficult as well. It won’t be an easy match.”
[FOLLOW 1000]Four #NextGenATP players, who are battling to qualify for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, the 21-and-under event in Milan from 9-13 November, also feature on day two in Indian Wells. Brooksby (877 points), Musetti (876), Nakashima (661) and Rune (615) are separated by just 262 points in the ATP Race To Milan.
American Brooksby, 20, the next in line to clinch his spot, plays in his first tournament since reaching the US Open fourth round (l. to Djokovic in four sets), and challenges Turkish qualifier Cem Ilkel third on Stadium 1. After two ATP Tour semi-finals in Acapulco and Lyon, Italian Musetti is hoping to rediscover his best form against Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas, aiming to improve upon two wins in his past nine matches.
American Nakashima, who reached his first ATP Tour final in Los Cabos (l. to Norrie) in July and soon cracked the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time, plays Bastad finalist Federico Coria of Argentina not before 6pm on Stadium 3. While Danish wild card Rune, a winner of three ATP Challenger Tour titles in 2021, faces American qualifier Ernesto Escobedo second on Stadium 4.
Elsewhere, three-time Indian Wells quarter-finalist Kevin Anderson looks to extend his perfect 2-0 ATP Head2Head record against Jordan Thompson of Australia second on Stadium 2. American wild card Jack Sock, the 2017 semi-finalist (l. to Federer), plays another Australian, John Millman, not before 6pm on Stadium 2.
A number of ATP Tour stars feature in doubles action, notably Italians Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner taking on fifth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau, and Russians Aslan Karatsev and Andrey Rublev challenging Alex de Minaur and Reilly Opelka. Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hubert Hurkacz also play Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov.
VIEW SCHEDULE — FRIDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2021
STADIUM 1 starts at 11:00 AM
WTA – P. Martic (CRO) vs [2] I. Swiatek (POL)
WTA – M. Kostyuk (UKR) vs [11] S. Halep (ROU)
ATP – [Q] C. Ilkel (TUR) vs J. Brooksby (USA)
WTA – Not Before 6:00 PM – [WC] [17] E. Raducanu (GBR) vs A. Sasnovich (BLR)
ATP – [WC] A. Murray (GBR) vs A. Mannarino (FRA)
STADIUM 2 starts at 11:00 AM
ATP – D. Kudla (USA) vs [Q] A. Tabilo (CHI)
ATP – K. Anderson (RSA) vs J. Thompson (AUS)
WTA – Not Before 3:00 PM – M. Keys (USA) vs [9] A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)
ATP – Not Before 6:00 PM – [WC] J. Sock (USA) vs J. Millman (AUS)
WTA – Not Before 8:00 PM – [23] L. Fernandez (CAN) vs A. Cornet (FRA)
STADIUM 3 starts at 11:00 AM
ATP – F. Delbonis (ARG) vs Y. Nishioka (JPN)
WTA – M. Linette (POL) vs [27] V. Azarenka (BLR)
WTA – [8] B. Bencic (SUI) vs S. Rogers (USA)
ATP – Not Before 6:00 PM – F. Coria (ARG) vs B. Nakashima (USA)
ATP – M. Fucsovics (HUN) vs G. Mager (ITA)
STADIUM 4 starts at 11:00 AM
WTA – T. Martincova (CZE) vs [4] E. Svitolina (UKR)
ATP – [WC] H. V. N. Rune (DEN) vs [Q] E. Escobedo (USA)
ATP – A. Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) vs L. Musetti (ITA)
WTA – Not Before 6:00 PM – [7] P. Kvitova (CZE) vs A. Rus (NED)
WTA – S. Stephens (USA) vs [19] J. Pegula (USA)
STADIUM 5 starts at 11:00 AM
ATP – R. Bopanna (IND) / D. Shapovalov (CAN) vs F. Auger-Aliassime (CAN) / H. Hurkacz (POL)
ATP – [5] K. Krawietz (GER) / H. Tecau (ROU) vs M. Berrettini (ITA) / J. Sinner (ITA)
ATP – L. Harris (RSA) / D. Schwartzman (ARG) vs [WC] S. Johnson (USA) / S. Querrey (USA)
ATP – Not Before 6:00 PM – [Q] A. Vukic (AUS) vs P. Andujar (ESP)
ATP – E. Gerasimov (BLR) vs [Q] C. Eubanks (USA)
STADIUM 6 starts at 11:00 AM
WTA – [25] V. Kudermetova (RUS) vs L. Samsonova (RUS)
WTA – S. Hsieh (TPE) vs [24] J. Ostapenko (LAT)
WTA – I. Begu (ROU) vs [31] J. Teichmann (SUI)
WTA – Not Before 6:00 PM – [13] E. Rybakina (KAZ) vs Y. Putintseva (KAZ)
WTA – [4] A. Guarachi (CHI) / D. Krawczyk (USA) vs [SR] H. Watson (GBR) / S. Zheng (CHN)
STADIUM 7 starts at 11:00 AM
ATP] A. Karatsev (RUS) / A. Rublev (RUS) vs A. De Minaur (AUS) / R. Opelka (USA)
ATP] C. Norrie (GBR) / L. Saville (AUS) vs [2] R. Ram (USA) / J. Salisbury (GBR)
ATP] F. Bagnis (ARG) vs [Q] E. Gomez (ECU)
ATP] NB 6:00 PM P. Martinez (ESP) vs [Q] R. Marcora (ITA)
STADIUM 8 starts at 11:00 AM
WTA – [32] S. Cirstea (ROU) vs M. Doi (JPN)
WTA – [14] E. Mertens (BEL) vs [LL] J. Paolini (ITA)
WTA – M. Ninomiya (JPN) / S. Santamaria (USA) vs K. Flipkens (BEL) / S. Sorribes Tormo (ESP)
WTA – Not Before 6:00 PM – [WC] A. Anisimova (USA) / D. Yastremska (UKR) vs [2] S. Hsieh (TPE) / E. Mertens (BEL)
WTA – [1] B. Krejcikova (CZE) / K. Siniakova (CZE) vs V. Golubic (SUI) / J. Teichmann (SUI)
STADIUM 9 starts at 11:00 AM
ATP – D. Koepfer (GER) vs E. Ruusuvuori (FIN)
ATP – J. Struff (GER) vs D. E. Galan (COL)
ATP – R. Bautista Agut (ESP) / A. Davidovich Fokina (ESP) vs S. Gille (BEL) / J. Vliegen (BEL)
The historic 2021 US Open that saw two new first-time Grand Slam champions etch their names into tennis’ history books will be an inspiring story of tennis history forever preserved at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Champions Daniil Medvedev and Emma Raducanu each gifted items from their major victories to the permanent collection in the Hall of Fame’s Museum.
Moments after Medvedev’s win over world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the first-time grand slam champion handed a racquet from the championship match over to ITHF President Stan Smith. Raducanu gifted the Hall of Fame the Nike kit that she wore in her magical two weeks in New York.
Donated one of my rackets to the @TennisHalloFame. Good home for it! Nice to chat to another legend as well #StanSmith pic.twitter.com/Mz50wUaBhm
— Daniil Medvedev (@DaniilMedwed) September 14, 2021
The racquet and outfit are now displayed in the Museum for tennis fans to enjoy. As part of the permanent collection, the pieces will also be photographed for use in future digital exhibits and educational content produced by the Museum.
“The International Tennis Hall of Fame preserves tennis history so that future generations can learn from and be inspired by the sport’s most notable moments and remarkable people. Emma and Daniil certainly showed that they are those remarkable people during their spectacular US Open title runs. We are grateful to Emma and Daniil for recognizing the importance of the Hall of Fame’s mission to preserve tennis history for future generations and for providing this special piece of tennis history to the museum,” said Stan Smith, ITHF President.
The newest Museum residents ?
Pieces of 2021 @usopen glory live on at the ITHF! @DaniilMedwed‘s title-winning racquet and the kit @EmmaRaducanu wore during her magical fortnight are now on display in Newport ✨
— Tennis Hall of Fame (@TennisHalloFame) October 7, 2021
With a straight sets win, Medvedev captured his first major title with an victory over world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, denying Djokovic’s quest for the calendar-year Grand Slam. Medvedev became the first man since Rafael Nadal in 2010 and the second since Ivan Lendl in 1987 to drop just one set en route to the US Open title. In lifting the trophy, Medvedev became the third man in Russian tennis to win a major title, joining the ranks of Hall of Famers Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
Raducanu, 18, became the first qualifier to win a major. She did so without dropping a set the entire tournament, winning 20 sets en route to the final.
She clinched the trophy with a straight sets win over fellow teen sensation, Canadian Leylah Fernandez. Raducanu became the first Britain to win a major title since Hall of Famer Virginia Wade in 1977. Her historic victory elicited enthusiastic support from around the world, topped off with a personal note from Queen Elizabeth.
