Tennis News

Shapovalov Saves Six Set Points, Beats Fritz In San Diego

Fourth seed Denis Shapovalov faced plenty of adversity on Thursday at the San Diego Open, but the Canadian found a way to win.

The dynamic lefty saved six set points in the first set before beating home favourite Taylor Fritz 7-6(7), 6-2 for a spot in the quarter-finals.

“I’m really happy to get the win, obviously. The first set was super, super tough for me and to come back like that was amazing,” Shapovalov said in his on-court interview. “Definitely happy to be in San Diego, [it is] my first time. It’s such an amazing city.”

Fritz is left to rue his missed opportunities, especially at 6/3 in the first-set tie-break. The American sprinted forward and had plenty of time to put away a poor drop volley from Shapovalov, but he hit his backhand into the net.

The 23-year-old had three more set points in the tie-break, but that was his best opportunity. Shapovalov took his first chance with a short forehand passing shot around Fritz.

“When you have a tough set, it obviously helps a lot to win that set. Then you try to keep that momentum going. Obviously when you lose a tough one like that, your momentum drops. It’s very important to keep the gas pedal on,” said Shapovalov, who now leads the pair’s ATP Head2Head 4-1. “I definitely started the second set super well and just carried it.”

The Wimbledon semi-finalist will next play Cameron Norrie, who defeated fellow Briton Daniel Evans 7-6(3), 6-3. Norrie beat Shapovalov 7-5, 6-3 in their only previous clash earlier this year in the Queen’s Club semi-finals.

Also a lefty, Norrie is enjoying the best season of his career and is at a career-high World No. 28. The 26-year-old lifted his first ATP Tour trophy earlier this year in Los Cabos.

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Murray Headlines Indian Wells Wild Cards

Andy Murray will compete in the BNP Paribas Open for the first time since 2017 after accepting a wild card into the ATP Master 1000 event, the tournament announced Thursday. The other wild cards are #NextGenATP Americans Jenson Brooksby and Zachary Svajda, 2017 semi-finalist Jack Sock and #NextGenATP Dane Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune.

Murray has compiled a 25-12 record in the desert since his debut in 2006, but has not competed there since 2017. On his last appearance at the tournament, in 2017 when he was World No. 1, Murray lost his opening match against Vasek Pospisil. His best finish at Indian Wells was a runner-up showing to Rafael Nadal in 2009, the year he beat Roger Federer in the semi-finals.

Murray reached his first tour-level quarter-final in nearly two years last week in Metz last week and is competing this week in San Diego.

Brooksby has enjoyed a stellar run on home soil in recent months, most recently advancing to the fourth round at the US Open, where he won a set against Novak Djokovic. The 20-year-old also reached his first ATP Tour final in Newport and the semi-finals in Washington. His 18-year-old countrynman, Svajda, earned his first Grand Slam win against Marco Cecchinato in New York last month.

Former World No. 8 Sock reached his first tour-level quarter-final since 2018 in Newport last month before falling to eventual champion Kevin Anderson. The four-time ATP Tour single champion also pushed Nadal to a final-set tie-break in Washington.

Rune has climbed from No. 473 in the FedEx ATP Rankings to start the season to the brink of the Top 100 behind his first three ATP Challenger Tour titles. He came through qualifying at the US Open before falling to Djokovic in the first round.

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Cameron Norrie beats Dan Evans at the San Diego Open

Cameron Norrie recovers from a sluggish start to beat compatriot Dan Evans in the second round of the San Diego Open.

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Sinner Sees Off Gerasimov Challenge In Sofia

Jannik Sinner began his title defence of the Sofia Open on Thursday by defeating qualifier Egor Gerasimov 6-2, 7-6(3) to advance to the quarter-finals.

Sinner, currently 11th in the FedEx ATP Race to Turin, is chasing points this week in a bid to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, which will be held on home soil. The Italian now boasts a 34-17 record in 2021, bouncing back from a four-match losing streak by winning 10 of his past 13 matches, which included a title in Washington.

“I think this year what I have done was good, with some ups and downs,” said Sinner. “Every week when I play it’s trying to understand something new, trying to learn something new.”

Sinner won on his third match point, after Gerasimov saved two in the previous game. He improves his ATPHead2Head lead over the 28-year-old Belarusian to 2-0, having won their previous encounter earlier this year in Barcelona.

The 20-year-old was clinical on serve, winning 81 per cent of first-serve points and saving seven of the eight break points he faced. Gerasimov gained his lone break to lead 5-4 and serve for the second set, but Sinner broke straight back and took the set in a tie-break.

The Italian won his maiden ATP Tour title at the Sofia Open in 2020, where he beat Vasek Pospisil in a three-set thriller to lift the trophy.

Up next for Sinner in his effort to retain the title is the in-form Australian James Duckworth, who defeated Benoit Paire earlier Thursday 6-4, 6-4. The ATPHead2Head between the two stands at 1-1, with Duckworth defeating Sinner in straight sets in their most-recent meeting in Toronto.

“I’m trying to play my best tennis,” Sinner said. “Obviously it’s not going to be easy, but I’m very happy to be back here.”

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Granollers/Zeballos Earn Spot At Nitto ATP Finals

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals as a team for the second consecutive year. They are the fourth pair to book a spot at the season finale, which will be held from 14-21 November at the Pala Alpitour in Turin.

The Spanish-Argentine duo has won two titles this season, both of which came at ATP Masters 1000 events. They triumphed in Madrid and then lifted the trophy in Cincinnati without losing a set.

Read the full story at NittoATPFinals.com

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Giron Downs De Minaur In Sofia

American Marcos Giron earned his second win in as many weeks against third seed Alex de Minaur on Thursday at the Sofia Open, downing the Australian 7-6(5), 7-6(2) to reach the quarter-finals.

Giron overcame the World No. 26 in straight sets in Metz last week and produced another strong performance in Sofia. The 28-year-old, who is making his debut in Bulgaria, hit with consistent depth and rallied from a break down at 4-5 in the second set, before advancing after two hours.

“Tough match to Alex,” Giron said in his on-court interview. “We’ve had a few battles before. Last week we played and it was a really close one and an epic match, so I knew it was going to be a war. Today it was pretty even but I just played better on the big points than he did. I am stoked to get through and keep going.”

The World No. 67 now leads De Minaur 3-1 in their ATP Head2Head Series, with all their meetings coming on hard. It is the fourth time this season that Giron has reached the quarter-finals at a tour-level event, having enjoyed runs to the last eight in Halle, Winston-Salem and Metz.

“Resilience is the key word,” Giron added. “Second set was tough. I had break opportunities at 40/0 and I think I had five or six opportunities in the first game, and he did a good job sticking round. I am happy to be resilient.”

De Minaur, who has won ATP Tour titles on hard in Antalya and on grass in Eastbourne this year, was making his second appearance in Sofia, having reached the quarter-finals last season.

Giron will next face eighth seed John Millman after the Australian battled back to defeat Ukrainian qualifier Illya Marchenko 5-7, 7-6(0), 6-3 in their first ATP Head2Head meeting.

Millman, who has reached quarter-finals in Munich, Washington and Nur-Sultan this year, won 77 per cent (43/56) of his first-serve points and broke four times to advance in two hours and 33 minutes.

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Relentless Rublev Surges Into San Diego Quarter-Finals

Andrey Rublev’s bid for a second tour-level singles title of the season is off to a flying start at the San Diego Open. The top seed cruised past #NextGenATP American Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 6-1 in just 63 minutes to reach the quarter-finals.

The World No. 5 now has 23 match wins for just eight defeats on outdoor hard courts in 2021, which includes an ATP Masters 1000 runner-up showing in Cincinnati, as well as semi-finals in Miami, Dubai and Doha. He won 78 per cent of first-serve points and 80 per cent of points on Nakashima’s second serve.

“I know that Nakashima is a really great player and since the beginning I was thinking I need to be the one to dominate, I need to try to take my forehand and try to dictate… everything was going on my side,” Rublev said. “Game by game I was playing better and better. In the end I managed to win quite confidently.”

“Even when I was playing today there were still some moments that were a bit uncomfortable,” Rublev said. “In Boston, indoors, it was a really low bounce and here sometimes the ball jumped really high [today] so I’m still getting used to it, but for my first match I played really well.”

After an unbeaten starring role in Team Europe’s dominant Laver Cup victory in Boston at the weekend, Rublev arrived in form and in the first-time ATP Head2Head meeting between the pair, pressured early to secure the break in the opening game.

San Diego native Nakashima had scored a three-set victory over Fabio Fognini in the first round but this was his first showdown against a Top 20 opponent and the Russian ensured it was a steep learning curve.

A lightning forehand winner down the line secured the double break for 4-1 and Rublev’s only minor blip of the opening set came when serving at 5-2. Staring down his first break points, he fended off both with aces on his way to taking the set in 30 minutes.

It was a worrying case of déjà vu for Nakashima when he was broken in the opening game of the second set but with his back to the wall he conjured his first break as Rublev served for the match at 5-0. The Russian ensured he would not have to serve for it again as he broke to set a quarter-final clash against either sixth seed Diego Schwartzman or Lloyd Harris.

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Evans Continues Top 20 Pursuit In San Diego

Daniel Evans is at a career-high No. 22 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, and he showed his confidence on Wednesday at the San Diego Open.

The eighth seed saved all four break points and won a 24-point tie-break in the first set to beat two-time major finalist Kevin Anderson 7-6(11), 7-5 after two hours and 19 minutes. The 31-year-old will next play fellow Briton Cameron Norrie.

“It was a tough tie-break, I think [I was] a little fortunate to come through that one and the first set,” Evans said. “But I played a good, solid second set and hung in pretty well. I was pretty happy with that.”

In their only previous ATP Head2Head clash seven years ago, Anderson beat Evans for the loss of just five games at The Queen’s Club on grass. This time, Evans flipped the script by playing steadier tennis in the high-pressure moments to advance.

Former World No. 5 Anderson, a lucky loser in San Diego, increased his aggression at the end of the second set to try to find a breakthrough on Evans’ serve. But the Briton battled out of trouble and broke in the final game when the South African missed a backhand long.

Evans is pursuing his second ATP Tour title this week. In January, he claimed his maiden tour-level crown by winning the Murray River Open in Melbourne.

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Dan Evans to play Cameron Norrie; Harriet Dart loses in Chicago

British number one Dan Evans beats Kevin Anderson to set up a second-round meeting with Cameron Norrie at the San Diego Open.

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Cervara On Supporting Colleague Schneider: 'I Want To Continue To Help'

When Daniil Medvedev’s coach, Gilles Cervara, steps on court to work with his charge at the upcoming BNP Paribas Open, he will not be wearing his normal practice kit. Instead, the Frenchman will be wearing a special logo to raise awareness for one of his colleagues.

Cervara’s shirt will have a logo on his chest that reads “Kiki, coz I care”. It is a sign of support for Kristijan Schneider — also known as “Kiki” — the former coach of Borna Coric, who has been battling cancer.

“I started to think about relationships, because on Tour I can feel the good energy between coaches, especially on the men’s tour. We meet every day, every tournament and it’s very friendly,” Cervara told ATPTour.com. “I was thinking, if one of the coaches gets in trouble, are these friendly relations very deep or just fake or superficial? That’s why I started to try to fight for Kiki, to give him some help and to try to ask coaches if they want to help him.

“It was important for me to see if coaches are able to give this support to someone who is in trouble like Kristijan. It started like this.”

Support Fundraiser For Schneider

Schneider, who most recently recently worked with WTA player Olga Danilovic in Melbourne this year, was originally diagnosed with colon cancer two years ago when he was training Coric. On that occasion, he did not need chemotherapy, as the affected region was removed.

But after returning from Australia this year, he was diagnosed with abdominal cancer and learned he needed chemo, which is still ongoing. A fundraiser was launched to help cover the expenses of Schneider’s treatment.

People who have involved themselves include Italian Thomas Fabbiano, who at the Miami Open presented by Itau raised awareness by donating $1 for every minute he played during the tournament.

Cervara wants to make sure his colleague, whom he first met at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017, feels the support of the tennis world, and has been in touch with the Croatian.

“I want to continue to help him,” Cervara said. “[I want] to find solutions, to give him hope, to give him energy, to give him support, and also to give him money to find the amount for his treatment to save his life.”

In July another coach, former doubles World No. 102 Adam Peterson, was rushed to the hospital after experiencing complete liver and kidney failure.

After extensive testing, Peterson was diagnosed with Stage 4 Burkitt Lymphoma, a fast-growing cancer that requires aggressive treatment. Peterson needs a minimum of eight rounds of extensive chemotherapy and has recently completed the second stage. To learn how to support his battle, click here.

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