Austrian wildcard stuns Shapovalov in Vienna
AUSTRIAN wildcard Jurij Rodionov has stunned eighth seed Canadian Denis Shapovalov in a straight sets win, to advance through to the second round of the Erste Bank Open. The match lasted 87 minutes as the world number 153 won just his second match for the year. Both players have strong serves, but Shapovalov’s went missing […]
2020 European Open preview: Seven top 20 players set for Antwerp
SEVEN top 20 ATP Tour players will descend on Antwerp for the 2020 European Open which starts on Monday. The ATP 250 event is a hard court event and will see a stacked lineup, with 44th ranked Albert Ramos-Vinolas the lowest ranked direct acceptance, whilst Matteo Berrettini (8th) will head in as the top seed. […]
Berretini falls in surprise upset
WORLD number 186 Daniel Altmaier had the biggest win of his career on Saturday, taking down seventh seed Matteo Berrettini 6-2 7-6 6-4 to progress to the round of 16 at Roland Garros. Berrettini doubled Altmaier’s number of unforced errors (42-21) struggling to find any form of rhythm on court. “I was struggling to find […]
Carballes Baena topples Shapovalov in five to clinch third round spot
ROBERTO Carballes Baena has won an epic battle over top 10 player and ninth seed, Denis Shapovalov to book his spot in the third round at Roland Garros. The Spanish world number 101 backed up his shellacking of Steve Johnson in the first round – dropping just two games – to overcome Shapovalov in a […]
Hamburg finalists fight back from two-set deficits to stage remarkable first round wins
STEFANOS Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev are lucky to survive the first round of the French Open after slow starts almost cost the Hamburg European Open finalists. A tight turnaround between the ATP500 event and the Grand Slam meant some soreness for the talented top 15 players, but neither would have expected to go two sets […]
Rublev to face Tsitsipas in Hamburg final
ANDREY Rublev has reached his second consecutive Hamburg European Open final, and will now look to go one better in 2020 when he takes on world number six Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Russian up and comer booked his place in this year’s decider after defeating Casper Ruud in straight sets, while Tsitsipas had to overcome a […]
2020 ATP Roland Garros preview: Can Nadal win number 13?
RAFAEL Nadal is always the nominal favourite at Roland Garros, probably because he has only lost three matches there in his entire career, of which one was via retirement. The King of Clay will be keen to bounce back from a shock loss to Diego Schwartzman in Rome to really put a stamp on his […]
Garin and Ruud end giant-killers runs
CRISTIAN Garin and Casper Ruud have both continued their strong form on clay with impressive three-set wins over in-form opponents. The up and coming talents joined other stars in the future, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev in the semi-finals of the Hamburg European Open. Garin ended the run of lucky loser, Alexander Bublik in a […]
Quarter finalists locked in as Tsitsipas the sole seed in bottom half
IN a day that was far from predictable with a couple of upsets knocking top 20 players out of the Hamburg European Open, Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas provided some normality to the draw with a straight sets win over Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas. Tsitsipas won 7-5 6-4 to advance through to the quarter finals, one […]
Lucky loser Bublik making the most of his second chance
KAZAHKSTAN’S Alexander Bublik would be thankful that Rome Masters finalist, Diego Schwartzman opted to pull out of the Hamburg European Open. The world number 56 suffered defeat in qualifying and looked to miss the final lead-up tournament to Roland Garros. That was until the seventh seeded Argentinian decided rest was more of a priority after […]
