French resistance in Winston-Salem
IT WAS a good day for the French fans in Winston-Salem as their three hopes all won through to the Round of 16, two of them featuring upsets against seeded opponents. Experienced campaigners Richard Gasquet and Adrian Mannarino both knocked off younger talents Lorenzo Musetti (fifth seed) and Emil Ruusuvuori (ninth), while the 10th seed […]
Thiem hungrier than the Wolf
AUSTRIAN Dominic Thiem showed he was able to outlast American wildcard J.J. Wolf in a three-set epic in the opening round at Winston-Salem. In what will be the Austrian’s final tuneup before the US Open – his first and only Grand Slam title came from Flushing Meadows – Thiem knocked off Wolf 6-7 7-5 7-6 […]
US teen hands Casper Ruud awakening
RANKED 229th in the world coming in as a wildcard to the event, not many would have given 19-year-old United States representative Ben Shelton a chance against world number five Casper Ruud. Though Shelton had upset Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the first round of Cincinnati, it was just his second main draw ATP Tour win. […]
Sinner the winner after toppling Thanasi
ITALIAN Jannik Sinner received the best possible 21st birthday present by overcoming a dogged Thanasi Kokkinakis in a thrilling three-set blockbuster. The players spent a whopping three hours and 15 minutes on court, with the 10th seed eventually overcoming the qualifier, 6-7 6-4 7-6 in the first round of the Western & Southern Open ATP […]
Kyrgios bowls Baez, next up Medvedev in Montreal
AUSTRALIAN Nick Kyrgios has set up a mouth-watering second round clash against world number one Daniil Medvedev at the National Bank Open in Montreal. The world number 37 – who is coming off a title at the Citi Open in Washington – is in red-hot form and disposed of Argentinian Sebastian Baez in one hour […]
Italian qualifier cracks through for maiden Tour win
IT has been a long-time coming for 20-year-old Giulio Zeppieri, but the Italian qualifier finally posted his first ever main draw ATP Tour win. The world number 168 has an 0-4 career win-loss record to his name, and after surviving qualifying through the Croatian ATP 250 event in Umag, finally broke through for his maiden […]
Cerundolo in seventh heaven, reaches Hamburg quarters
RUNNING hot on a seven-game winning streak, recent maiden title winner Francisco Cerundolo has claimed yet another Top 10 scalp. The Argentinian’s latest victim was second seed Russian Andrey Rublev, who Cerundolo upstaged in a straight sets win in the second round at the Hamburg European Open ATP 500 event. His victory – which followed […]
Emil Finnishes off Diego in Hamburg
FINNISH rising talent Emil Ruusuvuori has taken down third seed Diego Schwartzman in straight sets to kick off his Hamburg campaign at the ATP 500 event. The 22-year-old was able to upset the third seed with a 7-4 6-4 victory to be one of three victors over seeded players at the event. Ruusuvuori broke four […]
Khachanov survives Struff scare
DESPITE a scare from home nation hero Jan-Lennard Struff, Russian seventh seed Karen Khachanov has won through to the second round of the ATP 500 event in Hamburg. As the next week of tournaments kicked off across four tournaments, Khachanov was the sole seeded winner in the men’s singles draw in Hamburg, winning against Struff, […]
Waltert breaks three-year drought to repeat history
SWISS 21-year-old Simona Waltert is pretty good at knocking off number one seeds in Lausanne. Earning another wildcard at her home tournament, the right-handed talent who has almost exclusively played on the ITF Tour the last few years, stunned American Danielle Collins in three sets. Most remarkably, she faced three break points in the deciding […]
