2021 ATP Antalya and Delray Beach previews: Top 30 talents hit the hard courts in New Year
AFTER a long 2020, the 2021 ATP Tour is underway, with the main draw matches to take place today in Antalya, Turkey and Delray Beach, United States. Both hard court events are ATP 250 ones to give players a taste of the action before heading Down Under for an extended period in Australia where multiple […]
Defensive seeds advance as offensive ones all out by Sofia quarter finals
IT has been a strange tournament at the Sofia Open this week, with Felix Auger-Aliassime joining the likes of Denis Shapovalov, Jan-Lennard Struff, Nikoloz Basilashvili and Marin Cilic in losing their first match of the final ATP Tour tournament. All five seeds are traditional offensive players – though the likes of Struff and Cilic are […]
Albot takes out top seed Shapovalov in one-sided day of action
RADU Albot caused the biggest upset of the day, taking out number one seed Denis Shapovalov, one of five straight-set matches on day two of main draw matches at the Sofia Open. The Moldovan’s 6-2 6-4 win over the world number 12 was the first of the Round of 16 clashes at the event, with […]
Czech teenager stuns Cilic on debut in Sofia Open upset
IN the last match of the day at the Sofia Open, Czech teenager Jonas Forejtek has caused a boilover win, defeating Croatian top 50 player Marin Cilic. The eighth seed hardly knew what hit him as the 32-year-old was belted in just 66 minutes by the 19-year-old who won 6-3 6-2. Remarkably, Forejtek is ranked […]
Canadian, Australian duo lead field into Sofia Open
IN what will be the final event of the ATP Tour year – barring the invite-only ATP Finals – a young Canadian duo and Australia’s top two ranked men’s players are among the seeds at the Sofia Open. Held in Bulgaria, there is enough top-end talent and some tough competitors at the event to make […]
2020 ATP Astana Open preview: Paire and Kecmanovic lead field in Kazakhstan
WHILST the world’s top ATP Tour players are battling it out in Austria, a number of mid-tier talents will hope to win the penultimate ATP 250 event in Kazakhstan starting today. The 28-player hard court event is another new event on the calendar, taking place in Nur-Sultan and named the Astana Open. The top ranked […]
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. […]
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 […]