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Sousa Scores First Win In Estoril

  • Posted: May 01, 2018

Sousa Scores First Win In Estoril

Delbonis ousts fifth seed Ramos-Vinolas

Portugal’s Joao Sousa secured his first win in four visits to the Millennium Estoril Open on Tuesday, defeating eighth seed Daniil Medvedev 7-6(1), 7-5.

The World No. 68 recovered from a break down in the first set, before reeling off six consecutive points from 1/1 in the tie-break to establish a one-set lead. Once more, the Guimaraes-born star encountered similar issues early in the second set. Sousa fought back from behind twice, before breaking for a 6-5 lead in the 11th game and comfortably serving out the win. The 29-year-old has now won 11 of his past 15 tour-level matches, which includes a run to the Grand Prix Hassan II semi-finals (l. to Andujar). Sousa will meet Portuguese wild card Pedro Sousa for a position in the quarter-finals.

Federico Delbonis also produced an upset in Estoril, beating fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-4 in 85 minutes. The 27-year-old won 65 per cent of second-serve return points (17/26) and broke the Spaniard on six occasions to set a meeting with Simone Bolelli. The Italian saw off the challenge of home qualifier Joao Domingues 6-3, 6-2.

#NextGenATP star Stefanos Tsitsipas continued his fine form, defeating Grand Prix Hassan II champion Pablo Andujar 7-6(2), 6-3. The 19-year-old, who became the first Greek in history to rank inside the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings on Monday, traded breaks with the Spaniard early in the first set before dominating a crucial tie-break to secure a lead. The Barcelona Open finalist was clinical from that moment onwards, dropping just five points on serve and converting both his break point opportunities to move into the second round.

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Chile’s Nicolas Jarry saved six match points to upset Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-4. Mayer led by a set and 6-5 (40/0) before Jarry battled back, saving four match points to break and a further two in the tie-break, to force a decider. The 22-year-old held his nerve in the third set, saving three break points to reach 3-3 before breaking in the ninth game and serving out the match.

Ecuador Open champion Roberto Carballes Baena took one hour and 37 minutes to get past American Bjorn Fratangelo 7-6(1), 6-3. The 25-year-old recovered from 0-4 down in the opening set and saved two set points at 5-6 before dominating the tie-break and comfortably securing the second set. Carballes Baena will meet Cameron Norrie in the next round. The Brit defeated sixth seed Robin Haase 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Argentina’s Nicolas Kicker set up a second-round encounter with defending champion and second seed Pablo Carreno Busta, after beating qualifier Tim Smyczek 6-2, 6-2. The World No. 93 saved all five break points he faced to advance after just 67 minutes.

Did You Know?
Defending champion Pablo Carreno Busta holds an 11-2 record at the Millennium Estoril Open. The Spaniard has improved his result at the event in each of the past three editions, having reached the semi-finals in 2015 (l. to Kyrgios) and the 2016 final (l. to Almagro), before lifting the trophy 12 months ago (d. Muller).

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Hewitt Makes Winning Return Alongside De Minaur

  • Posted: May 01, 2018

Hewitt Makes Winning Return Alongside De Minaur

Aussies upset second seeds Klaasen/Venus

Lleyton Hewitt made a winning start to his latest return to the ATP World Tour at the Millennium Estoril Open on Tuesday.

The former World No. 1, alongside countryman Alex de Minaur, defeated second seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals in Portugal. Hewitt is appearing for the third time in doubles action this season, after appearances at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp and the Australian Open.

Hewitt and De Minaur conceded just three points behind their first serves in the first set and converted their only break point of the second set to clinch victory in 66 minutes.

The Aussie duo will face Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund and Cameron Norrie for a place in the semi-finals. Edmund and Norrie defeated Argentina’s Federico Delbonis and Nicolas Kicker 6-4, 6-0 on Monday.

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Top Seeds Survive In Munich
Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo were forced into a Match Tie-break before eventually overcoming Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez and Diego Schwartzman 7-6(3), 3-6, 10-4 at the BMU Open by FWU.

Melo and Kubot won 77 per cent of return points in the first set, but were taken to a decider after conceding the only break of the second set. The top seeds rediscovered their returning powers in the Match Tie-break however, winning five of their seven return points to book a last eight clash with Mirza Basic and Marton Fucsovics.

Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram also needed a Match Tie-break to reach the quarter-finals. The second seeds came from a set down to defeat Fabrice Martin and Purav Raja 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 in 89 minutes. Dodig and Ram won 83 per cent of first-serve points throughout the tense first-round match.

Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya defeated Munich residents Matthias Bachinger and Yannick Hanfmann 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals. The No. 3 seeds converted six of their nine break point chances to set up a meeting with a second all-German pairing in as many rounds; Kevin Krawietz and Maximilian Marterer.

Matkowski/Sharan Safely Through
Second seeds Marcin Matkowski and Divij Sharan defeated Radu Albot and Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-5, 6-3 to move into the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open quarter-finals. The Polish-Indian duo twice failed to consolidate breaks of serve in the opening set before eventually taking a one-set lead with a third break in the 12th game. The second set proved a much tighter affair, with a single break of serve in the eighth game for Matkowski and Sharan proving the difference.

Romain Arneodo and Hugo Nys defeated third seeds Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski 6-2, 6-4. The duo broke Podlipnik-Castillo and Vasilevski on four occasions to book its place in the quarter-finals after only 63 minutes.

Open Sud de France champions Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski also advanced in Turkey, recovering from an early break down in the first set to beat Cem Ilkel and Bernard Tomic 7-5, 6-1.

Did You Know?
All three of Lleyton Hewitt’s ATP World Tour doubles titles were won in the United States. The Australian lifted the 2000 US Open (w/Mirnyi) and Indianapolis (w/Stolle) titles before his most recent success at the 2014 Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open (w/Guccione).

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Kohlschreiber Leads Germans In Munich; Monfils Beaten

  • Posted: May 01, 2018

Kohlschreiber Leads Germans In Munich; Monfils Beaten

World No. 119 Maden saves two match points versus Sugita

Four Germans, led by three-time former champion Philipp Kohlschreiber, delighted Munich fans with first-round victories on Tuesday by the BMW Open at FWU.

Sixth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber was solid on serve and withstood 15 aces from Ivo Karlovic of Croatia for a 7-5, 6-4 victory in 76 minutes. The three-time former champion — 2007 (d. Youzhny), 2012 (d. Cilic) and 2016 (d. Thiem) — won 83 per cent of his first-service points against 39-year-old Karlovic and now challenges fellow German Mischa Zverev, who beat Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria 6-4, 6-3 in 72 minutes.

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Jan-Lennard Struff knocked out compatriot and qualifier Daniel Masur 7-6(1), 6-4 in 87 minutes for a clash against another German, Yannick Maden.

Maden saved two match points at 7/8 and 8/9 in the second set tie-break to defeat eighth seed Yuichi Sugita of Japan 4-6, 7-6(9), 6-2 in two hours and 54 minutes. Maden needed seven set points to clinch the second set.

Elsewhere, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Mirza Basic knocked out seventh seed Gael Monfils of France 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in one hour and 37 minutes. World No. 90 Basic, winner at the Diema Xtra Sofia Open (d. Copil) in February, won 12 of the first 15 points in the deciding set. He will next play Slovakia’s Martin Klizan, the 2014 champion.

Did You Know?

Six different Germans have won the Munich crown since 1974, including Jurgen Fassbender (1974), Rolf Gehring (1980), Michael Stich (1994), Kohlschreiber (2007, 2012, 2016), Tommy Haas (2013) and Alexander Zverev (2017).

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Chardy Upsets Basilashvili In Istanbul

  • Posted: May 01, 2018

Chardy Upsets Basilashvili In Istanbul

Seventh seed Vesely advances in straight sets

France’s Jeremy Chardy began his first appearance at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open in style, defeating eighth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-5, 6-3 in 89 minutes on Tuesday.

“I am happy with my match today,” said Chardy. “I knew it would be a difficult match. [Basilashvili] is a really good player, really aggressive. I am happy with my level today, I played really solid from the beginning to the end.”

The Istanbul debutant converted five of his seven break point opportunities en route to victory against the World No. 75, who remains winless at the event after three appearances. Chardy will next face Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic, who dropped just four games in a 6-4, 6-0 win over Gazprom Hungarian Open finalist John Millman.

“Lajovic’s favourite surface is clay,” said Chardy. “It will be a difficult match. If I continue to play like I played today, I will have a good chance to continue in the tournament.”

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Last year’s Istanbul doubles champion Jiri Vesely (w/Jebavy) booked his place in the second round in 64 minutes, beating 2015 quarter-finalist Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 6-1. Vesely won 95 per cent of second serve return points (18/19) and hit eight aces in the first-round meeting. Vesely will face qualifier Thiago Monteiro for a spot in the quarter-finals. The Brazilian defeated Gerald Melzer of Austria 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in one hour and 42 minutes.

Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano dropped just two games to beat Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 6-1. The World No. 100 will next face second seed Damir Dzumhur. Rogerio Dutra Silva also booked a second-round clash with a seeded opponent, defeating Radu Albot 6-4, 6-4 to set a first career meeting with sixth seed Viktor Troicki.

Did You Know?
In the three previous editions of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open, five of the six finalists have held a Top 3 seeding. The only exception is 2016 champion Diego Schwartzman, who beat No. 2 seed Grigor Dimitrov to win the tournament unseeded.

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Wimbledon 2018: Prize money increases to £34m

  • Posted: May 01, 2018

The Wimbledon singles champions will win £2.25m this year with organisers announcing the total prize pot will increase by 7.6% to £34m.

Last year’s winners Roger Federer and Garbine Muguruza took home £2.2m from the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.

The total prize money is more than the 55m Australian dollars (£30m) offered by the Australian Open in January but slightly less than the French Open (£34.5m), starting later this month.

Wimbledon runs from 2 to 15 July.

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