Lopez Scrambles For Hot Shot in Dubai 2016
Lopez Scrambles For Hot Shot in Dubai 2016
Feb252016
Cypriot finishes strongly against Bautista Agut
Marcos Baghdatis is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final of the season after defeating the in-form Roberto Bautista Agut 7-5, 6-0 on Thursday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The Cypriot was frequently under pressure on serve in the opener, struggling with his ball toss – resulting in a first serve conversion rate of 37 per cent. But after saving three break points to level at 4-4, he broke Bautista Agut to love in the ninth game to lead 5-4. The Spaniard immediately struck back to get back on level terms, but Baghdatis engineered another break in the 11th game and this time closed out the set on his fourth set point. The Cypriot then raced through the second set, sealing victory in one hour and 36 minutes.
“I think he’s playing great tennis,” said Baghdatis of Bautista Agut, who has already won two ATP World Tour titles in 2016. “I knew it would be very tough today physically, mentally. I think that’s why I held strong in that eighth game, because I knew beforehand that it would be tough.
“I’m very happy also with the way I ended it. I think I started playing better and better throughout the second set.”
Next up for Baghdatis will be either World No. 1 Novak Djokovic or Feliciano Lopez.
Novak Djokovic was forced to retire from his Dubai Tennis Championships quarter-final against Feliciano Lopez.
The world number one appeared to be suffering from an eye problem and quit after losing the first set 6-3.
A day on from his 700th career win, Djokovic’s run of making 17 successive Tour finals came to an end after making 18 unforced errors in only nine games against the sixth seed.
Spaniard Lopez will now face Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the semi-finals.
Djokovic, an 11-time major champion, has won the Dubai Championship four times previously.
Playing in his first tournament since winning a sixth Australian Open title at the end of January, the Serb uncharacteristically lost his opening service game and had to save three break points to avoid falling 3-0 behind.
The 28-year-old then called for his trainer, citing an eye problem, before continuing the match.
Six games later, after being broken once again to lose the set, Djokovic said he was unable to continue.
Lopez, who told reporters that Djokovic had suffered with an eye infection, said: “It’s very sad when one of the greatest players ever has to retire from a match like that”
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios beat Tomas Berdych for the second time in six days to progress to the semi-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Kyrgios, 20, received treatment on-court and overcame back pain to beat the world number seven 6-4 6-4.
Last week Kyrgios beat Berdych, again in straight sets, en route to his first career title in Marseille.
World number one Novak Djokovic faces sixth-seed Feliciano Lopez in the last quarter-final later on Thursday.
“I was in pain at the start, I’ve played a lot of matches in a row now,” Kyrgios said after his eighth successive victory.
“Tomas is a tough player, one of the best in the world. I served well and competed well. I’m very, very happy.”
Querrey humbles second seed while Dimitrov reaches quarter-finals
Sam Querrey’s hot hard court form continues with the American dumping second seed Kei Nishikori out of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday night. Having captured an eighth ATP World Tour title in Delray Beach on Sunday, the 27 year old snapped a four-match losing streak against the World No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
The win puts Querrey through to his third straight ATP World Tour quarter-final and ensured the Acapulco tournament was without its top two seeds after David Ferrer’s earlier defeat to Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Nishikori was coming off a title run of his own in Memphis less than two weeks ago. It marked the first time in four ATP World Tour events this year the Japanese player did not reach at least the quarter-finals.
“It’s always hard when you play against good players, but it wasn’t my day today,” Nishikori said. “There were many things that I should do better, especially my serve and I wasn’t going for enough, my groundstrokes, my forehand especially, I was missing a lot, so I wasn’t aggressive enough to beat Sam today. Also he was hitting really big serves so there weren’t many chances for my return game.”
Querrey sent down eight aces and dropped just four points when his first serve found the mark. He will next face fellow American Taylor Fritz after the 18 year old – who will become the youngest player to crack the Top 100 in next week’s Emirates ATP Rankings – overcame an age gap of 17 years to beat Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic 6-1, 6-3. Fritz claimed 75 per cent of first-serve points and broke five times to progress in one hour.
Seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov also moved safely through to the quarter-finals on Wednesday night, with the 2014 champion posting a routine 6-3, 6-4 result against Donald Young. The Bulgarian notched his fifth win in six FedEx ATP Head2Head clashes against the American, claiming 78 per cent of first-serve points and saving seven of eight break points in the one-hour, 26-minute affair.
Johanna Konta has been beaten in her first tournament since reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
The British number one, 24, lost 4-6 6-2 7-5 to Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, 33, in round two of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco.
Fourth seed Konta had two break points in the 11th game of the final set but failed to take them.
Fellow Briton Aljaz Bedene is out of the men’s event after he lost 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 to Dutchman Robin Haase.
Ukrainian knocks out defending champion
Alexandr Dolgopolov had not beaten a Top 10 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings since last fall, but he ended the drought with a comprehensive 6-4, 6-4 win over defending champion David Ferrer in the second round of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel event in Acapulco on Wednesday. The flashy Ukrainian hit 22 winners and overcame a late Ferrer challenge to move into his third quarter-final of the year.
Dolgopolov came into the match trailing 2-8 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against the consistent Spaniard, but took command of the match from the baseline and secured his ninth win (9-36) against a player in the Top 10. His best showing in Acapulco came in 2011 and 2014, when he reached the semi-finals.
Fifth seed Bernard Tomic overcame Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-4 to move into the quarter-finals. The Aussie won in 71 minutes and remains perfect against the French left-hander (3-0 at tour-level).
Top seeds eliminated from doubles contention
Three of the top four teams in the Dubai doubles draw were eliminated in the first round on Wednesday. Jamie Murray and Tommy Robredo, teaming for the first time, fought past No. 4 seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers 2-6, 6-4, 10-8. The unseeded duo dropped serve twice in the opening set, but did not face a break point the rest of the way and won in 76 minutes.
Top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau were upset by Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez. The Spaniards saved nine of 10 break points faced to win in 76 minutes. Also eliminated were second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea. Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek topped the Indian-Romanian duo 3-6, 7-6(6), 10-4, winning 69 points to their opponents’ 68.
Rising stars Hyeon Chung and Jiri Vesely beat veterans Roberto Bautista Agut and Joao Sousa 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 11-9. The youngsters, who needed to qualify for the main draw, pulled out the win in one hour and 53 minutes.