Querrey Takes Acapulco 2017 Title
Querrey Takes Acapulco 2017 Title
Mar052017
In a field that featured five of the world’s Top 10 players, Sam Querrey is the last man standing at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel. The American completed his dream week in Acapulco with a stunning 6-3, 7-6(3) upset over second seed Rafael Nadal in Saturday’s final.
Querrey is the first American champion in the tournament’s 24-year history. He scored his first win over the Spaniard, improving his FedEx Head2Head record against Nadal to 1-4. The victory also breaks Nadal’s perfect record in Acapulco. The 2005 and 2013 champion entered the match with a 14-0 record and had not lost a set in any of his previous matches.
The World No. 40 in the Emirates ATP Rankings picked up his ninth ATP World Tour singles title and second at the 500-level, having won the Memphis Open in 2010. Querrey advanced through a difficult draw in Acapulco that included wins over fifth seed David Goffin in the second-round, fourth seed Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals and sixth seed Nick Kyrgios in the semi-finals. He had gone 0-7 against Top 20 players since defeating Novak Djokovic last year in the third-round of Wimbledon, but shattered that streak with four consecutive Top 20 wins this week. Querrey is projected to move back inside the Top 30 on Monday.
Nadal was bidding to win his 70th ATP World Tour singles title and would have become one of just five players to achieve that feat, joining Jimmy Connors (109), Ivan Lendl (94), Roger Federer (89) and John McEnroe (77). A victory over Querrey would have given him his first hard-court title since winning the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in January 2014. Nadal is still seeking his first title of 2017, having also finished runner-up at the Australian Open (l. Federer).
Both players traded routine service holds to start the opening set, but Querrey moved into another gear at 3-3. The American went on a staggering 11-point run, rifling a backhand return winner to grab the lone break of serve at 4-3. A forehand winner on Querrey’s second set point broke Nadal’s perfect record of 28 consecutive sets won in Acapulco.
But in typical Nadal fashion, the Spaniard came out with renewed vigour in the second set. Nadal imposed himself in the majority of Querrey’s service games, but the American continued to dig himself out of trouble with brilliant serving. Querrey saved five break points on his serve at 3-4, three of which were erased with aces.
Nadal and Querrey traded holds throughout the set to force a tie-break, but it was the second seed who blinked first. A pair of baseline errors sent wide gifted Querrey a 6/3 lead and the American leapt in the air in celebration after a forehand long from Nadal wrapped up the contest after one hour and 34 minutes.
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Top seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares won their first ATP doubles title of 2017 at the Mexican Open.
They beat American John Isner and Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-3 in Acapulco.
It is their fourth title since Briton Murray teamed up with the Brazilian last year.
“Today was a difficult match. We knew we weren’t going to get loads of chances, but we were able to take the ones we had,” said Murray.
“We did well to win the first match this week [against Marin Cilic and Nikola Mektic],” added Murray. “But that’s what often happens in doubles.
“You squeeze through the first match and go on to win the tournament.”
Top seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares picked up their first ATP World Tour doubles title of 2017 on Saturday at Abierto Mexicano Telcel, racing to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over John Isner and Feliciano Lopez in Acapulco.
Murray/Soares maintained control from the beginning, not facing a break point in the opening set and capturing the lone break to grab the early advantage. The second set was nearly identical, with the top seeds breaking Isner/Lopez at 4-3 and comfortably serving out the match to prevail in 62 minutes.
“We did well to win the first match this week (against Cilic/Mektic) because we were down for most of the Match Tie-break. But that’s what often happens in doubles. You squeeze through the first match and go on to win the tournament,” said Murray. “Today was a difficult match, a lot of good serving. We knew we weren’t going to get loads of chances, but we were able to take the ones we had.”
The British-Brazilian pair earned their fourth ATP World Tour doubles title as a team, having prevailed last year at the US Open, Australian Open and Apia International Sydney. They improved to 11-4 in 2017, also finishing runner-up in Sydney and recording semi-final showings at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open and Rio Open presented by Claro. Murray now has 17 ATP World Tour doubles titles and Soares has 24. Soares has enjoyed success before in Acapulco, finishing runner-up in 2011 (w/Melo) when the tournament was played on red clay.
“I’ve played in Acapulco many times now and really like the conditions here,” said Soares. “We played some great tennis this week and now here we are with the trophy.”
Lopez was seeking his first ATP World Tour doubles title since prevailing with Marc Lopez last year at Roland Garros, while Isner was aiming for his first doubles title since lifting the winner’s trophy with Jack Sock last October at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Murray/Soares receive 500 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split a cheque for $96,730. Isner/Lopez earn 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split $47,360.
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American Sam Querrey claimed the biggest title of his career after defeating Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the final of the Mexican Open.
The world number 40 won 6-3 7-6 (7-3) against the second seed, who was chasing his 70th career title.
The Spaniard had reached the final without dropping a set but he had no answer to Querrey’s power.
The 29-year-old from California served 19 aces and hit a host of groundstroke winners.
He did not face a break point in the opening set in Acapulco, racing through it in 29 minutes and breaking the Nadal serve to love in the eighth game with a crosscourt backhand winner.
The Spaniard, 30, fought back in the second set but failed to convert any of his six break point opportunities.
It allowed Querrey, who had beaten three top-10 players, plus Britain’s Kyle Edmund, on his way to the final, to capitalise in the tie-break and dispatch the 14-time major champion for his ninth ATP title.
Ball dogs, the hit of the 2016 Brasil Open, returned to the ATP World Tour 250 tournament on Saturday to chase more fuzzy yellow balls. Cindy, Nanda, Pretinha, Mia, Arlete and Ovelha dashed around the red clay in Sao Paulo as Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner and Brazilian coach Joao Zwetsch, who works with Thiago Monteiro and Thomaz Bellucci, played a few points and posed for photos with the shelter dogs.
“It was pretty fun, super cool with the dogs, really nice experience,” Demoliner said.
The Brasil Open and tournament sponsor PremieR Pet brought back the crowd-pleasing activity for fans and for the pooches. All of last year’s ball dogs were adopted, and tournament officials hope this year’s dogs will be just as lucky and that the activity will help raise awareness for all pets without homes.
Who let the dogs out? This year’s ball dog helpers came from two local non-profit dog shelters, Project Second Chance (Proyecto Segunda Chance) and Dogs Without Owners (Cão Sem Dono).
Demoliner, though, thinks the ball dogs might need a little more practice before taking the court for some primetime ATP World Tour action. “I think they need to improve a little bit because if they put dogs in a real match… we will have a lot of let calls,” he said before laughing. “But I think it was really nice to do this thing today.”
Sao Paulo 2017
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Pablo Cuevas will go for a record third consecutive Brasil Open title on Sunday. The 31-year-old right-hander dismissed top seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 6-3, 7-6(2) on Saturday in Sao Paulo to give himself a chance for a three-peat. The third-seeded Cuevas won 82 per cent of his first-serve points and feasted on Carreno Busta’s second serves, taking 70 per cent of those points.
Since the first edition of the Brasil Open, in 2001, no player has won back-to-back-to-back titles at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament. Spaniard Nicolas Almagro won back-to-back crowns in 2011-2012 but fell in the quarter-finals to David Nalbandian in 2013.
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Cuevas has avoided such slip-ups this week. He’ll try to win his sixth career ATP World Tour title – all on clay – against second seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Cuevas leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-1. The Spaniard erased a match point on Saturday against Portuguese Joao Sousa to win their semi-final 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-2 on the red clay.
Sousa had the match on his racquet, serving at 5-4 in the second set. The fourth seed fell behind 0/40 but crawled back into the game and led at ad-in. But Ramos-Vinolas erased the match point with a sharp forehand up the line that Sousa netted.
The Spaniard would earn the break and take the final nine of 11 games to claim the three-hour and three-minute semi-final. Ramos-Vinolas last played in an ATP World Tour title match in October at the Chengdu Open in China (l. to Khachanov). He’ll be going for his second ATP World Tour crown after taking his maiden title last July on clay at the SkiStar Swedish Open in Bastad (d. Verdasco).