Pouille Tops Thiem In Metz For First ATP Title
Pouille Tops Thiem In Metz For First ATP Title
Sep262016
Heather Watson was forced to pull out of her opening match at the Wuhan Open with illness just days after saying she had fully recovered from the problems which affected her US Open campaign.
The British number two withdrew against American Madison Brengle in China after complaining of dizziness.
British number one Johanna Konta comfortably reached round two after beating German Annika Beck 6-1 6-2.
Ninth seed Konta will play China’s Zhang Shuai in the second round.
Konta needs a strong result in the tournament to pass American Madison Keys and Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro in the race to qualify for the WTA Finals later this month, which features the season’s top-eight players.
Guernsey-born Watson, 24, was suffering from a stomach bug when trailing her opponent 3-6 1-2 in mid-30C temperatures before pulling out on Monday.
“It came on this morning. I woke up in full sweats. I went out there to see how I feel but it wasn’t great,” said Watson, who also named John-Laffnie de Jager as her new coach on Monday. Watson has been without a mentor since splitting with Diego Veronelli earlier this year.
“I was getting goosebumps on the court and that is the worst feeling, especially when it is hot,” she added.
“It is frustrating, especially because I had a couple of matches under my belt and I was starting to feel good on court, so it is a shame this happened but there is nothing I can do.”
Watson called for a medical time out after losing the opening set and a doctor was called onto court to take her blood pressure.
On Saturday, Watson won twice to qualify for the event in her first singles matches since requiring medical treatment following last month’s US Open defeat by Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands.
After qualifying in China, Watson said tests were “all fine” amid fears she had suffered a relapse of glandular fever, which affected her in 2013.
The St. Petersburg Open was honoured Sunday as one the Tournaments of the Year in the 2015 ATP World Tour Awards presented by Moët & Chandon. World No. 3 and top seed Stan Wawrinka, who finished runner-up to Alexander Zverev in the St. Petersburg final, presented Tournament Director Alexander Medvedev with the trophy.
“In 2015, the St. Petersburg Open Tournament was revived after a year’s break,” Mikhael Mirilashvili, owner of the St. Petersburg Open, said earlier this year. “That was a landmark event in the sporting life of the city and the country. We are proud that the work of our big renewed team was appreciated on such a high level. I am sure that in the future the level of the tournament will continue to grow and reach new professional heights.”
The Tournament of the Year awards, voted annually by ATP players, recognise the leading standards set across the three tournament categories on the Tour.
The St. Petersburg Open was named a joint-winner in the ATP World Tour 250 category alongside the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, held in the first week of the season. The BNP Paribas Open and Aegon Championships won respectively in the Masters 1000 and 500 categories.
That did not take long. #NextGen star Hyeon Chung is back with a vengeance after missing four months with an abdominal injury. A week after reaching the final in Nanchang, China, the 20 year old lifted his fifth ATP Challenger Tour title on Sunday with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Duckhee Lee at the OEC Kaohsiung Challenger in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Despite lasting just 75 minutes, the final was highly significant for both the growth of tennis in Asia and the continued rise of the Next Generation of ATP stars. Chung, 20, and Lee, 18, provided the first final between Koreans in Challenger history, with the elder countryman successfully defending his title. The second player to retain a Challenger title this year, joining Facundo Bagnis (Santiago), World No. 132 Chung is continuing his push towards a Top 100 return in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
“I am so happy to be back competing after missing most of the summer due to injury and be able to defend my title here in Kaohsiung,” Chung told ATPWorldTour.com. “It is a great event and I really like playing here.
“It was a hard week with lots of tough matches including today against Duckhee, who I know very well. I am happy for him to reach his first Challenger final and it was an honour to play in an all-Korean final. I am looking forward to the rest of the Asian swing and will do my best to finish the year strong.”
Watch the winning moment in #Kaohsiung, as Hyeon #Chung retains the title with a straight-set victory over Duckhee #Lee. #ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/3iJsr0iE6s
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) September 25, 2016
Chung is the 12th #NextGen winner on the ATP Challenger Tour this year, while Lee, who was appearing in his first final, was bidding to become the ninth teenage titlist. Teens are now 8-8 in finals in 2016.
Columbus Challenger (Columbus, U.S.A.): Ohio State University junior Mikael Torpegaard completed a fairytale week on his home campus, streaking to his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title on Sunday. The 22 year old notched his first victory over a Top 100 opponent with a rollercoaster 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 win over Benjamin Becker in the final.
The win was even more remarkable considering Torpegaard was competing in his first main draw on the Challenger circuit. The first Dane to lift a trophy since Kristian Pless in Saint-Brieuc, France in 2007, he is just the sixth player from his country to win a Challenger title overall. Torpegaard is also the second player to win in his Challenger debut this year, joining fellow Scandinavian player Casper Ruud of Norway.
“To win it is unbelievable,” said Torpegaard. “It’s just a really good feeling. I came into the tournament as the underdog on paper in every match, but I believed in myself and went in wanting to have some fun and figure out my level to beat these guys.
“I definitely take that I can perform at this level and I’m happy to figure that out this week. It looks more realistic to be a professional after college.”
Sibiu Open (Sibiu, Romania): Robin Haase claimed his 13th ATP Challenger Tour title on Sunday in Sibiu, downing Italy’s Lorenzo Giustino 7-6(2), 6-2. Top seed and World No. 65 Haase did not face a seeded opponent all week in notching his second victory of the season. Also the champion on home soil in Scheveningen, he is the 25th player to win multiple titles this year.
The feel-good story of the tournament belonged to Tim Puetz, as the 28-year-old German reached the semi-finals in his first main draw in exactly one year following knee surgery. He also won the doubles title alongside Haase.
TEB Izmir Cup (Izmir, Turkey): It was a week of firsts on the ATP Challenger Tour: the first all-Korean final in Kaohsiung and the first all-Turkish final in Izmir. Former World No. 77 Marsel Ilhan added a fourth Challenger title with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over countryman Cem Ilkel on Sunday. Wild card Ilkel had never reached a quarter-final entering the week.
? pic.twitter.com/Gt9LjiAfne
— Marsel Ilhan (@MarselTennisTR) September 25, 2016
Campeonato Internacional de Tenis de Santos (Santos, Brazil): The tournament in Santos took on an Argentine and Brazilian flair, with all but three players in the main draw hailing from the two South American nations. Renzo Olivo emerged in a waterlogged finish, which saw the 24 year old lift his first ATP Challenger Tour trophy after playing two matches on Sunday. He defeated Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 7-6(5).
Campeon en Santos ?????????⚫️ pic.twitter.com/jlFvtkXEAf
— renzo olivo (@renzolii) September 26, 2016
Morocco Tennis Tour – Kenitra (Kenitra, Morocco): Maximilian Marterer proved to be the king of the Moroccan swing, sweeping both events in Meknes and Kenitra. The 21-year-old German soared to a career-high No. 170 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, downing Mohamed Safwat 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday. Safwat was just the second Egyptian to contest a Challenger final, joining Tamer El Sawy.
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ATP CHALLENGER TOUR ON TWITTER: New in 2016, the ATP Challenger Tour has launched a dedicated Twitter account for the latest news and information about players and events. Follow @ATPChallengerTour at twitter.com/ATPChallengerTour.
Following a great week last week where I bagged my first ATP Challenger Tour title in Cary North Carolina, I’d like to fill you in on the story behind what is a milestone moment in my career.
It’s funny how it all came about but I wasn’t even meant to be playing Cary Challenger! Just a few weeks before, I had qualified into the Winston-Salem ATP World Tour 250 event and it was there that I chose to play three events in China next. I went online to enter three events (Nanchang Challenger, Kaohsiung Challenger and an ATP event in China) and called a friend who coaches in Singapore to see if he could help out one of the weeks in China. He agreed and I went straight into making travel plans, hotel bookings and preparing all the logistics behind the trip. The final thing to sort out was applying for a Chinese Visa and I’d be set. ”Easy” I thought..
A week after applying for my Visa and going through all the administrative details of paperwork, invitation letters, head shots etc. I woke up to a phone call from the Chinese lady I spoke to at the Visa Office. ”Uh, sorry sir but your Visa has been rejected.” I thought she was actually joking as she sort of laughed as she said it but after 20 minutes of questions and answers, I came to learn that there was a G20 Summit in China at the time and apparently the Chinese Consulate in Houston was rejecting applications for foreigner Visas. The timing couldn’t have been worse and there was nothing I could do about it.
Challenger Chronicles I: Amir Weintraub
Challenger Chronicles II: Skupski Brothers
Challenger Chronicles III: Jason Jung
Thankfully, I still had the option of playing a different tournament that week so I decided to sign-in to play the qualifying of Cary Challenger. It was just a six-hour road trip up from Atlanta so myself and my friend Julian Bradley rented a car and headed up there Thursday morning.
I was the first seed in the qualifying event and played my first match on Saturday afternoon on Stadium Court in Cary. I struggled with the feel of the ball and the court surface at first but knew I could work my way into it. I came through my qualifying matches after playing three current and former college tennis players and drew another former college tennis player in the first round of the main draw, Evan King. Evan is a great guy with a big lefty serve and I managed to come through that match, although neither of us played our best tennis on the day. I went on to beat the No. 6 seed, Darian King followed by a quarter-final win over Brayden Schnur, who had some local support as he is a former UNC Tar Heel.
Read the rest of James’ entry on his blog
Youngest ATP titlist since 2008 talks about his first title with ATPWorldTour.com
How does it feel to be standing here with the trophy, your first ATP World Tour title?
It’s great at such a young age as well. It’s something that I could only dream of and I’m really proud of myself right now.
Did you ever imagine that at the age of 19 you’d be an ATP World Tour winner?
I got to a few finals where I was really close but before when I was a kid, no I could have not imagined that. It’s something really special to be here and getting this trophy for the first time.
Was it your dream growing up to win a title?
Of course. I think for anybody who plays tennis, it’s a dream to win a tour title.
Did you go into this final with a different mindset compared to your past two in Nice and Halle?
In Nice, I was quite tired. I think I spent 12 hours on court before that final. I played three-set matches every single match I played. But Halle was a chance that I could have taken and won the final. But the mindset has to be the same. How I handle the situation is different now because I had those two finals before.
How does it feel to be the first teenage winner on the tour since Marin Cilic in 2008?
Really? I’m the first one. Wow. No, it’s great. As I said winning a tour title was always a dream and now it came true and being the first since ’08, it’s great.
Does it make it special to have beaten two Top 10 players along the way, back-to-back?
Oh yeah it’s definitely something special, beating Tomas Berdych in the semis and beating Stan Wawrinka, who’s the US Open champion, in the final. It’s something even more that I’m proud of.
You didn’t lose a set en route to the final. Talk about your exceptional play and what you did well this week.
I played OK. I played pretty well. I was serving pretty good the whole week, which helps on a fast court, indoors. And I was pretty good, pretty solid from the baseline. Obviously I had a few tough opponents but yeah, I was happy with the way I played.
Read More: ATP Launches “Next Generation” Campaign
Now that you’ve won your first title, have you thought about what’s next, your next goals?
Winning another one hopefully.
You and Nick Kyrgios are the first #NextGen players to win an ATP World Tour title this season. Talk about this young group of future stars.
As I said before there’s a strong group of guys coming up who all play pretty good tennis. You mention Nick, who’s Top 20 now. He’s been playing exceptional this year. Other teenagers like Taylor Fritz or Borna Coric, they’ve been playing pretty good. Some Russian guys are coming through quite well as well, like Karen Khachanov, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev. They’ve all been playing quite good tennis this year.
Lastly, when you were growing up, who were the players you followed most closely?
Roger. Quite simple.
Rising Frenchman breaks through in front of home crowd
How does it feel to win your first ATP World Tour title in Metz?
“I’m very happy. It’s a big honour to win my first ATP World Tour title in France, in front of family and friends. It’s even more special to win when they are here, since I can share the happiness with all of them. Winning a title is something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid watching tennis on television. I’ve played to win since I was young so this one means a lot.”
What did you do differently this time, compared to your first final in Bucharest?
“This time I knew what time the match was starting, since in Bucharest it was raining quite a bit and the match had to be postponed. Today I did all I could to play my game and to go for that first title.”
What did you do well during the week to win the title?
“I had some difficult moments, down break points or set points. But I never let up and that helped me win the title.”
You beat the top two seeds, No. 1 Dominic Thiem in the final and No. 2 David Goffin in the semi-finals. How were you able to put together those big wins?
“I’ve had wins in the past against those two players. I was feeling well physically and mentally so I knew that if I gave 100 per cent, I had a chance to win.”
Which players did you admire and pattern your game after?
“Growing up I admired Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. I didn’t copy the way they played, but I tried to emulate their attitude on the court and their mental strength.”
Did you have a goal for the end of the season?
“I would love to end the year in the Top 16 [of the Emirates ATP Rankings], so that I can have a good seeding at the Australian Open.”
What have you improved this season to break into the Top 20?
“I’ve changed the way I worked off the court to be better prepared physically. All the little changes clicked for me in Miami, and since then I’ve been a different player.”
Who would you like to acknowledge for helping you to your first title?
“I wouldn’t be here today without the help of my coach Emmanuel Planque. He’s the person I would most like to thank for my career to date.”