Eighth seed Dominic Thiem is through to the US Open third round for the third straight year after a comfortable 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win over Ricardas Berankis on Thursday. The 22-year-old Austrian will be thankful for the straight-sets win following a tough five-set victory over Australia’s John Millman in the first round.

Currently fifth in the Emirates ATP Race To London and on track to make his debut at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Thiem improved to 51-16 on the year

“It was a rough starting being down 1-4, but the rain break came at a pretty good time for me because I just made a re-break to 4-all,” Thiem said. “It’s never easy with a rain delay, especially here as there is nowhere really to relax. But I had a very good start after the break to take the set 6-4 and I was able to carry this for the rest of the match.”

Thiem had been in a mini slump after his sizzling start to the season. After reaching the Roland Garros semi-finals he began the grass season with his third title of the year in Stuttgart and then reached the Halle semi-finals, where he suffered a surprise loss to World No. 192 Florian Mayer. He lost in the Wimbledon second round and first-round exits followed on home soil in Kitzbuehel and Toronto. He reached the Cincinnati quarter-finals with one win and a walkover.

Thiem attributed his form reversal to playing too much. But he believes he is now physically and mentally refreshed and approaching his best form.

“I just played so many matches that the body and mind say ‘That’s enough now’. At Wimbledon and a little bit after I carried it until maybe after Toronto and little bit to Cincinnati. Then everything went the right direction. Cincinnati was very lucky but I had a good practice week last week and my fitness level and level of my game went the right way. Now it’s on a pretty high level again.”

Thiem next plays World No. 39 Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who rallied from two sets down to defeat Janko Tipsarevic 3-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 in a match that was interrupted by rain late in the third set.

Last week Carreno Busta won his first ATP World Tour title when he defeated countryman Roberto Bautista Agut in the final of Winston-Salem. The 25 year old previously reached the US Open third round in 2014.

World No.1 and three time champion at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, Novak Djokovic, heads a star-studded line up of players for the tournament’s milestone eighth anniversary to be played at the futuristic looking Qi Zhong Stadium, 9 to 16 October, 2016.

The direct entry field boasts representation from 22 different nations of which nine have multiple players. France leads the number of singles players with seven followed by Spain with six.

There are 44 players making the cut-off for the main draw. The cut-off ranking will be No. 43.

“We are ready for what is going to be an amazing tournament once again,” Tournament Director Michael Luevano said. “The world’s greatest tennis players will grace the courts at Qi Zhong for what will be a festival of amazing matches.

“Our fans and all of us at the Shanghai Rolex Masters are so looking forward to welcoming the best of the best and to celebrate the important eighth anniversary of our tournament, which is also their tournament.

“For the Chinese people, eight is a lucky number. This makes the 2016 Shanghai Rolex Masters a very special tournament and we hope that every player, from our qualifiers to our doubles teams to the singles players right up to the top, will feel special.”

While Djokovic is the first player into the main draw, the last one to slip in under the cut-off is Argentine Federico Delbonis, joining his countryman Juan Martin Del Potro, who was awarded the tournament’s first wild card.

There are seven players on the direct acceptance list who have either won or reached the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafa Nadal, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin Del Potro, Gilles Simon and David Ferrer.

Two players, Florian Mayer and Janko Tipsarevic who had been off the tour for quite some time due to injuries, are using their protected ranking to secure places in the much sought after main draw.

View Direct Acceptance List On Tournament Website

Tickets for the 2016 Shanghai Rolex Masters are available through www.jusstickets.com or www.shanghairolexmasters.com . 

Tickets can also be purchased by calling the booking hotline Ph: (+86-21) 962123.

More people will be able to watch tennis at The Queen’s Club than ever before during the Aegon Championships, 19-25 June, 2017 with the tournament expanding its Centre Court capacity by 30%.
 
More than 2,000 additional seats will be added to the current 6,651 on Centre Court.
 
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), which owns the tournament, has also signed a new 10-year agreement to continue staging the Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club, up to and including at least 2026. The tournament was first staged at The Queen’s Club in 1890.

“In 2017, the Aegon Championships will be bigger and better than ever,” said Tournament Director, Stephen Farrow. “Last year, we sold out within 24 hours and enjoyed a 20% increase in hospitality sales, so the demand for an increase in capacity is clear. We have worked on these plans for a long time, and we are delighted that we can now move forward with our partners at The Queen’s Club via a new, long-term agreement to take the event to the next level and enable more people to attend than ever before.”
 
Andrew Stewart, Chief Executive of The Queen’s Club, said:

“The Aegon Championships is the highlight of the Club’s calendar and we are delighted to have secured this new agreement for the next 10 years. While the increase in capacity will allow more people to enjoy the event, both we and the LTA will ensure that the intimate atmosphere for which Queen’s is so well known will be retained.”

Tara McGregor-Woodhams, Head of Brand and Sponsorship Aegon UK, added:

“This is smashing news for tennis fans. The continued success of British tennis is helping to get more and more youngsters involved with the game as well as attracting an army of new fans. Increased capacity at The Aegon Championships will give more people the opportunity to watch some of the best tennis players in the world”. 
 
The Aegon Championships has been broadcast live on BBC television and radio for more than 35 years and is an established part of the British sporting calendar.
 
The champion at The Queen’s Club has gone on to win Wimbledon in the same year on 22 occasions. The 22nd was Andy Murray in 2016.
 
Murray won a record fifth title in the process, defeating Milos Raonic in a thrilling three-set final just two days after the tournament had celebrated other four-time champions Roy Emerson, John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Lleyton Hewitt in an on-court presentation.
 
Murray vs. Raonic would be reprised three weeks later in the Wimbledon final, with Murray taking the title at The All England Club for a second time. 

The Aegon Championships will be broadcast live in 2017 by the BBC and Eurosport in UK. 
 
The Aegon Championships has been voted Tournament Of The Year by the players for the past three years, twice as an ATP 250 event, and also last year in the higher ATP 500 category. 

Hospitality packages for the Aegon Championships are currently available goo.gl/3ddSV3. Tickets will go on sale in the new year. 

The LTA’s mission is to get more people playing tennis more often, and its role is to develop, promote and govern tennis in Britain.

Rafael Nadal showed no interest in a late night out at Flushing Meadows Wednesday, racing away with the first seven games of the match to set up a routine straight-sets victory over Italian veteran Andreas Seppi.

Nadal’s 6-0, 7-5, 6-1 win was overshadowed by the historic closure of the retractable roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time in match play. Eager tournament referee Brian Earley needed little encouragement to close the roof at 10.39 p.m. when the much-anticipated raindrops fell.

“It is great to be the first player to play with the roof closed, in the competition, because I was the first player to hit in the Centre Court with the roof closed,” said Nadal. “[There is] no big difference. With the roof open there is no wind at all, so it’s not a big change. And the roof is so high you don’t feel that you are closed… It’s an unbelievable, unbelievable court.”

Fans raced to pull out their mobile phones to capture the closing, which happened at a speedy clip of 5 mins., 35 seconds.

Gordon Smith, USTA Executive Director, said of the closing: “I thought people would like it. I don’t think anyone went to the bathroom or got a beer. Everyone stayed to watch the roof close. Play was suspended for just seven minutes and 22 seconds and the players didn’t leave the court.”

Fielding questions about crowd noise being amplified by the roof closure, M. Smith said that the USTA was collecting data that would be reviewed.

Back on court, Nadal at times appeared to lack a little confidence with his forehand but at other times produced some of his signature forehand winners.

“Today was a good win,” said Nadal. “I feel that I played a little bit more aggressive than in the first round… The last forehand of the match was great. I hit some good forehands down the line again. That’s an important shot for me.”