Wimbledon 2017
Wimbledon 2017
Jun302017
| Eastbourne 2017 |
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| Venue: Devonshire Park, Eastbourne Date: 26 June-1 July Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online |
Top seeds defeat Bopanna/Sa in Friday final
Top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan completed a marathon 48 hours of tennis to take the doubles title on Friday at the Aegon International in Eastbourne. After winning two matches on Thursday and a semi-final earlier on Friday, they downed Rohan Bopanna and Andre Sa 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-3 in an entertaining final.
The win gives the Bryan brothers a staggering 113th ATP World Tour doubles title and their first of the season. They last prevailed at Eastbourne in 2003 (d. Eagle/Palmer). Their last title came in May 2016 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Rome. Fittingly, their latest victory comes after Bryan/Bryan reunited last month at Roland Garros with coach David Macpherson. They pick up 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings point and split $34,430
Bopanna/Sa were making their team debut this week. Bopanna has won titles this year in Chennai (w/Nedunchezhiyan) and the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Monte-Carlo (w/Cuevas), while Sa prevailed on home soil in Sao Paulo (w/Dutra Silva). Bopanna/Sa earn 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split a cheque for $18,100.
Rain throughout the week forced the semi-finals and final to be played on Friday. Bryan/Bryan opened the day with a 7-6(1), 6-4 win over Andre Begemann and Andres Molteni, while Bopanna/Sa defeated Robin Haase and Dominic Inglot 7-6(4), 3-6, 11-9.
In the championship match, both teams traded service holds throughout the opening set, but Bopanna/Sa went on a three-point run at 4/4 in the tie-break to take the early advantage. The Bryans responded by earning the lone break of the match at 2-1 in the second set, then storming through the Match Tie-break to finish as the last team standing.
Top seeds defeat Marach/Pavic on Friday
Robert Lindstedt and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi took the doubles title on Friday at the Antalya Open. The top seeds held a comfortable 7-5, 4-1 lead in the final when second seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic were forced to retire.
“I feel super happy. To win my third title this year and my first team title with Robert is great,” said Qureshi. “I’ve been to Turkey many times and this is my first time in Antalya. I think it was a great event for the first year. I hope we can have it here for a few more years because I’d love to come back and defend my title.”
Watch: Lindstedt Interviews Thiem And More At Antalya Player Party
Lindstedt/Qureshi made their debut together last year in Nottingham, but joined forces in Antalya for the first time this season. They had several tough matches en route to the title, including saving a match point in their semi-final against Jonathan Erlich and Nikola Mektic.
“You always leave a tournament with a lot of amazing feelings and happiness when you win, so it’s incredible to come out on top,” said Lindstedt.
Qureshi has won titles this year in Auckland (w/Matkowski) and Barcelona (w/Mergea), while Lindstedt was playing his first final of 2017. Lindstedt/Qureshi earned 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €23,780.
Marach/Pavic reached their second ATP World Tour doubles final as a team, duplicating their runner-up finish two weeks ago in Stuttgart (l. Murray/Soares). Pavic also won a title this year in Marrakech (w/Inglot). They pick up 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €12,500.
Both teams traded easy service holds in the first set until Lindstedt/Qureshi finally broke at 6-5 to take the early advantage. The top seeds earned another break at 2-1 in the second set before Marach/Pavic were no longer able to continue.
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| Eastbourne 2017 |
|---|
| Venue: Devonshire Park, Eastbourne Date: 26 June-1 July Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online |
Novak Djokovic made light work of promising Russian Daniil Medvedev to reach the Aegon International final on his debut in Eastbourne.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion took his second match point to win 6-4 6-4 in just an hour and 22 minutes.
Djokovic is playing his first pre-Wimbledon grass-court event in seven years as he looks to improve his form going into the Championships next week.
“I could not be happier to reach the final,” said the 30-year-old Serb.
In Saturday’s final, Djokovic will play second seed Gael Monfils, who won 2-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-4) against close friend Richard Gasquet in an all-French semi-final.
Seventh seed Gasquet saved two match points at 6-2 5-4 with a brilliant stretching drop-shot, before Monfils needed lengthy treatment in the next game when he injured his knee after slipping on the baseline.
Monfils recovered to take the set into a tie-break, only to miss a third match point before Gasquet, 31, forced a decider when Monfils double-faulted on the third set point.
Monfils, 30, failed to serve out for victory at 5-4, but took his fourth match point in the tie-breaker.
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“I was hoping to do well but this is the dream result. I can fight for the trophy and I hope to perform,” added Djokovic.
Djokovic has dropped to fourth in the world rankings after a turbulent year in which he has won only one title and split with his coaching team.
But the top seed, who is yet to drop a set in Eastbourne, is one more win away from his first grass-court title since winning Wimbledon in 2015.
Medvedev, a 21-year-old ranked 52nd in the world, did break Djokovic’s serve in the first set, but it was not enough to stop the former world number one, who did not face another break point in the second set.
Djokovic said earlier this week that 2017 had been his toughest year in tennis.
The former world number one held all four Grand Slam titles going into last year’s Championships, but now holds none.
He suffered a surprise early exit to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon last year, then was beaten by Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka in the US Open final.
Djokovic was stunned by world number 117 Denis Istomin in the Australian Open second round in January, before losing in the French Open quarter-finals earlier this month.
Three-time Wimbledon champion Djokovic will play Slovakia’s Martin Klizan in the first round next week.
Alex Ward, ranked 855th in the world, says the prize money for reaching the first round at Wimbledon is “huge” for him.
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