Dzumhur Slides Into Hot Shot Miami 2016
Dzumhur Slides Into Hot Shot Miami 2016
Mar262016
ATPWorldTour.com previews Day 4 play at the Miami Open presented by Itau
Second round action concludes on Saturday with the bottom half of the draw being played. World No. 2 and two-time Miami Open champion Andy Murray, World No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, No. 5/four-time finalist Rafael Nadal, No. 6 Kei Nishikori and No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga headline the order of play. In addition, the top two Americans, No. 13 John Isner and No. 22 seed Jack Sock, play their opening round matches.
In the opening match on Stadium, Nishikori, who reached the semi-finals two years ago, takes on French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert for the first time. Nishikori is off to a 14-5 start this season and last month he won his fourth straight title in Memphis. He comes in after reaching the quarter-finals at ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l. to Nadal). Herbert, who reached his maiden ATP World Tour singles final in Winston-Salem (l. to Anderson) last August, is ranked No. 107 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. He and countryman Nicolas Mahut won the doubles title in Indian Wells last weekend.
In the third match, Nadal makes his 12th appearance in Miami as he faces Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina for the first time. The 29-year-old Spaniard is a four-time runner-up in Miami (2005, ’08, ’11, ’14). This is the only tournament he has not won with this many attempts. The No. 94-ranked Dzumhur is looking for his first career Top 10 win (0-5).
In the evening session, Murray brings a 2-0 head-to-head record against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. Both of Murray’s wins came in 2013 (Brisbane, US Open). The 28-year-old Brit, who won the title in 2009 (d. Djokovic) and 2013 (d. Ferrer), has reached the final in three of the last four years. He was runner-up in 2012 and last year (l. to Djokovic both times). Istomin won his first match of the season (1-7) on Thursday in three sets over Borna Coric. Istomin is trying to break a 19-match losing streak against Top 10 opponents. He is 1-29 lifetime against Top 10 foes and his lone win came over No. 5 David Ferrer in the third round of Indian Wells in 2012.
In the second match on Grandstand, Russian Andrey Kuznetsov and Wawrinka meet for the second straight tournament. In the third round of Indian Wells, Wawrinka won 64 76. In the next match on, No. 26 Grigor Dimitrov takes on Federico Delbonis for the second time. In their previous meeting in the first round of Wimbledon last year, the Bulgarian won in straight sets. In the third men’s match on, Isner and fellow Tampa resident qualifier Tim Smyczek square off for the first time. Isner reached the semi-finals here last year (l. to Djokovic). In the final match on, Santiago Giraldo of Colombia and Tsonga meet for the third time (tied 1-1), the first on hard courts.
On Court 1, Denis Kudla plays No. 12 Milos Raonic, who is coming off his third career ATP Masters 1000 final in Indian Wells. This is a first-time meeting. In the next match, Sock and Sergiy Stakhovsky meet for the first time in a main draw. Sock won the previous qualifying meeting here in 2013. In the final match, Marcos Baghdatis and No. 24 Nick Kyrgios square off for the first time. Both lost to eventual champion Wawrinka in Dubai: Baghdatis in final, Kyrgios in semi-final.
Djokovic wins in straight sets to face Sousa in third round
If Novak Djokovic were feeling the pressure of going for his sixth title at the Miami Open presented by Itau, he hid it well during his second-round match on Friday night.
Early on in his straight-sets rout against #NextGen star Kyle Edmund, Djokovic missed a first serve that Edmund framed into the night sky. Djokovic, instead of letting a ball person retrieve the errant shot and prepare for his second serve, slid to his left, raised his shorts and caught the ball in his left pocket to cheers and claps from the crowd.
The World No. 1 had more fun the rest of the night, winning 6-3, 6-3 against Edmund.
Djokovic, who’s looking to tie Andre Agassi with six Miami titles, hit only 13 winners to 18 unforced errors. But the Serbian dealt the damage through mid-range rallies.
Djokovic extended the rallies until the 21-year-old grew impatient and overhit or tried to outplay Djokovic, a scenario that often favored the five-time Miami Open champion. Edmund hit 13 winners to 35 unforced errors, and Djokovic won 28 of the 41 rallies that lasted between five and nine shots.
Edmund, who was playing in just his 14th tour-level match, did test Djokovic, though. The young Brit broke Djokovic in the first set and played fearlessly. At times, the 6’0” Brit effectively used his serve to push Djokovic off the court, which set Edmund up for a big forehand.
In the third round, Djokovic will put his 37-5 Miami record on the line against Portugal’s Joao Sousa, No. 38 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Sousa overcame Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-7(1), 7-6(5), 6-2. Djokovic leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-0, including a straight-sets win on hard courts in 2013 in New York.
American Steve Johnson also won a tight contest on Friday, beating #NextGen star Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-6(9), 7-6(3) in two hours. Zverev saved all four break points Johnson faced but it wasn’t enough against the 26 year old, who advances to the third round in Miami for the first time. Johnson next plays France’s Benoit Paire, who won in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 against Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.
Serbia’s Viktor Troicki won the tightest match of the day, though. Troicki beat Spain’s Inigo Cervantes 6-7(6), 7-6(9), 7-6(3) in nearly three hours. The No. 19 seed saved four match points.
Nadal wants to return to the Miami final, where he’s been four prior times
During his historic career, Rafael Nadal has tracked down 67 tour-level singles titles in 25 different cities. The Spaniard has won titles all over the globe – as far east as Beijing and as far west as Indian Wells, California.
But Nadal has never won a title in Miami, the home of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, all 12 years he’s been on tour. On Saturday, the 29 year old is scheduled to make his 12th appearance at the tournament when he plays Bosnian Damir Dzumhur in the second round. Nadal hopes this year’s Miami Open presented by Itau has a new ending.
“I think I played well in my career here, no? Four finals. Another semi-final. Some more quarter-finals… So was a positive tournament for me,” he said. “Only negative thing is I never win it.”
Nadal has come close. In 2011 and 2014, he reached the finals but lost to Novak Djokovic. In 2008, Nadal lost to then World No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko in the final in straight sets. There also was Nadal’s memorable 2005 Miami final against Roger Federer. Nadal, then 18, was up two sets to zero but lost 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 3-6, 1-6 to the then World No. 1.
After slipping in 2015, Nadal, No. 5 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, has shown signs that he’s returning to earlier levels. Last week at the BNP Paribas Open, Nadal forced World No. 1 Novak Djokovic into a first-set tie-break before falling in two sets during their semi-final match. It was the first time Nadal had reached the Indian Wells semi-finals since 2013.
“The difference is I’m enjoying [myself] on court. I’m not feeling the nerves on court. I’m not feeling that strange feeling that I never felt,” Nadal said. “I can lose, I can win, but I am happy on court. That’s the most important thing. That’s the big difference from what happened last year.”
Despite the lack of a title in Miami, the Spaniard has always enjoyed the tournament. He and the other Spanish players feel especially welcome in South Florida, Nadal said.
“The atmosphere here is great. I enjoy being here. The fans here are amazing with me,” he said. “Miami is an amazing city and is unbelievable for us to be here in Miami, to play here in Miami… for the Latin people, Spanish people, we feel close because of the very big community of Latinos here.”
He’d likely enjoy it even more with his first Miami title and his 28th Masters 1000 title.
Argentine takes Federer’s place in main draw
What a difference a few hours made for Horacio Zeballos.
The Argentine, No. 122 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, did not have a spot in the main draw of the Miami Open presented by Itau when he woke up Friday morning. However, when Roger Federer withdrew from the event due to the stomach virus, Zeballos found himself penciled into the draw to face countryman Juan Martin del Potro in the second round and won 6-4, 6-4 as a lucky loser.
The 30 year old, looking for his first tour-level win of the year, made good on his opportunity by serving smartly and avoiding del Potro’s fearsome forehand. The left-handed Zeballos fired six aces and made 77 per cent of first serves, most of which were directed to del Potro’s backhand. He only dropped nine points on serve and did not face a break point in the 81-minute encounter.
Del Potro was bothered by his left wrist throughout the match. The Tandil native called for the trainer after dropping the first set, and seldom drove through the ball with his two-handed backhand, preferring to use the one-handed slice to keep the ball in play. He fired eight aces but was 0-for-2 on break points against.
Zeballos’ opponent in the third round will be Fernando Verdasco, who scored his first win in three FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with Jeremy Chardy, 6-4, 6-4. The powerful Spaniard hit nine aces and won 90 per cent of first-serve points (29/32) against the No. 28 seed.
Marriage and fatherhood have brought Zhe Li to the best form of his career at age 29, but the Chinese star has his sights set on even bigger things to come.
Currently at a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 210, Li has cut his ranking in half over the past 12 months. After winning three ITF Futures events in China in the middle of the past year, he turned his attention to the ATP Challenger Tour at the end of 2015 and reached the quarter-finals of two Australian events in Traralgon and Canberra.
Li has opened his 2016 season strongly by reaching the quarter-finals of three ATP Challenger Tour events throughout Asia. This week at the Challenger event in Shenzhen, he recorded one of the biggest wins in his career by defeating World No. 102 Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the opening round. He credits his coach, Christophe Lambert, with his rapid rise in form.
“I’ve known him since 2008, but we’ve been working together for the last 15 months. He’s shown me how to use the weapons I have now to beat opponents and how to become smarter on the court,” said Li. “We have a very good relationship. I see him as my second father.”
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Li, though. After his ranking slipped well outside the Top 800 in 2009, he admitted to almost retiring after the Chinese National Games that year. But with the encouragement of his father, he decided to continue playing.
As his results continued to get better on the court, so did his personal life. He recently got married and is now a father to a three-month-old girl. Li admits that he finds it difficult to be away from his family while on tour, but is quickly learning to find a balance.
“I feel guilty because I only stayed with them for two weeks during the Chinese New Year and sometimes I miss my wife and baby,” said Li. “But I’m thankful that my wife fully supports my career. After the tournament in Shenzhen, I will fly back to Tianjin to be with them.”
Li has become even more motivated in recent years by the strong results that other Chinese players like Di Wu, Ze Zhang and Yan Bai have been producing. Despite being at an age where many of his peers are thinking about slowing down, he said he has no plans to retire for at least the next five years.
“I hope to at least reach the Top 100 before I’m 35 years old,” said Li. “I’m glad to be reaching the peak of my career now. I appreciate this chance and hope to build a brilliant career for myself so that I don’t have any regrets.”
Johanna Konta eased into round three of the Miami Masters with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Danka Kovinic.
The British number one broke Kovinic twice in the opening set to counter being broken by the Montenegrin.
Konta, the world number 24, broke twice more in the second set before setting up a fourth match point with her fifth ace and completing an 84-minute win.
Fellow Briton Kyle Edmund takes on world number one Novak Djokovic in the men’s draw later on Friday.
Swiss kept out of action by stomach virus
Roger Federer, who was slated to play his first match since the Australian Open semi-finals (l. to Djokovic) at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Friday, has been forced to withdraw due to a stomach virus. His second-round opponent Juan Martin del Potro faced lucky loser Horacio Zeballos instead.
“I am very sorry that I have to pull out of the Miami Open with a stomach virus,” said Federer. “I feel bad for the tournament and the fans as I have rarely ever had to withdraw at such short notice. I have not felt great for a few days and unfortunately it got worse in the last 24 hours. I was really excited to have my comeback in Miami but I am in no condition to play. I tried to warm up this morning but it was clear that I could not compete.”
“We were very excited to have Roger return to Miami this year and hope he feels better soon,” said Adam Barrett, Tournament Director. “Roger is a true legend of the game and has a huge following here in South Florida. We look forward to seeing him here next year.”
Federer is 8-2 on the year, finishing runner-up in Brisbane (l. to Raonic) and reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic). He underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in early February.
It hasn’t all been about tennis for players this week. ATPWorldTour.com provides a recap of the highlights.
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Dominic Thiem, Leonardo Mayer and Pablo Carreno Busta visited Jungle Island to kick off the Miami Open, making new friends in the process. In addition to parrots, lemurs and a baby kangaroo, the players got up close and personal with a 14-foot albino Burmese python. View Photos
Tomas Berdych and #NextGen stars Hyeon Chung, Kyle Edmund and Elias Ymer enjoyed the Miami art scene, as they took part in a photo shoot at the Wynwood Walls. “Some amazing graffiti and art on display?,” Edmund wrote on Instagram. View Photos
Juan Martin del Potro, Pablo Cuevas, Santiago Giraldo and Roberto Bautista Agut visited the Univision studios in Miami to participate in the taping of Spanish-language television programs.
Jack Sock met members of the United States Men’s National Soccer Team and was presented with a jersey by captain Michael Bradley. View Photos
John Isner spent time with young patients at the Baptist Children’s Hospital in Miami. The top American presented them with autographed gear from the Miami Open, including hats and tennis balls. “Visiting the hospital and see the kids here definitely put a smile on my face,” he said. View Photo
Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan and Marcelo Melo assisted with drills during Kids’ Day festivities. “We participated in a lot of Kids’ Days growing up,” said Bob. “That’s kind of what inspired us to play the game…We’re hoping to do the same here.” Watch Video
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