Thompson And Saville React To Canberra Challenger 2016 Doubles Title
Thompson And Saville React To Canberra Challenger 2016 Doubles Title
Nov062016
First, he claimed the No. 1 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Then, Andy Murray lifted his maiden BNP Paribas Masters trophy. Next? Murray says he’s looking to culminate a fortnight of firsts with a title at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Murray will be the top seed on home soil when he enters The O2 in London, bidding for his first victory at the season finale. The red hot Scot is riding a 19-match win streak after defeating John Isner on Sunday in Paris.
“Hopefully I can play some good tennis there,” said Murray. “I will take a few days’ break now, and rest up a little bit and get ready for one big push out of the next 10 days.
“The last few years I haven’t played so well there. One year I played really well there and missed out by I don’t know even know what it was in the end, but by a game. And one of the years I played one of the best matches of the year against Rafa in the semi-finals… I just want to play my best and finish the year on a good note in that respect.”
Murray caps the Emirates ATP Race To London in the top position, having claimed eight titles and posting a 73-9 record in 2016. While the 29 year old admits he is playing the best tennis of his career and is proud to have ascended to World No. 1, he understands that nothing is guaranteed and is looking to savour the moment.
“It might only be for one week,” Murray added. “So I might as well try and enjoy it, because I could lose it at the Tour Finals and never be there again. So I was really happy about that and hopefully will feel the same way going into London, as well. I’m sure I will, because you’re competing against the best players in front of a big crowd there.”
Achieving such a signficant milestone has given Murray a fresh perspective on his career. Healthy and refreshed, the Dunblane native is gearing up for a thrilling finish to the season. He has work to do to become year-end No. 1 and will battle Djokovic for the honour at what is shaping to be a thrilling Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
“I wouldn’t say I feel sort of more or less tired at this stage of the season physically. But mentally I have been in a good place for a long time now this year and I don’t feel stressed at all away from the court. I still find the matches stressful, but in the buildup to the match or when I’m back at home, I’m just in a good place and that helps.”
Andy Murray says he did not expect to be world number one this year after winning his first Paris Masters title.
Pairing heads into London on a roll
Henri Kontinen and John Peers continued their late-season surge on Sunday, winning their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 team title at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.
The unseeded Kontinen/Peers knocked off top-seeded Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 in front of a partisan French crowd. The Finnish/Australian duo struck 11 aces and outplayed Herbert/Mahut in the Match Tie-break, leading 9-4 before Peers clinched the title with a forehand volley.
“It was amazing to actually get the first Masters [1000] title for both of us. I know we’ve put in a lot of hard work together and it’s something to cap off a really good year, just before we head into London,” Peers said.
Kontinen/Peers had reached the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters last month but fell in straight sets to Americans Jack Sock and John Isner. With the Paris title, they’ll climb one spot to No. 5 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London. They’ll also enter the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals later this month as one of the hottest doubles teams on tour, having dropped only one set en route to their maiden Masters 1000 crown.
“We’ve just been really building all year, and I believed it was just a matter of time until we really got in sync and started to actually back it up match after match,” Peers said. “We’ve been able to get some really good matches here and there throughout the year but it’s actually been a challenge for us to back it up every day. I think we’re starting to learn how to do that as a team and also as individuals so it’s been really good to be able to do that.”
Kontinen/Peers will make their team debut at the season finale, to be held 13-20 November at The O2 in London. They will receive 1,000 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings and split €222,150 in prize money for winning the Paris title.
“It’s a point here and there, and today we got a couple of lucky ones in the Match Tie-break and that obviously helped us in the end,” Kontinen said.
Herbert/Mahut were trying to win their fourth Masters 1000 crown of the season after securing back-to-back-to-back Masters 1000 titles to start the year (Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo). The Frenchmen still head to London with a barrel of momentum, having also reached the semi-finals in Basel (l. to Granollers/Sock) and the final in Antwerp (l. to Nestor/Roger-Vasselin) last month.
Herbert/Mahut will receive 600 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings Points and split €108,750 in prize money.
Britain’s Andy Murray celebrated his rise to world number one by beating American John Isner 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 to win his first Paris Masters title.
The victory brought Murray his sixth ATP title of a memorable 2016.
The Scot, 29, also added his second Olympic and Wimbledon titles on his way to the top of the rankings.
On Monday he will be officially confirmed as Britain’s first singles number one since computerised rankings were introduced in 1973.
Murray’s ascent was confirmed by Milos Raonic’s withdrawal from Saturday’s semi-final with a leg injury, but the hype around his accomplishment did nothing to knock his concentration.
He now heads to the season-ending World Tour Finals as top seed for the first time – but if previous number one Novak Djokovic wins every match at the Finals he will reclaim the top ranking he held for 122 weeks.
The draw for that competition takes place on Monday at 15:00 GMT.
After double-faulting on the first point of the first game, Murray soon clicked into gear, breaking for a 4-2 lead, and showing watertight defence to close the door on Isner when the American created two break points of his own in the next game.
Murray managed only six points on his opponent’s serve in the set, but that was enough to take it in 35 minutes.
The unseeded Isner continued to put pressure on Murray in the second, showing an increasing deftness at the net to take the second set to a tie-break.
And the 6ft 8in 31-year-old had too much for the Scot in the decider, serving imperiously to take the breaker 7-4.
Twice in Isner’s first two service games of the third set Murray saw break points snatched away by his opponent’s huge serve.
But Murray was not be denied, and he finally forced a break at 5-4, firing in a rapid backhand that Isner could only dig into the net, to take the third set and the match.
Murray: “To my team and my family, this has been an incredible journey to get to the top of the rankings. I could not have done it without you. They make a lot of sacrifices to allow me to compete and travel the world. I will work as hard as I can to continue getting better.”
Isner: “Well done to Andy Murray for the title and getting to number one in the world. What an incredible achievement.
“Every single week I am in the same locker room as you, and see how how hard you work, you deserve it.”
Simon Briggs, Daily Telegraph tennis correspondent on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra
It is extraordinary the way the whole season has switched. Novak Djokovic was in the ascendancy, but Andy Murray is number one in every way.
He is dominant in the play, in aura, in the locker room and on the points table. No-one wants to play him; they would rather play Novak and it has been shown why today.
There has not been too much to warrant criticism for him this season. He lost in the second round of Miami and Indian Wells following the birth of baby Sophia. He said it gave him a better perspective on the world and this is a baby bounce.
Six-time Olympic champion cyclist Sir Chris Hoy says compatriot and new tennis world number one Andy Murray is Scotland’s “greatest ever sportsperson”.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-4 6-2 to win the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, China.
The former world number two overcame a sluggish start to win five successive games to take the opening set.
She controlled the second as Svitolina failed to find the form that beat Johanna Konta in the semi-finals.
Kvitova, 26, will play for the Czech Republic in the Fed Cup final against France starting on Saturday.
The WTA Elite Trophy featured the leading 12 players who did not qualify for last week’s WTA Finals in Singapore.