Tennis News

Sixth seed Jeremy Chardy battled past rising German star Alexander Zverev 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur.

The Frenchman advanced in one hour and 50 minutes in the pair’s first meeting, breaking his 18-year-old opponent four times and winning almost half of his return points (45 per cent) as he rallied from a 6-3, 3-1 deficit. Chardy, making his debut at this ATP World Tour 250 hard court tournament, is playing for the first time since reaching the US Open fourth round (l. to Cilic).

“I was a little bit unlucky to be down I think, but he was playing very good,” said Chardy. “It was my first match after the US Open, so it’s always tough to find your rhythm. But I knew I could come back because I was feeling the ball well and I was mentally strong. I’m really happy with this win.” 

Eighth seed Vasek Pospisil cruised into the second round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama. The Canadian, who was a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon earlier in the year (l. to Murray), fired nine aces and won 75 per cent of his service points as he claimed his 19^th win of the season.

Pospisil goes on to face Marcos Baghdatis for a place in the quarter-finals. Baghdatis finished strongly to defeat wild card Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1.

Top seed David Ferrer will face Radek Stepanek in his opening match after the Czech veteran defeated qualifier Yuichi Sugita 7-6(6), 6-0. Ferrer leads the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series 7-3. 

World No. 84 Radu Albot upset fifth seed Viktor Troicki, beating the Serb 6-2, 7-6(5). The 25-year-old Moldovan claimed his eighth tour-level win of the season as he set a second-round clash with Mikhail Kukushkin, who dismissed Malaysian wild card Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-2, 6-2.

Tatsuma Ito will face Nick Kyrgios in the second round after beating Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 7-6(3).

Six weeks remain in the Emirates ATP Race To London and Milos Raonic is eager to cap a tumultuous season with a berth in the season finale.

The 24 year old hoisted his seventh ATP World Tour trophy on the hard courts of St. Petersburg on Sunday and, with four of eight singles berths remaining, is hoping to continue his push to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for a second straight season. He became the first player born in the 1990s to compete at The O2 last year.

“It was very special, a great experience,” Raonic told ATPWorldTour.com. “I wish I would have done better and stayed healthy in that moment, but it’s something I want to give myself another shot and another go at it.”

Winning the St. Petersburg Open brings the Canadian an additional 250 points in the Emirates ATP Race To London, which sees him pass Marin Cilic into 12th position. Having missed more than a month of action after undergoing foot surgery in May, Raonic is making significant strides in returning to top form.

“It would be special, especially with the difficulties I’ve faced this year with my health and missing a lot of big events. Playing a part of the year with a kind of hindrance, it would be special and something that will require a lot of winning in what’s left of the year. I believe I can do it.”

David Ferrer, top seed this week in Kuala Lumpur, currently occupies the eighth and final qualification spot with 3,005 points, but is hotly pursued by a host of contenders, including Richard Gasquet, Kevin Anderson, John Isner and Raonic. All are less than 1,000 points behind the Spaniard. Last week’s Metz finalists Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon also kept alive their outside chances of qualifying.

“I’m really happy to win here in Metz and stay in the Race,” Tsonga said. “I’m still in the running. I hope I will continue to play like this to try to qualify. For the moment, I’m just thinking about my level and hope to produce good tennis.”

Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka have already qualified in the Emirates ATP Race To London and No. 5 Tomas Berdych is next in line. The consistent Czech has reached the quarter-finals at 11 of 16 tournaments entered this year, reaching the final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, as well as in Rotterdam and Doha. With valuable points up for grabs, Berdych is the top seed this week in Shenzhen and seeking to further boost his bid. A semi-finalist at the season finale in 2011, he has qualified in each of the past five years.

Berdych will be looking over his shoulder in the coming weeks, with Kei Nishikori and Rafael Nadal hotly pursuing the Czech. Currently in the sixth and seventh positions, they are less than 200 points back. Champion in Memphis, Barcelona and Washington, Nishikori reached the London semi-finals on debut last year. Nadal, who missed the 2014 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals following an appendectomy, is a two-time finalist (2011, ’13).

Djokovic was the first to earn a place in the elite eight-man field after reaching the Roland Garros semi-finals. Bidding to become the first player in history to capture four successive Barclays ATP World Tour Finals singles titles, he has maintained his stranglehold on the top spot ever since. The 28 year old will make his ninth straight appearance, having emerged victorious in 2008 and 2012-’14. Champion at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo and Rome, Djokovic leads the way with 12,785 points.

In second position is Murray, who punched his ticket for an eighth straight year. A titlist at the Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Montreal, as well as in Munich and Queen’s Club, the Scot owns a 770-point lead over Federer. The most successful player to compete at the season finale, the Swiss has triumphed on six occasions (2000-’01, 2003-’04, 2006-’07)  and boasts a 48-11 record. Federer is a five-time champion on the ATP World Tour this year.

Federer’s compatriot Wawrinka reached the semi-finals the past two years and will look to go one step further after punching his ticket at the US Open. The Swiss is 3-0 in tour-level finals in 2015, winning on the hard courts of Chennai and Rotterdam, while capturing his second Grand Slam crown at Roland Garros. Wawrinka has already surpassed his match win total from a year ago, improving to 41-13 with a semi-final run at the US Open.

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has welcomed more than 1.5 million fans to The O2 arena over the past six years, establishing itself as the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world since moving to London in 2009. Tickets to the tournament, which takes place from 15-22 November, can be purchased at: www.BarclaysATPWorldTourFinals.com.

Barclays ATP World Tour Finals – The Contenders
Based on the calendar-year Emirates ATP Race To London standings as of Sunday, 27 September 2015. The top eight eligible players will qualify.

History would not repeat itself on Sunday at the Moselle Open, as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Gilles Simon for his 12th ATP World Tour title and third in Metz.

In a rematch of the 2013 final, which Simon won in straight sets, Tsonga prevailed 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-2. Appearing in the Metz title match for the fourth time in five years, the 30 year old added to crowns earned in 2011 (d. Ljubicic) and 2012 (d. Seppi), boosting his bid to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in scoring 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points. Tsonga keeps pace with Simon and Milos Raonic, who also won on Sunday in St. Petersburg, remaining in the 15th spot in the Emirates ATP Race To London.

“I’m really happy to win again here in Metz,” said Tsonga. “I like the welcome I get here and to win this year is great. It’s my first of the year and I hope it will continue. It’s a good achievement for me.

“Gilles is very difficult to play against. You need energy with each ball you play against him. He’s a good defender and is always ready to play passing shots. When I play against him it’s always tough.” 

Tsonga was forced to dig in his heels in the early stages, surviving three straight deuce games on serve to open proceedings. Simon’s consistency rattled his countryman and Tsonga’s unforced error count began to rise. But the former World No. 5 was clutch in the big moments, denying a total six break points with four service winners, including three aces. The first set would come down to a tie-break and Tsonga would rally once again, storming back from 5-2 down to reel off five straight points and take the opener in 65 minutes.

Tsonga saved Simon’s seventh break opportunity with another ace in the second game of the second set, but Simon would capitalise on No. 8, securing the first break of the match with a rifled backhand pass. Tsonga was poised to break back immediately with a 0/40 lead in the next game, but the steady Simon would hold and force a third set.

In the decider, Tsonga rediscovered his first set form and two let cord forehands that dribbled over would aide him in breaking for 3-1 and eventually sealed Simon’s fate. He converted on his second match point four games later to prevail after two hours and 16 minutes.

Tsonga improved to 7-3 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry and pulled level with Simon and Richard Gasquet for second on the list of French titlists in the Open Era. The trio trails only Yannick Noah (23). In addition, Tsonga extended the run of home grown dominance in Metz, becoming the sixth Frenchman to triumph in the past seven years.

Simon, who was bidding for his third Metz crown (2010, ‘13), falls to 12-6 in ATP World Tour finals. He takes home €42,100 and 150 Emirates ATP Rankings points.

It has been a turbulent season for Milos Raonic, but with a cry of triumph, the Canadian ended a 14-month title drought on Sunday in St. Petersburg as he defeated Joao Sousa 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to capture his seventh ATP World Tour title.

“It’s such a great feeling to come to St. Petersburg and to be able to win this event,” said Raonic. “It was a great experience overall with the event, the city and the people. This tournament is only going to get better. Word is going to spread about how much the players enjoyed it.”

Raonic still has an outside chance of clinching one of the four remaining berths at the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Winning the St. Petersburg Open title brings the Canadian an additional 250 points in the Emirates ATP Race To London, which will see him pass Marin Cilic into 12^th position.

“It would be special [to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals again], especially with the health issues I’ve had,” said Raonic. “It is something that will require a lot of winning the rest of this year, but I believe I can do it.”

The 24-year-old Raonic made his debut at the Final Showdown in London last year, but has a lot of ground to make up if he is to return to The O2 from 15-22 November. The Toronto native’s season was derailed in May when he was forced to miss Roland Garros to undergo surgery on his right foot. It was a slow return to form and fitness for the right-hander, who would lose in the third round at both Wimbledon (l. to Kyrgios) and the US Open (l. to Lopez).

Victory over Sousa brings Raonic his first ATP World Tour title since he defeated countryman Vasek Pospisil in the Citi Open final in Washington in early August 2014. The right-hander finished runner-up to Roger Federer in the Brisbane final at the start of the 2015 season.

Raonic’s resolve was tested against the in-form Sousa, who became the only man this week to break the Canadian’s famed serve to clinch the second set. Having lost the first set to a service break in the fourth game, Sousa fended off four break points in the early stages of the second set before immediately breaking Raonic for a 3-1 lead and holding on to level the match.

The second-seeded Raonic benefitted from a Sousa double fault to grab a break in the second game of the deciding set before saving four break points in a crucial third game. Raonic would go on to clinch victory in two hours and seven minutes, having struck 22 aces and saved nine of 10 break points.

“I think I played my best,” said Sousa. “Of course I feel sad that I couldn’t have the title here. I was really confident that I could beat him today, but he played and served very well in the important moments. I just have to congratulate him for the match.” 

Seventh seed Sousa lost in an ATP World Tour final for the third time this season, having finished runner-up to Thomaz Bellucci in Geneva and Dominic Thiem in Umag. The 26 year old from Portugal dropped to a 1-18 record against Top 10 players. His lone win was over No. 4 David Ferrer in the 2013 Kuala Lumpur quarter-finals en route to his maiden ATP World Tour title (d. Benneteau).

“This year has been a tough one,” said Sousa. “It has been my best year, but a tough one as I lost three finals. It’s really, really tough to accept it. But I think I can improve. I’m going to work for it and hopefully I can win the next one.”