Tennis News

The road to the US Open 2015 has just begun for the game’s elite as play is set to get underway at the 2015 Rogers Cup to be held in Montreal this year.

Back in action for the first time since triumphing over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic returns to a testing draw at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal, in the Quebec Province of Canada. The fact is every time Novak Djokovic steps onto the court, he is the strong favorite to win no matter what the opposition is or the conditions are. This perhaps again holds true as he gets ready for his charge at a 2nd US Open title in a month’s time.

It seems strange, but the U.S. summer hard-court season just isn’t what it used to be. Years ago, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and even guys like Patrick Rafter and Yevgeny Kafelnikov would play several events leading up to the US Open. These days, for most of the top guys it’s one event (Roger Federer), likely two (Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal) and sometimes if we are lucky three (Andy Murray). The U.S. Open series also features a handful of mid-level tournaments, but most of the stars will opt out or rest at places like Atlanta, Washington and the Winston-Salem Open. The top stars rarely prioritize them. The real focus will be Masters 1000 tournaments at Canada (Montreal this year for the men), Cincinnati and the year’s final major at New York’s U.S. Open.

The major headlines coming out in Montreal were that Roger Federer would not be there (resting perhaps) as well as David Ferrer missing out due to an injury. Two lucky players benefited from that greatly. Those players were Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic.

With the withdrawal of those players, Raonic and Nadal have now received opening round byes which were given to the top eight seeds. Also with the withdrawal (of Federer), Andy Murray moves to the opposite side of the bracket as Novak Djokovic, and Kei Nishikori gets his own quarter in this first Masters 1000 event of the North American hard court season.

Top Half

1st Quarter – (1) Novak Djokovic & (5) Tomas Berdych

Novak is a 3-time winner of the Rogers Cup (2007, 2011 & 2012) and the draw has been spread out nicely for the World No.1. His half of the draw includes French Open Champion Stan Wawrinka (the man who dashed hi Roland Garros dreams), World No.6 Tomas Berdych and crowd favorite Canadian Milos Raonic. The quarter doesn’t look too bothersome for the 28-year old Serb to deal with. He opens against South American clay-court specialist Thomaz Bellucci before possibly facing American Jack Sock or 14th Seed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Dimitrov has struggled this season (23-14) and was nursing a right shoulder injury in his 3-set loss to American Steve Johnson at the Citi Open.

The other top seed in Novak’s quarter is Czech veteran 5th seed Tomas Berdych. Berdych will have to plot a course to a QF meeting with Nole by possibly beating South African Giant Kevin Anderson or the in-form Austrian Dominic Thiem. The Austrian has been playing his best tennis off late picking up titles in Umag and Gstaad and is about the crack the top 20 for the 1st time in his career.. His 10-match winning streak was finally ended by German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Kitzbuhel SF.

Berdych has a woeful 2-19 record against the World No.1 and has hardly troubled Novak in spite of his big game and heavy groundstrokes. Kevin Anderson brings in the surprise element in this section. The South-African nearly took out Djokovic in the Wimbledon 4R with a two sets to love lead only for Novak to dig deep and fight his way back to a victory. That victory did give Novak the fuel and thrust for his 3rd Wimbledon title.

Nole is yet to lose a match at the Masters level this season. He’s won all four Masters events that he’s played in this season (skipped Madrid) so he’ll be looking to add a fifth to what’s been a dominant year for the Serb (21-0; won in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Rome; also won Paris last season). In fact he is on a 26 match winning streak at this level (last loss at this level to Roger Federer – Shanghai SF). An early exit last year to giant slayer and eventual champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will give motivation to the Serb to find a way to get through and perform better this year.

QF – (1) Novak Djokovic vs. Dominic Thiem – Djokovic in straight sets

Master vs. Apprentice – should be a good lesson for Thiem

2nd Quarter – (3) Stan Wawrinka & (8) Milos Raonic

Swiss No. 2 and Roland Garros Champion Stan Wawrinka can produce some serious firepower and his section includes big servers John Isner and Ivo Karlovic.

Wawrinka, who was present at the draw ceremony in Montreal on Friday evening, is set to play for the first time since Wimbledon, where he reached the quarter-finals. The Swiss will be tested from the start as he faces Fernando Verdasco or Nick Kyrgios in his opening second-round match, before a likely third round against Wimbledon quarter-finalist and home hope Vasek Pospisil (wildcard & 2013 Semifinalist) or the in-form John Isner who recently won the Atlanta Open (also is in the final of the Citi Open).

Nick Kyrgios is back on the scene for the first time on the ATP World Tour since his Wimbledon loss to Richard Gasquet. The Aussie put on a show with and without his racket by showing off his astounding shot-making but also threw in a tank job in a game, hugged a ball kid, and even argued with the chair umpire for taking too long to change his socks.

Wawrinka potential QF opponent could be crowd favorite and native son Milos Raonic, the last man to receive a bye as the 8th seed. Raonic reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final in Montreal two years ago (l. to Rafa Nadal). The Toronto native, whose season has been marred by injury, faces a tricky opener against Ivo Karlovic. He is seeded to face Wimbledon semi-finalist Richard Gasquet in the third round before a projected clash with Wawrinka.

Most of this discussion has been about the players in Wawrinka’s section rather than the man himself. He has been cleared by doctors to play at the Rogers Cup after pulling out from Gstaad a couple weeks ago due to a shoulder injury which doesn’t bode well that he’s back at a major event for his first tournament back. Milos Raonic is probably licking his chops at another opportunity for a fantastic showing in the biggest tournament in his home country. This is his chance to repeat that feat.

Perhaps the expectations surrounding the big-serving 24-year-old should be tempered, however, considering the circumstances. Raonic had surgery in May to repair a pinched nerve in his foot. Since reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals in January, he has entered a limited number of events, missing the French Open as well as Davis Cup play in Belgium, and he was not himself in a Round of 32 loss at Wimbledon to Nick Kyrgios. Raonic has not claimed an ATP title this season. He has six career titles, including Washington, where he beat Pospisil in the lead up to last year’s Rogers Cup in Toronto, but is trying to avoid going without a tournament win for the first time since 2010.

Raonic is the last Canadian to have reached the final and is attempting to become the first Canadian winner in the Open era since Robert Bedard in 1958.

QF – (3) Stan Wawrinka vs. (8) Milos Raonic – Raonic in 3 sets

Expect the crowd to play a big part in this match. Also Wawrinka is not that consistent when it comes to the Masters level.

Bottom Half

3rd Quarter – (4) Kei Nishikori & (7) Rafael Nadal

Fresh from capturing the Hamburg crown on clay last week, Rafael Nadal headlines the bottom half of the draw with 2nd seed Andy Murray.

Seeded 7th , Nadal is looking for a strong showing on the North American hard courts this summer to mount a charge in the race to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The Spaniard has won the Canadian Masters 1000 three times, most recently two years ago in Montreal (managed to win the Triple Crown – Canada, Cincinnati, US Open). He opens his bid against Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky.

The 2013 Rogers Cup champion nursed a shoulder injury in the Hamburg final. He was spinning his first serves in from about 90-100 MPH. That may have worked against second-tier opposition in Germany but that will not cut it against the best of the best. The biggest advantage which Rafa has this summer is that he has not points to defend (missed the entire US Open Series due to injury last season).

The 29-year-old Nadal is seeded to face 9th seed Frenchman Gilles Simon (Wimbledon QF) in the third round, with a possible clash against Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals. Simon does have the game to trouble Nadal on the hard-courts as his game is predicated on deep, solid groundstrokes and consistency. He doesn’t have a go-to weapon, but when you’re as consistent as he is, you’ll force your opponent to go for more to shorten the points.

2014 US Open runner-up Kei Nishikori is the top seed in this section. The 4th seeded Japanese will face wildcard Canadian Frank Dancevic or a stubborn Pablo Andujar in his opener. He is seeded to face Belgian David Goffin or in-form American Steve Johnson in the 3R before the big QF against Rafael Nadal. Despite this being a relatively easy draw, Nishikori did pick up an injury to his leg in his Citi Open SF match against Marin Cilic (a rematch of their 2014 US Open Final).

QF – (4) Kei Nishikori vs. (7) Rafael Nadal – Nadal in 3 sets

A contrast of styles brings us to the intriguing conclusion that this match could very well go the distance. Expect Kei to be a little fatigued after reaching the Citi Open Final.

4th Quarter – (2) Andy Murray & (6) Marin Cilic

British number one Andy Murray was one of the major beneficiaries of Federer’s withdrawal. He avoids having to see his fellow Big Four rival who dispatched him at Wimbledon with relative ease and avoids seeing Djokovic until the final should they both get there. He’s got the most difficult of the opening round matchups of the top four, meeting Tommy Robredo who outlasted Feliciano Lopez in three sets.

Robredo and Murray have had some phenomenal matches in their recent history with the most memorable ones coming last season in the finals of Shenzhen and Valencia, a home tournament for Robredo, as the Brit took him out in three gruelling sets in both the finals (saved multiple match points in both the matches).

The Scot, a two-time champion in Canada (2009 & 2010), could face 15th seed Gael Monfils in the third round, though the Frenchman has a blockbuster opener against Fabio Fognini (tennis’ two unconventional yet entertaining characters).

Murray is projected to face 6th seed Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals, though defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is also in that section, but the Frenchman has a tough opener against Croatian young gun Borna Coric. The Croat has the weaponry to make things challenging for Tsonga especially if the defending champ is having an off day. Tsonga’s potential 3R opponent could be another Croat Marin Cilic.

Marin Cilic, the reigning US Open champion is just coming off a disappointing three set loss to Nishikori in the Citi Open semifinals in a tournament where he never looked at his best. He looked very vulnerable in all his matches but looked most vulnerable against Querrey. He was let off by the American’s poor shot choices in both tiebreakers which allowed him to take the match in straight sets. He’s got an interesting second round matchup with quirky Bernard Tomic should the 22-year-old Aussie defeat Joao Sousa.

Murray is coming off a horrendous showing at the Citi Open where he lost in his opening match to Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili but expect him to rebound in Canada where a strong showing moves him closer to surpassing Roger Federer for world number two.

Andy will pass Roger next Monday if he reaches the final in Montreal and take the No.2 ranking as Roger will drop 1000 points for his Cincinnati win last season. This is because of the extra week being played on the tour this season.

QF – (2) Andy Murray vs. (6) Marin Cilic – Murray in 3 sets

One compelling match-up but expect Andy to hold forth against the reigning US Open Champion.

Possible SF

(1) Djokovic vs. (8) Raonic – Djokovic in straight sets

Raonic is 0-5 against the Serb and expect him lose for the 6th time.

(7) Nadal vs. (2) Murray) – Murray in 3 sets

This is a tough one to predict but Rafa is yet to play his best hard-court tennis this season (rewind 2013) so expect Murray to win this nail-biter.

Finals

(1) Djokovic vs. (2) Murray – Djokovic in straight sets

Murray is 0-8 since the 2013 Wimbledon final against Novak. The Serb is way ahead of the rest of the field and expect him to win his 4th title in Canada.

STATS METER

• Only Patrick Rafter (1998), Andy Roddick (2003) and Rafael Nadal (2013) have completed the Triple Crown, and for each of them it was the last time they would win the U.S. Open (Nadal can still add another).
• Notable legends such as Pete Sampras and Roger Federer never achieved the Triple Crown, even though the Swiss Maestro has two Canada Open titles, six Cincinnati titles and five consecutive U.S. Open titles from 2004 to 2008.
What are the chances that Djokovic can win this Triple Crown of late summer (Canada, Cincinnati & US Open)? After all, he has not won any of these three titles since Canada in 2012.

Kei Nishikori rallied from an early deficit to down home hope John Isner 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the Citi Open final. On Saturday, after a tight semi-final victory in Washington DC, John Isner told the crowd that he’d need them out in full force the next day to win the title. They did their part on Sunday, showing up and providing him with backing in the championship match against World No.5 Kei Nishikori, but it was not enough as the top-ranked American lost in a hard-fought three-setter.

In a match where Nishikori was only a little better than his opponent, the final outcome was never obvious until late in the match. That’s in part because it featured just three breaks of serve. The first was for Isner, but it was the latter two for Nishikori that were ultimately the difference.

The 6ft 10in Isner, known as much for his booming serve as his size, was not the better striker on this warm, slightly overcast afternoon. Nishikori managed an impressive winning percentage on his first serve, 91%, to the usually steady Isner at only 76%. Perhaps the Japanese star’s success in hindering Isner’s conversion rate stemmed from having faced and defeated other notable servers during the week: Marin Cilic in the semis in a rematch of the 2014 US Open final, and before him Aussie up-and-comer Sam Groth.

Isner snatched the opener with a pair of scorching forehand returns in the 10th game, earning the first break of the match. Nishikori would fight back, opening the second set with an immediate break and consolidating to love for 2-0. Isner received treatment on his right shoulder after the third game and the Japanese refused to relinquish his advantage, sending the final encounter to a one-set sprint.In the third, Nishikori did not let his foot off the gas, grabbing a break in the third game and holding serve to the finish line.

The turning point of the match for Nishikori actually came after Isner suddenly broke him at 5-4 to take the first set. In the pause ahead of the second, Nishikori sat dejected with a towel wrapped over his head, as much to dodge the heat as hit reset. But it gave him the motivation to respond, and respond he did. In the very next service game, Nishikori broke Isner back, taking the second set by the throat and never looking back, despite a tiny bit of trouble closing it out up 5-4 on serve.In the deciding set Nishikori again struck Isner’s serve early, this time in the third game, on his way to championship point at love.

The World No. 5 has been a dominant force in deciding sets, now owning a 13-3 record this year when going the distance. He has won 34 of his last 40 such matches. Nishikori, who was appearing in his 15th ATP World Tour final, captured his 10th title. Nishikori, who will rise one spot in the world rankings today to match his career high of No. 4 (leapfrogging Roland Garros Champion Stan Wawrinka), was last year’s US Open runner-up to Croatian Marin Cilic, who he beat in the Washington semi-finals in their first meeting since last year in New York.Nishikori’s strategy of methodically wearing down his 30-year-old opponent with his groundstrokes during the two-hour match and it’s easy to see why the Japanese star continues hisupsurge in the ATP rankings.

Three of the Japanese’s last four titles have come at the ATP World Tour 500 level, winning on the clay of Barcelona this year after hoisting the trophy on home soil last October in Tokyo. Nishikori earns $343,000 and 500 Emirates ATP Rankings points.

Isner was eyeing his 11th tour-level title and second in as many weeks after clinching his third consecutive BB&T Atlanta Open crown. He owns a 23-8 record in Washington, D.C., including runs to the final in both 2007 (l. to Roddick) and 2013 (l. to Del Potro).

Isner had claimed their lone previous encounter on the hard courts of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami earlier this year. He takes home $154,620 and 300 Emirates ATP Rankings points.

“I didn’t make enough inroads on his first serve,” said Isner. “If you put a decent amount of first serves in the court, he’s arguably the best in the best in the world from the baseline. It’s tough. I thought he served better in the second and third sets. He’s a great player and a great champion.

“Getting to the final of an event like this three times is something to be proud of.”

Nishikori became the first Asian singles winner in the tournament’s 47-year history despite connecting on only 59 per cent of his first serves. He managed to win 42 of his 46 first-serve points.

Isner, who fired 18 aces to five for Nishikori, will jump from 18th to 12th in today’s rankings.

Both players now head to Montreal as they continue their preparations for the US Open, which starts on 31 August. Nishikori was a finalist in New York last year and is still looking to take the final leap and become the first Asian man ever to win a grand slam singles title. “I just can’t wait to play the US Open,” he said. “I’m just excited again to play on a big stage. I like that tournament.”

STATSMETER – Kei Nishikori

• Kei Nishikori has the best deciding set record in the Open-Era (minimum 80 matches):

• Kei also managed to win his 6th ATP 500 title (10th in the Open-Era for most ATP 500 titles; joint with Andre Agassi). Roger and Rafa lead the way in this category with 16 each.
• Kei is 10-5 (66.6%) in ATP World Tour Finals which is 6th best winning percentage in finals among the active players. Del Potro leads the order with 18-7 (72%) followed by Gilles Simon who is 12-5 (70.6%).

Jo Wilfried Tsonga is the defending champion at the Rogers Cup. He defeated Roger Federer to win the 2014 edition.

With the Rogers Cup underway next week for the men in Montreal, the top seeds have been announced with World No.1 Novak Djokovic leading the way. The seeds for the Rogers Cup in Montreal were released. The city located in Canadian Province of Quebec will host the men for the Rogers Cup while the women will be in Toronto. The major omission from this tournament is world number two Roger Federer. The Swiss maestro said he will not be playing in the Rogers Cup so he would be fully fit for the US Open.

Check out the Full Draw Here: ATP Montreal 2015 Draw

Despite the withdrawal, the seeds and players who will be featuring in the main draw are set for the first Masters 1000 event of the North American hard court swing.

The top 16 players will be seeded in the tournament with the top eight receiving first round byes. With the seedings using this week’s ATP rankings as the landmark, native son and crowd favourite Milos Raonic has been seeded 8^th and is the last man to receive a bye in the opening round (all top 8 seeds receive 1^st round byes). This benefit is because World No.7 David Ferrer had announced that he has withdrawn from the Montreal Masters due to the elbow injury. The Spaniard suffered an elbow injury during the tournament in Nottingham and has also missed Wimbledon (the Spaniard had made 50 consecutive major appearances before missing Wimbledon). American John Isner is the last player to get a seeding (16^th).

World No.1 Novak Djokovic (winner in 2007, 2011 & 2012) claims the top seed while Andy Murray (winner in 2009, 2010) avoids any clash with the Serb until the final getting seeded second. Federer’s fellow countryman and French Open Champion Stan Wawrinka is third with last year’s US Open finalist Kei Nishikori occupying the last man to own a quarter. Last week’s winner in Hamburg, Rafael Nadal (winner in 2005, 2008 & 2013) is seeded 7^th.

Four French players earn a seed, albeit in the bottom tier of the seeds. The top-seeded Frenchman is Gilles Simon at 9. Defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet follow right after at 10 and 11 with Gael Monfils picking up the No.15 spot. Two Americans, Atlanta champion John Isner and rising star Jack Sock, get direct entries into the tournament. Isner isn’t in the only big server with a direct entry. He’ll be joined by powerhouse servers Lukas Rosol, Sam Querrey, and Ivo Karlovic in the first round. Young guns Dominic Thiem (who won the Suisse Open Gstaad last week), Nick Kyrgios, and Borna Coric all look to make their mark on the Masters 1000 stage just like Raonic did two years ago.

Canadian Vasek Pospisil was given a wildcard into the main draw after his ranking dropped outside the top 30 because of he is currently defending final points in Washington DC at the Citi Open. Like his fellow countryman, he put his name out there on the main stage two years ago when he faced off against Raonic in the semifinals. A third Serb will be in the field, alongside Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki, and it will be Janko Tipsarevic. The former top ten player has been battling injuries for over the past year and will be using his protected ranking to give him a spot in the main draw. Four Canadians get a wildcard into the Montreal main draw while Ernests Gulbis leads the way for the wildcards into the qualifiers.

The wildcards for the 2015 Rogers Cup have been announced. The headline player to receive a wildcard is Wimbledon quarterfinalist Vasek Pospisil. Due to him having to defend points at the Citi Open (was a finalist last year), he fell out of the top 30. After looking at the field, it looks like he would’ve gotten in without any problems if he were still there. Philip Bester, Frank Dancevic, and Filip Peliwo join Pospisil as the other three Canadians who were granted wildcards into the main draw. Bester is the Canadian number three and is ranked outside the world’s top 200. The last event he played in was the Granby Challenger in his home country. He had a fantastic showing at the Challenger event but would go on to lose in the final to Vincent Millot.

Can anyone stop the Novak Djokovic Juggernaut?

30-year-old Frank Dancevic is the second of the three other wildcards. Dancevic hails from Niagara Falls and is just ranked a few spots below Besler. His last tournament was in the Lexington Challenger. He would only win one match before getting knocked out by Guilherme Clezar. In Granby, he lost his opening match to Shuichi Sekiguchi in three sets. The final male wildcard goes to 21-year-old Filip Peliwo. The French native was born in which has allowed him to get the wildcard as well as his Canadian Davis Cup representation. Just like the other two men, Peliwo played in Granby. However, his fate was the same as Dancevic’s losing in the opening round to American Eric Quigley.

The shocking news was the fact that 14-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime did not get a wildcard into at least the qualifying draw. The four men who were given wildcards into the qualifiers were Ernests Gulbis, Peter Polansky, Brayden Schnur, and 17-year-old David Volfson. The fact that Aliassime is not too far into his teenage years could be the reason he did not receive one, but Eugene Lapierre, the tournament director in Montreal, said that the calibre of the qualifying event might be too much for the 14-year-old.

However, that statement loses most of its validity due to Volfson being given one with a less stellar recent resume compared to the 14-year-old. Aliassime qualified for the Drummondville Challengerwhile Volfson lost in the first round of qualifying. Aliassime also made the quarterfinals in Granby losing to Yoshihito Nishioka. If anything, the stage for the qualifiers is more suited for the 14-year-old than the 17-year-old. It’s a disappointment many won’t get to see tennis’ next wonderkid, but we’ll see if Volfson can live up to his talents this week.

Rogers Cup STATSMETER

• TheCanadian Open (also known as the Canada Masters), currently sponsored as the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank, is an annual tennis tournament held in Canada.
• The events alternate from year to year between the cities ofMontreal and Toronto. In odd-numbered years, the men’s tournament is held in Montreal, while the women’s tournament is held in Toronto, and vice versa in even-numbered years. Before 2011, they were held during separate weeks in the July–August period, now the two competitions are held during the same week in August. TheToronto tournament is held at the Aviva Centre, York University, and the Montreal tournament is held at the Stade Uniprix.
• The men’s tournament began in 1881, and was held at theToronto Lawn Tennis Club, while the women’s competition was first held in 1892. Of the major tennis tournaments in the world today, only Wimbledon and the US Open have been around as long.
• The event was played on clay until 1979 when it switched permanently to hard courts. Both the men’s and women’s tournaments were played as a single combined tournament at the National Tennis Centre in Toronto until 1981, when the men’s tournament was played at the Jarry Park Stadium in Montreal for the first time. Similarly 1982 was the first year in which the women’s tournament was played in Montreal.
• Former World No.1 Ivan Lendl has been the tournament’s most successful singles player, reaching the final nine times and winning the title in 1980, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1988, and 1989.
• In 1995, Andre Agassi andPete Sampras met in the final, the third of the four times that the two top-ranked men’s players would meet that year, after the Australian Open and Indian Wells Masters. Agassi’s tournament win helped him regain the number-one ranking, which he lost to Sampras after they played each other again at the US Open.
• In 2007, Novak Djokovic defeated world No. 3 Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals, world No. 2 Nadal in the semifinals, and world No. 1 Federer in the final. This was the first time a player had defeated the top three ranked players in one tournament since Boris Becker in 1994.
• The Big 4 had dominated the event winning 10 times between 2004 and 2013; Roger (04,06), Rafa (05,08,13), Novak (07,11,12) & Andy (09,10). Andy Roddick was the winner in 2003 (he won Canada, Cincinnati & the US Open that year).
• The Big 4 monopoly was finally ended by Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last year when he won the crown capturing four wins over top-10 players (No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 9 Andy Murray, No. 8 Grigor Dimitrov and World No.3 Federer), a first at a Masters-1000 event in twelve years. Tsonga became the first to beat a quartet of top 10s in a Masters 1000 event since Argentine Guillermo Canas did it in Toronto in 2002. No.19 Canas defeated No.10 Federer (1R), No.5 Kafelnikov (3R), No.2 Safin (QF) and No.3 Haas (SF). He defeated then No.12 Roddick in the finals.
• The 15th-ranked Tsonga had entered this event having not defeated a top-10 player all season.
• Impressively, Tsonga defeated three of the Big Four in a single tournament, capturing victories over Novak Djokovic in the third round, Andy Murray in the quarterfinals, and Roger Federer in the final (Rafa was injured and had not participated). He defeated Dimitrov in the semifinals.
• Ironically, Tsonga, 29, was also the first Frenchman to win the tournament since I. F. Hellmuth won the inaugural event in 1881.

In an incredible final against Karin Knapp, Sam Stosur fought back from the brink of defeat to win yet another WTA title in 2015 at Bad Gastein.

It was a tough match from the start but one that the Italian was in control of for the better part of the first half of the match. However, Stosur managed to fight back when Knapp was serving out the match and eventually found the necessary openings late in the third set to close out the contest 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 in two hours and 28 minutes.

It was a remarkable performance for both ladies, as Knapp was forced to play a rain-delayed semi-final against Sara Errani earier in the day – one that also went three sets.

“It wasn’t easy to play five hours today but I was really fighting. I just missed some chances, and she used hers,” Knapp said. “It was a great week, though. I’m looking forward to the next tournaments.”

Stosur, however, took advantage of her on experience in such situations to dig out the win.

“It was a very hard match today,” Stosur said. “I was getting completely outplayed in that first set, and even though she was up in the second set too, I started to feel like I was doing a little better. Obviously she served for the match but I hung in there, got that set then played better and better from there.

“It’s not ideal to be playing a semifinal and final in one day, a two-and-a-half-hour match in the morning then another two and a half hours in the afternoon, but unfortunately that’s just what happens with the weather sometimes. And she did serve for the match, so she wasn’t doing too badly either.”