Thiem Targets Consolidation Not Domination In 2016
Thiem Targets Consolidation Not Domination In 2016
Jan062016
Andy Murray lost to Nick Kyrgios for the first time as he suffered a straight-set defeat in the Hopman Cup.
Australia’s Kyrgios won 6-4 7-6 (7-5) in the team event, where Britain’s Murray is partnering Heather Watson.
Watson plays Daria Gavrilova later on Wednesday before the four players take part in a mixed doubles rubber.
Both teams won their opening ties in the round-robin event in Perth, which is a warm-up for the Australian Open in Melbourne, starting on 18 January.
World number two Murray, 28, won his first four encounters against the 20-year-old, including victories at the Australian, French and US Opens last year.
Kyrgios, ranked 30th, broke Murray in the third game of the match and although the Scot saved two set points at 4-5, a backhand winner secured the set for the Australian at the third opportunity.
Murray was broken from 40-0 up in the first game of the second set but immediately broke back.
The two-time Grand Slam winner had a set point at 5-4 but Kyrgios saved it with a fierce forehand and went on to close out the match in a tie-break.
Kyrgios and Gavrilova make up Australia Green – one of two squads representing the host country in the eight-team event.
British number three Naomi Broady is into the ASB Classic third round after a controversial match against Jelena Ostapenko, who escaped disqualification for throwing a racquet at a ball boy.
Broady saved two match points to win 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 before an angry exchange with the Latvian at the net.
Ostapenko claimed her racquet slipped from her hand in the second-set tie-break and was let off with a warning.
Broady disagreed saying her opponent should be “straight disqualified.”
“You’ll see on the replay, there’s no way it was accidental. She threw the racquet and it hit the ball boy,” Broady told the umpire in an on-court exchange.
WTA rules state that “players shall not at any time physically abuse any official, opponent, spectator or other person…for the purposes of this rule, physical abuse is the unauthorized touching of an official, opponent and spectator or other person”.
Players can be disqualified for incidents by the umpire and fined up to $10,000 (£6,830) for each violation.
Former British number one Tim Henman was disqualified from Wimbledon in 1995 after accidentally hitting a ball girl with a ball struck in frustration, while David Nalbandian was thrown out of the Queens final in 2012 after kicking out at an advertising hoarding, cutting the shin of a line judge.
World number 88 Ostapenko, ranked 38 places higher than Broady, was allowed to continue after a tour supervisor was called to court, with Broady appearing to be near tears over the incident.
The Briton knuckled down in the third set, reeling off six successive games to snatch victory before becoming involved in an argument following the post-match handshakes.
“Jelena commented that my behaviour was terrible, which I thought was a bit out of order considering the events that had gone on in the match,” said Broady of the row.
Broady, who beat former world number one Ana Ivanovic in the first round, will now play American Sloane Stephens.
No. 8 seed into Brisbane quarter-finals with 6-3, 6-2 win over Kudla
The youngest player in the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings just keeps getting better. On Wednesday at Pat Rafter Arena, 22-year-old Austrian Dominic Thiem rolled into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International with a speedy 6-3, 6-2 win over Denis Kudla.
Thiem made his Brisbane debut a day earlier, defeating James Duckworth 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The first service break came 19 minutes into the match, Thiem surging ahead 4-2 as the 23-year-old Kudla failed to close out a 40-0 game. He would win 20 of 26 service points in taking the opening set.
Thiem again found an opening with the 69th-ranked American serving at 2-all, 30-40 in the second set, and didn’t waste the opportunity. He added another break with Kudla serving at 2-4, and subsequently served out the match in an efficient 56 minutes.
It was a banner service day for Thiem, who never faced a break point. In addition, he totaled seven aces, and won 28 of 33 (84%) of his first-serve points.
It was their first career FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.
Last year, Thiem became the first Austrian to finish in the Top 20 (No. 20) since Jurgen Melzer in 2010, capturing the first three ATP World Tour titles of career— all on clay (Nice, Umag and Gstaad).
On the doubles court, the wild card pairing of Aussies Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith defeated Mate Pavic and Michael Venus 7-6(1), 6-4.
Indian veteran makes 16th appearance at home country tournament
Leander Paes, a returning finalist at the Aircel Chennai Open (with Raven Klaasen), teamed up with Marcel Granollers to defeat Taro Daniel and John Millman 6-2, 6-3 in first-round action Tuesday.
Paes, 42, is a six-time Chennai champion and made his tournament debut in 1996 alongside Mahesh Bhupathi. He previously played with Granollers last June at Nottingham, where they reached the quarter-finals. Granollers was Paes’s 100th different partner on the ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour.
Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, the year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings, made a winning return to the court at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The top seeds defeated Jonathan Erlich and Colin Fleming 7-6(4), 6-3.
Rojer and Tecau, who finished the 2015 season by claiming the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals crown, could earn their 100th match win as a team by clinching the Doha title this week.
The other seeded duos at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament also won their first-round matches Tuesday.
Second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, a new partnership for 2016, defeated Radu Albot and Martin Klizan 6-3, 6-3. Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, the No. 3 seeds, joined forces for a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middlekoop.
Meanwhile, fourth seeds Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya dismissed Qatari wild cards Mousa Shana Zayed and Mubarak Shanna Zayid 6-1, 6-1.
Returning finalist knocks out seventh-seeded Pospisil
One year after reaching the Chennai Aircel Open final as a qualifier, Great Britain’s Aljaz Bedene began his 2016 campaign on Tuesday by knocking out No. 7 seed Vasek Pospisil. He edged the Canadian 7-5, 7-6(6) in one hour and 46 minutes.
Bedene, currently No. 45 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will next face Italian Luca Vanni for a place in the quarter-finals at this ATP World Tour 250 tournament. The 30-year-old Vanni beat German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 7-6(5).
Fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez made his way safely into the second round as he came back to defeat Japan’s Taro Daniel 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in two hours and 20 minutes. Garcia-Lopez will go for his 250th tour-level win when he next plays Croatian qualifier Ante Pavic.
Sixth seed Gilles Muller fired 19 aces past 19-year-old wild card Karen Khachanov 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-2 in two hours and 16 minutes.
Another wild card, 18-year-old Andrey Rublev, overcame qualifier and 2009 runner-up Somdev Devvarman 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Devvarman, 30, has qualified for the Chennai main draw for seven of the past eight years. Rublev goes on to face top seed and three-time champion Stan Wawrinka in the second round.
Earlier in the day, Austin Krajicek saved all three break points he faced to defeat fellow American Rajeev Ram 6-7(0), 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 20 minutes.
Former champion finishes strongly for three-sets win
Rafael Nadal fought back for a victory in his first singles match of the 2016 ATP World Tour season.
Avoiding the fate of 2015 champion, David Ferrer, who bowed out earlier Tuesday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Nadal prevailed against Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in two hours. The second seed capitalised on five of his nine break point chances for his 20th match win at this ATP World Tour 250 event.
“I had chances in the beginning of the match [and] I couldn’t convert,” said Nadal. “I think I changed a little bit at the beginning of the second [set]… I’m very happy [with] the way that I managed to change the dynamic of the match, and I think I finished the match playing well.”
The World No. 5 is looking to claim his first hard-court title since his triumph two years ago in Doha (d. Monfils). He next faces Dutchman Robin Haase.
Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis also came from behind in his first-round match to oust sixth seed Andreas Seppi 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and eight minutes. He created 19 break point chances and converted seven times.
Croatian teenager named in influential list
Borna Coric has been named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 sports list for 2016. The fifth annual list also includes golfer Jordan Spieth.
The 19-year-old Croatian was the youngest player in the 2015 year-end Top 50 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Achieving a career-high of No. 33 in July 2015, Coric reached two ATP World Tour semi-finals last year at Dubai and Nice, plus three quarter-final runs. He was named ATP Star of Tomorrow Presented by Emirates in November 2014.
Forbes Magazine also looked back on its All-Star Alumni, listing World No. 1 Novak Djokovic – who was recognised in 2012 – for his achievements last year. The Serbian has finished year-end No. 1 in four of the past five years. In 2015, he won a career-high 11 titles, including three Grand Slams and a fifth Barclays ATP World Tour Finals crown.
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Last year’s runner-up starts 2016 with a win
Tomas Berdych, hoping to go one better than last year’s runner-up finish, opened his 2016 ATP World Tour season with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Sergiy Stakhovsky in 78 minutes on Tuesday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. He will next play Damir Dzumhur in the second round.
“It’s always tricky to play him,” said Berdych. “He’s one of the few that likes to come to the net a lot, playing a lot of slice and a lot of variation in the game. I just took my chances in the first set and… in the second. It was quite solid game today… It would be great to leave with the trophy in the end.”
Elsewhere, Pablo Andujar came through a two-hour test against Paolo Lorenzi 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 and Teymuraz Gabashvili saved five of seven break points in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Simone Bolelli.