Tennis News

Sousa Surges to Pune Title

It’s been a long wait, but Joao Sousa has that winning feeling once again.

The Portuguese World No. 137 defeated Finnish sixth seed Emil Ruusuvuori 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-1 to seal his first ATP Tour title since 2018 on Sunday at the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune.

It marks a wonderful return to form for Sousa, who had spoken emotionally about his recent struggles with injury and form after his epic semi-final victory over Elias Ymer.

“[It’s] a great week for me,” said Sousa after winning the title. “As I said yesterday, we’ve had a few tough moments in the past two years, and to get the title today is just a dream come true. If you’d asked me six months ago if I would be in a final, I would have said no.”

His determination to make it back to the biggest stage was on full display against 22-year-old Ruusuvuori, one of the most exciting young players on the Tour who recently gave Felix Auger-Aliassime a five-set scare at the Australian Open.

The 32-year-old Portuguese appeared to be feeling the effects of the Ymer battle early on in his first ATP Tour meeting with Ruusuvuori. The World No. 87-ranked Finn fired some powerful ground strokes to break for a 5-3 lead in the first set, but the pressure of edging closer to a maiden ATP title appeared to affect him as he served two double faults to hand Sousa a break back.

A marathon tie-break was then clinched in style by the Portuguese, who showed incredible defence to force Ruusuvuori into an error on a smash and convert his fourth set point.

The momentum was all with former World No. 28 Sousa. He broke early to surge into an early 3-0 lead in the second set and Ruusuvuori looked to be beaten. The Finn had other ideas, however, reeling off a series of searing winners to take five games in a row from 1-4 down and force a decider.

Sousa dug deep and used all of his experience to halt the Finn’s momentum by breaking early in the third set. He held his nerve on serve impressively throughout, saving five out of eight break points he faced to seal victory in two hours and 43 minutes.

“I knew that Emil is a great player so it would be tough to close out the match,” said Sousa after sealing an emotional first title since Estoril in 2018. “He played great tennis at the end of the second set…I knew that I had to be there [in the third set] and get my game into it.”

Sousa has now won four tour-level titles, while Ruusuvuori was competing in his maiden final at this level.

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Bublik Shocks Zverev, Captures Maiden Trophy

Alexander Bublik earned the biggest win of his career Sunday, upsetting World No. 3 Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-3 to capture his maiden ATP Tour title at the Open Sud de France.

The 24-year-old implemented his dynamic game on Zverev from the start as he combined brutal ball striking with deft touches to capture the first Top 5 win of his career after 70 minutes in Montpellier.

“I played four finals before and [in] the fifth final I have won against a great player against Sascha,” Bublik said. “It is great. All my game together. I was serving well and returned well and kept my nerve. I was lucky in the moments and when I had my chances I used them.”

The Kazakhstani, who was competing in his fifth tour-level final, fired eight aces and won 86 per cent (25/29) of his first-serve points to improve his ATP Head2Head series record against Zverev to 2-0. Bublik also defeated the German in Rotterdam last season.

With his victory, the World No. 35 will rise to a career-high in the ATP Rankings on Monday. In a dream week in Montpellier, Bublik also earned wins over Tallon Griekspoor, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Roberto Bautista Agut and Filip Krajinovic.

In a standout 2021 season, Bublik earned a personal-best 35 victories on Tour, reaching finals in Antalya and Singapore. He has continued to build on his strong year, moving to 7-2 on the 2022 campaign.

Zverev was aiming to win his 20th tour-level title at the ATP 250 event. The top-seeded German lifted the trophy in Montpellier in his last appearance at the tournament in 2017.

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Andy Murray to miss French Open and whole of clay-court season

Andy Murray will not play at the French Open and will instead focus on preparing for Wimbledon in the summer.

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Herbert/Mahut Save 1 M.P., Clinch Montpellier Crown

Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut tasted success on the ATP Tour once again on Sunday, edging Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 4-6, 7-6(3), 12-10 to win the Open Sud de France title.

In a hard-fought battle, the top seeds rallied back from the brink, saving one match point at 9/10 in the Match Tie-break, before holding their nerve to seal victory after one hour and 49 minutes in Montpellier.

The Frenchmen, teaming for the first time this season, have now won 21 tour-level titles together. Following their victory, Herbert and Mahut have triumphed on French soil four times. The pair has won two Roland Garros trophies as a team and ATP Masters 1000 crowns in Monte Carlo (2016) and Paris (2019).

In a tight match, the top seeds returned with great depth and closed the net effectively throughout to put pressure on Glasspool and Heliovaara and broke once in their first ATP Head2Head meeting.

Glasspool and Helivoaara were aiming to win their second tour-level title as a team, after lifting the trophy in Marseille last season. The British-Finn tandem did not drop a set en route to the final at the ATP 250 event.

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Alcaraz Passes Driving Test

Carlos Alcaraz is now able to cruise the roads with the same aplomb that has taken up the ATP Ranking. The Spaniard announced on social media that he has passed his driving test, another significant step in his personal development.

The Murcia native juggled his time on Tour with the studies needed to obtain his licence. Using down time at tournaments to revise the traffic regulations and study the theory in depth, Alcaraz has taken full advantage of his recent 18th birthday to reach the happy milestone.

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A post shared by Carlos Alcaraz Garfia (@carlitosalcarazz)

Alcaraz, who broke into the Top 30 of the ATP Ranking for the first time this week, continues to be one of the players to watch in the men’s game. Various names from the world of tennis were keen to congratulate him after he passed his test.

“You almost won a Grand Slam before getting your driving licence! Now, you can do the former,” joked Alex Corretja in his post. “Great!” said the Australian Alex de Mianur, another of the Tour’s young guns.

With his driving test behind him, Alcaraz will be in the spotlight again in the coming days on the ATP Tour. The Spaniard will start the South American swing by playing in the ATP 500s in Rio de Janeiro and Acapulco, which will serve as a springboard for the North American hard-court Masters 1000s in Indian Wells and Miami.

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Qualifier Tabilo Stuns Schwartzman To Reach First ATP Tour Final In Cordoba

Chilean qualifier Alejandro Tabilo battled past top seed Diego Schwartzman and a partisan crowd in Cordoba on Saturday to reach his first ATP Tour final with a 6-3, 7-6(6) upset. The Toronto-born World No. 144 has now won 12 consecutive sets at the Cordoba Open, including a pair of straight-set qualifying wins.

Tabilo troubled the World No. 14 throughout the nearly two-hour match, penetrating the red clay with a powerful lefty forehand and keeping his opponent off balance with several well-timed drop shots.

“I’ve been playing my best tennis for a few months now and I finished the year strong,” said Tabilo, who won his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Ecuador in November and beat Sebastian Baez in the Cordoba quarter-finals. “I think I just needed one of these weeks to kind of click and get going. Hopefully this is the start of something good, and hopefully I can keep this level.”

After racing out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set, Tabilo used strong serving to save three break points in serving out the set at 5-3. Schwartzman won the first two games of set two, but then fell victim to another four-game Tabilo run as the Chilean reestablished control on center court behind his heavy ground game. 

With Tabilo on the cusp of the biggest win of his career, Schwartzman stepped up to stop his opponent from serving out the match at 5-4. The Argentine measured an on-the-run, cross-court backhand at 15-all and tracked down two drop shots to get back on serve, and the set quickly headed to a tie-break.

The tie-break went entirely on serve until a Schwartzman backhand found the net at 6-all. The match ended on another uncharacteristic Schwartzman error, as he hit long on a second-serve return.

After knocking out Baez and Schwartzman, Tabilo could face another home favourite in the title match, with Juan Ignacio Londero set to face sixth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain in the second semi-final. Including qualifying, Tabilo has beaten five Argentines this week.

He will eclipse his previous career-high of No. 132 (achieved in November) with his run to this ATP 250 final.

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Nadal wins 21st Slam after beating Medvedev in AO 2022 Final

Rafael Nadal is now the sole leader in grand slams after one of the most extraordinary comeback wins of all time in the Australian…

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Barty secures Australian Open 2022 title with win over Collins

Ash Barty become the first Australian in over 40 years to win the Australian Open thanks to a straight sets win over Danielle…

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Tsitsipas Draws Davidovich Fokina In Rotterdam; Murray To Face Bublik

Following his run to the Australian Open semi-finals, World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas returns to action next week in Rotterdam (see draw). The top seed at the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament, the Greek will face Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the opening round.

It will be the pair’s second ATP Head2Head meeting, and their first on hard courts. In the 2021 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-finals, Tsitsipas won the opening set before his opponent retired.

In the draw’s bottom half—anchored by second seed Andrey Rublev—wild card and 2009 Rotterdam champion Andy Murray will take on Alexander Bublik in the opening round. (Bublik is through to Sunday’s final this week in Montpellier, where he’ll face Alexander Zverev.) Rublev will start against a qualifier, as will seeded Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov. Murray could face Auger-Aliassime in the second round.

Other notable first-round matchups include fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz against wild card and 2017 champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and sixth seed Cameron Norrie against France’s Ugo Humbert. David Goffin and Alex de Minaur, both unseeded, will also face off in the opening round, with the winner facing eighth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili or American Mackenzie McDonald.

In Buenos Aires (see draw), top seeds Casper Ruud, Diego Schwartzman, Lorenzo Sonego and Fabio Fognini all received byes into the second round. Wild card Juan Martin del Potro, who hinted at his potential retirement in a Saturday press conference, will face countryman and sixth seed Federico Delbonis at the Argentina Open.

Four Americans earned byes as the top seeds in Dallas (see draw), led by No. 1 American Taylor Fritz. Reilly Opelka, John Isner and Jenson Brooksby round out the Top 4. Maxime Cressy, now on the cusp of the Top 50 for the first time after his fourth-round Australian Open run, is seeded sixth at the Dallas Open and will start against a qualifier.

In a mini-section of big servers in the bottom half, Sam Querrey and Kevin Anderson will fight for the right to face Isner in the second round. Seeded eighth, #NextGenATP American Brandon Nakashima will open against Aussie John Millman.

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'This is farewell' – Juan Martin del Potro says he's likely to retire after Argentina Open

Tennis player Juan Martin del Potro has said he is likely to retire due to a knee injury.

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