Fourth seeds Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin recovered from a 2/6 deficit in the Match tie-break on Wednesday to beat Steve Johnson and Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 2-6, 11-9 in 73 minutes for a place in the semi-finals at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. Nestor has won the Brisbane title on two occasions – in 2012 (w/Max Mirnyi) and 2014 (w/Mariusz Fyrstenberg). Nestor and Roger-Vasselin will next face top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut or Thanasi Kokkinakis and Jordan Thompson, who play on Thursday. Gilles Muller and Sam Querrey overcame Kei Nishikori and Dominic Thiem 6-3, 7-6(1) to a semi-final match against local wild cards Sam Groth and Chris Guccione, who beat third seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram...
Kei Nishikori was made to work hard for his place in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp on Wednesday. The third seed and three-time former semi-finalist beat qualifier Jared Donaldson 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 23 minutes. Nishikori took a 4-0 lead in the 51-minute opener, but 20-year-old #NextGenATP American Donaldson won the next six games. Nishikori opened up a 3-0 lead in the second set, which included coming through a 20-point third game, before No. 105-ranked Donaldson fought back. The Japanese star took control in the decider, with a break to 15 in the third game. ”I had a great start today until 4-0, and then I had one bad game. He started playing...
World No. 1 Andy Murray began his 2017 ATP World Tour season in fine fashion on Tuesday when he defeated Jeremy Chardy 6-0, 7-6(2) at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The Briton is now 25 matches unbeaten. "I would like to try and keep the run going as long as possible…. [I] just try and carry on from where I finished last year, which was playing some of the best tennis of my life," said Murray. "I felt like I hit the ball very clean... I was happy with how I moved and how my body felt today.” Murray came out fresh in the first set, dropping only seven points. The Dunblane native secured the first-round victory after 81 minutes. He...
Benoit Paire lost just three of his first service points (23/26) to beat Konstantin Kravchuk 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday at the Aircel Chennai Open. The fifth-seeded Frenchman next faces home hope Yuki Bhambri, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Indian compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan. Seventh seed Mikhail Youzhny, who lifted the trophy in 2008 (d. Nadal), proved too strong for wild card Saketh Myneni, 6-4, 6-3. He will next face Renzo Olivo, a 7-6(3), 6-2 victor over wild card Casper Ruud. Yen-Hsun Lu, the eighth seed, topped Radu Albot 6-2, 6-1 to set a second-round meeting with NextGen’s Daniil Medvedev. Aljaz Bedene, who reached his first ATP World Tour final as a qualifier in Chennai two years ago (l. to Wawrinka), will...
Rafael Nadal returned to the ATP World Tour for the first time in two-and-a-half months to beat 2012 finalist Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday night at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. The Spanish superstar, who is making his debut at the ATP World Tour 250 hard-court tournament, will next face Mischa Zverev in the second round. “It’s a beautiful court with great crowd - so it was a great experience,” said Nadal. “I think I played a solid match without too many mistakes. That makes me feel good and happy for the victory, obviously.” It was a battle between one of the ATP World Tour’s heaviest top-spinners, Nadal, versus one of flattest hitters, Dolgopolov, who gained the first...