Category: Tennis

Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin saved three consecutive match points on Wednesday to advance to the Internazionali BNL d’Italia second round in Rome.

Trailing 6/9 in a Match Tie-break, the Dubai semi-finalists claimed five consecutive points to complete a 6-4, 1-6, 11-9 victory against Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Melzer and Roger-Vasselin started well, winning 83 per cent of first-serve points (15/18) in the opening set before their opponents charged back into contention.

The Austrian-French duo is seeking its first title this week. Prior to this year, Melzer and Roger-Vasselin had made only two appearances as a team. Their next opponents will be 2017 champion Nicolas Mahut and Benoit Paire. Mahut and Paire battled past third seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 7-6(6), 2-6, 10-6.

US Open champions Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares extended their winning streak to six matches. The unseeded pairing saved all three break points it faced … Read the rest

#NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti earned the biggest win of his young career Tuesday evening at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, stunning three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka 6-0, 7-6(2) in the first round. This is the 18-year-old’s first ATP Tour victory.

Musetti had only played one tour-level match before facing the former World No. 3 in Rome. But the teen, who won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw, showed few nerves at the Foro Italico. He displayed an aggressive all-court game to oust Wawrinka after one hour and 24 minutes.

“I have seen him play on television and I know he is a very tough player,” said Musetti, who will play Kei Nishikori in the second round. “I’m going to enjoy the victory before I start thinking about my match against Nishikori.”

[WATCH LIVE 1]

After a first set full of unforced errors off Wawrinka’s racquet that led him … Read the rest

US Open champion Dominic Thiem still has not slept since his historic victory Sunday evening. The Austrian, who is the first player in the Open Era to rally from two sets down in the US Open final, is still on Cloud Nine more than 24 hours after he first walked inside Arthur Ashe Stadium to play Alexander Zverev for the title.

Thiem fell to the court in celebration at 8:19 p.m. Sunday evening, but he did not depart the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center until around midnight. When the 27-year-old got back to the player hotel on Long Island, he shared a special treat with his team: margherita pizza!

The champion was back in a car by 7:30 a.m. to return to Flushing for his media day. He went on television shows and spoke to various media outlets about his triumph. While en route, Thiem did a phone … Read the rest

Fifth seed Alexander Zverev got off to a perfect start on Sunday in the US Open final, but second seed Dominic Thiem won’t go away quietly. Zverev leads Thiem 6-2, 6-4, 4-6 as both men pursue their first Grand Slam title.

Thiem aims to become the first player in the Open Era to rally from two sets down in a US Open final. In 25 of the past 27 years, the player who took the opening set has gone on to lift the title in New York. The winner of this match will become the 55th Grand Slam champion of the Open Era and the 150th of all time.

Zverev, 23, looks to become the youngest Grand Slam winner since Juan Martin del Potro (20) at the 2009 US Open. A win would also make him the first German winner of a major championship since Boris Becker at the 1996 … Read the rest

New York City is the theatre capital of the world, so it’s a fitting location for some of the most dramatic moments in Dominic Thiem’s career during the US Open.

From devastating losses to milestone moments, ATPTour.com looks at the Austrian’s memorable highlights in New York ahead of his championship match on Sunday against Alexander Zverev.

2018: Late Night With Rafa
Thiem struck 74 winners and won more points (171 to 165) than Rafael Nadal in their US Open quarter-final, but it still wasn’t enough for victory. The Spaniard prevailed 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) in an epic four-hour, 49-minute marathon that finished at 2:04am.

The 11th match in their ATP Head2Head rivalry was their first on a hard court. Thiem made it clear from the first point that he would look to control the rallies, standing well behind the baseline to take massive cuts at topspin-heavy groundstrokes. He became … Read the rest

Alexander Zverev has extended Pablo Carreno Busta to a fourth set in their US Open semi-final, with the Spaniard now leading 6-3, 6-2, 3-6.

The fifth-seeded Zverev has never rallied from two sets down, but he will have to do so to reach his first Grand Slam final. Carreno Busta is also trying to make his maiden major championship match.

Zverev made 36 unforced errors in the first two sets compared to just 12 for Carreno Busta, allowing the 20th seed to build a sizable lead. If the German pulls off a stunning comeback, he will become the first US Open finalist from his country since Michael Stich in 1994.

Carreno Busta didn’t significantly drop his level in the third set, but Zverev began striking his forehand much cleaner, giving him more traction in rallies. Three consecutive breaks gave the German the edge, helping him extend the match. He only … Read the rest

ATP Masters 1000 title leaders Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic return to Rome for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Last year, the pair faced off in the final at the Foro Italico, a match Nadal won in three sets before proceeding to claim his 12th Roland Garros crown.

The Spaniard will be going for a record-extending 10th Rome title next week as he returns to action for the first time since winning the Acapulco title in February. Djokovic, a four-time champion here, will be attempting to win a second straight Masters 1000 title following his triumph in August at the Western & Southern Open. 

The Rome field is also set to feature Top 10 players Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, 2017 champion Alexander Zverev, Matteo Berrettini, Gael Monfils and David Goffin. Berrettini is joined in the draw by fellow Italians Fabio Fognini, the 2019 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters titlist, and reigning Next Gen … Read the rest

Daniil Medvedev withstood an early test from Andrey Rublev before booking his place in his second straight US Open semi-final with a 7-6(6), 6-3, 7-6(5) victory on Wednesday.

“It was tough at the end,” said Medvedev. “Maybe the first time in almost a year I celebrated my win because it was very tough at the end. I felt like I could get in trouble, so I was really happy to get the win in the tie-break. One point decided two sets, so it was a really tough match.”

The third seed, competing in just his second Grand Slam quarter-final, was dominant on serve, winning 89 per cent of first-serve points (51/57) and saving the only break point he faced. But the crucial point of the match came when he faced a third consecutive set point at 6/5 in the first set. The Russian No. 1 made the conscious decision to … Read the rest

Alexander Zverev was not at his flying best on Tuesday afternoon inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, but he still found a way to win.

The fifth seed rallied past long-time rival Borna Coric 1-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(1), 6-3 to reach his first US Open semi-final. Zverev had lost all three of his previous tour-level tie-breaks against Coric, but his calm under pressure proved vital in their quarter-final at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

“I just started playing maybe a little bit more aggressive because if I would have played the way I played, that’s not the level for a quarter-final match of a Grand Slam. I had to start playing better and I was a little bit more consistent then as well. My serve got better and I thought to myself, ‘I’m down 6-1, 4-2, I have nothing to lose.'”

Coric has been Zverev’s kryptonite dating back to their … Read the rest

The fourth-round US Open clash between second seed Dominic Thiem and No. 15 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime received plenty of hype before they stepped on court. Once Thiem found his footing on Monday inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, the second seed extinguished any hopes of a classic battle.

Stepping inside the court to crank groundstroke winners and picking the right moments to finish points at the net, Thiem raced through 12 of the last 14 games to end Auger-Aliassime’s Grand Slam breakthrough with a 7-6(4), 6-1, 6-1 win. The Austrian advanced to his second quarter-final in New York and improved to 18-6 at this event.

“I was really nervous before the match. I knew that I was going to play against an amazing opponent,” Thiem said on court after the match. “The second and third sets were 100 per cent the best sets so far in this overseas trip. I’m starting to … Read the rest