Top seed Donaldson falls in Maui, big win for Tennys Sandgren and Bradley Klahn - UBITENNIS
Connect with us

ATP Challenger

Top seed Donaldson falls in Maui, big win for Tennys Sandgren and Bradley Klahn

Published

on

Jared Donaldson lost in the first round in Maui, despite being the highest-ranked player in the draw. (Zimbio.com)

It was big first round in Maui as a number of seeds tumbled in the opening days of play. 

 

Top seed Jared Donaldson took the first set against fellow American Alexander Sarkissian, but then lost the next two sets to crash out at the first hurdle 57 75 75. Donaldson had led by two sets against Rogerio Dutra Silva in the first round of the Australian Open, but then lost in five. He repeated the trick in the best-of-three battle with Sarkissian.

Donaldson was not the only seed to fall at the earliest stage, as third seed Yuichi Sugita fell to Tennys Sandgren 64 64. Sandgren saved two of the three break points he faced, and broke the Japanese player three times for a straight sets win.

Austin Krajicek added fifth seed Marco Chiudinelli to the list of casualties. Krajicek is looking for some form after a dreadful 2016, and the American edged a tight encounter 64 57 76.

Sixth seed Ernesto Escobedo may have qualified for the Australian Open and taken a set off David Ferrer in the second round, but the young American was given a stark reminder of how tough the everyday grind is, as he was thrashed 61 61 by Go Soeda.

In contrast, Michael Mmoh put his Australian Open first round defeat firmly behind him, as the American came from behind impressively to beat eighth seeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil 36 64 63.

The second seed Hyeon Chung enjoyed one of the easiest matches, defeating Dennis Novikov 63 62. He was joined by seventh seed Henri Laaksonen who beat Czech wildcard Filip Dolezel 62 60. Fourth seed Taro Daniel was the only other seed to avoid an early upset, defeating qualifier Roberto Quiroz 63 64.

Though unseeded, Noah Rubin is a little more well-known these days after playing against Roger Federer in the second round of the Australian Open. Like Escobedo though, he suffered an Australian Open hangover, losing to Ze Zhang of China 64 62.

Other results saw Bradley Klahn come from behind to beat Tatsuma Ito 57 63 63. Tommy Paul slide down the rankings last year, but he made it into this event as the last direct acceptance. He defeated defending champion Di Wu 62 63.

Junior Wimbledon champion Denis Shapovalov, who surprisingly did not feature in the Australian Open, lost to qualifier Kento Takeuchi 76 36 76. Britain’s Cameron Norrie kept improving his Challenger credentials by defeating Ireland’s James McGee 46 63 64.

Mackenzie McDonald and Mitchell Krueger will also feature in the second round after they both secured wins.

ATP Challenger

Dominic Thiem To Return At Marbella Challenger, Joins Wawrinka In Stacked Field

Dominic Thiem will be joining Stan Wawrinka in making his return to action at the Marbella challenger next week.

Published

on

Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem (@SK_Tennis - Twitter)

Dominic Thiem will finally make his return to the ATP tour at the Marbella challenger next week.

 

The Austrian hasn’t played a tennis match since retiring at the grass court event in Mallorca last June due to a wrist injury.

Despite being scheduled to play at the Australian Open and at the Indian Wells-Miami swing, Thiem had to postpone his return as he wasn’t quite ready to compete in matches.

However now Thiem has decided to return as he will begin his clay court swing next week at the Marbella Challenger.

The former Roland Garros finalist took to Instagram to announce the news as he looks to climb back up the rankings.

The world number 50 will face tough competition with former Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka also making his comeback at the event in Spain next week.

At the blockbuster event there will also be the likes of Holger Rune, Pablo Cuevas, Jaume Munar and Lucas Pouille competing.

The winner of the event will receive 125 ranking points but much more importantly for Thiem and Wawrinka much needed match practice ahead of a busy European clay-court swing.

Thiem will be the top seed while Wawrinka will be unseeded with their being a possibility of the two heavyweights meeting in the opening round.

Play will start on Monday with Jaume Munar being the defending champion.

Continue Reading

ATP Challenger

Roberto Bautista Agut reaches his second career final in Doha

Published

on

Roberto Bautista Agut reached the second final of his career at the Qatar Exxon Mobil with a 6-3 6-3 win over defending champion Andrey Rublev. 

 

Bautista Agut broke serve in the fourth game with a forehand winner to open up a 3-1 lead and held on his next service games to close out the first set 6-3 after 29 minutes. 

The Spaniard started the second set with an early break. Rublev broke straight back in the second game and won his next two service games to take a 3-2 lead. Bautista Agut saved two break points to hold serve before getting two consecutive breaks to claim the second set 6-3. 

Rublev was playing his first match this week after two walkovers. The Russian player claimed the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam last week. 

“It was very difficult to play tennis today, with the windy conditions, but I put a lot of pressure on his second serve and played really good tennis. I played a long match yesterday against Dominic Thiem, but I felt fresh and I had a lot of power on the court. This is one of my favourite tournaments. I played one of my best matches here in Qatar two years ago, and I hope I can win one more match tomorrow”, said Bautista Agut.

Bautista Agut set up a final against Nikoloz Basilashvili, who beat Taylor Fritz 7-6 (7-3) 6-1. 

Basilashvili, who beat Roger Federer in the quarter final, rallied from one break down to win the tie-break of the first set 7-3. The Georgian player broke twice in the second and sixth games to close out the second set 6-1.  “To reach the final means a lot. I am playing well and I am relaxed. It’s great to play in front of a crowd and a nice atmosphere”, said Basilshvili. 

Continue Reading

ATP Challenger

Andy Murray defeated in the final of the Biella Challenger

The former world number was runner-up to the Ukrainian Ilya Marchenko. Both will feature in next week’s event in the same location

Published

on

By

Andy Murray - ATP Challenger Biella 2021 (Credit: Felice Calabrò)

Andy Murray suffered a surprising defeat in the final of this week’s tournament in Biella. Playing his second Challenger event in 16 years (the other one occurred in Mallorca in 2019 when, limping on a battered hip, he lost against Matteo Viola in the eighth of finals). Before today’s runner-up finish, he had played twice against his opponent, Illya Marchenko from Ukraine (N.212 in the ATP Rankings), both times at the Australian Open, in 2011 and 2017 respectively, winning both times.

 

But it was the Ukrainian who got off to a flying start, while the Scotsman looked a bit cumbersome and immediately lost his serve, giving a nice boost of confidence to his opponent, who broke his serve once more in the fifth game, taking a 4-1 lead. Murray couldn’t control his changes of pace, while Marchenko was pretty much spotless. The 6-2 score in his favour was the logical consequence, as confirmed by the numbers, which saw him win 83% of points on his first serve (against a meagre 53% for Murray), with no break points allowed.

In the first game of the second set, Marchenko immediately leapt ahead, breaking the Brit’s serve and even earning a chance for a 3-0 lead. Murray managed to stay close and started to play in a more conservative way, with great humility, in an attempt to reduce the number of unforced errors. Murray saved a match point at 3-5 with his second serve, exploiting Marchenko’s clumsiness with the backhand, but couldn’t do the same on the return, conceding defeat at the third match point. must defend with the second. Luckily for him, Marchenko is a bit clumsy in his preparation steps and puts up a not particularly difficult backhand. The former world number one will try to exact revenge in the same location starting tomorrow, as a Challenger 125 will take place once more in Biella, with players like Lorenzo Musetti (the seventh seed), Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ATP N.54) and Sebastian Korda (N.88).

Report by Massimo Gaiba; edited by Tommaso Villa

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending