ATP Challenger

Gabashvili breezes through first round of Tempe Challenger

Published

6 years ago

14/02/2017

Teymuraz Gabashvili won his first round of the Tempe Challenger 6-2, 6-3 over 22-year-old wild card Michael Geerts.

Seeded sixth in the tournament, the 31-year-old Russian relentlessly dictated play with his weapons, never giving Geerts, ranked 583rd in the world, any real opportunities to take control of the match.

Gabashvili, up 1-0, had three break points in the match’s sophomore game, converting on the second one with a netted forehand from Geerts. Gabashvili then consolidated for 3-0 via two winners from himself and two errors from his opponent.

Later in the set, trailing 1-4, Geerts double-faulted to go down 15-40. Resiliently, he hit forehand winners on back-to-back points to make it deuce. Gabashvili then missed a forehand into the net to hand Geerts the advantage. But Geerts returned the favor to bring it back to deuce. He went on to double-fault again, giving Gabashvili another break point. But the Belgian saved it with a volley winner, and eventually got the hold after two more game points.

Gabashvili, after holding for 5-2, landed a dropshot winner for 15-40 and two set points. He only needed one, though, as Geerts missed a down-the-line backhand wide, letting Gabashvili win the set 6-2.

Gabashvili had a shaky start to the second, needing to fight off two break points before he could hold with forehand winner.

Gabashvili later broke for 3-1, making it seem like he had the match in the bag. But a bunch of misses from the Russian allowed Geerts to break back for 2-3.

Then at 3-3, Geerts failed to break in a three-deuce game, putting Gabashvili up 4-3 0n serve.

Geerts’ service game that followed was a marathon one. At the first deuce, Gabashvili hit a crosscourt forehand winner to get his first break point of the game, which Geerts saved with an untouched drop shot. Gabashvili then got another break point that he was unable to convert. The game went to deuce four more times before Gabashvili finally hit a forehand winner to break for 5-3.

Serving for the match, Gabashvili found himself down 30-40, but he managed to serve his way out to win the set 6-3.

Gabashvili, in his second-round match, will play 19-year-old Akira Santillan from Japan, ranked No. 194.

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

1 year ago

24/03/2022

Tony Fairbairn

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dominic Thiem (@domithiem)

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.

ATP Challenger

Roberto Bautista Agut reaches his second career final in Doha

Published

2 years ago

12/03/2021

sampaolo

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.

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

2 years ago

14/02/2021

Staff

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