Last week’s Sofia Open champion Danil Medvedev beat Jeremy Chardy in straight sets 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 after 1 hour and 34 minutes at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.
Medvedev dropped six points in the first five games and broke serve in the fourth game to open up a 4-1 lead. Chardy fought back by winning four consecutive games with two breaks of serve in a row in the seventh and ninth games, but Medvedev broke again at 15, as the Frenchman was serving for the set. Medvedev got two mini-breaks to close out the tie-break 7-2 on his first set point, as Chardy hit a backhand lob long.
Medvedev went up a double break in the first and third games at deuce. The Russian player hit four winners at 5-2 to close out a one-sided second set 6-2.
“It was a tough match with Jeremy serving for the set at 5-4. I went a little bit crazy, having been up, but I managed to fight back and win. I got furious, as I had been 4-1 up, but that emotion helped me to re-focus”,said Medvedev.
Damir Dzumhur upset this year’s Austalian Open semifinalist Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 1-6 7-5 to clinch his first win of the season after losing his first three matches of the 2019 season. Dzumhur has improved his win-loss record to 3-1 in the four head-to-head matches against Tsitsipas.
Dzumhur faced ten break points and dropped his serve five times.
Dzumhur went up a break twice in the third and seventh games, but Tsitsipas broke straight back to draw level to 4-4. Dzumhur claimed his third break in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead and fired an ace to close out the first set 6-4.
Tsitsipas bounced back by breaking twice in the second and fourth games to cruise to a 5-0 lead and held serve at love with his fifth ace to win the second set 6-1. Dzumhur broke serve in the fourth game to open up a 3-1 lead. Tsitsipas broke back in the seventh game and held his serve to draw level to 4-4. The Greek Next Gen player saved two match points in the 10th game to hold his serve for 5-5, but Dzumhur broke serve at love in the 12th game to close out the match, as Tsitsipas fired his forehand beyond the baseline.
Dzumhur will take on Mikhail Kukushkin for a spot in the quarter finals against 2016 Rotterdam finalist Gael Monfils, who came back from losing the first set in his 4-6 6-1 6-3 win over Andreas Seppi after 1 hour and 37 minutes. Seppi earned two break points at 15-40 in the first game of the opening set. The Italian player saved a break point at 30-40 to hold his serve at deuce in the fourth game. He won his next two service games before breaking serve at 15 in the ninth game to close out the first set 6-4.
Seppi saved two break points in the second game to hold his serve for 1-1, but Monfils broke him twice in a row to cruise through to 6-1 in a 21-minute second set.
Monfils went up a double break in the third set to open up a 4-1 lead. Seppi saved a match point in the eighth game before breaking back for 3-5. Monfils sealed the win 6-3 with a break on his third match point in the ninth game.
Last week’s Montpellier champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga cruised past Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano 6-1 6-4 in 66 minutes in his first appaearance at the Rotterdam tournament since winning the 2017 final against David Goffin.
Tsonga got an early break at deuce in the second game, when Fabbiano netted a backhand, and held his serve in another deuce game for 3-0. The Frenchman saved a break point with an ace and went up a double break with a forehand return winner at deuce en route to winning the first set 6-1. The second set went on serve until 4-4 before Tsonga earned his third break at deuce with a forehand crosscourt winner. The 2008 Australian Open finalist served out the match at love in the 10th game. He secured his spot in the next match, where he will face Dutch qualifier Tallon Griekspoor.
Last week’s Marton Fucsovics beat 2016 champion Martin Kiizan 7-6 (7-4) 7-4 in one hour and 39 minutes setting up a second round match against Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili. The first set went on serve with no break points. Fucsovics won four consecutive points from 3-4 down to win the tie-break. Klizan went down 1-3 but he broke back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. Fucsovics broke again in the seventh game to take a 4-3 and held serve in the eighth and tenth games.
