Soares & Jamie Murray Win Men’s Doubles Title at the US Open

It’s proving to be a banner year for Bruno Soares

The 34-year-old Brazilian tennis player and his doubles partner, Jamie Murray, have won the US Open men’s doubles title.

Bruno Soares & Jamie Murray

Soares and Murray, seeded fourth, beat Spain’s unseeded Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2 6-3.

It gives Soares and Murray a second major title after they won their first Grand Slam together at the Australian Open in January.

Soares becomes the first Brazilian to win more than one Grand Slam doubles title.

Murray and Soares went into the final in a confident mood after beating defending champions and top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the semifinals, and they outclassed surprise finalists Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez.

Bruno Soares & Jamie Murray

The Spaniards broke serve in the opening game but Murray and Soares levelled immediately and went on a run of seven straight games to take a grip on the contest.

There was some concern for Murray when he called the trainer to work on his neck midway through the first set, but it did not have any visible effect on his performance.

An interception volley at the net by the British Davis Cup winner earned an early break in the second set and, with Soares dictating matters from the back of the court, they left little for Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez to attack.

Murray had failed to serve out the match at this year’s Australian Open, but he showed no nerves this time as he wrapped up victory after only 78 minutes.

“I am glad we got together,” said Soares. “It is our first season. To win in Australia and here is extremely special.”

Olivo Upsets Top-Seed Philipp Kohlschreiber at German Open to Reach First Career Semifinal

Renzo Olivo has pulled off a major upset…

The 24-year-old Argentine tennis player saved two match points and went on to take down top-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber in the German Open quarterfinals on Friday.

Renzo Olivo

Olivo, currently listed as No. 153 in the ATP World Tour rankings, rallied to win 1-6, 6-0, 7-5, saving two match points in the ninth game of the final set as Kohlschreiber was serving for the match at 5-3.

In Olivo’s first career semifinal, he will have to stop third-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.

Cuevas of Uruguay defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (7), 6-1 in a repeat of the 2009 semifinal that was won by Mathieu.

Cuevas, who won consecutive titles in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in February, fired 12 aces and won 79 percent of his service points to beat Mathieu.

Stephane Robert of France beat eighth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3.

His semifinal opponent will be seventh-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia, who beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-4, 6-3.

Bautista Agut Defeats Benjamin Becker to Claim First Ever ATP Title

It’s a hard-fought first ATP title for Roberto Bautista Agut

The 26-year-old Spanish tennis player mounted an impressive rally to claim his maiden World Tour crown on Saturday, beating Benjamin Becker in the Topshelf Open final.

Roberto Bautista Agut

Bautista Agut captured his first title with a 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 victory, overcoming 13 aces and a 32-minute first set in favor of his German counterpart.

One of the ATP World Tour’s rising stars in 2014, the Spaniard has soared from World No. 73 in the ATP rankings at the beginning of the year to a new career-high of No. 23 with his title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Bautista Agut, the tournament’s third-seed becomes the second first-time champion this year after Federico Delbonis won in Sao Paulo. He was competing in just his second final, having previously fallen in the 2013 Aircel Chennai Open title match to Janko Tipsarevic.

Becker raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set behind a pair of early breaks. Bautista Agut was unable to counter Becker’s pace and guile in the baseline rallies as the German veteran needed just 32 minutes to take the opener.

Bautista Agut’s game would gain traction as the match progressed, however, and he would snatch the second set in a tiebreaker and surge to an early lead in the third set behind a break in the fifth game. As Becker pressed for a break back, Bautista Agut held steady, and he would hold on for the title in exactly two hours.

He’s the fifth different Spanish winner this year, withRafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Guillermo Garcia-Lopezand Fernando Verdasco also bringing home trophies to the Iberian nation. He’s also the second different Spaniard to triumph in Den Bosch after Ferrer prevailed in 2008 and 2012.

“It took me a while to recover from a very long match yesterday and I was getting better and better after the first set,” said Bautista Agut, who earns $77,350 and 250 ATP rankings points with the win.

“I was more focused and started to feel better physically. I was trying to not think too much and play my game point by point. It was the same nervousness as every match. I played calm and aggressive in the last game. I had to celebrate hard (after match point) and enjoy the moment.”

Garcia-Lopez Defeats Stan Wawrinka in the French Open’s First Major Upset

The French Open has only just begun… And, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez has already pulled off the tournament’s biggest upset.

The 30-year-old Spanish tennis player defeated Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka in the first round at Roland Garros on Monday, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez

Wawrinka, the tournament’s third-seed, was playing his first Grand Slam match as a major champion, but he faded against Garcia-Lopez, currently ranked No. 41 in the world.

Surprisingly, Wawrinka looked listless, nothing little like a guy who was seeded No. 3 behind Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and proclaimed himself “one of the favorites” just a few days earlier

“The match wasn’t good at all,” Wawrinka said. “I don’t have an answer why I didn’t play that good.”

Wawrinka, who had 61 unforced errors and won only 54 percent of the points on his first serve, is the first Australian Open champ to exit in the first round of that year’s French Open since Petr Korda in 1998.

Garcia-Lopez has never been past the third round at a Grand Slam

No. 17 Tommy Robredo of Spain, No. 26 Feliciano Lopez of Spain aand No. 27 Roberto Bautista Agut also advanced.

Garcia-Lopez Defeats Marcel Granollers to Win This Year’s Grand Prix Hassan II Title

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez is back to his old winning ways…

The 30-year-old Spanish tennis player claimed his first title in nearly four years after rallying to defeat his compatriot Marcel Granollers  at the Grand Prix Hassan II on Sunday.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez

After losing the first set, Garcia-Lopez stormed back to take the next two sets in the all-Spanish final on the clay court in Casablanca, Morocco. The final score: 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Garcia-Lopez’s previous title was on indoor hard courts in Bangkok in 2010, and he’d lost his matched in the previous two finals in which he competed — last year on clay at Bucharest, Romania and on indoor hard courts at St. Petersburg, Russia.

Granollers, who was hoping to win his fifth career title, dropped his serve five times and was less consistent. He won only 60 percent of his first-serve points compared to 76 percent for Garcia-Lopez, who won their only previous meeting in the second round of the same tournament in 2010.

Garcia-Lopez continued the recent dominance of his countrymen at the tournament, becoming the fourth different Spaniard to win in the past six years after Tommy Robredo (2013), Pablo Andujar (2011 and 2012) and former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero (2009).

This is the third singles title of Garcia-Lopez’s career.

Bellucci Defeats Santiago Giraldo to Advance in the Brazil Open

He may be playing on a wild card at the Brazil Open… But Thomaz Bellucci is proving he’s worth the spot.

The 26-year-old Brazilian tennis player pulled off an upset win over Santiago Giraldo, defeating the Colombian – the tournament’s eight seed – 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to reach the second round of the Brazil Open.

Thomaz Bellucci

The home-crowd favorite broke Giraldo’s serve to go up 4-2 in the final set, then held on to close out the match in just over two hours at the Ibirapuera arena. The break came right after Giraldo called for treatment on his lower back in between games.

Belluci, ranked No. 108 in the world, had six aces, including three in the decisive set.

“I couldn’t hold on to a 3-0 lead in the first set but I started playing better after that,” Bellucci said. “It makes a big difference to be playing at home with the support of the fans. They got behind me and I got to play more aggressively toward the end. It made a huge difference.”

Bellucci beat Giraldo in three sets last week at the Rio Open. He’ll next face Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer in the second round.

But Belluci isn’t the only Latino playing well in the tournament…

Earlier Tuesday, Brazilian qualifier Rogerio Dutra Silva defeated sixth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 in 2 hours, 17 minutes. Albert Montanes of Spain beat Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 6-2, 6-2, while Federico Delbonis of Argentina defeated Filippo Volandri of Italy 6-1, 6-2.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal is not playing at the clay-court tournament this year. He won the Rio Open last week.

Second-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain will play Delbonis, while third-seeded Marcel Granollers plays Martin Klizan of Slovakia.

Argentina’s Juan Monaco, who had a bye in the first round along with the other top seeds, debuts against countrymen Guido Pella.

García-López Reaches St. Petersburg Open Final

Guillermo García-López is one step closer to a third ATP title…

The 30-year-old Spanish tennis player defeated Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-1, 6-1 to reach the finals at the St. Petersburg Open.

Guillermo García-López

Garcia-Lopez, currently ranked No. 74 in the world, won six consecutive games in the first set and broke his opponent twice in the second before sealing the win on his second match point.

Garcia-Lopez, who was runner-up in Bucharest and Rome in April, is looking for his third career title.

He last won in 2010 in Bangkok.

Garcia-Lopez faces sixth-seeded Ernests Gulbis in the final.