del Potro Defeats Jack Sock at the Stockholm Open to End Long ATP Title Drought

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

It’s the end of a long drought for Juan Martin del Potro…

The 28-year-old Argentine tennis player won the Stockholm Open on Sunday to end a 33-month title drought, beating sixth-seeded Jack Sock 7-5, 6-1.

del Potro, who has struggled with wrist problems in recent years, won his 19th ATP tour title — and his first since winning in Sydney in 2014.

The Argentine, who did not drop a set during the tournament, broke his American opponent’s serve four times in the final and never faced a break point.

“I’ve been trying to fix my problems for the past two years and I didn’t expect to win a title at this moment in my career,” the 28-year-old del Potro said. “I am so happy to get the trophy here. It’s motivation for looking forward to the future.”

Both players held serve until 5-5 of the opening set, when del Potro raised his game to emerge with a one-set lead.

Sock seemed tired in the second set, holding serve only once and winning just two points when returning serve.

“His serve is massive and very tough to read, which put more pressure on my serve,” Sock said. “I’ve had a long week here and it might have caught up with me a bit.”

Midway through the match Sock requested medical treatement for pain in his arm.

del Potro, beaten by Andy Murray for the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Games, reached his second final of the year after beating 2013 champion Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals.

Carreño Busta Beats Fabio Fognini at the Kremlin Cup to Claim Second Career ATP Title

Posted on October 23, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Pablo Carreño Busta is back in the winner’s circle…

The 25-year-old Spanish professional tennis player came back from a set down to beat Italy’s Fabio Fognini on Sunday and win the Kremlin Cup.

Carreño Busta won his second career title 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 despite needing treatment on his ankle midway through the second set.

Fognini saved two match points in the final game before Carreño Busta secured the win, dropping to his knees in celebration.

The victory caps a strong season for Carreño Busta, who won his first ATP title at the Winston-Salem Open in August.

He is 2-2 in career finals, while Fognini drops to 4-8.

del Potro Defeats Grigor Dimitrov to Reach Stockholm Open Final

Posted on October 23, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Martin del Potro is ready to claim his first title of the year…

The 28-year-old Argentine tennis player, who won the men’s singles silver medal at the 2016 Rio Games, has reached his second final of the year by defeating Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 7-5 at the Stockholm Open on Saturday.

del Potro, a wild card entry at the tournament, lost his serve for the first time all week, but compensated with four breaks against second-seeded Dimitrov on the center court in the Swedish capital.

In the other semifinal, sixth-seeded Jack Sock of the United States beat fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4 in 2 hours, 49 minutes.

Sock, after his first meeting with Zverev, was back in the final for a second straight year.

Sock will go after his second career ATP title, and del Potro his 19th.

Mayer Defeats Britain’s Dan Evans to Secure Argentina’s Spot in the Davis Cup Finals

Posted on September 19, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Leonardo Mayer will return to his home country a hero…

The 29-year-old Argentine tennis player came from behind to defeat Britain’s Dan Evans 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 in the decisive fifth match to defeat defending champions Great Britain in the Davis Cup semifinals.

After Andy Murray beat Guido Pella 6-3 6-2 6-3 to level the tie at 2-2, it was confirmed that Argentina’s star man, Juan Martin del Potro, would sit out the final match up and be replaced by ATP world No. 114 Mayer.

“We had to keep it to ourselves until the last moment so Great Britain were thinking a little bit, but we knew from last night that Mayer would play,” said Argentina captain Daniel Orsanic.

In the absence of del Potro, who wasn’t in good enough shape to play on Sunday after wearing himself out after deciding to play in Saturday’s doubles match, it was Mayer who stepped up.

Argentina will now travel to Croatia for the Davis Cup final in November.

Carreño Beats Roberto Bautista Agut at Winston-Salem Open to Win First Career Title

Posted on August 28, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

The third final’s the charm for Pablo Carreño Busta…

The 25-year-old Spanish professional tennis player won his first ATP World Tour title on Saturday, beating countryman Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets in the Winston-Salem Open final.

Carreño, ranked 49th in the world, overcame dropping a first-set tiebreaker at the Wake Forest Tennis Center to upset 17th-ranked Agut 6-7 (8), 7-6 (1), 6-4 and win his first tour title in three final-round appearances, all coming in 2016.

Carreño needed just over 2½ hours to become the sixth first-time winner on the ATP World Tour this season, and the first to do so in an American tournament.

Agut was trying to win his third tournament this season, becoming the fifth player on tour to win three or more titles, and the fifth of his career. He won earlier this year at Auckland, New Zealand, and Sofia, Bulgaria.

del Potro Knocks Out World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the First Round at the 2016 Rio Games

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Martin del Potro is proving to be Novak Djokovic’s Olympic curse…

For the second Olympics in a row, the 27-year-old Argentine player has taken down Djokovic.

del Potro, who beat the current ATP World No. 1 in the bronze-medal play-off at 2012 London Games, again overpowered Djokovic, taking down the Serb tennis star in the first round at the 2016 Rio Games 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2).

Djokovic was in tears as he left the court after the match, which lasted two and a half hours.

“This is one of the toughest losses in my career,” said Djokovic, who was trying to win his first Olympic title.

Djokovic became the first man for 47 years to hold all four Grand Slam titles by winning the French Open in June.

He suffered a shock third-round loss to American Sam Querrey at Wimbledon but won his 30th Masters title in Toronto last week.

“It’s not easy to handle, especially now, just after the wounds are still fresh,” he added after failing to improve on the bronze he won at the 2008 Beijing Games.

“But you have to deal with it. It’s not the first or the last time that I have lost a tennis match. But the Olympic Games, yeah, it’s completely different.”

del Potro will face Portugal’s Joao Sousa in the second round on Monday.

The former US Open winner has dropped to 141st in the world after two years of injury problems but did not face a single break point on his serve against the 12-time Grand Slam champion.

“It was a wonderful evening from the beginning,” said del Potro.

“After all the effort I’ve put in to get back to playing tennis, I’ve defeated the number one. It was a dream night.”

López Defeats Robin Haase to Claim Swiss Open Title

Posted on July 24, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Feliciano López is a Swiss champion…

The 34-year-old Spanish tennis player beat Robin Haase 6-4, 7-5 in the Swiss Open final on Sunday to claim his first career clay-court title.

It’s the fifth career ATP World Tour title for Lopez, the tournament’s top seed, and his first in more than two years. He previously won two titles on grass and two on hard courts.

Ten years after losing the Gstaad final to Richard Gasquet of France, Lopez lifted the trophy on his seventh trip to the Swiss Alps venue.

Lopez arrived ranked No. 21 in the world and should return to the top 20 when the rankings are updated on Monday.

The 95th-ranked Haase had his service broken once in the first set and twice in the second as Lopez completed the victory in less than 80 minutes.

Ramos-Vinolas Upsets No. 1 Seed David Ferrer to Reach Swedish Open Final

Posted on July 17, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Albert Ramos-Vinolas is one win away from his first ATP World Tour title…

The 28-year-old Spanish tennis player beat No. 1 seed David Ferrer 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday for the first time in seven tries and will now play in his second career final at the Swedish Open in Bastad.

The third seed will meet another countryman in Sunday’s final: Fifth seed Fernando Verdasco swept Gastao Elias of Portugal 6-3, 6-1.

Elias was playing in his first ATP World Tour semifinal.

Ramos-Vinolas had been 0-6 in his head-to-head series against Ferrer, a two-time champion in Bastad (2007, 2012). But the left-hander broke Ferrer five times to move into the final in an hour and 48 minutes.

“I’m very happy. I beat a great player and one of the best on clay in the last five, six years,” Ramos-Vinolas said.

Ramos-Vinolas last played in a final in 2012 (Casablanca, l. to Andujar). He’ll also try to reverse his head-to-head series against Verdasco as the 32-year-old leads the series 3-1, including a 2014 win in Bastad.

Verdasco reached his second tour-level final of the season with dominant serving. The left-hander won 75 per cent of his service points. He also landed almost eight of 10 first serves. Verdasco, though, was broken once, the first time he’s lost his serve in Bastad (32/33).

The seven-time ATP World Tour titlist will go for his second crown of the season (also Bucharest, d. Pouille).

“It’s a final,” Verdasco said. “A final is never easy.”

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

Posted on July 16, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

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.

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.

Ferrer Beats Dustin Brown to Advance to Swedish Open Semifinals

Posted on July 16, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

David Ferrer continues to roll…

The 34-year-old Spanish tennis player battled past Dustin Brown 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the Swedish Open on Friday.

Ferrer, the top seed and two-time champion at the tournament, improved his head-to-head record versus the German player to 4-0 following the 92-minute win, which was watched in the stands by Swedish tennis legend Bjorn Borg.

Ferrer will next face his compatriot, third seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

“He’s playing his best tennis of this season so I’m going to have to play very good and very consistent to have a good chance to be in the final,” said Ferrer of his opponent.

Ramos-Vinolas reached his second semifinal of 2016 as he defeated Andrea Arnaboldi. The Spaniard saved six of the 11 break points he faced to outlast the Italian 5-7, 7-5, 6-0 in what was their first tour-level meeting.

Fifth seed Fernando Verdasco eased into the last four in Bastad with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Facundo Bagnis in 68 minutes. The Spaniard will continue to bid for his eighth ATP World Tour singles title when he faces Gastao Elias.

“It’s great for me to be in the semifinals here again. Today I’m one step closer and hopefully tomorrow I will keep playing as good as today or even better,” said Verdasco. “I’m feeling pretty good. I’ve been playing better and better every day. Tomorrow I will face a Portuguese player and they are both playing good this week. I know that it’s going to be difficult.”

Elias reached his first ATP World Tour semifinal by upsetting second seed Joao Sousa 6-2, 6-2.

The 25-year-old Portuguese tennis player capitalized on five of his seven break point chances to notch his first win over his compatriot (Sousa now leads rivalry 2-1) in 62 minutes.

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