The young Nick Kyrgios has released his ATP record with his victory in the ATP 250 of Marseille. He becomes, at age 20, the youngest player in the circuit with at least one title, displacing the Austrian Dominic Thiem of this honourable position. In recent years, only Raonic and Tomic have won his first title at an earlier age than Kyrgios.

The victory of the Australian was based on an impregnable service which has allowed him to finish the tournament without a single break. His statistics in this regard are stratospheric, 72 aces (14.4 per game), 77,27% service points won and only 4 break points faced. In the final, Marin Cilic barely could win him 2 points against his first service, the same as Berdych in the semifinals. Gasquet, in quarterfinals, had to settle with a sad and solitary point against the cannon of the Australian. Marseille 1st service winning % stats

Win 94% of first service points, 90 of 95, in three consecutive matches against two top-10 and a Grand Slam winner is a record worthy of mention. Djokovic, for instance, only has achieved that record four times in his career, and never against a top player. Djokovic Advanced Stats

Speaking of tops, the Australian is becoming an expert “giant killer”. He already has six victories before the top-10, counting among his victims the illustrious names of Nadal, Federer, Raonic, Wawrinka, Gasquet and Berdych. He is also the first player under 21 years who defeated two top-10 consecutively since Del Potro beat Nadal and Federer at US Open 2009.Kyrgios vs. Top-10

In Rio, unexpected final between Pablo Cuevas and Guido Pella, the Argentine cast aside John Isner – in the first round, despite the 31 aces of the American – and the sensation of the moment, Dominic Thiem, who wasn’t able to adapt to the conditions of wind and rain that conditioned the game. For his part, Cuevas beat, after a long match of 3 hours and 28 minutes, to Rafael Nadal who this season still has not been able to win a top-50. The four times he has faced one of them (Djokovic, Verdasco, Thiem and Cuevas) he has been defeated. Another disappointment for Nadal, who has been close for second time of reach his 100th final. Nadal 2016 Activity

The final was a duel between two specialists on clay. Cuevas has a 61,04% of victories on clay by a 42.55% in the rest of surfaces. In addition, all his titles have been on red clay. As the Argentine Pella presented in the final with a little background ATP of 41 matches, but including the numbers of the challenger circuit, where he has been developing most of his activity, he is also defined as a clear specialist, 63.05% on clay, 48,21% on other surfaces. Cuevas Career Match Record

It was the first final for Cuevas in a 500 and as well for Pella, a player with 10 challenger titles in his record book, his first ATP final. At the end the Uruguayan won 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-4, achieving his fourth ATP tournament. Perhaps it couldn’t be otherwise considering that he was the 45 of the world and the last two ATP 500 won by players outside the top-20 were Rotterdam last week, won by Klizan ranked 45, and Hamburg 2014 in which Leonardo Mayer won from position 46. A premonitory data for Cuevas.

In Delray Beach, a reborn Sam Querrey won the title defeating in the final to Rajeev Ram 6-4 7-6 (7). A triumph that ends with a drought dating back to July 2012, when the American achieved his last victory in Los Angeles. The Californian has gone through a few tough months, unable to progress in the tournaments. From his final at Nottingham last year he has not been able to win two matches in a tournament until last week in Memphis, 12 consecutive tournaments with only seven victories.

In Florida Querrey could finally break that losing streak. He even did honour to his reputation as a gunboat and he scored 54 aces in the tournament, 18 more than Ram, which also supported him in this classification. 2016 Delray Beach Stats

But the news of the tournament was, without a doubt, in the return to competition of Juan Martin Del Potro. The Argentine reappeared after a year’s absence and hopefully having finally overcome the hell of his wrist injury that has interfered with his career; Suffice it to say that in the last two seasons he only has been able to play 14 matches.

In Delray Beach Del Potro was very well, considering his long periods of inactivity. He reached the semifinals after three comfortable wins before Kudla, Smith, and Chardy to finally lose in a close match against the champion, Querrey. The Argentine has shown that he has not forgotten playing tennis and he even was the player with best points percentage at service, with 67,87%. At 27 years he still has time to regain his status in the professional tennis, if injuries respect him. Delray Beach Stats (II)

And so far this week, in which the five top-10 that were in competition – Nadal, Ferrer, Berdych, Gasquet and Wawrinka – they could not even reach a final. In fact, only one seeded, Marin Cilic, has been able to achieve that last round. The modests also know how to play tennis.

 

Gabriel García / thetennisbase.com

Leave a Reply