Lopez clinches Gstaad title

Spain’s Feliciano Lopez claimed his first clay-court title on Sunday with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Dutchman Robin Haase in the final in Gstaad.

Top seed Lopez, who finished runner-up in Switzerland 10 years ago, broke Haase’s serve in the fifth game as he took the opening set and then fought back from 3-0 down in the second to wrap up a fifth ATP Tour title.

“It’s an amazing feeling, I’ve been waiting 10 years to win this title,” said the 21st-ranked Lopez, who became the sixth Spanish title winner on the ATP circuit this year.

“It’s been a long wait since 2006, but it’s been worth it. This is a very special tournament, with a lot of tradition, where a lot of Spaniards have won in the past. It’s a unique place to play.”

For Haase, the world number 95, it was a second finals defeat in four years in Gstaad having lost the 2013 title decider to Mikhail Youzhny.

chc/mca/mw/pst

Gstaad ATP results

Results from the fifth day of the ATP event in Gstaad on Friday (x denotes seeding):

Quarter-finals

Feliciano Lopez (ESP x1) bt Elias Ymer (SWE) 6-4, 7-6 (7/2)

Dustin Brown (GER) bt Mikhail Youzhny (RUS x7) 6-4, 6-4

Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA x8) bt Albert Ramos (ESP x3) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

Robin Haase (NED) bt Thiago Monteiro (BRA) 7-6 (7/2), 7-5

2nd rd

Thiago Monteiro (BRA) bt Gilles Simon (FRA x2) 6-2, 6-4

afp

ATP Umag results

Results from the fifth day of the ATP Tour event in Umag on Friday (x denotes seeding):

Quarter-finals

Gastao Elias (POR) bt Pablo Carreno-Busta (ESP x6) 6-4, 6-4

Fabio Fognini (ITA x4) bt Damir Džumhur (BIH) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1

Carlos Berlocq (ARG) bt Jeremy Chardy (FRA x3) 6-4, 6-2

Andrej Martin (SVK) bt Joao Sousa (POR x2) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2

afp

USA CATACLYSM

The simultaneous presence of ATP tournaments and Davis Cup play-offs was the most notable of the tennis week that ended last Sunday. The adjustments to the calendar to fit the Olympic tennis tournament had a huge impact with the tournaments of Hamburg, Bastad and Newport because they were all left without top players. These adjustments must have really hurt in Hamburg, a centenary tournament –since 1892- with category of ATP 500 which is suffering in recent years a special attention by the ATP, first stripping it of the Masters category and now paying the price of the Olympic issue. German Open table of records

Tournaments draw were, therefore, seriously damaged by this issue. In Hamburg, Martin Klizan was the winner, a player who always takes advantage of his opportunities. He got his fifth title in his fifth final, beating clearly to the very favourite Pablo Cuevas. Klizan achieved his second ATP500 of the year, after the one he got in Rotterdam against Gael Monfils, denying again his role as victim of the final. The Slovak is performing an unusual season: seven first rounds, a semifinal in Sofia and two ATP 500 titles. Terrific! Martin Klizan 2016 activity

The opposite is Gilles Muller. The Luxembourger also played his fifth final ATP at Newport, on grass. But, unlike Klizan, he has not been able to win even a single. Cruel fate for him, especially if we consider that on this occasion he had up to three match points in the decisive tie-break, although all of them were returned points. The winner was Ivo Karlovic who clinched his seventh ATP title and he became the most veteran tennis player to win an ATP title since Marty Riessen did it in Lafayette 1979. Apart from Riessen, only Ken Rosewall-16 titles after attaining 37 years of age- and Pancho Gonzales, who won Des Moines 1972 with 43 years and almost 9 months, have been able to win an ATP tournament to an age more advanced than the Croatian. Oldest ATP tournament champions

In Sweden Albert Ramos-Vinolas won and achieved his first ATP title in his second final, defeating Fernando Verdasco 6-3 6-4. The left handen Catalan is performing the best season of his life. He was quarterfinalist at Roland Garros, third round at Wimbledon and now he gets this title breaking his record. This Monday he has appeared in the ATP classification as 31 in the world, the best ranking of his career.

And in the World Group of the Davis Cup, something that never happened before, the four visiting teams have won. Special mention deserves the play-offs between Americans and Croatians. The first day, the players of USA, playing in Portland on hardcourt, were ahead 2-0 after Jack Sock came from behind two sets against Marin Cilic and John Isner defeated to Borna Coric in three sets.

From there all turned into a disaster; on Saturday Bryan brothers were beaten in 4 sets and on Sunday Cilic and Coric defeated easily to Isner and Sock respectively. Another setback for the once absolute tennis leaders but in the last 20 years USA only have been able to lift once the trophy, in 2007, with Roddick and Blake in charge of all the operations.

France will face on semifinals to Croatia after winning away to Czech Republic which played without Tomas Berdych. Lukas Rosol gave the first point to his country scoring a valuable win against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, but then the next three points were on the French side, with Lucas Pouille making his debut in Davis Cup with an important victory over Jiri Vesely. He is still in state of grace and he has shown that his election for the national team was fully justified.

In Belgrade, Serbia competed without Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki, the Serbians faced to the current champion without its leader Andy Murray. The Scottish loss is understandable after the tremendous effort of Wimbledon. The performance of Serbia only confirms what everyone already knows, except, apparently, the ITF. That the Davis Cup is going through an unprecedented crisis and the multiple absences of the most relevant players threaten to turn this competition into a tournament of second category unless something is done.

The British showed to have better players on the bench than locals and they win 3-2 with an impressive performance of Kyle Edmund who became the hero of his country winning his two matches without losing a single set.

delbonis

In Pesaro, Federico Delbonis defeated Andreas Seppi and, in a fantastic match, to Fabio Fognini to become the centrepiece of the Argentina´s victory over Italy. It would be incredible that Argentina, cursed in this competition in spite of having had great players thorough its history, were able to raise the Davis Cup trophy with a team without nor an only player in the top-40. At the moment, they will travel to Great Britain to compete in the semifinal. The big question is if Murray will decide to play. What is certain is that the British will not commit the error of the Italians who chose to play against them on clay court. We must pay attention also to the progress of Juan Martin Del Potro, a key factor for Argentine hopes. Delpo and Delbo might have been able to make history.

 

Gabriel Garcia / thetennisbase.com

Tsonga leads France into Davis Cup semi-finals

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sent France into the Davis Cup semi-finals after beating Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic on Sunday to hand his team an unbeatable 3-1 lead in their quarter-final.

On the hard court of the Werk Arena in Trinec, world number 10 Tsonga beat 50th-ranked Vesely 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 7-5 in three hours and 28 minutes.

In their quest for a first Davis Cup title since 2001, France will now face either the United States or Croatia in the semi-finals in September.

In a clash of the teams’ number-one players, the 23-year-old Vesely took the first set on a single break and both held on to their serves in the second, which went to Tsonga, 31, in a tie-break.

A dominant Tsonga then broke Vesely’s serve for the first time to win the third.

In the fourth set, Tsonga survived three break points in game six and broke again five games later to win the rubber and the tie.

“With the experience I have, I knew that even despite a poor start it’s not over, it goes on, the rubber is long,” Tsonga told reporters.

“But I really had to work hard to win today.”

“The game was extremely hard, he’s a very experienced player,” Vesely told Czech Television.

“It’s harder to play when you’re 2-1 down, I gave it my best, I felt much better today than on Friday, maybe because I had absolutely nothing to lose.

“I’m sorry about the second set, I played well and if I had managed to win maybe things would have been different, but it’s hard to tell.”

On Friday, the Czechs took the lead in the tie as world number 78 Lukas Rosol stunned Tsonga 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-4.

Lucas Pouille, ranked 21st, then swept past Vesely 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 7-5 to put France level on his Davis Cup debut.

And in Saturday’s doubles rubber, Wimbledon champions Mahut and Herbert beat Radek Stepanek and Rosol 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to hand France a 2-1 lead.

French captain Yannick Noah said he had no preference when it comes to the semi-final rival.

“Whatever team we face, I sincerely think that if we arrive well-prepared, ready, in our best shape, we will win the Davis Cup,” he said.

jma-frj/jc

Cilic beats Isner to keep Croatia alive in Davis Cup

Former US Open champion Marin Cilic kept Croatia alive in their Davis Cup World Group quarter-final tie against the United States on Sunday with a three-set win over John Isner.

Cilic’s 7-6 (11/9), 6-3, 6-4 victory pulled Croatia level at 2-2 in the best-of-five match hardcourt tie in Portland, Oregon.

That set the stage for a decisive duel between American Jack Sock and Croatian Borna Coric.

Sock rallied from two-sets-to-love down to stun Cilic 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the opening match on Friday.

Isner followed up with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 win over Coric, but the mighty doubles duo of Bob and Mike Bryan couldn’t seal the deal for the United States on Saturday, falling 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 to Ivan Dodig and Cilic — who replaced Marin Draganja with the tie on the line.

The United States, whose 32 Davis Cup titles are the most of any country, were ousted in the first round each of the past two seasons and are seeking to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2012.

The winners of the tie will face France, 3-1 winners over the Czech Republic in Prague.

“We knew it was going to be extremely tough,” Cilic said of Croatia’s chances of rebounding after dropping both opening singles.

“It’s very challenging to go 2-0 down against the United States, especially with the Bryans, but we believed that if we played well and we continued to fight we might get some chances.

“Hopefully Borna is going to play another good match.”

Cilic withstood 17 aces from Isner, firing 13 of his own and closing it out after two hours and seven minutes with a forehand winner.

Cilic had seized the opening set despite a formidable serving display from Isner, who fought off three set points in the tiebreaker and had one himself before the Croatian put it away.

Cilic’s first chance to seal it came on his own serve in the tiebreaker, but he belted a forehand into the net to let Isner level the tiebreaker at 6-6.

He finally secured the set on Isner’s serve, when the American sent a backhand spinning long from the baseline.

“Mentally it was definitely extremely tough,” Cilic said of the opening set.

“John was playing great tennis in that first set, I was having a lot of troubles with my service game and I was not winning almost any points on his service game. Up to the tiebreaker, he was the much better player.

“But I was there mentally, I was fighting every point. I felt the first set was the deciding one today.”

Cilic was able to ramp up the pressure on Isner’s serve in the second set. The American managed to dig out of a 0-40 hole to hold in the fourth game, but Cilic notched the first service break of the contest to go up 5-3 and confidently served it out for a two-sets-to-love lead.

And this time he was able to make it stand up — unlike on Friday against Sock and at Wimbledon, where he suffered a demoralizing five-set loss to Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.

bb/dj/jc

Karlovic lifts Newport trophy at last

The third time was the charm for Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who lifted the ATP Newport title at last on Sunday with a 6-7(2/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (14/12) victory over Gilles Muller.

In his third straight appearance in the final on the grass courts of Newport, the 37-year-old Karlovic grabbed his seventh ATP Tour title and at 37 became the oldest winner in the tournament’s history.

In fact, he’s the oldest ATP singles champion since Marty Riessen in 1979.

“After all these years when I was losing in the final and now I was finally able to do it,” Karlovic said. “And I was down a match point. That makes it even nicer.”

Karlovic’s usual monster serve again made the difference. The former world number 44 fired 27 aces and won almost 90 per cent of his first-serve points.

But both he and Muller began the match battling nerves. Karlovic, who had been broken once in Newport heading into the final dropped his first service game.

Muller then held to lead 3-0, but Karlovic broke back to set the course for what would be the first of three tiebreakers.

Neither player mustered a break point in the third set. Muller earned the first match point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker but couldn’t convert.

Muller saved four match points on his own serve, but Karlovic gave himself a fifth chance on his serve and made no mistake — denying the 33-year-old Muller a first career ATP title.

The 33-year-old from Luxembourg is 0-5 in career finals.

bb/gph

Ramos-Vinolas sweeps Swedish Open for maiden title

Albert Ramos-Vinolas beat Spanish compatriot and fellow left-hander Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4 to clinch his first title at the Swedish Open on Sunday.

Ramos-Vinolas, 28, was presented with the trophy by Swedish great Bjorn Borg.

Ranked 35th in the world, the Spaniard had only previously made it to one final where he lost to Pablo Andujar at Casablanca four years ago.

The 32-year-old Verdasco has seven ATP titles, the last of which he won on the clay courts at Bucharest in April.

es/dmc/dj

Klizan wins fifth ATP title in Hamburg

Slovakia’s Martin Klizan claimed the fifth ATP Tour title of his career on Sunday by beating Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-1, 6-4 in the final at Hamburg.

Seventh seed Klizan, 27, raced through the opening set with two breaks of serve in less than half an hour.

The 27-year-old saw an early break in the second set cancelled out by world number 24 Cuevas, but another in the seventh game helped him seal victory in just over an hour.

es/rg/jc/dj