Year End

ATP Rising Stars Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov Cap off 2018 With Titles
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

ATP World Tour Finals

The year end finals in London featured most of the top ATP players, and it was Alexander Zverev, the world #5, who came out the victor, upsetting #1 Novak Djokovic and handing him a second straight final defeat 6-4 6-3 as Zverev was dominant on serve and broke Djokovic when needed.

Zverev, who had previously complained of fatigue due to the length of the season, fell to Djokovic in his first match of the round robin portion of play, but came back to beat Marin Cilic, John Isner, and Roger Federer to reach the final without dropping a set in three nip and tuck matches. Djokovic beat Cilic, Isner, and Kevin Anderson largely thanks to a superior return game to reach the final. He’ll enter the 2019 season as the favorite for the Australian Open given his strong form to finish the year. Zverev will be hoping that the season ending tournament win will boost him in 2019.

Bryan/Sock defeated Herbert/Mahut in the doubles final

ATP Paris

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In the final full field ATP event of the season, Russia’s Karen Khachanov stunned Novak Djokovic for the biggest title of his young career.The 22 year old Khachanov defeated Djokovic 7-5 6-4 capping off a dominant week where he sailed past Filip Krajinovic, and Matt Ebden, edged John Isner in 3 sets, and then upset both Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem to reach the final. Khachanov had a career year in 2018 and will look ahead to 2019 to post even better results in the Grand Slams.

Djokovic beat Joao Sousa, Damir Dzumhur, Marin Cilic, and Roger Federer (in 3 sets) to reach the final, he’ll finish the season with 7 finals appearances.

Granollers/Ram defeated Rojer/Tecau in the doubles final

ATP Next Gen Finals

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The second year of the ATP Next Gen Finals in Milan saw Greek #1 Stefanos Tsitipas go undefeated in round robin play defeating Frances Tiafoe, Hubert Hurkacz, and Jaume Munar. Tsitipas then defeated Andrey Rublev and finalist Alex De Minaur in competitive contests to win the title of this exhibition style event. De Minaur was the other player to go 3-0 in round robin play, defeating Taylor Fritz, Liam Caruana, and Andrey Rublev to cap off a breakthrough 2018. His matches will be highly anticipated once the Australian swing fires up in January.

World #1’s Djokovic, Rojer/Tecau Finish ATP Season Finale with Titles
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

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Novak Djokovic saw his winning streak since the US Open snapped just before he won 25 straight, in round robin play by Roger Federer, but he rebounded to win two straight matches over Rafael Nadal and Federer to capture his fifth overall and fourth straight World Tour Finals trophy. Djokovic has had a career best season with three Grand Slam titles, six Masters 1000 titles, and now another WTF’s trophy, finishing the season with an 81-6 record, and five of those six losses coming against top 5 players.

Novak rolled over Kei Nishikori and Tomas Berdych in his first two group matches, as they showed little belief they could overcome the world #1, Federer then shocked him 7-5 6-2, but Djokovic then beat Nadal and Federer without giving up more than four games in any one set, maximizing his game to finish strong.

Federer finishes the year as world #3, behind Andy Murray at #2, though at times he’s shown himself to be the clear #2 player even at 34. The Swiss maestro needed three sets against Nishikori but scored straight set wins over Berdych, and rival Stan Wawrinka along with the 1-1 record against Djokovic. A 63-11 record for the Swiss #1.

Wawrinka beat Andy Murray, and David Ferrer without dropping a set, but was beaten handily by Rafael Nadal along with Federer. He finishes 55-18 with a Grand Slam title and three additional ATP titles to his name, as he continues to perform near his best level at world #4.

Nadal finished the year strong with a 60-20 record overall (16-5 post US Open), and performed well on indoor hard, which is normally a weaker surface for him. It was a tough year at times for Rafa but the Spanish lefty took three titles and beat David Ferrer in three sets, along with Wawrinka, and Murray in the World Tour Finals, three quality wins. Next season Nadal should have every chance to get himself back into the top four after seeing his ranking slip to #5 now.

Rojer/Tecau takes doubles title without dropping a set

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In the doubles season finale, Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau finish as the world #1 team after they ran a murders row of doubles competitors without dropping a set to win the title. Rojer/Tecau beat Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo, Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut, and Marcin Matkowski/Nenad Zimonjic before rolling past the Bryan Brothers and Florin Mergea/Rohan Bopanna in the final. Rojer and Tecau illustrate a changing in the guard with world class doubles as the Bryans are beginning to slip with age. Rojer/Tecau finish with three titles on the season.

Steen Kirby (Marseille)

Radwanska, Jankovic, Begu Capture WTA Titles

Posted by Admin on September 27, 2015

Posted in: China, Guangzhou, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, WTA, Year End. Tagged: 2015, agnieszska radwanska, Guangzhou, Irina Camelia-Begu, jelena jankovic, seoul, Singapore, tokyo, wta. Leave a comment

Radwanska, Jankovic, Begu Capture WTA Titles
Niall Clarke, Tennis Atlantic

Jelena Jankovic

A busy week in the WTA concluded with Agnieszka Radwanska capturing the Tokyo title, Jelena Jankovic winning the Guangzhou title, and Irina Begu becoming the Queen of Seoul.

Tokyo: Radwanska Runs Bencic Ragged

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Radwanska is proving to be quite the force in Tokyo. The Pole did not drop a set on the way to the final where she met teenage sensation Belinda Bencic.

The Swiss was coming in off the back of back to back top 10 wins over Garbine Muguruza and Caroline Wozniacki in her quest for a third Premier title this year. However, Radwanska would put in a nearly flawless performance to see of the 18 year old 6-2, 6-2.

The performance was summed up by the stats. The former world number two hit 28 winners to 15 unforced errors, to Bencic’s 21-23.

“I ran a lot!” Radwanska said post-match. “Belinda really pushed me to play 200%, and the pressure was always in the back of my head. I knew I was playing one of the best players in the world, but this is the final and you just want to win, so you do whatever it takes to win every point.”

The 15th career victory seals Aga’s place back inside the top 10 and gives her a significant boost in the race for the Year End Championships.

“I’m just so happy to be back in that Top 10. It’s very, very tight now. There are a lot of young players coming up, so many players who deserve to be Top 10, so I’m just happy I can be No.8 now.

“The Asia tour is key for me to go to Singapore, so I think this week I did a great job to give myself a better chance to go back there again.”

The doubles title was won by the Spanish pairing Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro. They defeated the Chan sisters 7-5, 6-1 to strengthen their bid for Singapore.

WTA Guangzhou: Jankovic Captures Guangzhou Crown

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Jankovic has ended her two year title draught by capturing the Guangzhou title over Denisa Allertova 6-2, 6-0.

The Czech was looking to add another name to her upset list this week after defeating Simona Halep and Sara Errani en route to her first WTA final.

She started brightly with a break and a 2-1 lead, but from that point on it was all Jankovic. The Serb raced away by winning the next 11 games to seal a comfortable straight sets victory.

“Denisa, you had such a great run here in Guangzhou, beating such great players,” Jankovic said. “And you played so well in the final – it was definitely closer than the result says. You’ll have many more finals and many more titles in the future, so just keep going, just keep doing what you’re doing.”

Allertova still remained positive despite the heavy defeat.

“It was an amazing time for me here,” she said.

“I’m so happy I could beat so many good players here and play my first final. Jelena was too good, but I’m happy with my week.”

This was Jankovic’s first WTA main tour title since claiming the Bogota crown two years ago, she won a challenger in China earlier in the year. This was also the Serbian’s 14th career title.

The doubles went to the number one team of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. The top seeds breezed Shilin Xu and Xiaodi You 6-3, 6-1 to claim their 6th title of the year.

WTA Seoul: Begu claims Second Career Title

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Begu ended the run of qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich with a 6-3, 6-1 victory to capture the Seoul title.

After an even start that split the first six games, Begu raised her game to soar to a 6-3, 5-0 lead. Sasnovich managed to hold to avoid the bagel, but no comeback was on the cards as Begu served it out to seal an easy victory.

“I think the key today was to stay calm and make my opponent run more, and I think I was successful in those. I was also hitting the balls deep and close to the lines,” Begu said.

“I also think I was better on the important points – I wasn’t dominating every game, but I did better on the big points.”

This was her second WTA title after winning Tashkent back in 2012.

“I’m so happy to win my first WTA title in three years – it’s been a long time, and I’ve improved a lot, I think,” Begu said.

“I’ve learned a lot from many matches and many experiences, and most of all I think I’ve become much more consistent when I’m playing. I feel totally different from three years ago.”

The doubles final was played later in the day and saw top seeds Lara Arruabarrena and Andrea Klepac rally from a set down to take out second seeds Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson, 2-6, 6-3, 10-6.