2019 Nature Valley International

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Taylor Fritz Wins First Career ATP Title in Eastbourne

Posted by Admin on June 29, 2019
Posted in: ATP, Guest Writer, LTA, On Site, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Taylor Fritz Wins First Career ATP Title in Eastbourne
Eric Han for Tennis Atlantic

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In the All-American final at the 2019 Eastbourne International, Taylor Fritz beat his compatriot Sam Querrey straight sets 6-3 6-4 to claim his first ATP title in his career.

Speaking after his press conference, Fritz said: “It’s, like, it’s unbelievable. The feeling still hasn’t fully set in. I have wanted to win a title for so long, ever since making the final in Memphis when I was so young. So it’s been — you know, I have been thinking about it for a long time. I’m so happy I finally got it.”

Fritz was in control throughout the whole match and Querrey could not find any rhythm to play the match on his own terms.  Whenever there was a opportunity for Querrey to break back and even the match, Fritz looked focus and seemed to always come up with a first serve to extend his lead.

I asked Fritz in the press conference whether he agreed with this idea and he commented: “Yeah, like I just said, I feel like I can always come up with my best in the big moments, or if I’m not playing my best, I can just kind of find a way to tough it out and come through in those moments. It’s one of the biggest strengths that I have. Yeah, it’s just coming up with what I need when I need it.”

He also credited his coaching team composed of Paul Annacone and David Nainkin that helped him reach this point of his career.

“One thing we have all worked on as a team so much is working on my net game and coming into net more, because with the big groundstrokes, you get a lot of, you know, balls that you can finish the point at the net. So it’s been a long process trying to work on that.

“We are still working on it. We have worked a lot on my serve consistency, because one thing that’s been a problem about me winning a title or going deep is I’ll serve good, serve good, serve good, and then just have one day where I can’t put a serve in the court. We have worked a lot on that. My serve’s improved so much.”

“That’s one thing I stress to them as a player, telling the coach, is I want to improve, you know, where I’m not that good but I also want to strengthen my best shots so they become even more dominant, and so that’s something we have all worked on. And also tons of work in the gym, getting stronger, getting faster. Yeah, it’s all showing.”

Fritz will have little time to celebrate, as he will have to face former Wimbledon finalist, Tomas Berdych, in the first round at Wimbledon on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, on the women’s side, the second seed Karolina Pliskova defeated the defending Wimbledon champion, Angelique Kerber comfortably in straight sets 6-1 6-4 to claim her second Eastbourne International title.

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Angelique Kerber edges Halep in Eastbourne

Posted by Admin on June 27, 2019
Posted in: ATP, Eastbourne, LTA, On Site, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Angelique Kerber edges Halep in Eastbourne
Eric Han for Tennis Atlantic

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Quarterfinal day here at the Eastbourne International gave the fans plenty of excitement as it not only featured the top seeds of the tournament, but also home crowd favourites Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans. The marquee match arguably was on the women’s as two former world no.1’s, Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep, battled it out for a place in the semifinals tomorrow.

 

Eventually, the current reigning Wimbledon champion, Kerber, defeated Halep comfortably in straight sets 6-4 5-3.

 

After the match, Simona Halep commented on how good Kerber played today: “She played really well today. I didn’t play bad. I think that I missed a little bit too much in some points, important points, and I didn’t take my chances. Also, in the second set, first game, I had 40-15 on my serve and I couldn’t take the game. But in my opinion, it was a good match.

 

When asked about her expectations about looking forward to Wimbledon: “Expectations are pretty okay in my head, but I don’t put pressure. Just match by match, and we will see how good I can be on grass this year.

 

Meanwhile, the battle of the Brits took place as British no.1 Kyle Edmund played his countryman Dan Evans. After dropping the first set 6-1, Edmund upped his intensity and won the subsequent two sets 6-3 6-4 and booked his place in the semifinals.

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In his press conference after his match, Edmund said: “A poor start in terms of getting in the match. Like, you could say, yeah, credit to Dan for sort of putting his stamp on it. But also, I think I could have done a lot better and a lot more to stop that or put a bit more of my stamp on it.”

 

“But the best thing from that is to react to it, and I did. Just got more engaged. Put my sort of personality and engagement into the match and my game almost. I have good ability to be aggressive and take control of rallies and games, so it was really good for me, obviously not playing a lot of matches”

 

Other notable results worthy of mention are the third seed Kiki Bertens beating the eighth seed Belarusian, Aryna Sabalenka,  in a three-set thriller 6-4 3-6 6-4. On the men’s side, two youngsters battled it out as Taylor Fritz beat Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-4 7-6.

 

Tomorrow’s semifinal on the men’s side will be Brit Kyle Edmund taking on America’s Taylor Fritz and qualifier Thomas Fabbiano playing America’s Sam Querrey.

 

On the women’s side, the two semifinal matches will be the defending Wimbledon champion, Angelique Kerber taking on Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur and Czech’s Karolina Pliskova playing Kiki Bertens of Netherlands.

 

 

Konta beaten by Ons Jabeur in Eastbourne on Day 4

Posted by Admin on June 27, 2019
Posted in: ATP, Eastbourne, LTA, On Site, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Konta beaten by Ons Jabeur in Eastbourne on Day 4
Eric Han for Tennis Atlantic

The biggest shock on Day 4 at the Eastbourne International was British women’s number one, Johanna Konta, beaten by world no. 62, Ons Jabeur in straight sets 6-3 6-2.

After the match, Konta analysed her match and said: “Well, to be honest, I mean, I think I just played an opponent who played very well today. I didn’t feel like I actually did too much wrong. Actually, I don’t think I did anything wrong. There is very few things I could have tried differently or more of, but to be honest, I actually thought I did quite well in the amount of questions I asked my opponent today, and she just was answering them every time.”

“It’s just she played incredibly well. She was able to get back balls from different positions of the court and hit winners from different positions of the court. Any changes of rhythm that I actually tried to give, yeah, she was just able to find her range and find her game from any balls that I gave her, which obviously makes it quite difficult for me not to be able to kind of put her on the back foot at all.”

When asked about whether she tried to change anything strategically in the game, Konta said: “I tried to obviously sometimes slow down the balls a bit because I know she absorbs pace very well. And then I tried to speed it up, because I tried to get at it that way. I tried to sometimes go through the middle a bit more. She was moving around the ball quite well. So then I tried to move it out wide.”

“She was moving well out wide (smiling). So then I tried to use slower slices. I tried to use faster slices. I actually thought I varied my serve quite well. I went through pretty much every serve I can hit.”

On the men’s side, the top two seeds were eliminated. America’s Taylor Fritz defeated the number one seed, Guido Pella in three close sets, 6-4 3-6 6-4. Also, the number two seed Laslo Djere was eliminated by qualifier Thomas Fabbiano in two tiebreak sets 7-6 7-6.

Looking ahead to Thursday, the marquee match on the women’s side will be former world no. 1 Simona Halep taking on defending Wimbledon champion, Angelique Kerber.

On the men’s side, it is the battle of the Brits, as British no.1 Kyle Edmund playing against his compatriot Dan Evans.

Edmund commented about his upcoming Evans match “He’s seeing the ball well. It’s another opportunity for me just in the match itself, forgetting about Dan… I just gotta get out there and play my best, really. Last few days I have been in a good place playing. I liked how I transferred that to the match court today. Hopefully I can keep improving.”

“Dan’s game is obviously, backhand probably 75% is slicing or something. I think there will be a bit more longer rallies with Dan because he slows up the ball a lot more.”

British Players Jo Konta and Dan Evans Win in Eastbourne

Posted by Admin on June 26, 2019
Posted in: ATP, Eastbourne, LTA, On Site. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

British Players Jo Konta and Dan Evans Win in Eastbourne
Eric Han for Tennis Atlantic

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British no.1 Johanna Konta came through two tough sets today 6-4 7-6, against Greece’s Maria Sakkari to advance to the next round at the Eastbourne International.

After the match, Konta said: “Maria played well, to be honest. Yeah, no, I’m pleased I was able to stay calm and also just a good perspective. I don’t think anything major happened. It was important to see it that way and see the good things that I was doing. Yeah, I mean, it could have easily gone to a third set, so I definitely wasn’t taking anything for granted out there. Yeah, just pleased to have just, yeah, kept a good perspective and just competed well.”

“I’m very pleased to come through that. I think there was so little in it and in both sets. Our points actually felt that she was playing better than me, so I was just really pleased that I was able to stay with her and create a few opportunities and take a few of them. So, yeah, pleased I have come through.”

She will face Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the third round, who she played back in 2015 in Sydney qualifying- a match that the Brit won comfortably in straight sets 6-2 6-2.

British player Dan Evans also came through today by beating Moldova’s Radu Albot 7-6 6-2. In the press conference, he said: “Today I felt a bit flat at the start but got into it. You know, I hung around a

lot last week, played dubs. So I was a bit lethargic at the start, but I thought I got going and I’m pretty happy with the end of that match. Yeah, it was a good match. It’s a great week for me.”

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When asked about his thoughts about being back again competing in Eastbourne, Evans commented, “Yes, I mean, it’s nice to being back here, having another good match on grass before Wimbledon. That’s why I’m here. I like to play here on (the) grass, so I try to enjoy every match and every moment right now.”

Defending Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber had a tricky match-up as she played former top world 10 player, Samantha Stosur, but nevertheless prevailed in straight sets 6-4 6-4.

In her press conference, she discussed the differences between winning her maiden Grand Slam title in Australia and winning Wimbledon last year. “I think after I won Australia, a lot of things change. I mean, especially in Germany. It was so huge that someone after Steffi won the first Grand Slam, and, yeah, without expectation, I played in Australia and everything.”

“And of course then to winning Wimbledon as my third Grand Slam was even more special, because it was not just that I had the lucky draw or I just won my first one. It was my third one. And Wimbledon was always the tournament that I really would like to win one day.”

Other notable mentions are sixth seed Simona Halep taking out Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei 6-2 6-0 and Caroline Wozniacki beating Andrea Petkovic 6-4 6-4.