Marco Cecchinato claimed his second ATP title to continue his record setting year. The rapidly rising Italian eased past Guido Pella 6-2 7-6 after previously dropping just a set against Jiri Vesely prior to the final. Cecchinato defeated Vesely, Laslo Djere, and Marco Trungelliti to reach the final.
Pella for his part reached his first final of the season after wins against Taro Daniel, Aljaz Bedene, Dusan Lajovic, and Robin Haase. He dropped the opening set in his first two matches and had to battle hard to reach the final stage. Haase and Matwe Middelkoop defeated Jebavy/Vesely in the doubles final.
Steve Johnson won a fourth career ATP title and his second on grass with a 7-5 3-6 6-2 win against first time finalist Ramkumar Ramanathan. Ramanthan put up a spirited fight in the biggest match of his career, but it was the veteran Johnson who prevailed in the deciding set. Johnson also claimed wins against Christian Harrison, Dudi Sela, and Marcel Granollers in straight sets to reach the final.
The 23 year old Ramanthan defeated Victor Estrella, Denis Kudla, Vasek Pospisil, and Tim Smyczek, dropping just a set against Kudla en route to the final. He’s hoping there will be more success to come this season after the maiden final breakthrough.
Erlich/Sitak defeated Arevalo/Reyes-Varela in the doubles final with ease.
Fabio Fognini continued to add to what has been a highly accomplished season for the Italian veteran. Fognini claimed his second title of the year defeating Richard Gasquet 6-3 3-6 6-1. It was a good tournament for both players as Fognini defeated Mikael Ymer, Federico Delbonis, and Fernando Verdasco to reach the final, dropping a set in every match except against Delbonis.
Gasquet dropped his opening set of the tournament against Gerald Melzer (winning in 3) then went on to defeat Casper Ruud and Henri Laaksonen to reach the final. Fognini moved closer to the top 10, while Gasquet moved closer to returning to the top 25 with the victory. Peralta/Zeballos defeated Fognini and Simone Bolelli in the doubles final, denying Fognini a pair of titles from the same tournament.
Grass Court Season Concludes With ATP 250 Newport Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
The ATP 250 in Newport at the Tennis Hall of Fame concludes the grass court season and begins the North American summer of tennis. Here is your look at all the action.
Top Half:
Adrian Mannarino will begin against James Duckworth or Jordan Thompson, Mannarino is a great grass court player so he should beat Thompson and Gilles Muller to reach the semis. Muller’s path is Marcos Baghdatis, then Marcel Granollers or a qualifier. While Muller is usually good on grass, his poor form means Mannarino has a decided edge.
Steve Johnson did not have a good grass court season, but back in the States he should get past a qualifier or Christian Harrison before running into Alex De Minaur, one of the breakthrough young guns this year and a player who did have a great grass season. De Minaur should eke past the big serving Ivo Karlovic, then defeat Dudi Sela or a qualifier, with De Minaur favored to emerge from this section.
Mischa Zverev should ease past Donald Young/Vasek Pospisil and then defeat Denis Kudla after Kudla defeats Ruben Bemelmans and Ramkumar Ramanathan/qualifier. Zverev has won a title on grass this year and he has a great shot to do it again if he can get past a tough grass court player in Kudla.
Matt Ebden faces Bjorn Fratangelo or Tim Smyczek then should run into Sergiy Stakhovsky in the quarters. Stako will face Jason Jung, coming off success on the challenger tour, then Nicolas Mahut or Ryan Harrison, with Harrison likely falling victim to a tough section full of good grass court players. Ebden vs. Zverev is my bottom half semifinal.
Any of these four players could emerge as champion on this surface, but Mannarino and Zverev should make the final with Zverev continuing his recent success to lift another title.
Veterans Ferrer and Isner, Young Gun Rublev Claim ATP Titles Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
ATP Bastad
David Ferrer grinded his way to his first ATP title in two years, claiming a third career Bastad title 6-4 6-4 over Alexandr Dolgopolov, who also sorely needed the ranking boost gained from reaching an ATP final, even at the 250 level. Ferrer’s record turned positive this year overall after wins against Federico Delbonis, Dustin Brown, Henri Laaksonen and Fernando Verdasco, as since reaching the third round of Wimbledon he’s looking much better in terms of form.
Dolgopolov also went above .500 this season overall, he defeated Leonardo Mayer, Horacio Zeballos, Karen Khachanov, and Andrey Kuznetsov, looking healthy in the process.
Julian Knowle and Philipp Petzschner defeated Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop in the doubles final.
ATP Newport
Overall, John Isner would have preferred more from his grass court season, but the 32 year old won Newport, and in the process gained his first ATP title in two years. His victims at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships were Sam Groth, Dennis Novikov, Bjorn Fratangelo, and surprise finalist Matt Ebden 6-3 7-6.
Ebden, a 29 year old qualifier, reached his first ever ATP final, Rajeev Ram, Lukas Lacko, Tobias Kamke, and Peter Gojowczky were the players he defeated en route, as Newport has a habit of generating interesting upsets. Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi and Rajeev Ram beat Matt Reid and J.P. Smith in the doubles final.
ATP Umag
Andrey Rublev was much more than a lucky loser in Umag, he now wears the title of champion, as he won his maiden ATP title over Paolo Lorenzi 6-4 6-2. Rublev defeated Carlos Berlocq, Andrej Martin, Fabio Fognini, and Ivan Dodig as well last week. Lorenzi beat Aljaz Bedene, Jiri Vesely, and Alessandro Giannessi, it was his second ATP final this season, although he’s lost both.
Guillermo Durán and Andres Molteni defeated Tomislav Draganja and Marin Draganja in the doubles final.
Martin Klizan won his second ATP 500 title of the season in Hamburg. In a big boost since returning from injury, Klizan upset Pablo Cuevas in straight sets 6-1 6-4, after defeating journeyman Stephane Robert in the semifinals in straight sets. Klizan also posted wins over Igor Sijsling, Louis Wessels, and Daniel Gimeno-Traver last week, all without dropping a set, with a textbook power tennis performance.
Cuevas beat Renzo Olivo, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Thiago Monteiro, and Florian Mayer this week, as he continued his great clay court season. Henri Kontinen and John Peers took home the doubles title over Daniel Nestor and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.
ATP Newport
37 year old Ivo Karlovic served well for four straight matches and took home the title in Newport, adding a big result to his poor season overall. Karlovic defeated fellow big server Gilles Muller 6-7 7-6 7-6 in the final, after posting previous wins against Frank Dancevic, Marco Chiudinelli, and Marcos Baghdatis earlier in the week. Muller defeated Victor Estrella, Adrian Mannarino, and Donald Young to reach the final. Sam Groth and Chris Guccione beat Jonathan Marray and Adil Shamsadin in the doubles final. Karlovic continues to be a tremendous threat on fast surfaces.
ATP Bastad
Albert Ramos won his first ever ATP title in Bastad, upsetting Fernando Verdasco 6-3 6-4. Ramos beat multiple Spaniards last week in Sweden, Roberto Carballes Baena was his first victim, then he defeated Andrea Arnaboldi in three sets, and David Ferrer in straights to reach the final. Ferrer had never lost to Ramos before, but he upped his game, and his spin, to defeat his higher ranked countryman.
Verdasco defeated Henri Laaksonen, Albert Montanes, Facundo Bagnis, and Gastao Elias, all without dropping a set. Marcel Granollers and David Marrero defeated Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner in the doubles final to make it all-Spanish champions in Bastad.
Qualifiers In @TennisHalloFame; Main Draw Underway Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic
I normally don’t like Mondays at a tennis tournament. You get leftover qualifying rounds and a few first round matches. The real red meat of the tournament always starts later in the week. So Monday is tennis subsistence day. Like watching Lucas Lacko, who reached the third round of Wimbledon, flame out in the first round at Newport. The best part of that match was learning that the victor, Dudi Sela, was traveling with his 2 year old and 7 month old, and he looked really busy after the match, like “we need you now” busy. Sela faces off against defending champ Rajeev Ram in the second round.
Ram cruised over Mackenzie McDonald later in the day to set up the second round match. As for McDonald, the UCLA champ was in great spirits just to have had the opportunity to play on Center Court in Newport. That made Monday better.
The first sign that it wasn’t going to be the usual Monday were the qualifiers: Old hands Frank Dancevic and Alex Kuznetsov advancing in three grueling, up-and-down sets.
Kuzentsov
Dudi had a Baby
Then it was Brian Baker’s turn. Baker, after spending only 25 minutes on court yesterday due to the retirement of Jan Hernych, had a closer match against Great Britain’s Brydan Klein. Baker looked like his old self again, and he closed out the match to qualify in straights/ Seeing him out there was enough to make my Monday.
As he heads to the Olympics next month to represent the U.S., Baker told Tennis Atlantic, “I feel great. I’m getting fitter and better each week. I just need to get some more matches. This year has been a little bit of a struggle just because coming back from so much time off, and playing the bigger events with my protected (ranking), if you’re not winning a ton, you’re just not getting a lot of matches. It’s nice this week to already get two matches under my belt and hope to get more”.
One good thing about Mondays is a chance to see young players on the rise and local players of interest. Today, the crowds got to see Rhode Island’s own Jared Donaldson. In fact, they wouldn’t have been much of a press corps here today without Donaldson on the schedule. Donaldson is an intense young player with a bright future. I will let the entire local press corps tell you all about him, because going against the grain is what Mondays are all about. I will tell you that he lost in straights to Donald Young, but that is all.
2016 ATP Newport Preview and Predictions Steen Kirby and Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic
The only ATP tournament on Grass in the USA is at the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, where Tennis Atlantic once again has on-site coverage. Here is a preview with predictions for this ATP 250 stop in the balmy northeast.
Hall of Fame Tennis Championships
ATP World Tour 250
Newport, RI, USA
July 11-17, 2016
Surface: Grass
Prize Money: $515,025
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Steve Johnson (29)
2: Ivo Karlovic (32)
3: Gilles Muller (39)
4: Marcos Baghdatis (40)
Newport lacks elite players but it does have a host of serve and volleyers, alongside Americans seeking an ATP title.
First round matchups to watch:
Benjamin Becker vs. (WC)Stefan Kozlov
Becker has eight wins on grass this year while Kozlov has struggled since reaching the quarterfinals in Den Bosch. Kozlov is a great young talent, and he does enjoy playing in Newport, but the experienced Becker likely has an edge in this one.
Defending champion Rajeev Ram has been in shockingly poor form on grass, as he has just one win, and five losses on the surface this year. Ram tends to find form in Newport however, and American Mackenzie McDonald has limited experience on tour this year, and just turned pro in June after becoming an NCAA champion at UCLA. Given McDonald’s limited experience on grass, Ram is the favorite.
Top Half:
With a 10-3 record on grass, an ATP title on the surface, and a second week result at Wimbledon already on his resume this year, Steve Johnson is both the tournament favorite, and the top seed. The American will open with Yuichi Sugita or a qualifier, he should win that match, then end up opposite Becker/Kozlov, or Jared Donaldson/Donald Young. Young or Becker should be the favorites for the quarters as Donaldson hasn’t played on grass this year. I have Johnson defeating Becker in my bracket.
Gilles Muller could have some opposition as he looks to reach the semifinals. Still, the seed has the most experience on grass in his section, and he posted both an ATP final and semifinal on the surface in recent weeks. Muller should beat Dennis Novikov, a Wimbledon qualifier, or Victor Estrella, with Adrian Mannarino ending up opposite him in the quarterfinals. Mannarino faces a struggling James Duckworth after a successful enough grass court season. Mannarino also has the big serving Sam Groth, or a qualifier in round 2. Groth has failed to capitalize on big serve and win notable results on grass this year. I favor Muller over Mannarino by a small margin in the quarters.
Ivo Karlovic is yet another big server in the Newport draw, the Croatian should cruise past a qualifier or Ryan Harrison, and face Vasek Pospisil in the quarterfinals. Pospisil is a big server as well, the Canadian has been struggling lately, but Marco Chiudinelli isn’t that tough of an opponent in round 1. In round 2 it will be J.P. Smith or Jordan Thompson for Pospisil. He could be troubled by Thompson, who has shown flashes of skill on grass, but I have it Karlovic over Pospisil in the quarters even though Karlovic has been average at best on grass this year.
A healthy Marcos Baghdatis looks set to have a good week in Newport after posting a pair of ATP quarterfinals this grass court season. The Cypriot ball striker will face Austin Krajicek or a qualifier in round 2, with most likely the Dudi Sela/Lukas Lacko winner to follow in the quarters, unless Ram or McDonald find form. Lacko showed a sudden burst of form as a Wimbledon qualifier, as he reached the third round. Sela was terrible in London, bowing out in round 1, but he dominates the h2h against Lacko. The flaky Lacko is my pick to reach the quarters, before falling to Baghdatis.
Lacko has always had the talent, but he has usually failed to live up to it. After qualifying and reaching the third round at Wimbledon he showed not only his overall tennis ability, but also his potential on grass. Given this wide open field, the unseeded Lacko could leave Newport a surprise winner, or lose in the first round.
Predictions
Semis:
Johnson d. Muller
Karlovic d. Baghdatis
Johnson is my pick for tournament champion, while Baghdatis can struggle at times against big servers, like he did against John Isner at Wimbledon.
Final:
Johnson d. Karlovic
On American soil, Johnson is the clear favorite to win this title, which would be the second ATP title of his career.
Serve and Volley Specialist Rajeev Ram Serves Up Second ATP Newport Title Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
After an exciting week of wacky results in Newport the serve and volley specialist Rajeev Ram prevailed in the final over the veteran Ivo Karlovic, who brought his own massive serve to the match. Ram, who boosted himself into the top 90 with the title victory, is the lowest ranked ATP World Tour champion this year after his 7-6(5) 5-7 7-6(2) win. Ram had to save three match points this week but Karlovic couldn’t generate any of those today. He narrowly lost the first set tiebreak, got a break in the second set, but played a poor third set tiebreak that doomed him to defeat.
Just like last year, Karlovic finishes as a finalist in Newport, while Ram took his second title in Rhode Island. He’s primarily a serve and volley doubles specialist, and a challenger tour level player, but he brought his ATP game to play this week, and much credit to the veteran Indian-American.
In the doubles final Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Johnny Marray slipped past Nick Monroe/Mate Pavic 10-8 in a third set super tiebreak.
