ATP Washington Recap

Monfils Slips Past Karlovic To Claim 2016 Citi Open Title
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

Credit to Christopher Levy @tennis_shots

All Photos Credit: Christopher Levy @tennis_shots

Gael Monfils showed his tremendous talent, as he dug deep to defeat the big serving Ivo Karlovic 5-7 7-6 6-4 in the 2016 Citi Open final. It’s the first 500 level title for Monfils, and his first title in over two years, as he’s historically struggled in ATP finals.

The Frenchman had a great week in Washington, and his positive mood wasn’t dampened after dropping the first set against Karlovic. The 37 year old Croatian was bidding to win his second ATP title in a row, and he got off to a good start, putting pressure on Monfils serve and eventually breaking, although he had to save three break points from 0-40 down in the ensuing game, serving 6-5 for the first set. That initial tightness under pressure for Ivo would rear its ugly head in the second set.

Despite being broken to go down 7-5 5-4, Monfils was not down for the count after all. Karlovic wasn’t broken all week up to that point, but went 0-40 down serving for the match, and although he got it back to deuce, a fourth break point in the game gave Monfils the chance to attack and level up the match at 5-5. He went on to improve his serving and force a third set with a second set tiebreak victory.

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In that third set, the fresher Monfils, a far superior mover, broke Karlovic early, and held serve from there to pull away for the title, leaving Karlovic pleased with his week overall, but disappointed to lose when he was so close to victory. Dr. Ivo had a match point in the second set tiebreak, but it wasn’t on his serve, and despite serving well, with 28 aces and 84% of his first serve points won, he couldn’t win enough return points to prevail in a close match.

In the doubles final, Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Lukasz Kubot and Alexander Peya in a pair of tiebreaks, as the veteran Canadian doubles specialist claimed another ATP title.

It was an exciting week of tennis in Washington to kick off the summer hard court season in the USA. The Citi Open organizers, volunteers and staff deserve credit for running a fantastic event.

Nishikori claims another 500, Kohlschreiber Wraps up Clay Season with Kitzbuhel Title
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

Kei Triumphs in Washington

ATP Washington

The Citi Open wrapped up Sunday for 2015 with an exciting three set final between Kei Nishikori and John Isner. The Japanese #1 won a tight one 4-6 6-4 6-4. As expected, Isner was strong on serve, but quite poor on return, and Nishikori upped his game after surrendering a first set break. Kei’s serving had the edge through sets 2 and 3, and after a break early in the third, Isner had no opportunities to get back in the match.

Nishikori has now won 10 ATP titles, 3 of them coming in 2015, including a pair of 500s, the other coming in Barcelona. Nishikori has been won the best players on tour at the 500 level, winning Barcelona, Tokyo, Memphis when it was a 500, and now Washington.

Isner had another fantastic week in North America, and padded his record in both the US Open Series and in Washington. His serve and game appears back on track and he’s dominating all but the toughest opponents. Big John is continuing to assert himself as the American #1, and he clearly doesn’t want anyone to take his crown away.

Bob and Mike Bryan won the doubles over Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo, their second title in as many weeks, as they won Atlanta previously and have been on fire during this US Open Series in Men’s doubles.

ATP Kitzbuhel

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The 2015 ATP clay court season came to an end with Philipp Kohlschreiber claiming the sixth title of his career, his fourth on clay, with a 2-6 6-2 6-2 victory in the final over fellow veteran Paul-Henri Mathieu, a qualifier who caught fire, but couldn’t maintain his momentum from the first set.

Kohlschreiber got better as the week in Austria progressed, following up a three set win in round 1 over J.L. Struff with solid wins over Santiago Giraldo and Fabio Fognini without dropping a set.In the semis Kohli beat a red-hot, but clearly fatigued Dominic Thiem, who finished the clay court season with a great record and made his home fans proud.

Mathieu beat Kenny De Schepper and Martin Klizan without dropping a set then beat Federico Delbonis after a second set bagel and fellow veteran Nicolas Almagro in the semis. The 33 year old moves up to 78 in the rankings with his best performance at the ATP level in quite some time, as it appears he may still have some great performances left in him.