Qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena defeated Albert Ramos in a three set tilt 6-3 4-6 6-4 to capture his maiden ATP title on the clay of Quito, Ecuador. Carballes Baena defeated Federico Gaio, Paolo Lorenzi, Nicolas Jarry, and Andrej Martin after qualifying, dropping sets in his final three matches but prevailing each time.
His countryman Ramos, the more experienced of the finalists, defeated Roberto Quiroz, Gerald Melzer, and Thiago Monteiro, his win over Monteiro coming in three sets.
Jarry and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo, both hailing from Chile, defeated Austin Krajicek and Jackson Withrow in the doubles final.
Lucas Pouille, who captured a career high three ATP titles in 2017, captured his first of 2018, 7-6 6-4 over countryman Richard Gasquet. Pouille benefited from a retirement in the semifinals when trailing against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, as Tsonga injured his knee up a set and 5-5 in set 2. Carlos Taberner and Benoit Paire both lost to Pouille in straight sets.
Gasquet showed good form yet again on home courts, he beat Daniil Medvedev, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Damir Dzumhur and David Goffin. The wins over Herbert and Goffin coming in three sets.
British brothers Ken and Neal Skupski defeated Hugo Nys and Ben Mclachlan in the doubles final.
Both Mirza Basic and Marius Copil had a shot at their maiden ATP title, and Basic came out ahead. The Bosnian edged Copil 7-6 6-7 6-4 in the final, after upsetting both Philipp Kohlschreiber and Stan Wawrinka to reach the final. Basic, a qualifier, also defeated Florian Mayer and Max Marterer in the main draw. Basic was on the ropes in his opening round qualifying match against local player Alexander Lazov, and dropped a set against Marterer as well, but improved throughout the entirety of the week. He was rock solid on serve against Wawrinka and finally got the upper hand.
Copil defeated Robin Haase, Blaz Kavcic, Gilles Muller, and Jozef Kovalik to reach the final, not dropping a set in those four victories.
Haase and Matwe Middelkoop will head into a home tournament in Rotterdam with momentum after capturing the doubles final over Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya. It’s their second title of 2018.
Daniel Brands and Marius Copil Triumph In Qualifying at Sofia Open Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic
The first edition of the Sofia Open saw the surprise exit of the top two seeds in the qualifying draw.
Headlining the field was Japan’s Yūichi Sugita. Ranked 124th in the world, Sugita recently qualified for his maiden Australian Open main draw before suffering a defeat to French 23rd seed Gael Monfils. The 27-year-old kicked off his Bulgarian campaign with a 6-4, 6-1, win over Turkish wildcard Cem İlkel. Awaiting him in the final round was Romania’s Marius Copil. Copil defeated 18-year-old Bulgarian Alexandar Lazarov in straight sets during his first round match.
Copil’s start to 2016 has been far from ideal with him losing two out of his three matches during the Australian swing. Despite the unsatisfactory to the year, Copil proved too problematic for Sugita. The world No.170 fended off three break points to win 6-3, 6-4, after 78 minutes of play.
Following the top seed out of the tournament was Russian second seed Konstantin Kravchuk. At 133rd in the world, Kravchuk is just seven places away from his career best of 126. His opening match was a tricky test against Belgium’s Yannick Mertens. The 30-year-old had a match point to take the win in straight sets, but failed to convert as he eventually edged past the world No.201 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
There was a bigger test awaiting Kravchuk in the second round, German fifth seed Daniel Brands. Brands has enjoyed an impressive start to 2016 with a semifinal appearance in the Noumea Challenger, followed by reaching the second round of the Australian Open as a qualifier. Despite a promising start by the Russian, the 30-year-old prevailed to Brands. The German recovered from a set down to upset the second seed 4-6,7-6(5),6-4.
Mirza Basic recently became only the second Bosnian man to reach a main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open. In Melbourne he defeated Robin Haase in the first round before succumbing to Tomas Berdych. Basic was able to continue his Melbourne momentum in Bulgaria with a duo of wins. His opening performance against Israel’s Amir Weintraub was mixed. After failing to serve the match out in the final set at 5-4, the Bosnian grabbed another critical break in the following game to seal the win – 6-7(2), 6-3,7-5. Basic’s second round encounter was more straightforward as he eased past 6th seed Farrukh Dustov 6-3, 6-3, to reach the main draw.
Completing the quartet of Bulgarian qualifiers was Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano. Since reaching the last eight of the ATP Chennai Open at the start of the year, the Italian has suffered early losses during the Australian Open qualifying tournament and at the Manila Challenger. Fabbiano, seeded fourth in the tournament, overcame his recent disappointments to reach the main draw in Sofia. After dismissing Serbia’s Laslo Djere in the first round, the Italian set up an encounter with Marton Fucsovics. The encounter was an easy task for the 2007 French Open boys doubles champion as he won six consecutive games during his 6-4, 6-1, victory.
First round matches for the qualifiers
Q Daniel Brands vs. Q Thomas Fabbiano
Q Mirza Basic vs. Yuki Bhambri
Q Marius Copil vs. Hyeon Chung
All of the qualifiers are capable of making runs given this open field.
Round 1 of the 2015 Davis Cup World Group was filled with drama as it brought out the best parts of the Davis Cup, with upsets, comebacks from 2 sets down, and passionate fan support at sites around the globe as players donned the national colors and put in their best effort on behalf of their country. Here is a review of all the action over this past weekend.
Argentina clawed back from 2-1 down in the tie as they were pushed to extra time at home against Brazil. The Friday singles rubbers were split, with Joao Souza winning the first rubber in five sets over Carlos Berlocq, and Leo Mayer claiming the second rubber for Argentina with a four set win over Thomaz Bellucci. Brazil won the doubles as expected as Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares took out Berlocq and Diego Sebastian Schwartzman in straights.
On Sunday, Mayer led the Argentinian battle back, he avoided a collapse from 2 sets up and beat Souza in the second longest match in tennis history, it went over 6 hours as he triumphed on his twelfth match point chance 15-13 in the fifth set. Every set went to at least 5-5 as both players were, as to be expected, exhausted at the end, with Mayer having just that extra edge.
Due to that 6 hour+ match, the final decisive rubber between Federico Delbonis and Bellucci was pushed into extra time on Monday morning, and Delbonis, inspired by Mayer’s triumph, defeated Bellucci in 4 sets, as the Brazilian veteran was the weak link for the team this time.
Kazakhstan d. Italy 3-2
The biggest upset of the weekend came in Astana, as Mikhail Kukushkin inspired his lower ranked Kazakh teammates to a victory over an erratic Italian team that proved to be in disarray by Sunday. Kukushkin beat Simone Bolelli in straights on Friday though Andreas Seppi evened up the tie with a win over Andrey Golubev in 4 sets. The Italians won the doubles rubber as Bolelli and Fabio Fognini beat Alex Nedovyesov and Golubev in four sets, giving them a 2-1 lead.
On Sunday, the Italian choke job was on however, Seppi lost to Kukushkin in a very poor showing, as he failed to take even a set, and then Fognini made matters worse losing in five sets to Nedovyesov from 2 sets to 1 up, after he gotten it back to 5-5 in the fifth set.
It wasn’t the best attended tie of the weekend, but the fans who were in attendance were greatly pleased to see their home boys advancing as Italy will have to fight off relegation now.
The one-two punch of Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil was too much for Kei Nishikori and Japan. Though Kei performed well, beating Pospisil in straights on Friday, and Raonic in 5 sets on Sunday, the rest of the Japanese team fared poorly. Raonic beat Ito in a straight set drubbing on Friday, Daniel Nestor teamed with Pospisil to win the doubles point in five sets over Go Soeda and Yasutaka Uchiyama, and Pospisil dispatched Soeda in a live fifth rubber without dropping a set.
As mentioned in my preview, one has to wonder what might have been for team Japan if they had selected their young guns, Yoshihito Nishioka and Taro Daniel, rather than journeyman veterans Soeda and Ito, in my mind it would have increased their chances to win the tie.
Belgium d. Switzerland 3-2
The highest ranked player on the Swiss team, Yann Marti, stormed off and quit the team after he was not selected to play on Friday singles, and his selfish behavior may have cost his nation the tie, as the severely underdog, and shorthanded Swiss performed admirably, forcing a live fifth rubber to be played on the road in Liege, Belgium.
Henri Laaksonen deserves great credit for the fact the Belgians had to sub in their number one David Goffin, who originally wasn’t planning to play, in order to finish off that fifth rubber. Laaksonen was responsible for both Swiss rubber wins, as he beat Ruben Bemelmans on Friday from 2 sets to love down, Bemelmans collapsing down the stretch, and then beat Steve Darcis in the fourth rubber, also in five sets, as he outlasted the veteran serve and volleyer.
The Belgians earned wins from Darcis over Michael Lammer on Friday, from Bemelmans and Niels Desein over Adrian Bossel and Lammer in Saturday doubles, and as mentioned from Goffin over Bossel in straights, as Belgium had to scratch and claw against a journeyman team to book their place in the quarterfinals.
Australia d. Czech Republic 3-2 (3-1 live rubbers)
Team Australia did have to play live rubber tennis on Sunday, but they were the better team all weekend against the Czechs. Thanasi Kokkinakis added yet another massive accomplishment in his burgeoning career, the young Aussie was selected to open the tie for the Aussies, and he pulled off a brilliant fight back against Lukas Rosol from 2 sets to love down, to give Australia a 1-0 start. Kokkinakis struggled to deal with Rosol’s ballbashing for the first two frames, but won the final three sets 7-5 7-5 6-3, with late breaks sets 3 and four, to grab the victory, never losing belief in himself, as Rosol’s own belief eventually wilted. Bernard Tomic followed up the Kokkinakis triumph with a routine win over fellow young gun Jiri Vesely to put Australia 2-0 up.
The Czechs forced the Aussies to close off the tie on Sunday with an upset win in the doubles by Vesely and Adam Pavlasek over Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt in five sets, but Tomic secured the tie, defeating a struggling Rosol in straight sets in the fourth rubber.
The dead rubber was won by Jan Mertl to conclude the tie at 3-2 in favor of Australia, Mertl dispatching Sam Groth, who appeared to be ready to board his airplane.
France d. Germany 3-2 (3-0 live rubbers)
France got off to a great start and won their tie on Saturday against Germany, Gilles Simon had to survive an onslaught against Jan-Lennard Struff in the opening rubber, finally sneaking past the pesky Germany 10-8 in the fifth, but it was much easier for Gael Monfils, who beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in straights, and also for Nicolas Mahut and Julien Benneteau, who secured the tie with a win in Saturday doubles over Benjamin Becker and Andre Begemann.
Kohlschreiber and Struff beat Simon and Mahut in the dead rubbers to conclude the tie at 3-2 in favor of the French.
Borna Coric lost a 2 sets to love lead against Viktor Troicki in the second Friday singles rubber, and that was the primary contributing factor to the Serbian sweep over the Croatian team. Novak Djokovic beat Mate Delic, and as mentioned, Troicki beat Coric in 5 sets. Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic locked the result of the tie on Saturday with a win over Marin Draganja and Franko Skugor in doubles.
Filip Krajinovic and Troicki won the dead rubbers over Skugor and Delic.
The quarterfinals in the World Group will feature France traveling to face Great Britain, Kazakhstan traveling to face Australia, Serbia going to Argentina and Canada heading to Belgium.
Action Outside The World Group
Santiago Giraldo and Colombia beat Pablo Cuevas and Uruguay 3-2, the inspiring Victor Estrella led the Dominican Republic past Barbados with a pair of wins and a 3-2 overall result, Michael Venus and New Zealand beat China 4-1.
In Europe, Russia beat Denmark 4-1 as Andrey Kuznetsov won two singles rubbers, Austria scratched past Sweden 3-2, from 1-2 down going into play on Sunday. Elias Ymer shocked Jurgen Melzer for a Friday singles win, but he couldn’t defeat Andreas Haider-Maurer on Sunday, and Gerald Melzer secured the tie with a fifth rubber win. Gerald chosen to start over his older, more accomplished brother Jurgen.
Martin Klizan went 3-0 between singles and doubles as Slovakia blanked Slovenia 5-0, Romania demolished Israel 5-0, as Marius Copil and Adrian Ungur both won twice, and Poland beat Lithuania 3-2, as Jerzy Janowicz scored two singles wins.
In group 2 action, the young Chilean squad swept Peru 5-0, Turkey beat South Africa 3-2 as Cem Ilkel, a 19 year old ranked outside of the worlds top 400 beat Ruan Roelofse 6-4 in the fifth set, and Marsel Ilhan scored two wins in singles. Last but not least, Joao Sousa led Portugal to a 4-1 win over Morocco.
February 2013 Challenger Tour Recap: Aussie Kyrgios Grabs a Win, Dutchman Huta Galung Fights Back in Rankings Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com
Burnie Challenger (January 28-Feburary 3, 2013)
Aussie up and comer John Millman continued his good play this year, taking the prestigious Burnie challenger in Australia over French veteran Stephane Robert. Millman beat three fellow Aussies en route to the title, including another young gun, Ben Mitchell. Rubin Statham and Aussie Matt Barton were semifinalists.
Bergamo Challenger (February 4-Feburary 10, 2013)
Polish veteran Michal Przysiezny took the title in Italy on indoor hard in 3 sets over Jan Lennard Struff, who is at a career high ranking of 120 in the world. The semifinalists were Viktor Galovic and Peter Gojowczyk. Przysiezny notably beat Ernest Gulbis in the opening round.
West Lakes Challenger (February 4-Feburary 10, 2013)
Matt Barton continued his strong play in Australia and the 21-year-old reached a career high ranking of 235, beating veteran British journeyman James Ward to take the title. Barton beat Alexander Lobkov in the semis and beat young compatriot Luke Saville in round 2. Ward beat James Duckworth in the opening round as well as junior Aussie Nick Kyrgios in the semis.
Quimper Challenger (February 11-Feburary 17,2013)
Indoors in France, Marius Copil of Romania beat French veteran Marc Gicquel to capture the title. Copil is 22 and is at a career high ranking of 138. He had notable wins over Gilles Muller and semifinalist Dudi Sela along the way. Gicquel, meanwhile, who is just outside the top 120, had wins over Roberto Bautista-Agut and semifinalist Steve Darcis.
Salinas Challenger (February 25-March 2, 2013)
Alejandro Gonzalez took the small 35k clay court challenger in Ecuador over Renzo Olivo. Joao Souza and qualifier Stefano Travaglia were semifinalists.
Cherbourg Challenger (February 25-March 3, 2013)
Jesse Huta Galung, once ranked just outside the top 100, has experienced a precipitous rankings drop all the way out of the top 340 in the world. He finally got things back on the right track indoors in Cherbourg, winning over Vincent Millot after upsetting Sergiy Stakhovsky in the semis. Millot beat Kenny De Schepper.
Sydney Challenger (February 25-March 3, 2013)
In Sydney, junior world number 1 Nick Kyrgios beat Matt Reid and will rise to 330 in the world at the age of 17. Kyrgios has had a strong Australian summer challenger showing and in this event he had a win over Stephane Robert in the semis. Reid beat Sam Groth in the semis. As you can tell, these Aussie challenger events are basically a testing ground for their next group of talented players to come up the ranks.
