TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open

Zverev Wins Emotional First Title in Germany, Cilic Finds Form in Istanbul
Steen Kirby and Manuel Traquete, Tennis Atlantic

ATP Munich

Alexander Zverev won his third career ATP title and his first in his home country of Germany, an emotional moment for the 20 year old who put his skills on display and thumped Guido Pella 6-4 6-3 in the final, dropping a set in just one of his four matches at the BMW Open this week. Zverev, one of the tournament favorites, beat Jeremy Chardy and Roberto Bautista Agut in a pair of close sets, and in the quarterfinals he needed three sets and a tiebreak to defeat countryman J.L. Struff. Zverev has had a great season thus far and could be challenging for the top 10 soon.

Pella, a 26 year old now 0-2 in ATP finals, is a clay specialist and came through qualifying defeating Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, Fabio Fognini, Horacio Zeballos, and Hyeon Chung to reach the final. Zeballos and Chung were three setters, as Chung came up just short of making it an all ATP next-gen final after upsetting Gael Monfils earlier in the tournament. Zeballos couldn’t outmuscle his countryman on clay.

Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah teamed up for more success on clay beating Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin in the doubles final.

ATP Istanbul

After struggling to start the year out, Marin Cilic moved to 6-1 on clay this year and helped protect his top 10 ranking with a 7-6 6-3 victory over Milos Raonic, who also found renewed form in Istanbul this week. Cilic now has 17 career titles and hasn’t dropped a set in his six wins on clay this season. In Istanbul he defeated Damir Dzumhur, Steve Darcis, and Diego Schwartzman in relatively easy fashion.

Raonic is 14-3 this year and reached his second final of the season after beating Aljaz Bedene, Bernard Tomic and Viktor Troicki, against Bedene he needed a third set tiebreak to prevail, but his level of tennis improved as the week went on, and he could serve as dark horse at Roland Garros.

Czech’s Roman Jebavy and Jiri Vesely won via a double bagel in the doubles final over Turkey’s Tuna Altuna and Italian Alessandro Motti, the most lopsided doubles final on tour this year.

ATP Estoril

Pablo Carreno Busta claimed his first ATP title on clay and his third overall ATP title, moving to 15-5 on clay this season with a routine 6-2 7-6 victory over surprise finalist Gilles Muller. PCB got ahead early and was never threatened, although Muller served better in the second set, Carreno Busta just nipping the tiebreak after beating three Spaniards this week to reach the final. Muller moves to 4-2 on clay this year and will look to keep the momentum up for his part.

Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus upset Tommy Robredo and David Marrero in straight sets to take the doubles final after a surprising week on clay.

Qualifying Day 1 Recap at the Inaugural Istanbul Open ATP
Ahmet Fevzi Guclu for Tennis Atlantic

The main draw was determined in addition to qualifying action today (photo credit Ahmet Fevzi Guclu)

Today at the inaugural ATP Istanbul Open, the qualifying tournament was started with 16 matches, on 5 different courts.

The star of the day was 3^rd seed and rising teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis, who was against Turk Barkin Yalcinkale (a 23 year old futures player) on court 1. With around 50 people in the stands, the Australian started the match with the break, and routined his opponent in two sets, Yalcinkale had no break point chances during the entirety of the match. Kokkinakis seemed motivated, and adjusted to clay well, his forehand was decent throughout the match, but he couldn’t find his first serve often.. He will need to improve in his next round clash against Nikola Mektic. [3] Kokkinakis def. Yalcinkale 6-1 6-2

Kokkinakis won easily as expected (photo credit Ahmet Fevzi Guclu)

The Surprise of the day, and only losing seed was seen in court 2, when World No: 154 Thiemo De Bakker, lost against Italian Roberto Marcora (a 25 year old at a career high ranking of 178). Marcora was able to come back from a bagel set in the opener, and won the second set with great backhands, breaking the Dutchman three times. In the final set, De Bakker lost his temper after losing the 6^th game, allowing a break for 2-4. The 8th seed was having a miserable day in Istanbul and threw his rackets to the ground multiple times, mixed in with swearing. Marcora continued his good serving performance and won the match in 1 hour 37 min. He is playing against his countrymen No: 384 Lorenzo Giustino next round. Marcora def. [8] De Bakker 0-6 6-2 6-3

Marcora was the calmer customer on the day (photo credit Ahmet Fevzu Guclu)

Next match in court 2, was between 6^th seeded Australian John Millman and 31 year old Ukrainian Vadim Aleeksenko. While Aleeksenko was doing nothing special, Millman was obviously a bit conservative, and anyone could tell that it was his first clay match in two years. Alekseenko made some easy errors in 3-4 game, and Australian celebrated with a fist pump. He served out the set in following game. It was all Millman in second set, he raised his level while his opponent struggled to get rhythm on his forehand, and as a result Alekseenko failed win a single game. The match was absolute domination but from the occasional skillful shotmaking by the Australian, it was a bad match tennis wise. Evgeny Donskoy from Russia will be his next opponent. [6] Millman def. Alekseenko 6-3 6-0

Millman isn’t comfortable on clay but he still won (photo credit: Ahmet Fevzi Guclu)

#1 seed Blaz Kavcic played the first match in center court, it was a good display from both players, other being Dragos Dima s (22 year old Romanian futures player). Kavcic played with good intensity, and young Romanian went for his shots, his backhand was also a strong weapon on the day. Kavcic won the first set 6-3, but world no: 540 Dima forced his opponent to make errors, and broke him twice and made it to 3^rd set. The final set started even between the two, but Kavcic broke Dima after an amazing passing shot, only to fail to win the following game. Slovenian No: 76 broke again, and was serving for the match at 5-3, but after long rallies 22 year old broke him to 30. After they both won their service games, at the last game of the set, Kavcic played skillful tennis, with great forehands and won the match in his 3^rd match point. Regardless that he got the win, Kavcic was far from decent level today on clay,and will be up against Turkish WC Efe Yurtacan tomorrow on court 1. [1] Kavcic def. Dima 6-3 1-6 7-5

Kavcic and Dima played a high quality contest (photo credit Ahmet Fevzi Guclu)

In other results:
Efe Yurtacan d. Andriej Kapas 3-6 6-1 7-6, Philipp Oswald d. Aleksandre Metreveli 6-1 7-5, Michael Venus d. Dimitar Kuzmanov 6-7 6-4 6-4, Teymuraz Gabashvili d. Aldin Setkic 6-2 6-3, Radu Albot d. Altug Celikbilek 6-3 6-4, Evgeny Donskoy d. Benjamin Ballaret 7-5 6-1, Michael Linzer d. Petru-Alexandru Luncanu 7-6 6-3, Marton Fuscovics beat Tuna Altuna 6-0 6-3, Nikola Mektic d. Jurgen Zopp 6-4 6-0, Alexandr Nedovyesov d. Mate Pavic 6-1 6-2, and Fedor Chervyakov d. Sarp Agabigun 6-7 7-5 6-0.