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stateofsport211 · 15 days
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Phoenix Ch R1: Matteo Berrettini [WC] def. Hugo Gaston 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 Match Stats
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📸 ATP official website
It might have taken a while to get going for M. Berrettini, but the Italian wild card managed to get things under control as soon as he found his serve and groundstrokes combination back. Furthermore, M. Berrettini's backhand also worked perfectly in this match, especially in the last two sets while oftentimes balancing with the volleys when necessary, creating 13 break points thanks to his aggression despite H. Gaston having a 66% break point conversion rate while trying to apply his classic tricks.
On the other hand, M. Berrettini had an exceptional first serve winning percentage with 82%, 26% more than H. Gaston, aided by his 10 aces to get out of most troubles despite the first-set start to adjust himself for the play. Interestingly, even though H. Gaston double-faulted eight times, he still won 1% more second serve points than M. Berrettini with 51%, likely due to the latter's constant forehand rush earlier in the match.
In the second round, M. Berrettini will face the winner between eighth seed Arthur Cazaux or qualifier Adam Walton, which will be played today (local time). While this could be dubbed as the battle of the generations, this could be exciting to check how M. Berrettini's game fared to the current state of the Tour, especially knowing the potential of both players. Should be a fun one, with pressure points and their groundstrokes' consistency being predominantly tested!
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theivesbustamate · 2 years
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𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞-𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 - Day 6
Alexander Zverev during his Quarters-Finals against Jannik Sinner, he wins in 3:07 hours in three set 5-7; 6-3; 7-6(5). He will play tomorrow against Stefanos Tsitsipas
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7yearsofdele · 24 days
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Jack is up to 37 in the world rankings and I am actually really proud.
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stateofsport211 · 4 months
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NextGen Finals 2023: Challenger Frequents Making their Mark
An Introductory Post to the NextGen Finalists 2023
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The NextGen ATP Finals 2023 logo (📸 ATP Tour)
The field for this year’s NextGen Finals, which will be held in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) during the last weeks of November, has been set. Interestingly, just like parts of the field last year, all contenders made their mark in the ATP Challenger Tour throughout the year, which became part of the tennis Tour that showcased their potential even deeper.
This post will celebrate the next generation of tennis, serving as a recap of their season and what to expect before the Bootcamp, where everyone will get to know them better in a series of off-court challenges in one of the innovations of this year’s NextGen Finals. Furthermore, with an emphasis on the Challenger Tour, this would hopefully bring more exposure to the Challenger Tour, which became the intermediary between the rising players, those trying to rediscover their form, and those still trying to break even.
For this year, the NextGen Finals qualifying window was open until November 20, 2023, the day after the finals in 5 Challenger events this year were held. Eventually, it all came down to that week due to a possibly tight race between several players concurrently playing in several tournaments, especially Kobe and Montevideo. It took a while for the ATP to eventually finalize the finalists, and they officially announced the last 3 qualifiers earlier this Monday (November 20) despite the field looking set by the end of the second round of Kobe. They will be drawn into two groups on November 25, 2023, playing in the best-of-five mini-sets (first to 4 games).
Hereby introducing the NextGen Finalists:
1. Arthur Fils
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Arthur Fils during the Montpellier (250) (📸 Next Gen ATP Finals via JB Autissier)
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Arthur Fils' points to break 2-1 in the second set of the Oeiras 2 Challenger final against Joris de Loore (left), and to take the second set 7-5 in the Aix-en-Provence Challenger first round against Gregoire Barrere (right) (📸 ATP Challenger Livestream)
Starting this year one line below the Top 250, Fils’ meteoric rise commenced in Oeiras 2 Challenger, the start of his season, where he won the title against the previous week’s winner, Joris de Loore, 6-1, 7-6(4) through his predominantly working first serves and notably fiery passes, which often carried him until today. He continued the streak by being the Quimper Challenger runner-up to Gregoire Barrere 1-6, 4-6, which earned him the wild card to the Montpellier (250), where he became an eventual semifinalist to Jannik Sinner, as well as being a semifinalist of Marseille (250) to Benjamin Bonzi.
Since then, his potential flourished despite the rollercoaster clay season, with winning Lyon (250) as the pinnacle of his season (d. Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-5), followed by a semifinal appearance in Hamburg (500) several weeks later, closing the season with a runner-up finish in Antwerp (250, l. Alexander Bublik). As a reward for his remarkable season, not only did he become the first qualifier for the NextGen Finals, but he also achieved a career-high ranking of 36 by the end of October.
2. Luca van Assche
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Luca van Assche's reaction upon winning the longest Challenger final of the year in Pau Challenger (📸 Tennis.com)
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Luca van Assche's point to create his match point to 5-3* 40-ad in the second set of the Sanremo Challenger final against Juan Pablo Varillas (left), and to 4-3* 15-0 in the second set of the Aix-en-Provence Challenger against Andy Murray (right) (📸 ATP Challenger Livestream)
After breaking through the Top 150 by the end of 2022, van Assche had a relatively slow start to the year until he became the runner-up of the Pau Challenger at the beginning of March, where he got defeated by a resurgent Ugo Humbert in a high-quality match that lasted almost 4 hours 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(6) in the finals. The form did not stop until he cracked the Top 100 for the first time upon advancing to the semifinals of the Sanremo Challenger but further confirmed it once he straightforwardly defeated Juan Pablo Varillas 6-1, 6-3 for the title.
After a different set of rollercoasters in the clay season, including a notable defeat to Andy Murray in the Aix-en-Provence Challenger, van Assche continued his season beyond Challengers, as he made it to the second round of Eastbourne (250) as a qualifier, got eliminated against J.J. Wolf 2-6, 7-6(5), 1-6. During the indoor season, he made more noise again in the Orleans Challenger, where he lost against the eventual runner-up Jack Draper 5-7, 3-6 in the semifinals. He then sealed his season with a quarterfinal loss against a comeback Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, ranking 66th by the time of this writing right before the NextGen Finals.
3. Dominic Stricker
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Dominic Stricker celebrated as he stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas in the US Open second round (📸 DAZN Germany via Getty Images)
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Dominic Stricker's point to create one of his break points to 4-3* 40-ad in the second set of the finals of the first Prague Challenger against Sebastian Ofner (left, 📸 ATP Challenger Livestream) and also create one of his break points to *0-1 40-ad in the second set of the US Open third qualifying round against Thiago Agustin Tirante (right, 📸 Eurosport)
Despite his great potential being discovered last year (thus his NextGen Finals debut then), Stricker had to overcome several injuries and moments before he got to where he is today. Started the year straight to the Australian Open qualifying rounds, where he lost to Enzo Couacaud 7-6(2), 7-6(7) in one of the earliest Top 100 matches (when he was 18-19 lines away), he went on to win his second career Challenger title in Rovereto back in February (d. Giulio Zeppieri 7-6(8), 6-2), having won won his maiden Challenger title in Bergamo last year, followed by a home semifinal run in Lugano (l. Otto Virtanen). He then added Prague 1 Challenger to the list of the Challenger titles he won this year (d. Sebastian Ofner 7-6(7), 6-3), subsequently becoming a lucky loser in Roland Garros upon his third qualifying round loss against Thiago Agustin Tirante, which further asked the question on his ability to qualify for the Grand Slams due to the pressure moments he succumbed to during.
However, Stricker started steadily announcing himself on the bigger stage starting the grass season, steadily striking the ball more effectively and visibly improving during the pressure points/moments. Appeared competitive in the quarterfinals match of the Ilkley Challenger against Andy Murray despite the 6-7(5), 5-7 loss, and found himself qualified for Wimbledon after enduring a 4-set match against Mattia Bellucci in the third qualifying round. He then qualified for the US Open despite the subpar mini-clay season and build-up and asserted his revenge against Tirante (to whom he lost the final qualifying round in Roland Garros), successfully advancing to the fourth round in a competitive loss against Taylor Fritz after winning his third-round match against Benjamin Bonzi. Eventually, despite the end-of-season rollercoaster, his quarterfinal run in Basel (500) (l. Ugo Humbert) confirmed his Top 100 finish attained back in the US Open but unfortunately had to retire (for likely precautionary measures) in Ismaning Challenger at 7-6(2), 1-4 against Rudolf Molleker in hopes to be ready for his second NextGen Finals appearance.
4. Flavio Cobolli
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Flavio Cobolli in action during Olbia Challenger (📸 OA Sport)
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Flavio Cobolli's point to break 4-3 in the first set of the Roland Garros third qualifying round against Laurent Lokoli (left, 📸 France TV Sport), and to take the second set 6-4 during the Milan Challenger final against Facundo Diaz Acosta (right, 📸 ATP Challenger Livestream)
Trying to live up to his discovered potential last year thanks to his aggressive play (and often going deep on important occasions), Cobolli started his season with a second-round run in Pune (250), where he lost against Botic van de Zandschulp 5-7, 4-6. He then started to sparkle in Munich (250), where he ended up as a quarterfinalist (l. Christopher O’Connell), followed by a semifinal showing in Rome (Italy) Challenger (l. Jesper de Jong) and Milan Challenger (l. Facundo Diaz Acosta). In a similar timeframe (clay season, its extension, and Challenger’s own clay season), he also qualified for the Roland Garros, where he ended up being defeated by Carlos Alcaraz 0-6, 2-6, 5-7 in the first round. Fast-forward to the end of July, in almost the same tournament he finally got himself known in Umag (250), he became a quarterfinalist after the loss against Matteo Arnaldi in an all-Italian-NextGen showing.
He then continued his stellar showing in the clay Challengers, where he reached the semifinals in Tulln (l. Sumit Nagal) and won the title in a close encounter in Lisbon (d. Benjamin Hassan 7-5, 7-5), citing Cristiano Ronaldo as his title run inspiration during the post-finals press conference. Furthermore, outside of the clay-court Challengers, he still managed to maintain the streak in the Olbia Challenger, where he was out-paced by Titouan Droguet during the finals, hence his runner-up finish after a 3-6, 4-6 loss. After two early exits in Bergamo and Helsinki Challengers, both of which were indoor hard tournaments, Cobolli had a semifinal showing in Danderyd by defeating Gilles Arnaud Bailly in the first round 6-4, 6-1, advanced to the quarterfinals at the cost of Gauthier Onclin’s withdrawal before winning against Radu Albot 6-4, 7-6(5) in a close encounter that confirmed his NextGen Finals qualification, but was overwhelmed when dealing with eventual champion Maximilian Marterer’s serve+1s in the semifinal.
5. Alex Michelsen
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Alex Michelsen in Newport, where he became the runner-up to Adrian Mannarino (📸 ATP Tour)
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Alex Michelsen's point to break 2-0 in the second set of the Rome, GA Challenger quarterfinals against Edan Leshem (top left), to take the second set 6-1 in the second Cary Challenger second round against Strong Kirchheimer (top right), and to *2-3 30-30 in the first set of the Knoxville Challenger second round against Gabriel Debru (bottom) (📸 ATP Challenger Livestream).
Starting the year precisely at World No. 600, A. Michelsen’s rise started in the Rome, Georgia (USA) Challenger in February, where he became the runner-up to Jordan Thompson 4-6, 2-6 right after becoming the runner-up of the ITF M25 Malibu (Jan 2) and winning the ITF M15 Edmond, Oklahoma (Jan 23), followed by a semifinal showing in Waco Challenger a week after Rome, GA, which earned him the wild card to the Indian Wells M1000 qualifying (l. Leandro Riedi in Q1). After another solid showing in the ITFs (including a runner-up in M25 Calabasas-Mar 20), A. Michelsen started to get out of his comfort zone and tried the Nottingham Challenger in the grass courts of the United Kingdom (l. Gabriel Diallo in R2 6-3, 5-7, 2-6 as a qualifier) and had a competitive appearance in Mallorca (250) as a qualifier (l. Christopher Eubanks in R1 3-6, 7-6(5), 5-7) before winning his maiden Challenger title in Chicago (d. Yuta Shimizu 7-5, 6-2), further strengthening his explosive and intuitive play as the year progressed.
A week after his Chicago Challenger title, he became a runner-up in the grass courts of Newport (250), where Adrian Mannarino eventually won 6-2, 6-4 and after notably defeating Maxime Cressy, James Duckworth, Mackenzie McDonald, and John Isner from the first round until the semifinals. However, the next few tournaments became tricky with the Top 100 in sight, including a semifinal loss against eventual champion Zachary Svajda in the Cary 2 Challenger. He then got his rewards to finally enter the Top 100 for the first time after winning the Knoxville Challenger title, when he survived four three-setters in five rounds, defeating Denis Kudla 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 as the pinnacle, solidified his position by defeating Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-0 in the Champaign Challenger’s first round in a rematch of their last week’s close encounter in Knoxville. Ultimately, A. Michelsen became the runner-up of the Champaign Challenger to Patrick Kypson, where he confirmed his NextGen Finals participation, as well as his Australian Open 2024 main draw direct entry likelihood thanks to his Top 100 year-end finish, landing at 94 live.
6. Hamad Medjedovic
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Hamad Medjedovic celebrated after defeating Jiri Lehecka in Astana (250) for the biggest win in his career (by then) (📸 ATP Tour via Kazakhstan Tennis Federation)
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Hamad Medjedovic's point to 6-5* 15-30 in the second set of the Bengaluru Challenger semifinal against Max Purcell (top left, 📸 ATP Challenger Livestream), to create the break point to *0-1 40-ad in the second qualifying round of Roland Garros against Juan Manuel Cerundolo (top right, 📸 France TV Sport), and to 6-5* 15-0 in the third set of the Danderyd Challenger second round against Jakub Mensik (bottom, 📸 ATP Challenger)
Medjedovic came a long way after his rise last year, winning the Luedenscheid Challenger 2022 by double-breadsticking Zhizhen Zhang, steadily answering the doubt on whether or not he’s breaking even, even if he has Novak Djokovic’s support. After having a slow start to the season (and an even slower second semester of 2022), he started having deep runs in the Bengaluru Challenger, where he was eliminated in the semifinal against eventual champion Max Purcell 2-6, 7-5, 6-7(4). However, he then started his stellar Challenger clay season with a title in Szekesfehervar Challenger (d. Nino Serdarusic 6-4, 6-3), followed by another title in Mauthausen (d. Filip Misolic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4) in a rain-ridden dramatic match. To top it off, he qualified for the Roland Garros and Wimbledon but got eliminated against Marcos Giron and Christopher O’Connell in the first round, respectively.
Trying to rise the ranks to the main Tour, he followed those up by having several great runs in the 250s and the Challengers in the second half of 2023, carried by his powerful serve and forehands when they are on (and occasionally, drop shots and volleys to add to his intuitive play). He started with a semifinal run in Gstaad as a qualifier (l. Pedro Cachin 3-6, 1-6, with a notable win against Dominic Thiem in the second round in a rematch of their Mauthausen Challenger semifinal encounter, as well as winning the Mallorca Challenger (d. Harold Mayot 6-2, 4-6, 6-2). He topped those runs off with a semifinal run in Astana (250) (l. Sebastian Korda, with some notable wins against Alexander Shevchenko and Jiri Lehecka in the second round and quarterfinals, respectively) despite the early exits in the last 3 250-level tournaments (Antwerp (250) R1, Basel (500) Q1, and Sofia (250) R1). Subsequently, after defeating Stefano Travaglia 6-4, 6-3 in a chaotic first-round match, he was defeated by fellow up-and-coming NextGen player Jakub Mensik 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(8) in the second round, having his 3 match points saved, 2 of them in the second set and one when he should have served for the match. Recognizing his tremendous potential through his aggressive gameplay and often reliable serves, while his usual rollercoaster could be expected, it all depended on his intuition in handling the point construction within the longer rallies if he could not keep it short.
7. Luca Nardi
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Luca Nardi won the Porto Challenger title in August this year, gifting himself his birthday present after three hard-fought sets (📸 ATP Tour via Porto Open)
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Luca Nardi's point to 6-5* 0-15 in the third set of the Pune Challenger semifinal against Dominik Palan (left) and to take the third set 7-5 in Kobe Challenger against August Holmgren (right) (📸 ATP Challenger Livestream)
Another name with potential being further discovered since last year is Luca Nardi, who answered the doubts coming from his sloppy start of the year by making strides toward the end of the year, thus rewarded with NextGen Finals qualification. He exited in early rounds in the first one-two months of the calendar before reaching the finals of the Pune Challenger, where he became the runner-up to a red-hot Max Purcell 3-6, 2-6. The rollercoaster then continued to the clay season, where he was remembered for being double-bageled by Lorenzo Musetti during the second round as a qualifier during the Monte Carlo M1000, as well as advancing to at least the quarterfinals in several Challengers, notably in Vicenza (l. Pablo Llamas Ruiz) and Milan (l. Matteo Gigante).
Realizing the whole rollercoaster, L. Nardi’s more offensive approach to complement his defenses and return depth started to pay off in Porto Challenger back in August, where he pulled a comeback win against Joao Sousa 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 as a sweet birthday present he gifted himself. Since then, his trajectory has gone back on track by being the semifinalist of the Bratislava 2 Challenger (l. Joris de Loore) and finally took the title in the Matsuyama Challenger in another comeback fashion (d. Taro Daniel 3-6, 6-4, 6-2), securing his NextGen Finals place after his second-round victory in the Kobe Challenger just to start the week (d. August Holmgren 6-3, 3-6, 7-5) before falling to Sho Shimabukuro to the semifinals, showing that his decision to partake in the Japanese Challenger swing paid off for his almost last-minute qualification.
8. Abdullah Shelbayh [WC]
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Abdullah Shelbayh during his first-round match in Doha (250) (📸 The Hindu via Abdullah Shelbayh's Instagram post)
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Abdullah Shelbayh's point to *5-2 40-40 (one of the break points saves) in the second set of the second-round Tenerife 3 Challenger match against Ryan Peniston (top left), to break 5-2 in the second set of the Manama Challenger semifinal against Salvatore Caruso (top right), and to *0-0 40-ad (second break point) in the Charleston Challenger final against Oliver Crawford (bottom) (📸 ATP Challenger Livestream)
Hailing from Jordan and training in Rafa Nadal Academy under Princess Lara Faisal’s Rise for Good Foundation, Shelbayh exceptionally started the season as a runner-up of the ITF M25 Manacor against Daniel Rincon (Jan 23) in a marathon match to start his positive semester after his remarkable rise kicked off in the second semester of 2022, from winning ITF M25 Monastir on two occasions (Jul 18 & Aug 22, 2022) before closing that year by winning ITF M15 Trnava (Dec 5) against Daniel Rincon, several months after securing his Challenger debut with a semifinal appearance (l. Zizou Bergs, but notably d. 1st seed Dominic Stricker in the first round). The only way was up, which he proved throughout the 2023 season by reaching the second round in Tenerife 3 Challenger as a qualifier (l. Ryan Peniston), ultimately becoming the runner-up in his maiden Challenger final in Manama (l. Thanasi Kokkinakis). He backed this up with his maiden ATP Tour main draw appearance in Doha as a wild card despite the first-round loss against Soonwoo Kwon.
He kept gaining experience as the year passed by from the aforementioned raw potential, making a last-minute decision to partake in the Banja Luka qualification rounds, stunning then-have not broken out (yet) Fabian Marozsan and Lukas Klein in both qualifying rounds before defeating Elias Ymer 6-1, 7-5 in the first round to record his maiden Tour-level victory (as well as becoming the first Jordanian to win a main Tour match) but was eliminated in the hands of Miomir Kecmanovic. He also qualified for the Mallorca (250) event on grass (l. Roman Safiullin in the first round) and went on to win his maiden Challenger title in Charleston (d. Oliver Crawford 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3), also becoming the first Jordanian Challenger-level champion. His sparkling rise continued through Metz (250) as a qualifier (d. Dan Added & Gijs Brouwer in the qualifying rounds), shocking Hugo Gaston 7-6(5), 6-2 before Lorenzo Sonego defeated him 3-6, 5-7 despite his competitive efforts. Aided by his often impressive point construction (as displayed), when he is on, not only rewarded him his career-high ranking of 187 (attained Nov 20, 2023) but also a wild card to this year’s NextGen Finals as the regional (Middle Eastern) representative.
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stateofsport211 · 12 days
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Phoenix Ch QF: Matteo Berrettini [WC] def. Terence Atmane [Q] 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(6) Match Stats
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📸 Tennis Channel 2
It took a while, once again, for M. Berrettini to find his range from his forehand. Often, this influenced his point construction, but T. Atmane ended up appearing clutch on serve, which was evident in the ninth game of the third set among any other moments in this match. However, M. Berrettini timely fired his forehand winner to secure the key point of the third set tie-breaker, which was closer than how he dominated the second one, which paved the way to his victory. The said forehand influence was also predominantly behind 8 of his break points despite T. Atmane's deep returns converting 2 out of his 7 break points from the first set and the beginning of the second set before M. Berrettini struck back.
On the other hand, it appeared that the difference between both players were thin. M. Berrettini fired 10 aces than T. Atmane's 4, allowing him to have the slight edge from the first serves by 3% with a 76% winning percentage, which helped him nailing some pressure points on his serve. However, even though he double-faulted just twice than T. Atmane's 5, he won 4% lesser points than the Frenchman, which was a consequence of his forehand errors while trying to follow up to T. Atmane's deep returns on his serve, but it was insufficient for T. Atmane to sustain in this match.
Shortly (local time) as this was written, seventh seed Aleksandar Vukic awaits, who earlier defeated Quentin Halys 6-4, 6-4 in an almost simultaneous manner, but way earlier due to Halys' double faults that concluded the set. This turned out to be a rematch of their second-round encounter in the Phoenix Challenger last year, where outside of the possible servefests, M. Berrettini's forehand became the key to mini-break at the second set tie-break to win the match, while he went after A. Vukic's forehand to secure the only break of the match back in the first set. Should be an intriguing one to see how and if the Italian wild card could find his range, sooner or later.
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stateofsport211 · 2 months
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📸 🎥 Eurosport IL
Just like the first set, the second set turned out to be competitive, but the eleventh game became crucial considering Bopden's return game starting to shape up toward the end of the match. It took several point constructions for them to finally impose the damage considering how thin the margin was between both pairs, and here was how everything unfolded.
Pacing become one of the most crucial aspects when realizing how the 4 straight holds went (2-2) to start the second set. Interestingly, even though Bolelli/A. Vavassori held their service games to 3-2, Bolelli notably closed one of the net exchanged with an intuitive volley, taking into account Bopden's court coverage there. Two games later, even though Ebden's backhand return ace forced the deuce, the Italian unseeded pair still held their serves to 4-3.
Bopden started to inject more pace from this game on, which pressed Bolelli/A. Vavassori's service games, to some extent. Somehow, the latter managed to equalize Bopden's 2-point lead through A. Vavassori's backhand return ace and Ebden's +1 error trying to regain their depth, but Ebden's net exchange finish secured one of the most crucial holds to 4-4. Ebden then tried to find an angle off his slice around the post, but Bolelli replied with an intuitive volley to set a one-point lead before holding their serves to 5-4. Bopden followed suit with another all-around point construction to 5-5.
The next two games then determined the rest of the flow thanks to the second seeds' well-paced return game. They successfully pressed Bolelli/A. Vavassori's second serves until a double fault created the former's break point, which was eventually converted thanks to Ebden's well-timed poach post-baseline exchange between Bopanna and both Bolelli/A. Vavassori. Consequently, Bopden earned their chance to serve for the title, where despite surviving a double fault due to nerves on Ebden's half, they managed to pull it off to win their first Grand Slam title as a pair, taking the second set 7-5 as a cherry on top of their journey even though they are still paired for a year.
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stateofsport211 · 2 months
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📸 ATP official website
The doubles action kicked off almost simultaneously with alternates Patrick Brady/Edan Leshem taking on fourth seeds Mac Kiger/Benjamin Sigouin in another mouthwatering clash to complete the first round of doubles. Interestingly, it all came down to the closest points, with the one who could maintain the moment best would be expected to keep it up, unless the other could maintain the pace further.
It all started when Leshem's successful volley created his & P. Brady's break point before they eventually broke due to M. Kiger/B. Sigouin's volley error (2-1). They tried to maintain the momentum before got broken back to 4-4 thanks to the latter's cross-court forehand winner, but the first set tie-breaker became inevitable after four other straight holds.
In the tie-breaker, after setting the tone with a mini-break and another consolidation, M. Kiger/B. Sigouin strengthened their mini-break lead thanks to their smash (3-0), and although they had a set point saved out of a working volley from Leshem/P. Brady, Leshem's +1 backhand error ultimately resulted in M. Kiger/B. Sigouin taking the first set 7-6(3), setting themselves one set ahead in this match as a result of their rhythm control (and depth) to close the set.
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stateofsport211 · 2 months
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📸 🎥 ATP official website
Leshem tried to stay competitive in the second set, but eventually succumbed to S. Kozlov's point construction under pressure. After three consecutive holds, a hilarious net point construction might have emerged with Leshem pulling a tweener midway and S. Kozlov finishing it with a volley, only for the former to mishit the backhand from the post before holding his serves to 2-2. However, the circus might have been the start of S. Kozlov putting more pressure on Leshem from the baseline, breaking thanks to a forehand winner after a series of errors (and a double fault spotted) from Leshem (3-2).
S. Kozlov proceeded by consolidating to 4-2, but Leshem smashed his way to pave the way to breaking again, only to be broken back out of an erroneous service game after S. Kozlov smashed it to start the game (5-3). As a result, S. Kozlov had the opportunity to serve for the second set, where he successfully did (6-3) to finally secure his spot in the main draw.
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stateofsport211 · 3 months
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📸 🎥 Eurosport AT
Cobolli started the second set by having a break point thanks to his volley in response to B. Hassan's drop shot, but the latter ended up saving the said break points to hold his service game 1-1. In the fourth game, B. Hassan had his moments when he started to press back from the baseline, smashing his way to create his break point, even Cobolli double-faulted that foil his own game point, but a net exchange allowed B. Hassan to foil another game point before Cobolli held to 2-2.
However, Cobolli started to cause more damage starting from the baseline, where B. Hassan's failed volley secured Cobolli's first break point saved with a pass, followed by another double fault for the second, but B. Hassan still held that service game 3-2. However, Cobolli broke due to B. Hassan's forehand errors to finish several games later, consolidating the lead to 5-3. By then, B. Hassan had the opportunity to serve to stay in the second set, but his +1 forehand rushes resulted in Cobolli's match point creation, which was converted several moments later thanks to the Italian's smash despite B. Hassan's best efforts to save. As a result, Cobolli took the second set 6-3, thus he advanced to the third qualifying round.
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stateofsport211 · 8 months
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📸 🎥 Tennis TV
Somehow, Leo's depth continued to be visible right in the beginning of the second set, more or less capitalizing on Elias' errors (including a double fault and a forehand gone too wide). Leo then came up with a forehand winner to convert his break point 2-0 after a previous service game hold. Subsequently, he consolidated that point to 3-0.
However, Elias was still able to hold his service games to avoid further demolition. One of which came from a rally where he went left and right and finished that point with a working volley several points before he held his service game 2-4. On the other hand, Leo's service games were inevitable toward the end of the match, resulting in several unreturned serves and sealing the match with an ace (6-3), earning him his first ATP-level victory after ages of receiving wild cards to no avail. A progress.
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stateofsport211 · 4 months
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Mmoh tried to step up and even had his own moments, but they were insufficient since Zizou became even more aggressive despite some troubles going his way toward the end of the match. Initially, Zizou started the first game with a smash and even created his break point through his cross-court backhand pass, but Mmoh still held his service game to 1-0, perhaps becoming an important one considering what happened in the second game.
There, Zizou's forehand unforced error generated Mmoh's first break point, which was saved credits to a successful volley. Even though Zizou tried his best to maintain his serves, Mmoh still ended up breaking (2-0), firing a backhand down-the-line steal to recover from a deficit before he strengthened the lead to 3-0. Zizou hung in there by holding his serves to 3-1, discovering he fired a successful forehand pass to Mmoh's failed volley right after the latter's double fault to pave him the way before creating his break point, breaking to 3-2 afterward, levelling the play to 3-3 since.
However, right after Mmoh's service game hold to 4-3, Zizou took a medical timeout due to the leg injury. He proceeded by holding his service game to 4-4 before finding his chance two games later, starting the game with a successful volley before he broke to 6-5 thanks to his 2 smashes, having the chance to serve for the match after. The tie-breaker became inevitable once tightness likely kicked in, with a forehand, followed by a backhand error creating and converting Mmoh's said break points after.
Zizou turned out to dominate the tie-breaker when Mmoh misfired his forehand for his early break lead to 1-0, consolidating the lead even further with a working volley 2 points later to 3-0, displaying both his aggression and intuition to set up the tie-break's direction. While it looked like Mmoh's game fell apart, Zizou's on-the-run forehand winner strengthened the lead to 4-1, ending up benefitting from Mmoh's subsequent unforced errors for the match point creation. Ultimately, Mmoh's final forehand went too wide, hence Zizou took the second set 7-6(2) to secure his third year-to-date Challenger title, second for this month.
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stateofsport211 · 4 months
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Topping the day in the Danderyd Challenger was the singles second-round match between fourth seed David Goffin, who yesterday defeated qualifier Marvin Moeller 6-3, 6-2 in the first round, and qualifier Alibek Kachmazov, who stunned Leandro Riedi 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-4 earlier that day. Considering Goffin's solid play when he is on, it could be interesting to see how A. Kachmazov's current form fare, especially since Goffin appeared more experienced. This match ended up boiling down to several moments, which went on and off as the match went by.
Three games in, A. Kachmazov's forehand error in response to Goffin's preceding backhand started his error spree for that game, where his forehand/backhand errors there caused Goffin to break early to 2-1. Goffin proceeded to consolidate that lead to 3-1, but Goffin's forehand errors several moments later resulted in A. Kachmazov breaking back to 4-4, where he also had his game points fumbled at that time.
Subsequently, after A. Kachmazov double-faulted, Goffin had a forehand pass that converted the said break point to 5-4, but his following unforced errors did not help anything, with a double fault resulted in the break-back to 5-5. Goffin fought back for his following break by trying to get through the lines, which resulted in A. Kachmazov's forehand error, and broke back to 6-5 thanks to his backhand return ace. Consequently, Goffin had his opportunity to serve for the match, where despite having to survive a break point at the cost of his +1 forehand error, he still took the first set 7-5 thanks to his forehand winner.
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stateofsport211 · 10 months
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🎥 Tennis TV
Before going back to the Challenger recaps, a must-dump moment came from Rome M1000 men's singles semifinals, when Holger Rune shouted "JAAAAA" after holding his service game to 6-6, bringing the first set to the tie-breaker.
Eventually, it was an almost smooth tie-breaker for Casper Ruud as he took the first set 7-6(2), but as this was written, Rune just leveled the match to 1-set all after taking the second set 6-4. The third set should get completely saucy by then...
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stateofsport211 · 6 months
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Meanwhile, in Alicante…
First seed Constant Lestienne, who advanced to the finals after defeating wild card Martin Landaluce 6-3, 7-6(5) in the quarterfinals and Maximilian Marterer 7-6(3), 6-4, set another all-French affair in the Alicante Challenger as he faced Hugo Grenier, who previously defeated Dennis Novak 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals. To make it interesting, this would become their third meeting in a Spanish hard-court Challenger, where they shared a match apiece with Grenier winning the first (in the Alicante Challenger 2021) 6-4, 6-3 and Lestienne winning the second meeting (in the Segovia Challenger 2022) 7-5, 6-3, which could add the intrigue to this year's meeting. Furthermore, knowing both players' games, while it could be dynamic in one way or another, it might have relied on how they executed their gameplay, and adapted in case things went south for them.
The first set started dramatically after 4 consecutive holds where Grenier's preceding shot, which Lestienne thought was wide, was called in (which indeed was in, according to the replay) several shots before his backhand error. Eventually, Grenier held that game with an ace to 3-2. Subsequently, Lestienne created his first break chance thanks to a working volley, but Grenier found a way back to hold his service game 3-3. However, the latter's backhand pass set his 2-point lead before he broke Lestienne's serve to 5-4 over a failed drop shot, allowing him to serve for the set.
Instead of actually serving for the first set, Lestienne started to get ideas thanks to his well-paced forehand while capitalizing on Grenier's erratic service game (with a cross-court forehand error accounting for the gate-opener), which was converted at the cost of his double fault, thus Lestienne levelled the match to 5-5. It took two more consecutive holds for the set to be settled through a tie-breaker, where the momentum kept swinging until it boiled down to its last points.
In the first set tie-breaker, it started by Grenier's important smash to set a mini-break to 3-1. Several points later, it was followed by Lestienne's crafty lob to follow up Grenier's forehand misfire to equalize the point 5-5. Grenier turned out to have a set point, which was saved out of Lestienne's unreturned serve (6-6). Eight consecutive points later, it all came down to Lestienne's double fault to 11-10 that implied a pressure point question, which was followed by Grenier's volley on his serve to actually serve it out, taking the first set 7-6(10) as a result.
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stateofsport211 · 6 months
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Mouilleron-le-Captif Ch R2: Jack Draper [7] def. Dino Prizmic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 Match Stats
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D. Prizmic had his moments, but he eventually got overpowered again in the middle of the third set as soon as J. Draper came in. Through the latter’s winners, which often came through smashes, J. Draper managed to create 4 more opportunities to break while converting 5 of them (some also with his smash) compared to Prizmic’s 33% break point conversion rate. It was also worth noting that Prizmic tried his best to stay balanced on return, but sometimes the angles did not angle during some important setups, hence it could be prone to pressure as the match went by.
On the other hand, both players turned out to have different strengths in their service games despite the thin difference between them. J. Draper fired 3 more aces and stood out with a 6% difference from his first serve winning percentage than Prizmic. Interestingly, despite both players having 4 double faults, J. Draper’s second serves looked more vulnerable (especially with some insufficient follow-ups), making him 5% behind Prizmic through the second serves, but optimizing his first serves appeared a better idea with the longer rallies’ point construction in sight.
An interesting, possibly dynamic quarterfinal match awaits as J. Draper faces wild card Lucas Poullain, who earlier defeated fellow wild card recipient Matteo Martineau 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in a close encounter. Knowing both players, while a solid service game could be important, building rally tolerance and finishing it in a paced, aggressive manner (with the winners in hindsight) could be one of the most important things to maintain, especially in longer rallies. While there could also be a possibility of them constructing their points by cutting it to the chase, the execution still mattered, which could add more intrigue to this match-up.
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stateofsport211 · 1 year
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AO MD F: Rinky Hijikata/Jason Kubler [WC] def. Hugo Nys/Jan Zielinski 6-4, 7-6(4) Match Recap
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The fairytale run ending for the Australian wildcards, Rinky Hijikata/Jason Kubler in the Australian Open, will be determined by the outcome in the finals against Hugo Nys/Jan Zielinski, who also contested their first Grand Slam final as a pair. This match, as the earlier flow suggested, had an exciting flow from the start.
Nys/J. Zielinski took a set to finally match the pace set by Hijikata/Kubler. This could be identified with how J. Zielinski missed a volley to start in their service game. Kubler/Hijikata's early, accurate anticipation caught the point, especially when they aimed for down-the-line shots. In one example, the return made J. Zielinski got run over right at 1-1* 0-15, opening a path for the Australian pair to break–before they eventually break early at 2-1. Right several games later, they successfully served for the set at 6-4.
In the second set, Hijikata/Kubler's swift returns caught more attention, despite Nys/J. Zielinski ending up holding the service games and being able to neutralize the break opportunities. One of the notable shots were a cross-court backhand return from Hijikata before a working volley to lead 2-2* 15-30. Furthermore, points construction entered the chat as Hijikata carried the whole point in a net exchange with Nys, which ended with a forehand winner to lead 4-4* 15-30. However, nobody faced break points until the tie-breaker was needed at 6-6 to settle the pair that prevailed.
The tie-breaker was a separate rollercoaster, with constant momentum shifts until the middle of the occasion. Kubler's reflex on a net exchange helped him and Hijikata to lead 2-1, before Nys/J. Zielinski caught up with an unreturned serve (and Hijikata's volley misfire) at 4-4. Kubler's perfect return timing ripped a forehand down-the-line winner to secure the mini-break at 5-4, securing 2 match points right after Hijikata's forehand carriage. An epic rally was closed with J. Zielinski's forehand error at the net, resulting in the match point conversion for the Aussies.
This marked Hijikata/Kubler's first title together, even more iconic with winning it on a home slam. Hopefully, this title could pave a path for Hijikata's rise and Kubler's resurgence as they progressed, as for the latter, he just came back from an injury. Additionally, this could be a positive start of the season for Nys/J. Zielinski, having yet to reach another final higher than a 250 before today. On to the next one, mates!
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