Wins for Grand Slam Mums

Day Two of the Indian Wells WTA and ATP tournaments delivered some interesting results.

For the men, it wasn’t the big names on court this time, but the American crowds were able to witness a number of their own in action.

While Ryan Harrison, Donald Young and Steve Johnson unfortunately exited in front of disappointed fans, the pleasant surprise was the win by qualifier Mitchell Krueger, a 24 year old Texan, who has been around for six years, and is ranked 231 in the world. His career high was 169 in May last year.

He has two ITF titles to his name (2013 and 2015) but hadn’t made a main draw impact in 2018 until his victory over Benoit Paire 6–4 1-6 6-4 here in the opening round.

Two all American matches took the locals’ fancy - Jared Donaldson had the better of qualifier Evan King 6-1 4-6 6-4, while two 20 year olds went toe to toe.

Taylor Fritz defeated wildcard Reilly Opelka 4-6 7-6(6) 6-4 in what could be the future of tennis in the USA.

However what the fans were waiting for was the return of Serena Williams and she certainly didn’t disappoint.

The 23 times Grand Slam champion is unseeded but dangerous, if her performance against Zarina Diyas is any indication.

Despite being 4-5 and 30-30 in the opening set, Serena blew the match apart as we would expect she might given the “fully match fit “ version, but the champ displayed all the power and brilliance even with the “post baby, first tournament back” edition.

Taking the first set 7-5, Williams broke Diyas immediately with a range of withering shots and claimed a 1-0 advantage in set two.

No coming back for the talented Kazakhstan player, as Serena broke three more times to win 7-5 6-3.

To Zarinas credit Serena had her mighty serve crumble twice, but it was insufficient to prevent a triumphant entry into the second round where Kiki Bertens (29) awaits.

Second mum on the court in the night session was wildcard Vika Azarenka

Her task was to manoeuvre past Heather Watson, which she did decisively 6-4 6-2

Sloane Stephens (13) is the next challenge for the 2 time Aus Open champion.

Day Three will see the completion of the men’s first round matches, while the women trot out the first of the seeds in second round battles after they enjoyed opening round byes.

Matches which appear as highlights include:

Belinda Bencic v Jelena Ostapenko (6)

Naomi Osaka v Agnieszka Radwanska (31)

Samantha Stosur v Kiki Mladenovic (14)

Maria Sakkari v Ash Barty (16)

Johanna Konta (11) v talented teenager Marketa Vondrousova 

As an aside, Vika Azarenka will be back, playing doubles with her Belarusian compatriot Aryna Sabalenka. Both scream relentlessly, so heaven help the team at the other side of the net.

Indian Wells 1st main draw matches

After qualifying rounds were completed in Indian Wells, the first lot of opening round matches commenced on 7 March, with a multitude more to be played the following day.

Good news on the WTA side is the return of Grand Slam mums Serena Williams and Vika Azarenka - hopefully they can make an impact on the tournament.

Serena Williams will meet her sister in the third round if they are successful up to then.

Azarenka, with a first round win, then faces 13th seed Sloane Stephens (1st round bye)

Novak Djokovic also is a welcome addition back on the ATP tour, and has the chance to meet del Potro in the round of sixteen.

12 Grand Slam title winners are in the 96 numbered WTA draw

4 Grand Slam title winners are in the 96 numbered ATP draw

First round WTA results:

Kristyna Pliskova defeated qualifier Ying-Ying Duan 6-4 7-6(5)

Wildcard Caroline Dolehide defeated Shelby Rogers 3-6 7-6(6) 6-3

Qiang Wang defeated Timea Bacsinszky 6-0 4-6 6-2

Samantha Stosur defeated Lauren Davis 3-6 6-3 6-3

Marketa Vondrousova defeated qualifier Madison Brengle 6-2 6-2

Aryna Sabalenka defeated Varvara Lepchenko 7-5 6-1

Petra Martic defeated Tatjana Maria 6-3 6-1

Belinda Bencic defeated Timea Babos 1-6 6-1 7-6(4)

Qualifier Sachia Vickery defeated wildcard Eugenie Bouchard 6-3 6-4

Naomi Osaka defeated Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-4

Kaia Kanepi defeated qualifier Kurumi Nara 1-6 6-4 6-4

Maria Sakkari defeated Donna Vekic 6-4 6-2

Yulia Putintseva defeated Alison Van Uytvanck 6-0 2-6 6-2

Wildcard Amanda Anisimova defeated Pauline Parmentier 6-2 6-2

Qualifier Sofia Kenin defeated wildcard Claire Liu 6-2 6-0

Aleksandra Krunic defeated Irina-Camelia Begu 3-6 6-4 6-1

Bautista Agut 2nd title for 2018

So how have the defending champions fared this past week ?

Well in Dubai Andy Murray was unable to compete due to his injury problems and subsequent operations. The 2017 runner up Rafa Nadal also failed to appear, preferring to save himself for Indian Wells.

In Acapulco, the 2017 Men’s champion was Sam Querrey, and he was bounced out this year by unseeded Matt Ebden in the first round.

Better news for the women’s 2017 champ Lesia Tsurenko, who won her second successive Mexican Open with a consistent week in Acapulco

Pablo Cuevas couldn’t repeat his Brasil Open glory of 2017, knocked out by Fabio Fognini in a semi final this year in São Paulo.

So who won the titles ?

In Dubai it was Roberto Bautista Agut (3) who triumphed over Lucas Pouille (2) 6-3 6-4, to deny the Frenchman in his second successive final after losing at the last hurdle in Marseille last week.

He had earlier this year won the tournament in Montpellier.

Bautista Agut has now won two titles in 2018, the other in Auckland in January.

In Acapulco, Juan Martin del Potro (6) defeated Kevin Anderson (5) 6-4 6-4, to claim the Mexican Open, his first title for 2018, having lost the final in Auckland in January.

Lesia Tsurenko (7), as we noted, defended her Mexican crown, and won her fourth career title in the process (1 each year since July 2015)

She defeated Stefanie Voegele 5-7 7-6(2) 6-2

Fabio Fognini (2) defeated Nicolas Jarry to win the Brasil Open in São Paulo 1-6 6-1 6-4.

This was career title number six for Fognini and his first for 2018.

This week, in fact for the next fortnight, the tennis eyes are concentrated on California, specifically Indian Wells.

The BNP Paribas Open is the first Masters 1000 Tournament for 2018 and the big names are assembled once more, as they were for the Aus Open, though the field is not quite as large.

The WTA is holding a Premier category event in conjunction with the ATP tournament, also titled the BNP Paribas Open.

Pouille in second final in a row

Close to the titles being decided and finalists are ready to perform in Dubai and Acapulco.

Semi finalists have been determined in São Paulo.

Dubai:

Semi final results:

Roberto Bautista Agut (3) defeated wildcard Malek Jaziri 6-3 6-4

Lucas Pouille (2) defeated Filip Krajinovic (7) in a match lasting 140 minutes.

In set one Pouille was dominant on serve despite his first serve percentage being poor (42%).

He won all but one point when he did find the mark with his initial delivery and 64% of points on his second try.

He didn’t face a break point and converted one of the five chances presented to him.

6-3 and a positive start to the second seed.

The next two sets were decided with tie breaks.

Set two stats were almost identical, even down to total points won, 42 apiece. Krajinovic won the breaker seven points to four and levelled the match.

Set three, and again it was impossible to separate the two, no break points created ahead of the tie break.

This time Pouille took the chocolates seven points to five, and the match 6-3 6-7(4) 7-6(5)

Pouille will play Bautista Agut in the final - Pouille’s second final in succession after finishing runner up in Marseille last week.

A title win for the Frenchman will rocket him into the top ten - a loss will still leave him at a career high of 12.

A win for Bautista Agut will move him back in the top twenty.

Acapulco:

Women’s semi final results:

Stefanie Voegele defeated qualifier Rebecca Peterson 6-4 7-6(5)

Lesia Tsurenko (7) defeated wildcard Dasha Gavrilova (3) 6-2 6-4

Tsurenko is one step away from a title defence 

If Voegele denies her, then the Swiss player will move from 183 to just outside the top 100 in the rankings (she was once as high as 42 in November 2013)

Men’s semi final results:

Kevin Anderson (5) defeated Jared Donaldson 6-3 4-6 6-3

Juan Martin del Potro (6) defeated Sascha Zverev (2) 6-4 6-2

The final will feature the numbers eight and nine ranked players in the world.

A great hit out ahead of Indian Wells next week.

São Paulo:

Quarter final results:

Nicolas Jarry defeated Albert Ramos-Viñolas 6-7(6) 6-4 7-6(3)

He will play Horacio Zeballos in the semis

Horacio Zeballos defeated Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-7(3) 6-2 6-4

Pablo Cuevas (3) defeated Leonardo Mayer (5) 6-2 6-7(13) 7-6(5)

He will play Fabio Fognini in the semis 

Fabio Fognini (2) defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 6-2

Cuevas and Tsurenko on track to defend titles

Semi finals are set in Dubai and Acapulco and quarter finals ready to go in São Paulo, all on Friday, UAE, Mexico and Brazil times.

The top seeds have suffered in the womens draw in Acapulco and the men’s draw in São Paulo, with other upsets here and there.

Quarter final results in Dubai:

In a battle of wildcards, Malek Jaziri defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 3-6 6-3

He will play Roberto Bautista Agut in the semis

Roberto Bautista Agut (3) defeated Borna Coric 7-6(4) 6-4

Filip Krajinovic (7) defeated Evgeny Donskoy 6-1 6-2

He will play Lucas Pouille in the semis

Lucas Pouille (2) defeated Yuichi Sugita (8) 3-6 6-3 6-2

Just as an aside, Andy Murray won this event in 2017, so being on the sidelines and unable to defend his 500 ranking points, expect a significant slide further down the tree, barely hanging on to a top thirty position.

Novak Djokovic is still just outside the top ten but he is fortunate in that the next points he has to defend are not until the Italian Open in May.

If he can fully recover from his elbow injury, and come back at near the top of his game, he has no points to defend after Wimbledon which gives him a chance of finishing 2018 nearer the top of the top ten.

Of course there a lot of ifs involved here, not just the obvious ones.

Quarter final results in Acapulco:

Women

Three of the top four seeds exited at the quarter final stage

In a major upset, Stefanie Voegele from Switzerland, ranked 183, defeated top seed Sloane Stephens 6-4 5-7 6-2

She will play Rebecca Peterson in an unseeded semi final 

Qualifier Rebecca Peterson defeated Shuai Zhang (4) 6-2 6-1

Wildcard Dasha Gavrilova (3) defeated Veronica Cepede Royg 6-4 4-6 6-2

She will play Lesia Tsurenko in the second semi final 

Lesia Tsurenko (7) defeated Kiki Mladenovic (2) 6-2 6-2

Tsurenko is the defending champion here, and she beat Mladenovic to win the title in 2017

Men

Jared Donaldson defeated Feliciano López 6-3 6-1

He will play Kevin Anderson in the semis

Kevin Anderson (5) defeated Hyeon Chung 7-6(5) 7-4

Sascha Zverev (2) defeated Ryan Harrison 6-4 6-1

He will play Juan Martin del Potro in the semis

Juan Martin del Potro (6) defeated Dominic Thiem (3) 6-2 7-6(7)

Remaining second round results in São Paulo:

Albert Ramos-Vinolas (1) defeated qualifier Guilherme Clezar 6-3 6-4

Nicolas Jarry defeated Guido Pella (6) 6-7(2) 6-4 7-6(2)

Horacio Zeballos defeated Gaël Monfils (4) 6-3 3-6 6-3

Rogerio Dutra Silva defeated Nicolas Kicker 6-4 6-2

Quarter finals will be:

Albert Ramos-Vinolas (1) v Nicolás Jarry 

Horacio Zeballos v Rogerio Dutra Silva 

Leonardo Mayer (5) v Pablo Cuevas (3)

Cuevas is the defending champion, having defeated Ramos-Viñolas in the final of the 2017 Brasil Open

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez v Fabio Fognini (2)

Quarter finals set in Dubai and Acapulco

Not many surprises on Day Three but some close matches gave crowds value for money.

All quarter finalists were confirmed in Dubai and Acapulco with the winners of second round matches and half confirmed in São Paulo.

In Dubai:

Second round matches:

Wildcard Malek Jaziri defeated Robin Haase, but it took two tie breaks to make the quarter finals 7-6(4) 7-6(3)

Wildcard Stefanos Tsitsipas upset sixth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6 6-3 6-4

Despite a poor first serve percentage in set one, Tsitsipas matched Kohlschreiber in just about every category, but the German player converted his single break point. The one chance for a Greek reply was saved by Kohlschreiber and the set was won accordingly 6-4.

Set two again saw a poor first serve percentage from Stefanos, but he won a terrific share of points on his serve.  

He didn’t face a break point but converted the only break point created on the German serve and levelled the match.

The deciding set was another chance for Tsitsipas to display his serving prowess, winning 17 of 19 points on his first delivery, and earning the only service break of the set.

A great win for the teenager, ranked 82 in the world, over the 33rd ranked veteran, 15 years his senior.

Roberto Bautista Agut (3) defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4 6-7(2) 6-1

Borna Coric defeated Benoit Paire 6-1 6-4

Filip Krajinovic (7) defeated wildcard Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(2) 6-4

Evgeny Donskoy defeated Damir Dzumhur (4) 6-1 6-1

Yuichi Sugita (8) defeated Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(4) 6-4

Lucas Pouille (2) defeated Karen Khachanov 6-4 3-6 6-3

This was some revenge for Lucas after his loss to Karen in last weeks Marseille final

In Acapulco:

Second round men’s matches:

Feliciano López defeated wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3 6-4

Jared Donaldson defeated Matt Ebden 6-3 6-1

Hyeon Chung defeated qualifier Ernesto Escobedo 6-3 6-1

Kevin Anderson (5) defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-3 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro (6) defeated David Ferrer 6-4 4-6 6-3

Dominic Thiem (3) defeated Denis Shapovalov 6-2 6-3

Ryan Harrison defeated Diego Schwartzman 6-3 5-7 6-4

Sascha Zverev (2) defeated Peter Gojowczyk 7-6(6) 6-3

Second round women’s matches:

Sloane Stephens (1) defeated Arantxa Rus 5-7 7-6(6) 6-0

Stefanie Voegele defeated Maria Sakkari 6-3 6-4

Shuai Zhang (4) defeated Jil Teichmann 7-6(5) 6-4

Qualifier Rebecca Peterson defeated Monica Puig 6-1 6-4

Veronica Cepede Royg defeated Irina-Camelia Begu (5) 7-6(3) 6-1

Wildcard Dasha Gavrilova defeated wildcard Renata Zarazua 7-5 6-3

Lesia Tsurenko (7) defeated Arina Rodionova 6-3 6-1

Kiki Mladenovic (2) defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia 3-6 6-3 7-5

In São Paulo:

Second round matches:

Leonardo Mayer (5) defeated Carlos Berlocq 7-5 6-4

Pablo Cuevas (3) defeated qualifier Sébastian Ofner 6-4 7-6(4)

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated Federico Delbonis (8) 7-6(3) 4-6 6-4

Fabio Fognini (2) defeated qualifier Joao Domingues 7-5 6-1

Dimitrov exits in Dubai 1st round

Day Two claimed upsets in both Dubai and Acapulco.

Top seed Grigor Dimitrov was bounced out of Dubai by wildcard Malek Jaziri, ranked 117, 4-6 7-5 6-4.

Richard Gasquet (5) was the other seed to fall, beaten by Borna Coric 6-4 6-3.

Acapulco wasn’t the best for the US, wildcard Jack Sock (4) continuing an ordinary start to 2018, dismissed by qualifier Ernesto Escobedo 7-5 7-6(3).

Sam Querrey (7) joined Sock in the exit queue, Matt Ebden prevailing 6-3 1-6 7-6(5).

Dubai:

Remaining first round matches 

Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated Joao Sousa 4-6 6-4 7-6(8)

Filip Krajinovic (7) defeated Thomas Fabbiano 0-6 6-2 6-2

Evgeny Donskoy defeated lucky loser in qualifying Blaz Kavcic 6-3 6-4

Damir Dzumhur (4) defeated qualifier Yannick Maden 6-3 6-4

Yuichi Sugita (8) defeated Ilya Ivashka 7-5 6-1

Jan-Lennard Struff defeated Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-2 6-4

Karen Khachanov defeated Denis Istomin 7-6(1) 7-6(0)

Lucas Pouille (2) defeated qualifier Ernests Gulbis 6-4 6-4

Acapulco:

Remaining men’s first round matches

Feliciano López defeated lucky loser in qualifying Taro Daniel 4-6 6-3 6-4

Wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated qualifier Alexander Bublik 6-4 6-3

Hyeon Chung defeated Donald Young 7-6(5) 6-1

Adrian Mannarino defeated qualifier Ricardas Berankis 7-5 6-1

Juan Martin del Potro (6) defeated Mischa Zverev 6-1 6-2

Denis Shapovalov defeated Kei Nishikori 6-7(3) 6-3 6-1

Dominic Thiem (3) defeated qualifier Cameron Norrie 6-3 5-7 7-5

Diego Schwartzman defeated Fernando Verdasco 6-2 6-4

Peter Gojowczyk defeated wildcard Lucas Gomez 6-3 6-2

Sascha Zverev (2) defeated Mackenzie McDonald 6-3 7-5

Remaining women’s first round matches 

Sloane Stephens (1) defeated Pauline Parmentier 6-4 6-0, her first win since the 2017 US Open final.

Qualifier Arantxa Rus defeated wildcard Kayla Day 4-6 6-1 6-0

Maria Sakkari defeated Lara Arruabarrena 6-3 7-6(1)

Stefanie Voegele defeated Tatjana Maria (8) 6-2 7-5

Shuai Zhang (4) defeated qualifier Jasmine Paolini 6-3 6-1

Jil Teichmann defeated qualifier Jana Fett 7-5 7-5

Qualifier Rebecca Peterson defeated Alize Cornet (6) 6-2 6-4

Wildcard Renata Zarazua defeated Kristyna Pliskova 6-3 6-4

Beatriz Haddad Maia defeated Heather Watson 7-5 4-6 6-1

Kiki Mladenovic (2) defeated qualifier Amandine Hesse 6-2 6-2

São Paulo:

Remaining first round matches 

Qualifier Guilherme Clezar defeated wildcard Thiago Monteiro 6-3 1-6 7-5

Nicolas Jarry defeated Dusan Lajovic 6-4 1-6 7-5

Guido Pella (6) defeated wildcard Corentin Moutet 4-6 6-1 6-2

Horacio Zeballos defeated Thomaz Bellucci 7-6(2) 3-6 6-3

Nicolas Kicker defeated Víctor Estrella Burgos 7-6(5) 6-3

Rogerio Dutra defeated Tennys Sandgren (7) 6-0 6-4

Qualifier Sébastian Ofner defeated Marco Cecchinato 6-3 6-3