First matches in N America and Austria

Some opening main draw matches in the North American hard court season tournaments, and the Austrian clay court tournament, have been played.

Washington:

WTA

US qualifier Allie Kiick defeated Xinyun Han 6-2 6-3

Katie Boulter, ranked 118, defeated Aleksandra Krunic (5) 6-2 6-0

Veteran Sveta Kuznetsova defeated Kristie Ahn 6-2 6-1

Andrea Petkovic defeated Jamie Loeb 6-1 6-1

Fanny Stollar defeated lucky loser Mayo Hibi 6-1 7-6(6)

ATP

Malek Jaziri defeated Evgeny Donskoy 6-4 6-1

Wildcard Tim Smyczek defeated Ricardas Berankis 7-6(4) 6-2

Hubert Hurkacz defeated Ilya Ivashka 6-4 6-3

Marius Copil defeated Mirza Basic 7-6(9) 6-4

Andy Murray defeated Mackenzie McDonald 3-6 6-4 7-5

Wildcard Noah Rubin defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 6-4

San Jose:

Maria Sakkari defeated Christine McHale 6-2 6-2

Sofia Kenin defeated qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg 6-4 6-4

Ajla Tomljanovic defeated qualifier Georgina Garcia Perez 6-4 6-1

Danielle Collins defeated qualifier Danielle Lao 7-6(2) 6-3

Vika Azarenka defeated Kateryna Bondarenko 6-3 6-7(7) 7-5

US wildcard Ashley Kratzer, ranked 251, defeated Alison Riske 6-4 4-6 7-5

Los Cabos:

Thomas Fabbiano defeated qualifier Takanyi Garanganga 5-7 6-2 7-5

Michael Mmoh defeated wildcard Ernesto Escobedo 6-3 4-6 6-1

Elias Ymer defeated Ivo Karlovic 6-4 6-3

Taylor Fritz defeated wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis 7-6(6) 7-6(5)

Yoshihito Nishioka defeated Gastao Elias 6-4 6-3

Kitzbuhel:

Wildcard Dennis Novak defeated 19 year old Austrian qualifier Jurij Rodionov 6-4 0-6 6-1

Dusan Lajovic (8) defeated Guillermo Garcia-López 6-4 6-2

Jaume Munar defeated qualifier Yannick Hanfmann 2-6 7-6(5) 6-1

Mikhail Kukushkin defeated wildcard Corentin Moutet 4-6 6-3 6-4

Qualifier Denis Istomin defeated Federico Delbonis 7-6(5) 6-2

Start of North America hard court season

Some of the bigger names will be in action this week, following a longer rest after Wimbledon.

All but one of the tournaments represent the initial lead in to the North American hard court season.

The Citi Open in Washington DC, USA, hard court, (ATP 500 category) and (WTA International category)

The Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, USA, hard court decoturf, (WTA International category)

The Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex in Cabo San lucas, Mexico, hard court, soloflex, (ATP 250 category)

The Generali Open in Kitzbuehel, Austria, red clay, (ATP 250 category)

Washington:

ATP

Sascha Zverev is top seed, world ranked three.  He is joined by John Isner as the other top ten player and five of the remaining seeds are in the top twenty.

Of the 48 in the draw, 16 have first round byes.

WTA

Caroline Wozniacki is top seed, world ranked two.  She is joined by Sloane Stephens as the other top five player and five of the remaining seeds are in the top fifty.

San Jose:

Garbiñe Muguruza is top seed, world ranked seven.  Three of the remaining seeds are in the top twenty and the other four are in the top fifty, including Wimbledon runner up Serena Williams.

Disappointing to see first round byes awarded to the top four seeds in this, a WTA tournament.

Los Cabos:

Juan Martin del Potro is top seed, world ranked four.  Only seven seeds are in the main draw, following the late withdrawal of Filip Krajinovic.

Four of the remaining seeds are in the top thirty and the other two are in the top seventy.

The top four seeds have first round byes

Kitzbuhel:

Dominic Thiem is top seed, world ranked eight. Five of the remaining seeds are in the top fifty.

The four top seeds have first round byes

Four debut title winners

This week we have seen four first time winners from the ATP and WTA tours:

Hamburg:

Qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili defeated Leonardo Mayer 6-4 0-6 7-5

This was the second match in a row where Basilashvili won the opening set, then lost the second set to love, before rebounding to victory.  

A first ATP Tour triumph for the Georgian from his third final appearance.  Also the first Georgian to enjoy title success at this level.

Basilashvili moves up 46 spots to a new career high of 35, previously 51.

Moscow:

Lucky loser Olga Danilovic defeated fellow 17 year old and wildcard Anastasia Potapova in three sets 7-5 6-7(1) 6-4.  

A first WTA Tour victory for Danilovic who becomes the first WTA winner born in the 2000s.  Also she is the first lucky loser to win a WTA title.

Danilovic moves up 75 places to 112, a new career high, previously 187

Potapova moves up 69 places to 135, a new career high, previously 190

Potapova received some consolation by winning the doubles with Vera Zvonareva (almost twice her age)

Gstaad:

Matteo Berrettini defeated Roberto Bautista Agut (2) 7-6(9) 6-4

A first ATP Tour title for the Italian in his first final.

He moves up 30 places to 54 in the rankings, a career high, previously 75

Nanchang:

Qiang Wang (2) defeated Saisai Zheng (6) 7-5 4-0 (retired)

A first WTA title for Wang in her debut final.

Atlanta:

John Isner (1) recovered from a slow start to win his fifth Atlanta Open and in his second straight final against Ryan Harrison (8) 5-7 6-3 6-4

17 year olds to contest Moscow final

Semi Final Day on three continents and the history continues to be made in Russia by two teenagers.

Playing in the final round of qualifying, Serbian 17 year old Olga Danilovic lost in three sets but was named as one of two lucky losers - eight spots were to be filled from qualifying and only six winners resulted from that draw.

Olga certainly made the most of her luck, winning four straight matches, including the stunning upset of top seed and world number ten Julia Goerges in the quarter final.

Today Danilovic went the distance to eliminate the remaining seed left in the tournament, Aliaksandra Sasnovich (5).

Danilovic overwhelmed Sasnovich in set one, 13 winners and a 6-2 lead.  After Sasnovich levelled the match at 2-6 7-5, Danilovic dominated the beginning of set three, using a powerful forehand to wear down the Belarusian and break for 2-1.

The left handed teenager saved five break points to consolidate 3-1.

Another Sasnovich service failure in the seventh game gave Danilovic the opportunity to serve for the match at 5-2.

She nervously dropped serve, a Sasnovich forehand winner clinching that game.  A Belarusian service hold and Danilovic was back at the line with a second chance to serve it out.  The Serbian forehand was astray and helped donate another break to a grateful Sasnovich 5-5.

Gritting her teeth, Danilovic found her range in the next game, power hitting the way to a break and the lead 6-5.  The third attempt to serve and win the match was successful, fittingly a massive forehand sealing the deal, and a debut WTA final 6-2 5-7 7-5

The home nations favourite of course has become Anastasia Potapova, who was granted a wildcard into the main draw. 

After two straight sets wins, including a particularly impressive performance against Kristyna Pliskova, Potapova required some resilience to come back from 1-6 playing qualifier Valentyna Ivakhnenko in the quarter finals.

Today Anastasia again found herself in trouble, down 3-6 in her semi final against Slovakian Tamara Zidansek.

In set two, Potapova gathered a cache of 12 break points as opposed to just 2 by Zidansek.  Both of those were converted by Zidansek, and she managed to save nine of the Potapova chances in a terrific defensive display.  However the one extra break was sufficient for Potapova to level the match 3-6 6-4.

Potapova broke twice in the decider, and saved the only break chances on her serve.  Sadly at 2-5, with the Russian ready to serve for the match, Zidansek was forced to retire due to illness, and the 17 year old won 3-6 6-4 5-2 (retired).

A teenage final between Olga Danilovic and Anastasia Potapova 

Hamburg:

Qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili defeated Nicolas Jarry 7-5 0-6 6-1

Leonardo Mayer defeated qualifier Jozef Kovalik 6-7(6) 6-4 7-6(7), and will play Basilashvili in the final

This will be the third ATP final for Basilashvili and he will be hoping for his first win. Irrespective of the result, he will find himself in the top 50 after this, at a new career high.

Gstaad:

Matteo Berrettini defeated qualifier Jürgen Zopp 6-4 7-6(6)

Roberto Bautista Agut (2) defeated Laslo Djere 6-7(5) 6-4 6-4, and will play Berrettini in the final 

This is the first ATP final for Berrettini who was ranked outside the top 200 twelve months ago.  Now he is guaranteed to be at least in the top 70 after his efforts here.

Nanchang:

Saisai Zheng (6) defeated Lin Zhu 6-3 1-6 6-2

Qiang Wang (2) defeated Magda Linette (3) 7-5 6-2, and will play Zheng in the final.

This is the first WTA Tour final for both players.

Atlanta:

John Isner (1) defeated Matthew Ebden 6-4 6-7(6) 6-1

Ryan Harrison (8) defeated Cameron Norrie 2-6 6-3 6-2, and will play Isner in an all-American final.  Isner will be attempting to win his fifth Atlanta Open in his eighth final.

#1 seeds tumble in quarter finals

In an incredible days tennis, three more top seeds were dumped, in quarter finals, adding to the scrap heap where Fabio Fognini finds himself after losing to qualifier Jürgen Zopp earlier in Gstaad.

Today in Hamburg it was the turn of Chilean Nicolas Jarry, ranked 69, to eliminate Dominic Thiem (1), his biggest career win yet, 7-6(5) 7-6(7)

Jarry will play qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili in the semis after he defeated Pablo Carreño Busta (3) in their quarter final

Other Hamburg quarter finals 

Qualifier Jozef Kovalik defeated lucky loser Thiago Monteiro 3-6 6-3 6-2

Leonardo Mayer defeated Diego Schwartzman (2) 6-3 4-6 6-3, and will play Kovalik in the semis 

All semi finalists are unseeded

In Nanchang, Lin Zhu, ranked 137, dismissed Shuai Zhang (1) 7-6(3) 4-6 6-1.

Zhu will play Saisai Zheng (6) in the semis after Zheng defeated qualifier Fang Ying Xun 6-3 6-4

Other Nanchang quarter finals 

Magda Linette (3) defeated qualifier En-Shuo Laing 6-3 4-6 6-2

Qiang Wang (2) defeated Fangzhou Liu 6-3 6-0, and will play Linette in the semis

Russia saw two 17 year olds continue their amazing run in the Moscow River Cup.

Serbian lucky loser Olga Danilovic, ranked 187, delivered one of this years biggest upsets in defeating Wimbledon semi finalist and world number 10 Julia Goerges (1).

Danilovic began brilliantly, her power game not allowing Goerges to even see a break point.  The closest was deuce in the fifth game, but that was settled with a confident forehand.

The break came in the next game, when after achieving two chances, Danilovic delivered a terrific winning return to lead 4-2.

Serving for the set at 5-3, there was no show of nerves and a Goerges error gave Olga the set 6-3.

Danilovic rode the momentum and broke in the opening game of set two, only for Goerges to convert her chance with a winning forehand to level at 2-2.

Unperturbed, Danilovic returned serve like a demon and broke the German serve for 4-3.  Saving two break points, the teenager was a game away from a famous win at 5-3.

Two double faults from Julia and three match points for Olga. Two saved, but on the third a backhand miss by Goerges ended the match.

Olga Danilovic won her way to the semis 6-3 6-3.

She will play Aliaksandra Sasnovich (5) who was given a walkover by Anastasija Sevastova (3)

The other successful 17 year old was Russian wildcard Anastasia Potapova who came from a set down to defeat qualifier Valentyna Ivakhnenko 1-6 6-3 6-2.  Potapova will play Tamara Zidansek in the semis after Zidansek defeated Laura Siegemund 6-3 6-4

The average age of the semi finalists is a mere 19.5.

Gstaad quarter finals:

Qualifier Jürgen Zopp defeated qualifier Facundo Bagnis 3-6 6-4 6-3

Matteo Berrettini defeated Feliciano López (8) 6-4 6-3, and will play Zopp in the semis

Laslo Djere defeated lucky loser Viktor Galovic 6-7(5) 6-3 7-6(5)

Roberto Bautista Agut (2) defeated Taro Daniel 7-5 6-1, and will play Djere in the semis 

Atlanta quarter finals:

Matthew Ebden (4) defeated Marcos Baghdatis 6-3 6-2

John Isner (1) avoided the curse on top seeds by defeating Mischa Zverev (7) 7-5 4-6 6-1, and he will play Ebden in the semis 

Ryan Harrison defeated Hyeon Chung (3) 6-7(3) 6-2 7-6(5)

Cameron Norrie defeated Nick Kyrgios (2) 7-5 3-0 (retired), and will play Harrison in the semis

Qualifier Zopp d top seed Fognini in Gstaad

Second round matches were completed in this weeks five tournaments on the WTA and ATP Tour carnival rides.

Fabio Fognini (1) last week won his seventh ATP title, the Swedish Open in Bastad.  

This week he was defending his Swiss Open title in Gstaad and following a first round bye, his second round opponent was qualifier Jürgen Zopp, ranked 107, from Estonia.

Zopp, like Fognini, has hit 30, and in his 10 years on tour has risen as high as 71 in the rankings (in 2012).  His best effort in a major came this year at Roland Garros where he made the third round, including an opening round victory over seeded Jack Sock.

Today, despite a first serve percentage of just 48, compared with Fognini on 74, Zopp won 8 of 10 points on his first delivery and 8 of 11 on his second effort.

He almost halved the points on the Italian’s first attempts, and destroyed the Fognini second serve.

It was basically a master class from the qualifier who never faced a break point but created seven of his own, using two to break the top seed a couple of times and win the set 6-1.

Fognini steadied in set two, winning 14 of 18 points on his first serve, and although he was broken once, he assembled enough chances to crack open the Zopp delivery twice.  6-3 Fognini and the match now level.

Fabio failed to ride his momentum and as in set one his second serve was smashed in the decider.

Zopp faced no more break points for the match and required just one himself, which he converted from three opportunities given.

Fognini left thanks to a quality performance from Zopp 6-1 3-6 6-3

He will play another qualifier in the quarter finals - Facundo Bagnis - who defeated wildcard Marc-Andrea Huesler 7-6(10) 6-1

Other Gstaad second round matches

Lucky loser Viktor Galovic defeated wildcard Félix Auger-Aliassime 3-6 6-4 6-2

Laslo Djere defeated Borna Coric (3) 6-4 1-6 6-1 and will play Galovic in the quarter finals 

Moscow:

Second round matches 

Anastasija Sevastova (3) defeated lucky loser in qualifying, but not so lucky loser today, Irina Bara 6-2 6-7(5) 6-4

Aliaksandra Sasnovich (5) defeated Evgeniya Rodina 7-5 6-2 and will play Sevastova in the quarter finals

Laura Siegemund defeated Kateryna Kozlova 6-0 6-3

Tamara Zidansek defeated Daria Kasatkina (2) 6-4 2-6 6-4 and will play Siegemund in the quarter finals 

Hamburg:

Second round matches 

Dominic Thiem (1) defeated John Millman 6-2 6-2

Nicolas Jarry received a walkover from Richard Gasquet (7) and will play Thiem in the quarter finals 

Pablo Carreño Busta (3) defeated Aljaz Bedene 6-2 4-0 (retired)

Qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili defeated Pablo Cuevas 7-6(6) 6-4 and will play Carreño Busta in the quarter finals 

Nanchang:

Second round matches 

Qualifier Fang Ying Xun defeated Jing-Jing Lu 6-4 7-5

Saisai Zheng (6) defeated qualifier Karman Thandi 6-4 6-0 and will play Xun in the quarter finals 

Magda Linette (3) defeated Eri Hozumi 6-3 7-5 and will play qualifier En-Shuo Liang in the quarter finals 

Fangzhou Liu defeated Xinyun Han (8) 6-3 6-3 and will play Qiang Wang (2) in the quarter finals 

Atlanta:

Second round matches 

Matthew Ebden (4) defeated wildcard Donald Young 6-4 6-4

Marcos Baghdatis defeated Frances Tiafoe (5) 7-5 6-1 and will play Ebden in the quarter finals 

Cameron Norrie defeated Jérémy Chardy (6) 5-7 6-4 6-4

Nick Kyrgios (2) defeated qualifier Noah Rubin 7-5 6-2 in less than an hour and will play Norrie in the quarter finals

First quarter finalists decided

In Moscow, Julia Goerges (1) led the way into the quarter finals with a straight sets win over Natalia Vikhlyantseva, ranked 103, but that expected result wasn’t indicative of the rest of the days happenings.

Anastasija Sevastova (3) was taken to a decider before eventually defeating Pauline Parmentier in her first round encounter.

Alizé Cornet (7), however, full of confidence after her title win in Gstaad last week, lost to Laura Siegemund, ranked 217, in her opening appearance, even after taking the first set.

History was made twice as two players became the first born in 2001 to make a WTA quarter final.

17 year old Russian wildcard Anastasia Potapova defeated big serving Kristyna Pliskova to reach the final eight, while 17 year old lucky loser Olga Danilovic ousted Kaia Kanepi (8) to make it there.  Both won in straight sets.

Danilovic will play Goerges in her quarter final, while Potapova will play qualifier Valentyna Ivakhnenko in hers.

Hamburg:

Second round

Lucky loser in qualifying Thiago Monteiro defeated Fernando Verdasco (8) 3-6 6-2 7-5

Qualifier Jozef Kovalik defeated wildcard Rudolf Molleker 6-4 6-0 and will play Monteiro in the quarter finals 

Leonardo Mayer defeated Gaël Monfils 6-1 7-5 

Diego Schwartzman (2) defeated qualifier Daniel Masur 6-2 6-2 and will play Mayer in the quarter finals 

Atlanta:

Second round 

Ryan Harrison (8) defeated Lukas Lacko 2-6 6-2 6-3

Wildcard Hyeon Chung (3) defeated Taylor Fritz 6-4 7-6(5) and will play Harrison in the quarter finals 

Mischa Zverev (7) defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 6-2 and will play the winner of John Isner (1) v Alex de Minaur in the quarter finals

Gstaad:

Second round

Matteo Berrettini defeated Andrey Rublev (4) 6-3 6-3

Feliciano López (8) defeated lucky loser Oriol Roca Batalla 4-6 7-6(4) 6-4 and will play Berrettini in the quarter finals 

Taro Daniel defeated Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4 4-6 7-6(4)

Roberto Bautista Agut (2) defeated Jaume Munar 2-6 6-3 6-2 and will play Daniel in the quarter finals 

Nanchang:

Second round 

Wildcard Shuai Zhang (1) defeated Margarita Gasparyan 6-4 6-1

Lin Zhu defeated Tereza Martincova 6-2 6-3 and will play Zhang in the quarter finals 

Qualifier En-Shuo Liang defeated qualifier Peangtarn Plipuech 6-1 6-2

Qiang Wang (2) defeated Sabina Sharipova 6-4 3-6 6-2

En-Shuo Liang and Qiang Wang are awaiting quarter final opponents

Opening rounds done or almost

The first round is either complete or near completion in the five live tennis tournaments at ATP and WTA pro level around the world.

Hamburg:

Qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili eliminated fifth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber to upset fans of the German player and I’m sure Philipp too.

Lucky loser in qualifying Thiago Monteiro rode his luck further by defeating Gilles Simon, ranked over a hundred spots higher than the Brazilian, in straight sets.

The second seed to fall in Day Two action was in form Marco Cecchinato (6), beaten by Gaël Monfils, a tough first up opponent.

So two wins and three losses for French players in the first round, including the result of an all French match between Richard Gasquet (7) and Benoit Paire which Gasquet won.

Gasquet was one of three seeds to win through to the second round.

German crowds saw just two of their own make the second round, five losses, including one from an all German clash.

Moscow:

Only two matches left to play before the first round is done and dusted - these are the ones featuring Anastasija Sevastova (3) and Alizé Cornet (7), winners of titles last week.

While the two top seeds, Julia Goerges and Daria Kasatkina, won their opening matches, two lucky losers in qualifying, plus two qualifiers, also had wins - lucky loser Olga Danilovic, ranked 187, and aged 17, defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.  Lucky loser Irina Bara, ranked 140, defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova.  Qualifier Varvara Flink, ranked 318, defeated fellow 21 year old Valentini Grammatikopoulou, ranked 181, in three sets.  Qualifier Valentyna Ivakhnenko, ranked 199, defeated Danka Kovinic.

The seed to fall was Katerina Siniakova (4), shown the exit by Kristyna Pliskova.

Atlanta:

Three seeds had wins, Frances Tiafoe (5), Jérémy Chardy (6) and Ryan Harrison (8).

Donald Young, now ranked 230, and granted a wildcard into the tournament, managed to win two tie breaks against huge serving Ivo Karlovic, after dropping the opening set.  Karlovic served 30 aces and Young just 7, but the American withstood everything to become the fifth from his country through to the next round.  Isner, with the bye, makes it six.  If Tim Smyczek comes back from a set down currently against Mischa Zverev, then it becomes 7.

Gstaad:

Feliciano López (8) was the only seed to win his opening round match while Robin Haase (5) lost to lucky loser in qualifying Viktor Galovic, ranked 267.  

Joao Sousa (6) was defeated by qualifier Facundo Bagnis, ranked 177.

Another lucky loser, Oriol Roca Batalla, ranked 314, defeated Paolo Lorenzi.  In a battle of wildcards, Marc-Andrea Huesler, ranked 402, defeated veteran Nicolas Almagro, ten years his senior, now ranked 661.

Nanchang:

Wildcard Shuai Zhang (1), Magda Linette (3) and Saisai Zheng (6) were successful in their first round matches, but Vitalia Diatchenko (5) was the seed to say farewell at the initial hurdle.

Vitalia retired in her match 4-6 6-4 3-1 against qualifier Peangtarn Plipuech, ranked 311.

Karman Thandi was another qualifier to advance to the second round, eliminating Jia-Jing Lu in three sets over two and a half hours.

The tours roll on - Europe Asia USA

The tennis never stops - this week we have another five tournaments on the go, three on red clay and two on hard deco turf.

The German Tennis Championship, on red clay in Hamburg, Germany (ATP 500 category) 

The Moscow River Cup presented by Ingrad, on red clay in  Moscow, Russia (Women’s International category)

BB&T Atlanta Open, on hard deco turf in Atlanta, USA (ATP 250 category)

J Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad, on red clay in Gstaad, Switzerland (ATP 250 category)

2018 Jiangxi Open, on hard deco turf in Nanchang, China (Women’s International category)

Hamburg:

Dominic Thiem is top seed, ranked 8, and two other top twenty players are in the draw.  Seven of the eight seeds are in the top thirty.

So far we have seen the demise of fourth seed Damir Dzumhur, gone to a Slovakian qualifier, Jozef Kovalik,  in the opening round.

Two other wins to lowly ranked players - 17 year old German wildcard Rudolf Molleker, ranked 272, thrilled his home nation fans by kicking out veteran David Ferrer,  nineteen years his senior, in three sets.

Another German, qualifier Daniel Masur, ranked 349, ousted compatriot Maximilian Marterer, a top fifty opponent, in straight sets.

Moscow:

Julia Goerges is top seed, ranked 10, and is joined in the draw by two other top twenty players.  All eight seeds are in the top fifty.

17 year old Russian wildcard, Anastasia Potapova, ranked 204, enjoyed a first round win over Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova, herself ranked in the hundreds.  Other matches went to script.

Atlanta:

John Isner is top seed, ranked 9, and has only Nick Kyrgios as another top twenty player in the draw.  Four of the other seeds are in the top fifty and the top four seeds have been granted first round byes.  

I don’t understand why a number of the ATP tournaments can’t collect four extra players together and have a proper 32 player event.  Byes are a blight on the game, giving 4 players an unnecessary advantage, and also fans missing out on seeing their favourites until the second round.

No surprises in the two completed opening round matches 

Gstaad:

Last weeks Bastad winner, Fabio Fognini is top seed, ranked 14.  Roberto Bautista Agut is the other top twenty player in the draw.  Four of the other seeds are in the top fifty and the top four seeds have first round byes.

The only first round matches completed so far have featured lower ranked players, and results have not exactly shocked.  One seed, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (7), lost, but he is ranked 67,  and he was defeated by Roberto Carballes Baena who is ranked just eight spots below.

Nanchang:

Top seed is Shuai Zhang, ranked 32.  Three of the other seeds are in the top hundred, so this event is a chance for lower ranked players to enjoy a boost to their positions.

Already Lin Zhu, ranked 137, and Jing-Jing Lu, ranked 180, have won their opening round matches over Yingying Duan (7) and Kurumi Nara (4) respectively.

Five titles decided

Tournament wins for the following:

Bastad - Fabio Fognini (3) defeated Richard Gasquet (4) 6-3 3-6 6-1

Fognini rises one spot to 14 in the rankings, one short of his career high

Gasquet moves up one spot to 28, still well short of his career high of 7

Umag - Marco Cecchinato (3) defeated Guido Pella 6-2 7-6(4)

Cecchinato moves up five places to 22,  a new career high ranking, previously 27

Pella rises 15 spots to 57, a positive move back towards his career high of 39

Newport - Steve Johnson (3) defeated Ramkumar Ramanathan 7-5 3-6 6-2

Johnson jumps 14 places to 34, closing in on his career high of 21.

Ramkumar Ramanathan leaps 46 spots to 115, a new career high

Bucharest - Anastasija Sevastova (1) defeated Petra Martic (4) 7-6(4) 6-2

Sevastova moves up two spots to 20, five shy of her career high

Martic rises 9 spots to 51, closer to her career high of 34

Gstaad - Alizé Cornet (1) defeated Mandy Minella 6-4 7-6(6)

Cornet moves up 14 spots to 34, still way off her career high of 11

Minella rises 84 places to 142, but her career high remains 66

Fognini d Verdasco in Bastad semi

In the first of the Bastad semi finals, Fabio Fognini (3) met Fernando Verdasco (5) in a rematch of their semi final in the Rio Open earlier this year. Verdasco won that one in straight sets.

Fognini began this match in a much better state.  In the opening set he won 15 of 24 points on his own serve and 15 of 23 points on the Verdasco serve.

Facing no break points himself, the Italian broke Verdasco three times from the five opportunities granted, and took the first set easily 6-1.

Verdasco, with a first serve % of 82, broke through early in set two, and with his third service break in the ninth game forced a final set decider.

Fognini led by a break on two occasions in set three, but surrendered the advantage each time.  However it was the Verdasco forehand which let him down and allowed Fognini to seize a final break and win 6-1 4-6 7-5.

He will play Richard Gasquet in the final 

Richard Gasquet (4) defeated lucky loser in qualifying Henri Laaksonen 6-2 6-3.

Umag semi finals:

Guido Pella defeated Robin Haase (6) 6-3 1-6 6-2

He will play Marco Cecchinato in the final

Marco Cecchinato (3) defeated qualifier Marco Trungelliti 6-2 6-1

Newport semi finals:

Ramkumar Ramanathan defeated Tim Smyczek 6-4 7-5

He will play Steve Johnson in the final

Steve Johnson (3) defeated Marcel Granollers 6-3 6-3

Bucharest semi finals:

Anastasija Sevastova (1) defeated Polona Hercog (8) 6-1 (retired)

She will play Petra Martic in the final 

Petra Martic (4) defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu (2) 6-4 6-4

Gstaad semi finals:

Alizé Cornet (1) defeated Eugenie Bouchard 7-6(5) 1-0 (retired)

She will play Mandy Minella in the final

Mandy Minella defeated Marketa Vondrousova 4-6 6-2 6-2