Articles by Steve Tignor

Cincinnati Final Previews: Halep vs. Muguruza; Dimitrov vs. Kyrgios

Sun, 20 Aug 2017 02:43:00 +0000

Simona Halep vs. Garbiñe Muguruza

The Romanian and the Spaniard have been, along with Jelena Ostapenko, the most impactful WTA players of the past five months. Halep reached the French Open final and is now one win away from becoming No. 1 for the first time. Muguruza won Wimbledon, and has been every bit as impressive in her first trip to the Cincinnati final. It’s possible that this match will be a preview of a US Open title contest in three weeks.

So who has the edge on Sunday? Muguruza leads their head to head 2-1, but they haven’t played on a hard court in two years. The matchup should make for an entertaining stylistic mesh: Muguruza has been the patient aggressor all week, while Halep’s defense has been close to impenetrable. Defense can get you to No. 1 in women’s tennis, but it’s offense that wins championships. Winner: Muguruza

Grigor Dimitrov vs. Nick Kyrgios

For years, the ATP has been waiting in vain to see this type of post-Big 4 contest in its Masters finals. Better late than never, especially in the 26-year-old Dimitrov’s case.

Both of these guys are obvious talents, but neither has made the most of those gifts yet, for different reasons. A first Masters 1000 title on Sunday would be a very strong first step. In Kyrgios’ case, it would put him back in the U.S. Open contender conversation, as the most dangerous of dark horses. Dimitrov won their only meeting, two years ago in Indian Wells, and he just fended off another big server in John Isner on Saturday. But when he’s engaged in an event, Kyrgios has the higher upside, and he’s been engaged in this one from the start. Winner: Kyrgios

—WTA Western & Southern Open Live: Watch all Western & Southern Open action live from Cincinnati on Tennis Channel Plus.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Encore: Can’t make it to Cincinnati? Watch all the coverage On Demand, including match play from Venus Williams and Simona Halep.

—Tennis Channel Academy: Learn from the game’s best and watch Tennis Channel Academy on Tennis Channel Plus.

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Muguruza has been as impressive this week as she was at Wimbledon

Sat, 19 Aug 2017 18:52:00 +0000

All tennis players want to win, but some days they’re willing to do a little more—or a lot more—to make it happen. Saturday was one of those days for Garbiñe Muguruza.

Muguruza was facing Karolina Pliskova in the Cincinnati semifinals. The Spaniard was 1-6 against the Czech, and she hadn’t beaten her since their first meeting, four years ago. Yes, Pliskova was No. 1in the world, and yes, she can be a difficult opponent to face when her game is clicking. But Muguruza is a two-time major champion; why couldn’t she get her game to work against this opponent? She was determined to turn the tables.

“I knew I was going to die on the court if it was necessary,” Muguruza said. “I don’t know, I wanted it.”

Death, or even exhaustion, weren’t necessary this time for Muguruza, who had survived two lengthy battles in the Ohio heat this week against Madison Keys and Svetlana Kuznetsova. Maybe it was the force of her will on Saturday, but she played well enough not just to win, but to win going away against the top seed, 6-3, 6-2.

While she was up and down in her earlier matches, everything came together for Muguruza today. She served well, won 70 percent of her service points, and wasn’t broken. She returned with pace and depth down the middle, won 75 percent of Pliskova’s second-serve points, and created 14 break points against one of the game’s best servers. As she has all week, Muguruza played with patient, tightly controlled aggression from the baseline. When she had a chance to be aggressive, she was, but when a safe rally shot was called for, that’s what she used. As for Pliskova, she was coming off a two-win day on Friday, and looked a step slow getting to the ball.

In some ways, Muguruza’s Cincy campaign has been every bit as impressive as her Wimbledon run, in part because she’s doing it so soon after Wimbledon. She came to the U.S. a week earlier than many expected to play Stanford, and by now she has obviously acclimated her game to the courts and the conditions in the States, which haven’t always favored her in the past. And that should serve her well when the summer hard-court circuit winds to its peak in New York.

“I wanted to keep this fight going,” Muguruza said when she was asked why she had committed to so much tennis this summer. It doesn’t look like that fight is going to end here.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Live: Watch all Western & Southern Open action live from Cincinnati on Tennis Channel Plus.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Encore: Can’t make it to Cincinnati? Watch all the coverage On Demand, including match play from Venus Williams and Simona Halep.

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What to watch, Cincy: Heavy-hitting semifinal action on tap

Sat, 19 Aug 2017 15:09:00 +0000

Throughout the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, we'll preview the upcoming days' must-see matches.

Karolina Pliskova vs. Garbiñe Muguruza

Make sure you have your coffee, because the day starts with a shootout at high noon in Cincy. Pliskova and Muguruza both hit hard, they hit flat, they go for winners whenever possible. That style has taken one of them to No. 1, and the other to two Grand Slam titles. But when they face each other, it’s Pliskova, for some reason, who does it better. The defending Cincinnati champ is 6-1 against Muguruza. But the Spaniard has been competing well all week, and this will be their first meeting since she won Wimbledon.

Winner: Pliskova

Grigor Dimitrov vs. John Isner

The 19th-ranked American and the 11th-ranked Bulgarian have faced off just once, two years ago in Miami, and the American won in straight sets. One of those sets went to a tiebreaker, naturally, and this one will probably be decided by just a few points. Both of these guys, neither of whom has dropped a set this week, have been winning those points. But if Isner, who reached the Cincy final in 2013, is playing well, he’s probably a little tougher to find a way to overcome.

Winner: Isner

Simona Halep vs. Sloane Stephens

Halep leads the head to head with Stephens 4-2, and she’s won their last three meetings, all in straight sets. The last one came just a couple of weeks ago in Washington, D.C. Halep will be favored to do it again on Saturday; her defense was virtually impenetrable for much of her win over Jo Konta in the quarterfinals. At the same time, this is obviously not the Sloane we used to know. She has been playing with a calm sense of purpose the last two weeks, and winning the clutch points at the end of sets. But I think Halep will make her hit one—or two, or 10—too many shots to do it again.

Winner: Halep

Nick Kyrgios vs. David Ferrer

The day will close with a clash of opposites, between the nonchalant Aussie and the ever-grinding Spaniard. The two have played one time, in the first round of the US Open in 2013, back when Ferrer was in the Top 5 and Kyrgios had hardly cracked the Top 200; not surprisingly, the Little Beast won in straights. This time it should be more interesting: If Kyrgios can maintain the level he reached against Rafael Nadal last night, he’ll win. But that won’t be easy, because Ferrer, who is back in beast mode, likely won’t give him the head start that Rafa did on Friday.

Winner: Kyrgios

—WTA Western & Southern Open Live: Watch all Western & Southern Open action live from Cincinnati on Tennis Channel Plus.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Encore: Can’t make it to Cincinnati? Watch all the coverage On Demand, including match play from Venus Williams and Simona Halep.

—Tennis Channel Academy: Learn from the game’s best and watch Tennis Channel Academy on Tennis Channel Plus.

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In the Cincinnati QFs, Nick Kyrgios was as on as Rafael Nadal was off

Sat, 19 Aug 2017 04:04:00 +0000

“We’re going to see what’s happening,” Rafael Nadal said after his first match on Friday, a 7-6 (1), 6-2 win over Albert-Ramos Vinolas, when he was asked about the prospects for this second one, against Nick Kyrgios. The implication from Nadal was: I have no idea how I’m going to play.

It took about three minutes for Rafa and the rest of to find out. Nadal began by missing a series of routine crosscourt forehands long and was broken. The trend continued in the second game, and Kyrgios held at love. By the third game, the malady had spread to Nadal’s backhand, which began to sail long, and he was broken again. All in all, Rafa lost 16 of the first 19 points and committed 10 unforced errors in the first three games. Even when he was able to guess which way Kyrgios was going on his serve, he wasn’t able to make clean contact on it.

This was all that Kyrgios could have asked for, and all that he needed; he is, if nothing else, a galloping frontrunner. He’s also a strong competitor when he has something to gain from a victory; witness his two wins over Novak Djokovic this season, and his near-win over Roger Federer in Miami.

Kyrgios was as on as Nadal was off on Friday. He pumped in 140-m.p.h. serves when he needed them. On his crosscourt forehand, he flicked the ball high and with heavy topspin, pushing Rafa back on his backhand side. On his own backhand, Kyrgios neutralized Nadal’s forehand, and directed the ball down the line and into the open court numerous times.

But Kyrgios had his fun, too. He threw in a trademark front-facing tweener, and even tried his version of the Federer SABR, charging forward on a Nadal second serve and blocking it away for a perfectly measured winner.

Kyrgios was flawless, and Nadal was helpless, until the Australian reached match point at 5-4 in the second. There Kyrgios double-faulted, and Nadal seized his one opportunity to break. Nadal let loose with his first fist-pump of the night, the crowd rose to its feet, and then...Rafa missed three straight forehands and was broken again. A few minutes later, Kyrgios closed out the 6-2, 7-5 win with an ace.

Afterward, Nadal said that switching from day tennis to night tennis so quickly, and trying to control the ball, hadn’t been easy. Since the French Open, he has suffered three defeats that have left him frustrated—to Gilles Muller at Wimbledon, to Denis Shapovalov in Montreal, and now, in unexpectedly dismal fashion, to Kyrgios. It was enough to lead Nadal, who will take over the top ranking on Monday, to put a little uncharacteristic pressure on himself coming into the US Open: “In the last, most important event of the season,” he said, “I have to show why I am at No. 1.”

Kyrgios, meanwhile, has shown that he’s a threat again at that last, most important event.

“It’s easier to bring out your best playing in a full stadium versus great players,” he said.

Nobody doubts that Kyrgios can beat any of the great players at the Open; the question may be whether he can play this well against the ones who aren’t as great.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Live: Watch all Western & Southern Open action live from Cincinnati on Tennis Channel Plus.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Encore: Can’t make it to Cincinnati? Watch all the coverage On Demand, including match play from Venus Williams and Simona Halep.

—Tennis Channel Academy: Learn from the game’s best and watch Tennis Channel Academy on Tennis Channel Plus.

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What to Watch in Cincy: Nadal, Kyrgios could meet in quarterfinals

Fri, 18 Aug 2017 14:00:00 +0000

Throughout the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, we'll preview the upcoming days' must-see matches.

Rafael Nadal vs. Albert Ramos-Viñolas: Nadal

Nick Kyrgios vs. Ivo Karlovic: Kyrgios

Nadal vs. Kyrgios

Because of Thursday night’s wrath-of-God rain in Cincinnati, this will be a two-match day for a couple of players. One of them could be Nadal; he starts at 1:00 against Albert Ramos-Viñolas; in three matches with his fellow Spaniard, Rafa hasn’t dropped a set. The winner of that will have to turn around and play the winner of another match held over from last night, Kyrgios vs. Ivo Karlovic—they’re currently on serve in the first set, with Karlovic leading 4-3. Kyrgios has won all three of his previous matches with Karlovic; if he can survive a fourth, he’ll set up an evening blockbuster with Nadal. Judging by Nadal’s sometimes-shaky recent play, Kyrgios has a definite shot to win that, provided he wants it enough.

Winner: Kyrgios

Simona Halep vs. Johanna Konta

Their three-set Wimbledon quarterfinal was one of the contests of the year. Can this night-session rematch live up to its predecessor? Halep must feel as if she has some unfinished business to attend to, considering how that one ended: A woman’s scream from the audience distracted her on match point. She must also feel like she’s due against Konta. Halep has lost all three matches she’s played against the Brit, all in close three-setters.

Winner: Halep

Dominic Thiem vs. David Ferrer

Like Roger Federer, Ferrer has found his groove again at 35. While he’s ranked just 32nd, he’s coming off a title in Bastad last month and a solid straight-set win in his last round over countryman Pablo Carreño Busta. The Little Beast will need all of his famous doggedness to fend off Thiem, who won their only meeting, on clay last year, in routine fashion. Either way, this early-evening, smaller-court matchup should be as physical as tennis gets.

Winner: Thiem

—WTA Western & Southern Open Live: Watch all Western & Southern Open action live from Cincinnati on Tennis Channel Plus.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Encore: Can’t make it to Cincinnati? Watch all the coverage On Demand, including match play from Venus Williams and Simona Halep.

—Tennis Channel Academy: Learn from the game’s best and watch Tennis Channel Academy on Tennis Channel Plus.

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In key pre-Open showdown, Muguruza saves 3 match points to stun Keys

Thu, 17 Aug 2017 22:42:00 +0000

As she looked up to see Garbiñe Muguruza’s backhand sailing long, Madison Keys must have felt as if she had one foot in the quarterfinals at the Western & Southern Open. Keys was serving at 6-5 in the third set, she was up 40-15, and momentum was entirely on her side. The dazed Cincinnati crowd, or what was left of it after a two-hour rain delay and lightning show, wasn’t even all that fired up, because the result seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

Since falling behind 4-5, Keys had played nearly flawless tennis, holding at love, hitting forehand winners crosscourt, down the line and on the run, and watching as her opponent’s own forehand imploded. Muguruza kept sending that shot long, and kept flicking her racquet in irritation afterward; she knew she wasn’t generating the racquet-head speed she needed on the shot, and time was running out to fix it. One more forehand miss and this key pre-U.S. Open showdown would be over.

But rather than try to force that final forehand error, Keys began to kick her serve to Muguruza’s backhand. Muguruza responded with deep returns, and suddenly it was Keys’ turn to implode. She missed a makable forehand pass into the net on her first match point; she shanked a backhand wide on her second match point; and she netted another backhand on her third match point. Muguruza hung on to break, and the match soon did a complete 180.

In the deciding tiebreaker, Muguruza stopped missing, while Keys stopped finding the court. From 2-3, Keys hit a forehand into the net, a forehand long, a backhand into the net, and a backhand long. Muguruza had her first win over Keys in four tries, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3). Instead of moving into the quarterfinals, Keys was moving out of the arena as quickly as possible. We can only hope that those missed backhands down the stretch didn’t indicate a problem with her recently repaired left wrist.

Muguruza will be the one to advance to the quarters, where she’ll play Svetlana Kuznetsova. But whatever the result of that match may be, this was a win that could resonate for Muguruza in New York. First, she beat a potential Open contender whom she had never beaten. Second, she won when she should have lost. I actually thought her irritated flicks of her forehand were a good sign; instead of traipsing around the court in despair after each miss, which she has done in the past, Muguruza understood the problem and urged herself to rectify it.

If and when she starts imploding at Flushing Meadows, she’ll know what to do. And if she’s down match point, she’ll know she can still win.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Live: Watch all Western & Southern Open action live from Cincinnati on Tennis Channel Plus.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Encore: Can’t make it to Cincinnati? Watch all the coverage On Demand, including match play from Venus Williams and Simona Halep.

—Tennis Channel Academy: Learn from the game’s best and watch Tennis Channel Academy on Tennis Channel Plus.

—Get Tennis Channel Plus for 650+ live events all year long.

—Tennis Channel Plus is available on any streaming device, on mobile, always on the GO (desktop, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire). Subscribe today at BuyTCPlus.com.

What to Watch in Cincy: Delpo-Dimitrov, Muguruza-Keys, Isner-Tiafoe

Thu, 17 Aug 2017 01:52:00 +0000

Throughout the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, we'll preview the upcoming days' must-see matches.

Grigor Dimitrov vs. Juan Martin del Potro

One week you’re chest bumping each other in a doubles match in Montreal, and the next week you’re duking it out across the net in Cincinnati. Such is life on the pro tour. Del Potro and Dimitrov—two popular players, easygoing guys and good buddies—will face off in the day’s first match in the main stadium. Delpo, it turns out, is much friendlier with Dimitrov when they’re on the same side of the court than he is when they’re on opposite sides. The Argentine is 5-0 against the Bulgarian. Still, I’d say Dimitrov, who made the semis here last year, has a good shot of ending that streak on Thursday. With Roger Federer having pulled out of their quarter, this is an opportunity for two guys who have been waiting for one.

Winner: Del Potro

Garbiñe Muguruza vs. Madison Keys

The felt will fly in the second match in the big stadium. Muguruza and Keys are two of the WTA’s heaviest baseline hitters. They’ve each looked sharp in Cincy so far, and they each must be eyeing a title there with Serena Williams and now Angelique Kerber in absentia. Muguruza is a two-time Slam champ but, surprisingly, Keys leads their head to head 3-0. In those three matches, Muguruza has managed just one set.

Winner: Keys

John Isner vs. Frances Tiafoe

The two Americans have met just once, but it was a doozy. Last year at the U.S. Open, Isner came back from two sets to love to beat Tiafoe in a fifth-set tiebreaker in the brand new Grandstand. The setting may not be quite as grand—or the match quite as long—this time, but the stakes are still high. With the two top seeds in this section, Kei Nishikori and Alexander Zverev, out of the picture, Isner and Tiafoe have a chance at a Masters 1000 semifinal–or better. Tiafoe is coming off the win of his life, over Zverev, but Isner has been to the final here before, and I picked him to get back there again this year. So I’ll pick him in this one, too.

Winner: Isner

—WTA Western & Southern Open Live: Watch all Western & Southern Open action live from Cincinnati on Tennis Channel Plus.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Encore: Can’t make it to Cincinnati? Watch all the coverage On Demand, including match play from Venus Williams and Simona Halep.

—Tennis Channel Academy: Learn from the game’s best and watch Tennis Channel Academy on Tennis Channel Plus.

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Frances Tiafoe proves he can play at Top 10 level with upset of Zverev

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 20:14:00 +0000

Frances Tiafoe clenched his fists, slapped his heart, lifted his arms to the sky, skipped across the court, slapped five with his team in the stands and, as he said later, used “a lot of bad language.” Then he raised the roof a few more times for good measure. It was, as he didn’t really need to explain, “the happiest I’ve ever felt on a tennis court.”

What made the 19-year-old Maryland native’s day in Cincinnati? He had just beaten the ATP’s hottest player, Alexander Zverev, and ended his 10-match, two-tournament win streak, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. More than that, Tiafoe had turned the tables on an opponent his own age, who was ranked 51 spots higher and who had handled him with straight-set ease at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year.

“I let him big boy me,” Tiafoe told Tennis Channel afterward when asked what had happened in his first two meetings with Zverev. “I let him dictate play.”

If you’re a NextGen player like Tiafoe, Zverev is the guy you’ve spent most of your short career chasing; he’s the guy you need to keep in your sights. On Wednesday he caught him, in what Tiafoe described as a “roller coaster out there.”

The first set was competitive, but as expected, Zverev, who was coming off a win over Roger Federer in the Montreal final on Sunday, broke serve just when he needed to, at 5-4, with a perfectly constructed rally that ended with a forehand winner. This time, though, Tiafoe had played well enough in that set to feel like he was in it.

He stepped forward to start the second, breaking serve with a big backhand approach and jumping to a 3-0 lead. Zverev, again as expected, narrowed the gap to 3-2, but this time it was Tiafoe who played big-boy tennis and used his 130-m.p.h. serve to hold for 4-2. From there, Zverev, coming off two full weeks of play and a perhaps ill-advised doubles match on Tuesday, began to weary. His shoulders slumped, he trudged to the sidelines on changeovers, he leaned on his racquet between points and he took no time at all setting up to serve. At 3-5, Tiafoe broke him with a reflex crosscourt forehand winner for the set. Sascha didn’t even think about trying to run after it.

That’s how play continued in the third set. Zverev looked like he was in a death march rather than a tennis match. But, as so often happens, he served just well enough, and Tiafoe got just tight enough, to keep it close. Tiafoe missed a routine return on break point early in the set, and missed an easy overhead wide that would have given him two break points at 4-3.

“I was keeping the rally going, keeping him running,” Tiafoe said. “But he was still competing, still serving big.”

Finally, the break came just at the right time. Serving at 4-5, Zverev went down 0-30, and Tiafoe reached match point with his most important shot of the day, a reflex backhand return winner of a 122-m.p.h. serve. When Zverev’s backhand on match point carried long, the celebrations could begin.

“I’m a pretty decent player, I guess,” Tiafoe said with a grin when he was asked what this win, his first over a Top 10 opponent, says about him.

What it also showed was that while he gives up a few inches on Zverev and isn’t as offensive minded, his game, which is based on speed, reflexes, counterpunching, a varied arsenal of shots and speed, can work at a Top 10 level. That’s worth raising the roof about.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Live: Watch all Western & Southern Open action live from Cincinnati on Tennis Channel Plus.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Encore: Can’t make it to Cincinnati? Watch all the coverage On Demand, including match play from Venus Williams and Simona Halep.

—Tennis Channel Academy: Learn from the game’s best and watch Tennis Channel Academy on Tennis Channel Plus.

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Stephens vs. Kvitova, Nadal vs. Gasquet lead Wednesday's CIncy slate

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 01:13:00 +0000

Throughout the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, we'll preview the upcoming days' must-see matches.

Madison Keys vs. Daria Kasatkina

Keys had her traditional ups and downs in her first-round win over CoCo Vandeweghe, but she looked focused and energized in defeating her compatriot in the Stanford final two weeks earlier. Kasatkina will be overmatched, serve-wise and forehand-wise, by Keys, but her spin-heavy game should also provide an intriguing contrast of styles. Keys and Kasatkina have played twice, and Keys has won twice. But the last time, in Wuhan in the fall, it went to 6-4 in the third. Winner: Keys

Petra Kvitova vs. Sloane Stephens

It’s time to talk about Sloane again. She has returned from foot surgery with more of a bang—and more of a level head—than anyone expected. In Toronto last week, she beat Lucie Safarova, Angelique Kerber, and her opponent on Wednesday, Kvitova. Can Stephens do it again? She beat Safarova for a second time in Cincy, and Kvitova has never hearted the American heartland. Winner: Stephens

Rafael Nadal vs. Richard Gasquet
 
If Nadal could pick one high-level pro to play, it might be Gasquet. As a pro, Rafa is 14-0 against his old junior rival, and there’s no particular reason to think that Gasquet will make his breakthrough at age 31. As far as first-rounders go, though, the shot-making should make this one worthy of its late-night slot. Winner: Nadal

—WTA Western & Southern Open Live: Watch all Western & Southern Open action live from Cincinnati on Tennis Channel Plus.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Encore: Can’t make it to Cincinnati? Watch all the coverage On Demand, including match play from Venus Williams and Simona Halep.

—Tennis Channel Academy: Learn from the game’s best and watch Tennis Channel Academy on Tennis Channel Plus.

—Get Tennis Channel Plus for 650+ live events all year long.

—Tennis Channel Plus is available on any streaming device, on mobile, always on the GO (desktop, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire). Subscribe today at BuyTCPlus.com.

With win over Berdych, Del Potro gets chance he's been waiting for

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 18:37:00 +0000

Juan Martin del Potro shook his head after hitting a backhand into the net. He had been down this road a few too many times before in 2017.

The tough draw, the hot opponent, his own sputtering game which he could never kick into high gear: It was all happening to Delpo one more time against Tomas Berdych in Cincinnati. When he lost the first set 6-3, and looked lost at the baseline in the process, Tennis Channel commentators began to wonder about a possible injury. Thinking about his lackluster loss to Denis Shapovalov in Montreal last week, I began to wonder if Del Potro—28 years old, 30th-ranked and the victim of a career’s worth of bad luck—might have reached his peak. Had we seen the best of Delpo?

Last year Del Potro returned with a revamped, albeit makeshift, game and found immediate—and frankly surprising—success with it. A surgically repaired but still-balky left wrist kept him from swinging out on his two-handed backhand, so he did the only thing he could do: He hit more forehands, and he hit as many of them for winners as possible.

The result was an Olympic silver medal and the first Davis Cup title in Argentina’s history. The problem was, neither of those International Tennis Federation triumphs did anything for his ATP ranking, which remained mired in the 30s, not high enough to get him seeded at most events. That meant Delpo was ripe for bad draws: In four of his first six events of 2017, he lost either to Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer. And that’s how, even in August, he could find himself facing the 10th-seeded Berdych in the first round. When Del Potro blew a 5-2 lead in the second set, it looked like all of those tough draws and early losses had taken their toll on his confidence. His shots, even from the forehand side, didn’t have their old pop.

Sometimes, though, the easiest way to regain your confidence is to have your opponent hand it to you. On Tuesday, Berdych obliged. He started the second-set tiebreaker by missing a forehand wide and double-faulting to go down 0-3. That’s all Delpo needed. He won the next two points with big first serves and bigger forehands, and he closed the breaker with an ace and a fist pump. His pop, and his confidence, were back, and they stayed with him through a bagel third set. The combination that had worked so well for him last year—the slice crosscourt backhand to set up the inside-out forehand—was working again.

“I think my game improved after a big effort in the second set,” Del Potro said after his 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-0 win, which was among the best of his season.

Can it help him turn his year around? I asked the same thing last week in Montreal when Delpo beat John Isner, and then he turned around and lost to Shapovalov. But opportunity certainly knocks in Cincy. Del Potro plays 244th-ranked Mitchell Krueger next, and he’s in the quarter vacated by Federer.

“I think I can play much better,” Del Potro said on Tuesday. “I’ve been having tougher draws in all the tournaments.”

With his win on Tuesday, Delpo gave himself the chance he’s been waiting for.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Live: Watch all Western & Southern Open action live from Cincinnati on Tennis Channel Plus.

—WTA Western & Southern Open Encore: Can’t make it to Cincinnati? Watch all the coverage On Demand, including match play from Venus Williams and Simona Halep.

—Tennis Channel Academy: Learn from the game’s best and watch Tennis Channel Academy on Tennis Channel Plus.

—Get Tennis Channel Plus for 650+ live events all year long.

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Cincinnati Men's Preview: Nadal is only member of Top 6 in the draw

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 23:13:00 +0000

Let’s do it again, shall we? On Monday, the second half of the ATP’s most grueling Masters double began in Cincinnati. But this time there’s a significant difference: Along with Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, Roger Federer, who hurt his back in the Montreal final, is also absent. That means Rafael Nadal will take over the No. 1 ranking next week for the first time in three years. And it means that there should be room again for another surprise run, like the one Denis Shapovalov made in Canada last week.

Here’s a look at how the deck has been reshuffled so far in Cincy.

*****

First Quarter

Nadal was unhappy with his loss to Shapovalov in Canada, and he was right to be; he didn’t play well. Can that realization, and frustration, help him turn it around this week? If form and seedings hold, his path to the semis will be through Richard Gasquet, Gilles Muller and either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or David Goffin. The question for Rafa right now isn’t how well he plays overall, but whether he can pull through when things get tight. That’s not a problem that started in Montreal; it has been his Achilles’ heel for two seasons now. While he won in Cincy in 2013, he lost in the third round in 2015 and 2016.

First-round match to watch: Goffin vs. Nick Kyrgios

Also here: Kevin Anderson, a finalist in D.C. and a quarterfinalist in Montreal

Semifinalist: Nadal

*****

Second Quarter

Dominic Thiem is the top seed in this section, but while he reached the quarters in Cincy last year, his current form is in some question after his loss to Diego Schwartzman last week in Montreal. This week he’ll start against Fabio Fognini.

Also here: Pablo Carreño Busta and Sam Querrey. You might think that America’s Wimbledon semifinalist would be a dark horse at a big stateside event like this, but he hasn’t been out of the second round at this one since 2009.

Out: Kei Nishikori, due to right wrist pain. Lucky loser Janko Tipsarevic will take his place. That makes this quarter a land of semifinal opportunity for half a dozen players.

First-round match to watch: Steve Johnson vs. David Ferrer

Semifinalist: Thiem

*****

Third Quarter

How long can Alexander Zverev keep rolling? If he’s not feeling any ill effects from winning 10 matches in two weeks, he’s the favorite to emerge from this quarter. Milos Raonic is the second seed, but he has been injured for much of 2017 and went out tamely to Adrian Mannarino in Montreal. John Isner may be a better bet. He’s been to the Cincy final, and while he’s 0-3 against Zverev, he nearly beat him in Miami this spring.

First-round match for the home folks to watch: Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Jared Donaldson

Semifinalist: Isner

*****

Fourth Quarter

Instead of Federer in the bottom bracket of this section, the other players here will now have to contend with 85th-ranked lucky loser Thomas Fabbiano of Italy. That’s a tradeoff most would take, I think. Most likely to profit from the switch will be Grigor Dimitrov—who reached the semis here last year—Juan Martin del Potro and Jack Sock.

First-round match to watch: Del Potro vs. Berdych. Each has been to the semis in Cincy twice.

Semifinalist: Dimitrov

*****

Semifinals: Nadal d. Thiem; Isner d. Dimitrov

Final: Nadal d. Isner

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Cincinnati Women's Preview: Five women could be No. 1 by end of week

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 15:20:00 +0000

We’re used to hearing WTA tournaments described as wide open, at least when Serena Williams isn’t around. But the No. 1 ranking? Serena’s long-term absence has left even that exclusive position up for grabs. In Cincinnati this week, five players have a chance to finish the week No. 1: Karolina Pliskova, who is there now, Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki and Elina Svitolina. There’s obviously a lot to play for this week; let’s see who stands the best chance of ending up on top at the end of the Western & Southern Open.

*****

First Quarter

The pressure ratchets up a notch for Pliskova in Cincinnati. She’s the defending champion, and it was here last year that she began to play the tennis that nearly took her to the U.S. Open title. But while she’s ranked No. 1, Pliskova is fourth in the 2017 race, and her ranking will take a dip if she loses early here or at Flushing Meadows. Her path to the semis won’t be an easy one. It could bring her up against Donna Vekic, Kristina Mladenovic—who won their last meeting, in Dubai—and the woman who beat her this past weekend in Toronto, Caroline Wozniacki.

Also here: Venus Williams, who is slated to play Wozniacki in the third round

First-round matches to watch: Mladenovic vs. Daria Gavrilova

Williams vs. Alison Riske

Semifinalist: Pliskova

*****

Second Quarter

The summer hard-court season hasn’t been especially kind to Muguruza over the years, but last year’s Cincinnati event, where she made the semifinals, was an exception. It makes sense; the fast courts should be to her liking. This year Muguruza, who has mostly fended off post-Slam collapse syndrome after her Wimbledon win, will start against either Lauren Davis or Beatrice Haddad Maia of Brazil.

More intriguing is the woman Muguruza could face second: Madison Keys. The American beat the Spaniard two weeks ago in Stanford on her way to the title. Keys looked to be in top form there, but then, as has been the case throughout her career, she was immediately forced to pull out of Toronto will an arm injury. She’ll need to pick up where she left off, because she opens against the woman she beat in the Stanford final, Coco Vandeweghe.

Also here: Jelena Ostapenko, Svetlana Kunzetsova

First-round match to watch: Keys vs. Vandeweghe

Semifinalist: Muguruza

*****

Third Quarter

The top two seeds in this section have switched places in 2017. Kerber began the year at No. 1, but her one-sided loss to Sloane Stephens last week left her at No. 15 in the race to Singapore; Svitolina, meanwhile, began the year ranked No. 14, but with her fifth title of the year, in Toronto, she took over the No. 1 spot in the seasonal race. Will they continue on the same trajectory in Cincinnati, or is it time for a course correction? Kerber has the slightly tougher draw; she’ll start against either Barbora Strycova or Ekaterina Makarova, and could play Petra Kvitova or Stephens after that.

First-round matches to watch: Stephens vs. Lucie Safarova

Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Julia Goerges

Semifinalist: Svitolina

*****

Fourth Quarter

Halep has been knocking on the No. 1 door for much of the summer, but so far it hasn’t opened for her. Rome, Paris, Eastbourne, Wimbledon, D.C., Toronto: She makes the quarters or better every week, but something slightly out of her control—hot weather, a hot opponent, a home-country opponent, having to play two matches in one day—keeps her from going all the way. But she seems too steady not to reach No. 1 at some point. This week she’ll start against either Taylor Townsend or Monica Puig, and could face the woman who beat her at Wimbledon, Johanna Konta, in the quarters.

First-round match to watch: CiCi Bellis vs. Alizé Cornet

Semifinalist: Halep

*****

Semifinals: Muguruza d. Pliskova; Svitolina d. Halep

Final: Muguruza d. Svitolina

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Zverev and Svitolina win fifth titles of 2017—are bigger ones coming?

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 02:02:00 +0000

“I have to be very aggressive,” Alexander Zverev said when he was asked before the Montreal final what it would take to beat Roger Federer.

That’s what nine out of 10 tennis players would say in the same situation, of course. But there was something about the “very” that made it sound like Zverev was determined to beat Federer to the punch in this match. After being thrashed by him in their last meeting, in Halle in June, Zverev seemed to think it was his only chance.

He was as good as his word. Zverev went after his forehand in a way that he hadn’t in his semifinal win over Denis Shapovalov; time after time, he beat Federer with pace and angle crosscourt. Zverev struck his backhand, as he always does, confidently to all parts of the court, and even finished off one service hold with a drop-shot winner. But he was boldest with his second serve. Zverev hit his second ball an average of 13 m.p.h. faster than he had been in his previous four matches in Montreal, and he even launched a few 130-m.p.h. second-serve missiles with it.

By the start of the second set, Federer was fed up. He yelled at the service line for helping one of Zverev’s shots pick up speed when it skidded off of it. Still, he did what he could to adjust. He varied his hitting position, used his drop shot, moved forward in the court and, in general, tried to give Zverev as many things as possible to think about. It was enough to earn Federer a break point in the second game, but not enough to earn him a break. Zverev again had the answer: Two unreturnable serves and a forehand winner.

That, it turned out, would be Federer’s last chance. Somewhere in the middle of the set, he hurt himself—a back spasm seemed probable. By the sixth game, he was arming his serve; by the eighth, he was standing ramrod straight when he hit his backhand. Zverev broke at 3-3 and held at love to close out the 6-3, 6-4 win.

While the end was anti-climactic, Zverev’s win was another major step forward for a player who has had more than his share over the last two seasons. It was his fifth title of 2017, his second in two weeks and his second Masters 1000. This was also his 10th consecutive match win, and his second in four meetings with Federer.

Zverev’s week in Montreal didn’t feel like a breakthrough; those can only come at Grand Slams for him now. This felt like a consolidation, as if, at 20, he’s gathering all of his strengths, mentally and physically, into a polished, complete game that’s difficult for anyone to contend with. On Sunday, against one of the great players in the game’s history, Zverev imposed his will and did exactly what he set out to do.

“I wanted to take as much time away as possible with [the forehand and serve],” Zverev said afterward, in an echo of what he had said beforehand. The best-laid plans of champions, and future champions, often don’t go awry.

NextGen? How about NowGen. How about...US Open favorite?

Embed from Getty Images

When Elina Svitolina watched Caroline Wozniacki’s final return of the first set first sail long, she immediately raised her first above her head, as if she had won the tournament. She knew she still had a set to go, of course, but she had struggled so mightily in the first one that just getting through it felt like a victory worth celebrating.

“It was an extremely tough first set,” said Svitolina, who had failed to capitalize on earlier opportunities to build a lead. “I was just happy I was able to get through it.”

Svitolina must have had an inkling of what was coming. She had won both of her previous meetings with Wozniacki, and she never looked back after she had the lead in this one. The shots that flew wide or found the net in the first set began landing in the corners in the second. Or, to be precise, not landing in the corners, because Svitolina didn’t need to make them that good. Any player interested in knowing how to break down the Wozniacki wallboard—Karolina Pliskova, are you listening?—might want to watch a tape of Svitolina’s 6-4, 6-0 win.

Rather than go for winners, Svitolina tried to create forced errors off the Wozniacki racquet. It wasn’t complicated: She stepped forward, directed a backhand crosscourt and then directed the next one down the line, all with plenty of margin for error. No shot was meant to win the point outright, but the cumulative effect left Wozniacki scrambling and lunging and completely on the defensive. By the end, down 0-5, all Wozniacki could do was call her father out and complain. This was her sixth loss in six finals in 2017, and she hasn't won so much as a set in any of them. She has been unable to raise her game and take the rallies into her own hands with the title on the line.

“The second set was very confident,” a slightly dazed Svitolina said afterward. She was, after all, finishing up her third win in the last 24 hours.

Like Zverev, this was also Svitolina’s fifth title of 2017, and her most impressive to date. She beat four Top 10 players (and both of the Wimbledon finalists): Venus Williams, Garbiñe Muguruza, Simona Halep and Wozniacki. Only Muguruza took a set.

The victory makes Svitolina a U.S. Open dark horse, and, despite the fact that she has never reached a Grand Slam semifinal, she has a chance to become No. 1 in the world next week in Cincinnati.

“I have my goals, of course,” Svitolina said when she was asked about that possibility. “But I can’t think about that now. The most important thing is to have my game with me.”

Svitolina’s game isn’t spectacular, or even memorable; you don’t shake your head in awe at her shot-making, the way you do with Serena or Vika or Garbiñe. But as she showed in her approach to Wozniacki, it’s an efficient and effective one, and at 22 it looks destined to take her much farther. When a player has a chance to become No. 1, it’s time to start paying attention.

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What to watch, Canada: Svitolina-Wozniacki, Federer-Zverev

Sun, 13 Aug 2017 16:20:00 +0000

Throughout the Rogers Cup tournaments in Montreal (ATP) and Toronto (WTA), we'll preview the upcoming days' must-see matches.

Elina Svitolina [5] vs. Caroline Wozniacki [6]

Here she is again. Wozniacki will play her sixth final of 2017 in Toronto; can she finally win one? With a 46-15 record and a No. 6 ranking, she has been perhaps the steadiest player on the women’s tour this year, but she has yet to take home a title. Has it turned into a phobia? She lost her last one, in Bastad earlier this month, to 40th-ranked Katerina Siniakova in straight sets.

Wozniacki also lost a final this year, in Dubai, to Svitolina, who, with a 43-9 record, has also been among the tour’s most consistent performers, and is ranked a very quiet No. 5. But while Wozniacki has lost all five of her finals, Svitolina has won all four of hers.

With that in mind, Svitolina should be favored to do it again. The question may be how well she recovers, mentally and physically, from a banner day on Saturday, where she knocked off two of the WTA’s best players—Garbiñe Muguruza in the morning, Simona Halep in the evening. Can Svitolina keep that momentum going, or is a fall to earth inevitable? Wozniacki will be happy to pose that question, over and over and over, on Sunday.

Winner: Svitolina

*****

Roger Federer vs. Alexander Zverev

This was the final that many of us, myself included, predicted for Montreal. What we didn’t predict was how it would happen. Despite losing only one set, Federer hasn’t been sharp this week; and while Zverev has continued the North American roll he started last week in Washington, D.C., he had to survive a 46-shot rally on match against Richard Gasquet in his opening match to do it.

But the 36-year-old and the 20-year-old both made it, and now fans will be treated to a high-level clash of the generations. It’s also a logical one. Federer has won five titles in 2017, including two majors; Zverev has won four titles, including the only Masters 1000, in Rome, not claimed by either Federer or Rafael Nadal. Zverev and Federer have faced off three times, with Federer winning twice; their last meeting, in the Halle final in June, was a one-sided 6-1, 6-3 win for the Swiss.

Which way will this one go? Federer hasn’t exactly been in form, and a loss for him in the lead-up to the US Open wouldn’t be a surprise; he lost matches leading up to the Australian Open and Wimbledon as well. But while Zverev eliminated the hottest player of the week, Denis Shapovalov, in the semis, he struggled mightily down the stretch to do it. Let’s hope Federer and Zverev were saving their best for each other.

Winner: Federer

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Zverev ends Shapovalov’s Montreal run, will face Federer in final

Sun, 13 Aug 2017 03:10:00 +0000

Earlier this year, when 22-year-old Nick Kyrgios easily beat 20-year-old Alexander Zverev in Indian Wells, I wrote, “what a difference two years can make on tour.” Since then, Zverev has narrowed that particular gap with surprising speed, and he beat Kyrgios for the first time this week in Montreal. But the idea still held true for his match with 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov on Saturday.

Zverev was the better, stronger, more forceful and more polished player from start to finish in his 6-4, 7-5 win. The match was competitive, but the scores didn’t need to be that close. As he did against Milos Raonic at Wimbledon, Zverev let his opponent hang around, with double faults—he and Shapovalov both finished with six—and oddly routine and rushed misses down the stretch. For the most part, though, Zverev was able to stay within himself and still control the rallies. His serve, forehand, and especially his backhand are all a cut about his younger opponent’s at the moment. He didn’t need to do anything spectacular with them.

For the first time during his remarkable run in Montreal, Shapovalov looked and played his age. He struggled on his return, especially with balls into his body, and broke serve just once. He went for too much, too early, and too often on his inside-out forehand. He missed volleys he had been making this week. And matched up against Zverev’s all-world two-handed backhand, Shapovalov’s one-hander looked like a liability. That’s what a difference two years can make.

These were two young players under a big spotlight, and the level of play from both was hit or miss. Zverev was strong enough and consistent enough, but he never showed off what he can do with his forehand—he’ll need to do more with that shot, and with his serve, if he’s going to beat Roger Federer in the final. Shapovalov, as always, was at his best when he fell behind, and he brought the crowd to its feet when he saved two match points and earned three break points with Zverev serving at 6-5 in the second. But it never felt like Shapovalov’s night; instead of clipping the line with his inside-out forehand at break point, as he had against Juan Martin del Potro and Rafael Nadal, he missed by an inch.

Still, even a 20-year-old can recognize when an 18-year-old is going to be around for a while. After they shook hands, the German pointed in the Canadian’s direction in appreciation of his performance. Zverev knows how quickly two-year gaps can close.

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Three to See, Canada: Federer, Muguruza, Shapovalov in action

Sat, 12 Aug 2017 15:44:00 +0000

Throughout the Rogers Cup tournaments in Montreal (ATP) and Toronto (WTA), we'll preview the upcoming days' must-see matches.

Garbine Muguruza [4] vs. Elina Svitolina [5]

These two hard-hitters have played six completed matches and split them down the middle, 3-3. Muguruza won their only meeting of 2017, 6-0 in the third set, on hard courts in Indian Wells. It will likely be up to Muguruza who wins this one as well; she’s the more aggressive player, and she has more firepower. Svitolina will have to hope she starts misfiring, but Muguruza’s aim has mostly been true of late.

Winner: Muguruza

Roger Federer [2] vs. Robin Haase

Haase, eh? How many picked the 30-year-old, 46th-ranked Dutchman to reach the semis? But here he is, victor over Grigor Dimitrov and Diego Schwartzman. And if he’s watched any of this semifinal opponent this week, he might even think he has a chance to go further. Federer has been sluggish during his wins over David Ferrer and Roberto Bautista Agut. But he’s won anyway, just like he won in his only previous meeting with Haase.

Winner: Federer

Alexander Zverev [4] vs. Denis Shapovalov

It has been a long time since the men had a showcase night match at a major event between a 20-year-old and an 18-year-old, but the ATP’s dogged NextGen project has born fruit over the last two weeks. Zverev won the title at the Citi Open, and Shapovalov has made himself the story of the week in Montreal, beating Juan Martin del Potro and Rafael Nadal. More than anything, the two youngsters have out-competed their elders. Zverev saved a match point on a 46-shot rally against Richard Gasquet, while Shapovalov has responded to every moment of adversity like a pro. The first of what should be many meetings between these two longhairs should be one to watch.

Winner: Shapovalov

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How did world No. 1 Pliskova lose? Caroline Wozniacki does it again

Fri, 11 Aug 2017 22:31:00 +0000

“I think this is one of the best sets of tennis I’ve seen Pliskova play,” Chris Evert said as Karolina Pliskova took a 4-2 lead in the third set over Caroline Wozniacki in Toronto on Friday. It was hard, at that moment, to argue.

Pliskova, the WTA’s current No. 1, had finally found a groove. After suffering through four rain delays and nearly five hours on court, and being forced to hit hundreds of balls by Wozniacki, Pliskova was patiently measuring her shots rather than just slugging the first thing she saw. She had won two of her three previous matches with Wozniacki in 2017, and it looked like, after a topsy-turvy first two sets, she was going to win this one, too. Pliskova was, by all appearances, going to back up her No. 1 ranking.

But that’s the thing about Wozniacki: Whatever else anyone may think, she’s always the last person to believe she’s going to lose. She’s a two-time season-ending No. 1, and while that was six years ago, she still acts and plays like she thinks she should win every match she’s in. And she wins a lot of them for that reason alone. Wozniacki forces her opponents to beat her; her opponents, in turn, know they’re going to have to make their shots, and especially their putaway shots, until the last point is over and match is officially done and dusted. They’re not going to get any help. Pliskova led 5-1 in the first set, but Wozniacki won it 7-5.

That, obviously, can wear on a player’s mind, and it seemed in the end to wear on Pliskova’s. Just when it looked as if she had conquered her inconsistency and asserted her superiority, everything went haywire again for her. Wozniacki kept making shots, kept running down balls, kept “asking the questions,” as the cliché goes, and after two hours and 56 minutes, Pliskova finally ran out of answers. Serving at 4-5 in the third, Pliskova made three quick unforced errors—a backhand long, a forehand long and a forehand into the net—to end the match.

In one sense Wozniacki’s 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-4 win was a product of her defense and grit, as it always with her; she made just 15 unforced errors in 221 points. But she also showed off a little more offensive oomph—dare we call it firepower?—than usual. Wozniacki out-aced the WTA’s ace machine, eight to five, and her 29 winners was a respectable number for her on a slow hard court like the one in Toronto.

While Pliskova walked away wondering how she lost, Wozniacki flashed the smile of a player who knew that all of her effort and belief down the stretch had paid off. She moves on to the semis, where she’ll play either Lucie Safarova or Sloane Stephens. And with this win, she gives the rest of us a reminder that she’s part of the U.S. Open hunt, too. Wozniacki has been a semifinalist there three times, and a finalist twice. You know she thinks she belongs there again.

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Nadal was going for No. 1, but it was Shapovalov who had the bullet

Fri, 11 Aug 2017 03:53:00 +0000

There’s the big, bending lefty serve; “swing it like Shapovalov,” kids may say someday. There’s the forehand that he can hit for winners crosscourt, down the line, inside out and inside in, and which never ever looks rushed. There’s the one-handed backhand that he rarely gives in and slices, and which he rarely misses when he sees a crosscourt opening. There’s the too-large backwards hat and the leaping energy that lets you know that, yes, while his game may look 25, he’s still just 18.

But what has really set Denis Shapavolov apart this week in Montreal is what happens when he gets done leaping and comes back to earth. He slows down, collects himself and finds his best, calmest, most forceful tennis when he needs it. In Shapovalov’s matches with Juan Martin del Potro on Wednesday and Rafael Nadal on Thursday, I kept waiting for the veteran Grand Slam champion to assert his authority and run away with the match. Instead, it was Shapovalov, the teenage wild card ranked outside the Top 150, who ran them off the court.

Shapovalov, the 2016 Wimbledon boys’ champ, followed up the biggest win of his young career, over Del Potro, with a much bigger one, over Nadal, by the suitably dramatic score of 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Over the last two sets, Shapovalov controlled the rallies and pushed Nadal back with his hooking serve and heavy forehand, while at the same time forcing Rafa to scramble far beyond the sidelines with both shots. Shapovalov hit nine aces and 49 winners to just 18 for Nadal; that included a 33 to 14 edge from the forehand side.

But it wasn’t the number of aces or winners he hit; it was when he hit them. Up 4-1 in the second set, Shapovalov let Nadal come back to 4-4 and take a 0-30 lead in that game. The crowd that had been so noisy was quiet now; the end looked near. That is, until Shapovalov uncorked two aces down the T (something he hadn’t done much of, if at all, until then), smoothly sent a forehand winner into the corner and finished the game with a nasty, slicing body serve. From there, he broke to win the second set.

Again, early in the third, it looked as if Nadal would reassert himself. Through a long, multi-deuce third game, Nadal kept forcing break points, only to watch as Shapovalov wiped them away with line-painting serves and forehands. In the stat of the night, Shapovalov saved nine of 11 break points. By the time the match reached its climactic and well-earned third-set tiebreaker, the outcome seemed inevitable—and not in Nadal’s favor.

Even when Rafa went up 3-0 in the breaker, you felt like Shapovalov hadn’t fired his last shot just yet. Nadal berated himself when he missed an easy backhand with a chance to go up 4-0; he knew he needed to build his lead while he still had the chance. He was right. Shapovalov, as he had all night, played his best, most settled tennis with the match on the line, hitting two aces and three forehand winners in the last seven points.

For Nadal, this was another in a long string of close losses and missed opportunities on surfaces other than clay. He spent much of the match 10 feet behind the baseline; from there, he struggled to get the ball to Shapovalov’s backhand. And while the 18-year-old rookie was firing aces and winners in the breaker, the 15-time Slam champion double-faulted and smothered a hanging forehand into the net. Nadal can still reach No. 1 next week, but he could use a victory in one of these tightrope-walk matches before he gets to the U.S. Open.

“No. 1 With a Bullet” is an old phrase that seemed appropriate again on Thursday: Nadal was going for No. 1, but it was Shapovalov, the youngest of the ATP’s young guns, who was carrying the bullets.

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Three to See, Canada: Wimbledon champions look for spots in semifinals

Fri, 11 Aug 2017 03:16:00 +0000

Throughout the Rogers Cup tournaments in Montreal (ATP) and Toronto (WTA), we'll preview the upcoming days' must-see matches.

Roger Federer [2] vs. Roberto Bautista Agut [12]

Federer was 16-0 against David Ferrer coming into Thursday, but he struggled to make it 17. He’s 6-0 against Ferrer’s fellow Spaniard, Bautista Agut; could we see another struggle from Federer to make it seven straight? He started slowly against Ferrer and never kicked into high gear, and he’ll only be wearier on Friday. Bautista Agut pushed Federer to two tiebreakers on a similar court in Miami this spring, but after beating Gael Monfils in a third-set tiebreaker 24 hours earlier, he may have lost a little of the spring in his own step. Federer isn’t likely to be that far off two days in a row.

Winner: Federer

Karolina Pliskova [1] vs. Caroline Wozniacki [6]

Fancy meeting you again: Pliskova and Wozniacki, two of the best from one week to the next this year, have already played four times in 2017. Pliskova has won three of those matches, including the last one, on grass in Eastbourne. But Wozniacki wore her down on a slow hard court in Miami; the courts in Toronto don’t look all that much different.

Winner: Wozniacki

Garbiñe Muguruza [4] vs. Elina Svitolina [5]

These two hard hitters have played six completed matches and split them down the middle, 3-3. Muguruza won their only meeting of 2017, 6-0 in the third set, on a hard court in Indian Wells. It will likely be up to Muguruza who wins this one as well; she’s the more aggressive player, and she has more firepower. Svitolina will have to hope she starts misfiring, but Muguruza’s aim has mostly been true of late.

Winner: Muguruza

—Citi Open Women’s Semis/Final: Catch up on all the action from Citi Open on Tennis Channel Plus.

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—Sharapova Channel: Gear up for Maria’s return to next week’s Cincinnati Open with the Sharapova Channel only on Tennis Channel Plus.

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Monfils' run is over, but we’ll always have the Miracle of Montreal

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 20:12:00 +0000

If you’re a Gael Monfils fan, or a tennis fan, or just a fan of life—anything but a Kei Nishikori fan, really—I’d recommend keeping a video handy of the third-set tiebreaker that those two players contested in Montreal on Wednesday. Whenever you want to be reminded of how good tennis can make a player, a crowd or yourself feel, you can fire up those 14 points.

When you do, you’ll see Monfils pull off the nearly impossible: He comes back from 2-6 down, saving four straight match points and winning the last six points—three of them with outrageous, go-big-or-go-home winners from at, or behind, the baseline—for the win. What made it seem even less possible was the identity of the two players. Monfils was 0-3 against Nishikori, and twice in 2016 their roles had been reversed: In Miami and Rio, it had been Nishikori who had come from behind to nose out Monfils in a deciding tiebreaker.

What made Wednesday’s finale essential viewing were Monfils’ reactions to his winners. At 3-6, after tracking down half a dozen strong shots from Nishikori that looked like they could go for winners, Monfils painted the line with a backhand and nearly collapsed—in exhaustion and laughter. At 5-6, after raring back and sending a forehand dive-bombing into the corner for another winner, Monfils wiggled and shimmied joyously, as if he had lost control of his body. Finally, at 7-6, on his first match point, he rocketed one more forehand winner and let out one more celebratory scream as the audience stood to cheer the improbable sight they had just witnessed.

Monfils Gonna Monfils

An EPIC victory from four match points down against Kei Nishikori...#CoupeRogers @Gael_Monfils pic.twitter.com/vKIkQHGgYj
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 9, 2017

It wasn’t that anyone was surprised by Monfils’ gets or his winners. And it wasn’t a shocker that he could hold off a couple of match points by uncorking them. What was a surprise, especially against Nishikori, was seeing him finish the job rather than come up just short. Monfils had lost the first set and trailed 2-5 in the second, trailed 3-5 in the third and trailed 2-6 in the final tiebreaker. When he hit that last winner and bent down for his victory yell, I wondered, not for the first—or the 10th—time what the sport would have been like if Monfils had been the type of player who made those type of gritty, never-say-die comebacks on a regular basis.

On Thursday I allowed myself, for a few fleeting seconds, to wonder if Monfils could still become that player. I hadn’t expected much out of him against Roberto Bautista Agut; the Frenchman was bound to be tired, while the Spaniard, like so many Spaniards, never gives an inch or gives up on a match. But Monfils won the first set and led 4-2 in the second-set tiebreaker. When he lost that tiebreaker 7-5, I thought reality had reasserted itself and the third set would be a quick one. But Monfils proved me wrong again. He played cagey tennis, mixing speeds well, to keep it close, and eventually reached match point on Bautista Agut’s serve. This time, though, it was his opponent who held his nerve and saved that point. Monfils, finally, had nothing left for the tiebreaker. Down 2-6, he went for the same down-the-line backhand that had clipped the line against Nishikori; this time he hit it into the middle of the net. Miracles, by definition, don’t happen every day.

Monfils smiled and was, as always, gracious toward the opponent who had beaten him. He knows as well as anyone how little difference there is between a joyous winning effort and a somber losing one in tennis, and he never sweats the defeats for long. He also knows that he’s not going to win from 2-6 down in many tiebreakers, and he’s unlikely to suddenly become, at 30, the kind of player who strings together multiple close wins.

But he is the type of player who can put together the most remarkable 10 minutes of tennis of 2017 so far, and for that, most of us—again, Nishikori fans excepted—should be grateful. I know what I’ll be watching when I want to feel good.

—Citi Open Women’s Semis/Final: Catch up on all the action from Citi Open on Tennis Channel Plus.

—Citi Open Men’s Semis/Final: Take a look back at the best matches from the Citi Open with on demand match coverage on Tennis Channel Plus.

—Azarenka Channel: Enjoy the best moments from Victoria Azarenka on the Azarenka Channel exclusively on Tennis Channel Plus.

—Sharapova Channel: Gear up for Maria’s return to next week’s Cincinnati Open with the Sharapova Channel only on Tennis Channel Plus.

—Get Tennis Channel Plus for 650+ live events all year long.

—Tennis Channel Plus is available on any streaming device, on mobile, always on the GO (desktop, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire). Subscribe today at BuyTCPlus.com.