Feed aggregator

Aljaz Bedene discusses hia quarter-final win over Hugo Dellien at the Rio Open presented by Claro. Watch live matches at http://www.tennistv.com.

Watch Hot Shot as Hugo Dellien's volley spins back towards the net at the Rio Open presented by Claro. Watch live matches at http://www.tennistv.com. Photo: Rio Open/FotoJump

#NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime reflects on his success at the Rio Open presented by Claro and why he feels so comfortable playing on clay. Watch live tennis streams at http://www.tennistv.com.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, an ATP 500 tennis tournament, has a long history of welcoming some of the top players in the game. Among its champions, the tournament counts former World No. 1s Juan Carlos Ferrero, Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Federer, who holds the tournament record for most titles, most match wins, and as the oldest singles champion, returns in 2019 with hopes of claiming his 100th tour-level title.  

Here's all you need to know about Dubai tennis tournament: when is the draw, what is the schedule, where to watch, who won and more. 

Established: 1993

Tournament Dates: 25 February - 2 March 2019

Tournament Director: Salah Tahlak

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 23 February at 1pm

Are You In? Subscribe To Get Tournament Updates In Your Inbox

Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday at 11am, Sunday at 12pm
* Main draw: Monday - Wednesday at 2pm and 7pm, Thursday at 3pm and 7pm, Friday at 2:30pm and 7:30pm
* Doubles final: Saturday, 23 February at 5pm
* Singles final: Saturday, 23 February not before 7pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV  

Venue: Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium
Main Court Seating: 5,500

Prize Money: USD $ 2,736,845 (Total Financial Commitment: USD $ 2,887,895) 

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Roger Federer (7)
Most Titles, Doubles: Mahesh Bhupathi (5)
Oldest Champion: Roger Federer, 33, in 2015
Youngest Champion: Rafael Nadal, 19, in 2006
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 61 Jerome Golmard in 1999
Most Match Wins: Roger Federer (48) 

2018 Finals
Singles: [3] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) d [2] Lucas Pouille (FRA) 63 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: [2] Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) / Horia Tecau (ROU) d [WC] James Cerretani (USA) / Leander Paes (IND) 62 76(2)  Read More

[ALSO LIKE]

Social
Hashtag: #DDFTennis
Facebook: @ddftennis
Twitter: @DDFTennis
Instagram: @ddftennis

Did You Know... In 2005, Federer and Andre Agassi had a friendly hit high above Dubai, on the helipad of the Burj Al Arab. "This was an absolutely amazing experience," Agassi told ATPTour.com. "When you first get over how high you are and start playing, it’s an absolute joy and it was a great time. I had no issues with the height as long as I didn’t have to bungee jump off the side."

.videoWrapper { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; /* 16:9 */ padding-top: 25px; height: 0; } .videoWrapper iframe { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

The Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC is a combined ATP 500 and WTA tennis tournament held at the Acapulco Princess Mundo Imperial. In 2014, the tournament switched to blue hard courts after 20 years on clay. Thomas Muster won the first four editions, and David Ferrer tied his tournament record by winning three titles on clay (2010-12) and one on hard court (2015).

Juan Martin del Potro will look to successfully defend his Acapulco title when he returns for the 2019 edition, but will face a field that includes two-time champion Rafael Nadal, Alexander Zverev and John Isner.  

Here's all you need to know about Acapulco tennis tournament: when is the draw, what is the schedule, where to watch, who won and more. 

Established: 1993

Tournament Dates: 25 February - 2 March 2019

Tournament Director: Raul Zurutuza

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 23 February at 6pm

Are You In? Subscribe To Get Tournament Updates In Your Inbox

Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday and Sunday at 4pm
* Main draw: Monday – Friday from 4pm
* Doubles final: Saturday, 23 February at 6pm
* Singles final: Saturday, 23 February not before 9pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV  

Venue: Princess Mundo Imperial
Main Court Seating: 7,000

Prize Money: USD $ 1,780,060 (Total Financial Commitment: USD $ 1,931,110) 

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Thomas Muster, David Ferrer (4)
Most Titles, Doubles: Donald Johnson (3)
Oldest Champion: David Ferrer, 32, in 2015
Youngest Champion: Rafael Nadal, 18, in 2005
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 129 Juan Ignacio Chela in 2000
Most Match Wins: David Ferrer (31) 

2018 Finals
Singles: [6] Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) d [5] Kevin Anderson (RSA) 64 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: [3] Jamie Murray (GBR) / Bruno Soares (BRA) d [4] Bob Bryan (USA) / Mike Bryan (USA) 76(4) 75  Read More

[ALSO LIKE]

Social
Hashtag: #AMT2019
Facebook: @AbiertoMexicanoDeTenis
Twitter: @AbiertoTelcel
Instagram: @abiertomexicanodetenis

Did You Know... The Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC has twice been recognised as the best tournament of the year in its category. It won the ATP Tour Award for the first time in 2007 and reclaimed the honour in 2017, on the tournament's 25th anniversary.

  .videoWrapper { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; /* 16:9 */ padding-top: 25px; height: 0; } .videoWrapper iframe { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

The Brasil Open is the final stop of the 'Golden Swing', featuring four ATP Tour clay-court tournaments in Latin America. Former World No. 1s Rafael Nadal and Gustavo Kuerten are both two-time champions at this ATP 250 event.  

Here's all you need to know about the Sao Paulo tennis tournament: when is the draw, what is the schedule, where to watch, who won and more. 

Established: 2001

Tournament Dates: 25 February - 3 March 2019

Tournament Director: Luis Felipe Tavares

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 23 February at 12pm

Are You In? Subscribe To Get Tournament Updates In Your Inbox

Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday and Sunday at 11am.
* Main draw: Monday - Friday at 12:30pm and 7:30pm, Saturday at 12:30pm
* Doubles final: Saturday, 23 February not before 4:30pm
* Singles final: Sunday, 24 February at 2:30pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV  

Venue: Ginasio do Ibirapuera
Main Court Seating: 8,000

Prize Money: US $ 550,145 (Total Financial Commitment: US $ 618,810) 

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Nicolas Almagro, Pablo Cuevas (3)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bruno Soares (3)
Oldest Champion: Pablo Cuevas, 31, in 2017
Youngest Champion: Rafael Nadal, 18, in 2005
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 107 Guillermo Canas in 2007
Most Match Wins: Nicolas Almagro (22) 

2018 Finals
Singles: [2] Fabio Fognini (ITA) d Nicolas Jarry (CHI) 16 61 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: Federico Delbonis (ARG) / Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) d [4] Wesley Koolhof (NED) / Artem Sitak (NZL) 64 62  Read More

[ALSO LIKE]

Social
Hashtag: #brasilopen2019
Facebook: @BrasilOpenTenis
Twitter: @BrasilOpenTenis
Instagram: @brasilopen

Did You Know... Ball dogs have participated at the Brasil Open for the past three years, showing their skills by chasing after balls that are hit into the net and returning to the net post like any good ball boy or ball girl would.

  .videoWrapper { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; /* 16:9 */ padding-top: 25px; height: 0; } .videoWrapper iframe { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

Juan Martin del Potro said it would take time for him to build confidence after a four-month injury layoff, but it could be a speedy process for the Argentine after the tennis he displayed on Thursday night at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com.

The top seed struck his forehand with authority and held his nerve in crucial moments to end the six-match winning streak of Reilly Opelka with a convincing 6-4, 6-4 victory. Del Potro didn't face a break point and booked a quarter-final spot for the fourth time in five appearances in Delray Beach.

Del Potro has always been methodical about his comeback attempts, waiting until he’s fully ready to return rather than rushing back too soon. His performance on Thursday indicated that if his right knee continues to hold up, he can pick up where he left off at the end of last year.

A forehand error from Opelka at 1-1 in the opening set gifted del Potro an early break and the top seed held that momentum to take the early advantage. Little separated the two players in the second set, but a backhand error from Opelka on break point at 4-4 allowed the Argentine to serve out the match after 73 minutes.

[ALSO LIKE]

Next up for del Potro is another American in Mackenzie McDonald, who required just a single break in each set to defeat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5, 6-4. This is the second ATP quarter-final for McDonald, who also accomplished the feat last June at the Ricoh Open.

Radu Albot of Moldova held off Nick Kyrgios of Australia to advance 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. The 29-year-old was especially tidy on serve in the deciding set, winning 80 per cent (20/25) of his service points to advance in one hour and 24 minutes. Albot is playing some of his best tennis, having reached his second ATP Tour semi-final earlier this month in Montpellier.

He’ll take on fourth seed Steve Johnson in the quarter-finals after the American held off Italian Paolo Lorenzi 7-5, 7-5. Johnson saved all six break points he faced and broke Lorenzi in the final game of each set to pick up the win after one hour and 57 minutes.

“I was having a hard time being accurate with my shots, so I’m glad I served well today,” said Johnson. “I’m happy I have a chance to play another competitive match tomorrow and hopefully clean things up.”

Bryan Brothers Move Into Last Four

Top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan didn't drop serve in a comfortable 6-3, 7-5 quarter-final win over French pair Adrian Mannarino and Hugo Nys. The Americans will seek their first doubles final of the season when they face Marcelo Arevalo and Jamie Cerretani, who defeated third seeds Robert Lindstedt and Tim Puetz 7-6(2), 7-6(5).

The world's largest sports shoemaker loses around $2 billion from its market capitalisation after the trainer of the hottest basketball prospect in the United States, Zion Williamson, explodes during a college game and injures his knee.

Australia overcome a major scare to beat New Zealand by five runs in their ODI women's clash at the WACA.

Australia makes 241 with the bat in Perth, as it looks to continue its dominance over New Zealand in the first of three ODIs with the Rose Bowl up for grabs. Follow all the action in our live ScoreCentre.

.videoWrapper { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; /* 16:9 */ padding-top: 25px; height: 0; } .videoWrapper iframe { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

#NextGenATP Norwegian Casper Ruud continued to excel at the Rio Open presented by Claro on Thursday. Having reached his maiden ATP semi-final at this event in 2017, the 20-year-old defeated fifth seed Joao Sousa 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to put himself into the quarter-finals again in Rio de Janeiro.

“I always play far away from home, but Rio always makes me feel very welcome,” said Ruud. “I feel the atmosphere here and it’s great to have the crowd on my side.”

Sousa dug deep after facing a break point to trail 1-5 in the final set, but Ruud hung tough to advance after two hours and 11 minutes. The Norwegian, currently No. 135 in the ATP Rankings, will make his Top 100 debut on Monday if he defeats Laslo Djere of Serbia on Friday.

“It’s a great chance for another 500-level semifinal,” said Ruud. “[Djere] is maybe the favourite in the [ATP] Rankings, but I’ve shown some good tennis before here and hopefully I can again."

[ALSO LIKE]

Ruud enjoyed success on the ATP Challenger Tour last year by finishing runner-up at $50,000 events in Braga and Francavilla. He also excelled on bigger stages by reaching the quarter-finals last July at the Swedish Open and coming through qualifying at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and US Open, advancing to the second round at the first two majors of the year.

Djere, who defeated top seed Dominic Thiem in the opening round, continued his inspired tennis with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Taro Daniel of Japan. The World No. 90 didn’t face a break point against Daniel and won 83 per cent (20/24) of his first-serve points.

Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay produced a statement win over recent Cordoba Open winner Juan Ignacio Londero of Argentina 6-1, 6-4. The 2016 champion wasted no time getting down to business on Quadra Guga Kuerten, dropping just one point on serve (16/17) in the opening set. He continued to dominate the baseline rallies in the second set and secured the win after just 68 minutes.

Awaiting Cuevas in the quarter-finals is Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain, who scored an impressive 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 comeback victory over Federico Delbonis of Argentina. Delbonis served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but Ramos-Vinolas rallied to advance after two hours and 20 minutes.

The Spaniard improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Delbonis to 2-3. Ramos-Vinolas trails his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Cuevas 1-6 and the Uruguayan has prevailed in their past five matches.

Bellucci & Dutra Silva Upset Top Seeds
Wild card pairing Thomaz Bellucci and Rogerio Dutra Silva won an all-Brazilian quarter-final battle to upset top seeds Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 6-2, 6-7(6), 10-5. Bellucci and Dutra Silva squandered two match points at 6/4 in the second-set tie-break, but recovered to advance in one hour and 30 minutes. They'll play Roman Jebavy and Andres Molteni, who defeated Marcelo Demoliner and Frederik Nielsen 3-6, 6-4, 10-3.

Second seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah scored a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 win over British pair Luke Bambridge and Jonny O'Mara. Next up for the Colombian duo in the semi-finals are Maximo Gonzalez and Nicolas Jarry, who outlasted third seeds Nikola Mektic and Horacio Zeballos 4-6, 7-6(5), 12-10.

Watch as Evgeny Donskoy produces a moment of magic at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Bergamo, striking an improbable Hot Shot while falling down.

The fact the commencement of the Super Rugby season has largely gone unnoticed shows just how much rugby union is struggling in the competitive Australian sporting landscape, writes Richard Hinds.

It was the doubles point of the week on the ATP Challenger Tour, as Ecuadorian duo Roberto Quiroz and Emilio Gomez show off their fast hands at the net against Americans Evan King and Hunter Reese.

Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan win an epic rally at the Delray Beach Open on Wednesday night. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com. Photo: Peter Staples/ATP Tour.

French wild card Ugo Humbert recorded the biggest win of his career on Thursday by beating World No. 12 Borna Coric 6-3, 6-3 in 80 minutes for a place in the Open 13 Provence quarter-finals.

“My level was good today, very positive,” said the 20-year-old Humbert, a contender to qualify at this year's Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. “The atmosphere was great, and it's always easier when you aren’t the favourite. This was the first time I played a player ranked that high. I was able to stay calm and played well.”

View Marseille Singles Draw | Read More: Humbert Wins Fourth ATP Challenger Crown

Humbert, competing at a career-high No. 75 in the ATP Rankings, broke Coric’s serve three times and will next play German qualifier Matthias Bachinger, who was solid on serve in overcoming Fernando Verdasco, the fifth-seeded Spaniard, 6-4, 6-3 in 77 minutes.

“I watched Ugo in his last match,” said Coric, who will now travel to compete at next week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. “I tried pretty much everything today. He returned well, mixed up his serve and didn’t miss many balls.”

[ALSO LIKE]

Russia’s Andrey Rublev backed up his victory over three-time Marseille champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with a 6-3, 7-6(2) win over Matteo Berrettini of Italy in one hour and 37 minutes. He will next play Kazakhstani Mikhail Kukushkin, who beat fourth seed Denis Shapovalov on Wednesday.

Third seed David Goffin reached his first ATP Tour quarter-final of the season, battling past home favourite Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-3. After a pair of early breaks, the two were back on serve in the second until Goffin won the rally of the match and broke Paire for a 5-3 lead.

The usually quiet Belgian celebrated the break with a fist pump and a shout to the crowd. He will meet Gilles Simon for the fifth time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, which is tied at 2-2.

“Benoit can play very well. I'm happy with the victory tonight,” Goffin said. “I need to go through those kinds of matches in order to improve match after match. Every athlete goes through moments of doubt.”

Watch Hot Shot as Thomaz Bellucci displays his reaction skills with Rogerio Dutra Silva in their quarter-final against top seeds Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares at the Rio Open presented by Claro. Watch live matches at http://www.tennistv.com. Photo: Rio Open/FotoJump

At the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com on Wednesday, just after 5:00 pm, 29-year-old Neal Skupski was on Court 1 hitting serves just minutes after reaching the doubles semi-finals. Recording those serves was his brother and partner, 35-year-old Ken Skupski.

“He didn’t feel comfortable on his serve [during the match]. Other players might be thinking, ‘Oh, he doesn’t serve well enough. I’m going to potentially look for someone who can serve better to help get me to that next level’,” Ken said. “I don’t see it like that. My idea is that he’s always going to be my partner. He’s the person who I will always play with… I’m always looking for my brother to do the best he possibly can. And he’s always asking for me to be the best I can be.”

As the Skupski brothers spoke to ATPTour.com later in the evening in the Delray Beach players’ lounge, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan sat 10 metres away, preparing for a match of their own. The 40-year-old Bryan brothers have lifted 116 tour-level trophies together, and finished No. 1 in the year-end ATP Doubles Team Rankings 10 times.

In some ways, the sibling pairings are similar: the Bryans (Stanford) and the Skupskis (LSU) all attended college, and each team has a righty and a lefty. But in other ways, they’re different.

When Ken graduated from LSU and began his efforts on the professional circuit, there would still be another year before Neal would start studying at university. While the Bryans have competed together throughout their lives, it took until Ken was 30 and Neal was 23 for the Brits to compete alongside one another on the ATP Challenger Tour. Sure, Ken knocked around balls with his brother when they were younger, but just for fun.

In fact, Neal was only a sophomore at LSU when Ken captured his first two ATP Tour titles (w/Colin Fleming). They are playing with one another as professionals for the 136th time this week in Delray Beach.

“You’ve grown up looking at the Bryan Brothers. They’ve had unbelievable success playing doubles together. Obviously the best of all-time. It was tough at first [for us],” Neal said. “Ken is six years older than me and he took on the role of being the leader of the team, sort of the coach, too, because we didn’t have a coach at the time.”

The Skupskis have found success over the past couple of years. In 2018 alone, they won their first team ATP Tour title in Montpellier, and reached two additional finals.

But Ken, as he puts it, is in the ‘twilight’ of his career. The British left-hander is 35 years old with three kids at home. Ken is No. 68 in the ATP Doubles Rankings, while Neal is No. 35, just four spots off his career-high. So if Neal is able to get into ATP Masters 1000 events and even ATP 500 tournaments, but Ken cannot because of his ATP Doubles Ranking, he is more than happy to support his brother from afar.

“It’s always a dream, isn’t it? Once you get to the idea of tennis potentially being a job, then you set serious goals of where you want to get to,” Ken said. “When you’re very, very young, to say you’re going to be making money off the sport and still playing at 35, I’d sign up for it every day of the week.”

And perhaps the best part of the experience is doing it alongside his younger brother. They were raised differently tennis-wise — Ken played junior tournaments every couple of weeks as a kid, while Neal only competed at four or five big events each year. Yet here they are, competing on the ATP Tour together.

“It is obviously nice to travel as a team, as brothers. It’s better than traveling with someone you don’t know on the Tour. Obviously he speaks the same language as me, likes the same things,” Neal said. “We have a lot of advantages of being brothers and playing together.”

“I can shout at him, he can shout at me and I don’t take it personally,” Ken said. “Some people can take offence to things, but I don’t. If I’m not good enough on the day, I know it, he knows it and we move on from it, find a way to get better.”

Ken’s goal is to maintain his ATP Doubles Ranking as best he can so that he can still play with his brother, as he has no intentions of holding his brother back. The 2017 Wimbledon quarter-finalists want to make a deep run at another Grand Slam, potentially compete at the 2020 Olympics and continue progressing daily. Most importantly, they are in it not just as a pair, but as brothers.

“It is a fantastic thing that our family was able to get two brothers to play professional tennis and make a living out of the sport,” Ken said. “These guys, the Bryans, they’re in the same boat. They’re not looking over their shoulder thinking their partner is maybe going to speak to another guy and go off to play other tournaments. They’re in it for the long haul.”

So are the Skupskis.

#NextGenATP Norwegian Casper Ruud reflects on why he's had so much success at the Rio Open presented by Claro after defeating fifth seed Joao Sousa to reach the quarter-finals. Watch live matches at http://www.tennistv.com.

The players competing at the Rio Open presented by Claro unite in support of the Flamengo football club in Rio de Janeiro. A fire earlier this month at the club's training center killed 10 people.