Mondays with Bob Greene
STARS
Rafael Nadal beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 7-6 (4) to win the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Simona Halep beat Sloane Stephens 7-6 (6) 3-6 6-4 to win the Coupe Rogers présentée par Banque Nationale in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Alexei Popyrin beat James Ward 3-6 6-1 7-5 to win the China International Challenger in Jinan, China
Pedro Sousa beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-1 6-3 to win the Isar Open in Pullach, Germany
Constant Lestienne beat Andrea Arnaboldi 6-2 6-1 to win the Tilia Slovenia Open in Portoroz, Slovenia
Thanasi Kokkinakis beat Lloyd Harris 6-2 6-3 to win th4e Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos, California, USA
SAYINGS
“It’s a great way to start the hard-court season. Winning in Toronto is so important. You don’t win Masters 1000s very often. It’s a very important victory for me and I’m very happy.” – Rafael Nadal, after winning the Rogers Cup for the fourth time.
“(Rafael Nadal) was (once) normal like all of us, and he managed to become this beast, this monster that he is today. That’s how you feel when you play against him.” – Stefanos Tsitsipas, after losing to Nadal in the Roger Cup final.
“You make me play better and better every time we play.” – Simona Halep, after beating Sloane Stephens in the Coupe Rouge final in Montreal.
“Obviously I’m sad I lost, but losing to the number one player isn’t too bad. Every time I play her, she makes me a better player, she makes me raise my level.” – Sloane Stephens, following her loss to Simone Halep.
“Unfortunately, (we) couldn’t close it in two, but maybe it’s a little sweeter even this way since we almost lost it there.” – Henri Kontinen, after he and John Peers won the Rogers Cup doubles in a match tiebreak.
“It never gets easier. You just get better.” – Stefanos Tsitsipas, following his semifinal win over Kevin Anderson.
“It’s always nice to get to the end of the week and be tired from playing matches, I suppose. That’s why we’re here.” – Ashley Barty, who teamed with Demi Schuurs to win the doubles in Montreal.
STREAK ENDED
Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece had an improbable run at the Rogers Cup until he ran up against the impassable Rafael Nadal. “It’s been an amazing week for me,” said Tsitsipas, who upset four players ranked in the Top 10 before facing the top-ranked Nadal. The Spaniard overcame a second-set fightback from the Greek youngster who was celebrating his 20th birthday. “Rafa is amazing, he never cracks,” Tsitsipas said. “He will always grab you like a bulldog and he will always make you suffer on the court.” The victory gave the 32-year-old Spaniard a record-extending 33rd trophy at the elite Masters level as well as his 80th career title. “I feel I’ve improved every match. It’s important to win even if you’re not at your best,” Nadal said. If he was any better, it would be scary. He stumbled only when he was serving for the match at 5-4. But in the ensuing tiebreak, Nadal regained control, closing out his fifth title of the season with yet another forehand winner deep into the corner. Nadal has now won the Canadian hard-court tournament in 2005, 2008, 2013 and 2018. “This trophy means a lot,” he said.
Tsitsipas reached the title match after successfully beating Dominic Thiem, Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic, third-ranked Alexander Zverev and Wimbledon runner-up Kevin Anderson. “Although I lost today, I feel like I can still beat good players,” Tsitsipas said after the final. “I really want to make more points this year and get the best out of myself.”
SAME RESULT, DIFFERENT SURFACE
This time it was on hard court. But just like their clay-court meeting in Paris, Simona Halep overcame Sloane Stephens in a battle of Grand Slam tournament champions. Halep won the French Open in June, while Stephens will be the defending champion when the US Open begins its two-week run later this month. “It’s an amazing feeling to be able to talk again at this ceremony as a winner,” Halep said after closing out the hard-found battle with her third ace of the day. “I feel like I reached my best level of tennis, even if I had a long break before this tournament and I felt dead after the first day.” The Romanian raced out to a 4-1 lead before Stephens rallied. Halep staved off four set points and eventually took the first set in a tiebreak, then raced out to a 4-1 lead in the second, looking to be completely in charge. That was the signal for her American opponent to show the game that has powered her into the Top 10 in the rankings. It was Stephens on top in the second set to level the see-saw match. Halep dominated the third set, moving out front 5-2. Then it was Stephens’ turn to battle back yet again. On her fourth match point, Halep slammed an ace, then dropped to her knees in triumph.
SNARES ANOTHER CROWN
Although forced to a match tiebreak, Henri Kontinen and John Peers finally prevailed to win the Rogers Cup doubles, their 10th consecutive ATP Tour-level title. “We try to save the best for last each tournament and try to enjoy it and keep rolling with it,” Peers said. The victorious pair led 6-5 in the second-set tiebreak, only to have Kontinen miss a volley right on top of the net at match point. But the Finn made up for the mishap with a cross-court forehand return at 6-6 in the match tiebreak. Then, on the team’s fifth match point, Kontinen sparkled on defense before Raven Klaasen sailed a forehand approach shot long.
SINGAPORE BOUND
After dominating the junior doubles circuit as a team, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova are doing the same on the WTA Tour. The two 22-year-olds are the first team to qualify for the 2018 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. When they won Roland Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back this summer, it was the first time that feat had been achieved since 2003 when Kim Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama did it. As juniors, they won the girls’ titles at the 2013 French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, becoming just the third team to win three girls’ Slam titles in a single season.
SKIPPING ASIAN GAMES
Several top Asian players are going to miss the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia, focusing instead on the US Open. India’s The Hindu newspaper reported that Japan’s top seven players, including Kei Nishikori and defending Asian Games champion Yoshihito Nishioka, will not play the Asian Games this year. Korea’s top player, Hyeon Chung, who is ranked 23rd in the world; Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin, ranked 86th in the world, and Chinese Taipei’s Yen Hsun Lu also are heading to the year’s final Grand Slam tournament in New York City. Among the women skipping the Asian Games will be Japan’s Naomi Osaka, Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-Wei, Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva and Zarina Diyas, and China’s Zheng Saisai.
SET FOR FINALE
Just by reaching the quarterfinals at the Rogers Cup, Rafael Nadal has qualified for the year-ending Nitto ATP Finals. “It’s my 14the qualification for the (ATP Finals) in a row, so it’s great news,” the Spaniard said. Nadal is the first player to qualify for the elite eight-player singles field, which will be played in November at The O2 in London.
STAYING HOME
Veteran Venus Williams won’t be playing this week at the Western & Southern Open. “It’s one of my favorite stops on the WTA Tour and the fans are always amazing there,” Williams said. “I will miss not being able to play in front of my home supporters but look forward to hopefully returning in 2019.” Williams said a right knee injury forced her withdrawal from the event.
Another veteran, Maria Sharapova, also has pulled out of the Cincinnati tournament. Trying to limit her chances of suffering an injury, thusly increasing her longevity on the WTA Tour, Sharapova decided not to play the Western & Southern Open again. She last played the event in 2014, where she lost to Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals. Sharapova won the title in 2011, beating Jelena Jankovic in the final, after losing the 2010 final to Kim Clijsters. The Russian lost in the third round last week in Montreal, falling to Caroline Garcia in straight sets.
Frenchman Gael Monfils will continue sitting out the ATP World Tour for at least another week. It is the third straight tournament the 31-year-old has pulled out of, including Kitzbühel, Austria, the Rogers Cup in Toronto and this week’s Western & Southern.
SICK BAY
Catherine “CiCi” Bellis has yet to fully recover from surgery on her right arm and says she will skip the US Open this year. Two years ago, Bellis reached the third round of the US Open as a qualifier. The former world number one junior is now 19 years old.
SIGNED UP
Eugenie Bouchard’s comeback is heading to British Columbia. The 24-year-old native of Montreal was a late entry into this week’s Odlum Brown VanOpen in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Once ranked fifth in the world, Bouchard has struggled to regain that form ever since. “She’s huge, well-known personality,” VanOpen tournament director Rik de Voest said. “It’s a huge boost for the tournament. It’s good for all our sponsors. It’s good for Canadian tennis, because she’s part of a group of very good Canadians who are playing here.” Burchard was ranked 129th in the world before last week’s Coupe Rouge in Montreal. She was Tennis Canada’s Female Player of the Year in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and was the first singles player from Canada to compete in a Grand Slam tournament final, doing so at Wimbledon in 2014.
SIX-MONTH BAN
China’s Peng Shuai has been banned for six months and fined USD $10,000 for attempting to force her doubles partner to withdraw from Wimbledon. Peng, however, says it’s not true. The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), in announcing the action, said Peng “used coercion and offered the possibility of financial reward” to convince her doubles partner to pull out of Wimbledon in 2017 after the sign-in deadline wo that she could swap partners. Peng, who was ranked number one in the world in doubles in February 2014, reportedly was rebuffed and failed to play doubles at Wimbledon. While the TIU did not name the other player involved, Peng denied she had tried to drop Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium. “During the 20 years of my professional career I have never used any ways to force a partner to drop out of a match,” said Peng, who won the women’s doubles at Wimbledon in 2013 and Roland Garros in 2014. “It was completely her own action to drop out of the doubles. We never gave her any money to drop out of the match with a fake injury.” Peng’s former coach, Bertrand Perret, also was banned for three months for his role in the affair. Van Uytvanck accused Peng of “stalking” her in the incident. “My former coach Alain de Vos and me were stalked day and night by Peng Shuai, who wanted me to withdraw from doubles,” Van Uytvanck wrote in a statement posted on her Twitter account. “She wanted to play with (Sania) Mirza after the deadline had already passed. My former coach went to the Integrity and they investigated this case with the utmost discretion. Since I was a little girl, tennis has been everything for me. Therefore, I want this sport to be/stay clean in all ways.” Peng is currently ranked 20th in the world in doubles and 80th in singles.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Aptos: Thanasi Kokkinakis and Matt Reid beat Jonny O’Mara and Joe Salisbury 6-2 4-6 10-8 (match tiebreak)
Jinan: Hsieh Chung-Peng and Yang Tsung-Hua beat Alexander Bubik and Alexander Pavlioutchenkov 7-6 (5) 4-6 10-5 (match tiebreak)
Montreal: Ashleigh Barty and Demi Schuurs beat Latisha Chan and Ekaterina Makarova 4-6 6-3 10-8 (match tiebreak)
Portoroz: Gerard Granollers and Lukas Rosol beat Nikola Cacic and Lucas Miedler 7-5 6-3
Pullach: Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen beat Simone Bolelli and Daniele Bracciali 6-2 6-2
Toronto: Henri Kontinen and John Peers beat Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus 6-2 6-7 (7) 10-6 (match tiebreak)
SURFING
Cincinnati: www.wsopen.com/
Vancouver: www.vanopen.com
Winston-Salem: www.winstonsalemopen.com/
New Haven: www.ctopen.org/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
MEN
$5,627,305 Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, hard
$100,000 Odlum Brown Van Open, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, hard
WOMEN
$2,513,000 Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, hard
$100,000 Odlum Brown Van Open, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, hard
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
MEN
$748,960 Winston-Salem Open, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA, hard
WOMEN
$731,000 New Haven Open Tennis, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, hard
