Mondays with Bob Greene
STARS
Karen Khachanov beat Adrian Mannarino 6-2 6-2 top win the VTB Kremlin Cup men’s singles in Moscow, Russia
Kyle Edmund beat Gael Monfils 3-6 7-6 (2) 7-6 (4) to win the European Open in Antwerp, Belgium
Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Ernests Gulbis 6-4 6-4 to win the Intrum Stockholm Open in Stockholm, Sweden
Daria Kasatkina beat Ons Jabeur 2-6 7-6 (3) 6-4 to win the VTB Kremlin Cup women’s singles in Moscow, Russia
Julia Goerges beat Belinda Bencic 6-4 7-5 to win the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open in Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Thomas Fabbiano beat Projnesh Gunneswaran 7-6 (4) 4-6 6-3 to win the Yinzhou International Men’s Tennis Challenger 2018 in Ningbo, China
Zheng Saisai beat Jana Cepelova 7-5 6-1 to win the ITF Women’s Circuit Suzhou in Suzhou, China
DAVIS CUP
Group I
Europe/Africa Zone, Second-Round Playoffs: Portugal beat South Africa 4-0 in Lisbon, Portugal
SAYINGS
“When I was a kid and came to this arena to watch our top players, to ask them for autographs, I always dreamt of winning this tournament. Now this day has finally come.” – Karen Khachanov, after winning the Kremlin Cup.
“I feel happy because I’m the first Greek to win a title. Hopefully many Greek players can achieve something like this.” – Stefanos Tsitsipas, who won the Stockholm Open.
“She was crying because she won. I was crying because I was cramping.” – Ons Jabeur, after losing to Daria Kasatkina in the Kremlin Cup women’s final.
“Our view was that the time had come to introduce a tiebreak method for matches that had not reached their natural conclusion at a reasonable point during the deciding set.” – Philip Brook, All England Lawn Tennis Club chairman, on Wimbledon playing a final-set tiebreak.
“I like the way I am playing now, I like the way I am feeling, the way I am hitting and moving. If I play like this, I can beat anybody.” – Ernests Gulbis, after upsetting top-seeded John Isner in the semifinals at Stockholm.
STOCKHOLM WIN
Ernests Gulbis finally lost a final, making Stefanos Tsitsipas the first Greek to win an ATP title. By winning the Stockholm Open, Tsitsipas went one step beyond Nicholas Kalogeropoulos, who was the first Greek to play an ATP tour-level final in Des Moines, Iowa, USA in 1983. Gulbis lost for the first time in a final after winning his first six. The 20-year-old Tsitsipas joins some of the game’s top players as Stockholm Open champions. “This trophy, it is amazing,” he said. “When I first came to this tournament, I saw all those names: (Roger) Federer, (Juan Martin) del Potro, and I was like, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be cool to have my name there one day?’ It happened this week. I was very focused determined to win the tournament. … I played great tennis and I deserve to have that spot.” Gulbis came through qualifying to reach the final. “He played a really good match. He had a great week,” the 30-year-old Latvian said of his conqueror. “I know it’s a big deal to win your first ATP title, so enjoy it. I wish that it’s not the last one.”
SWEET FINISH
It took two tiebreak sets, but Britain’s top player, Kyle Edmund, finally won his first ATP Tour title, the European Open. Edmund’s three-set victory over Gael Monfils of France made him the first British man other than Andy Murray to win a singles title since Greg Rusedski captured Newport, Rhode Island, USA in 2005. “I’m obviously very happy,” Edmund said of his title. After the final point, Edmund broke down in tears. “A lot of hard work goes into this,” he said. “So, it’s just emotional.” The Brit dictated play throughout the match, although Monfils ended up winning four more points than Edmund. “It’s the final, so you just give everything you’ve got,” Edmund said. “At the end of the day, it’s not really about how you play, it’s about getting the result in the final, which is what I’ve got.”
SUCCESS AT HOME – I
It’s been a long time since a Russian player captured the Kremlin Cup men’s singles title. Nine years, to be exact. Karen Khachanov snapped the streak when he needed only 55 minutes to thrash Frenchman Adrian Mannarino and become the first Russian champion since Mikhail Youzhny in 2009. “Today is the day and I am really happy,” Khachanov said. “These are memories I will always keep in my head.” In the tournament’s first 20 years, the title was won by Russians 14 times. As a child, Khachanov was a spectator at the tournament, gathering autographs from the Russian players. Now he’s the one being asked for his signature. “I started really well,” the 22-year-old said of his easy win over Mannarino. “I was very aggressive and didn’t give chances for him to step into the match and get some rhythm. I think that was one of the keys.” It was Khachanov’s third victory in three career finals. Mannarino has lost all six of the finals he has played.
SUCCESS AT HOME – II
Just like Khachanov, Daria Kasatkina dreamed of having success in Moscow. After dropping the first set to Ons Jabeur, Kasatkina rallied to join Khachanov as a Russian champion. “It was a dream of mine since childhood, to win the Kremlin Cup in front of my crowd,” Kasatkina said. “I’m so happy, I still can’t believe it.” Jabeur made history by becoming the first woman from Tunisia to make a WTA semifinal. But she committed 38 unforced errors in the final after winning the opening set 6-2. “I’m very happy that I made it to the final,” Jabeur said. “It was very long, eight matches was kind of long for me coming from qualifying. But I wanted to win today.” At the end, both players broke down in tears. After the final point, Kasatkina fell to the court and wept for joy. Then, wiping her face, she walked around the net as Jabeur struggled to her feet. The two hugged and the victorious Russian helped the limping Jabeur from the court.
SECOND TITLE
The Luxembourg Open is a special tournament for Julia Goerges. “This tournament is so special for me because it was my first WTA tournament when I was 14 years old, and the next year, when I was 15, in the main draw,” the 29-year-old German said. So, it was super special when Goerges won the Luxembourg event, beating Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic in the final. “Belinda had a great week and a great effort this week, coming through qualifying to make the final,” said Goerges, who didn’t lose her serve in the final. “She’s been in the Top 10 and I know how tough it is to get there.” Goerges turned her first Luxembourg final into her sixth career title.
SKIPPING SINGAPORE
The world’s top-ranked player isn’t playing the season-ending WTA Finals because of a lower back injury. “I wanted to finish 2018 on a high after such an incredible year, but sadly my back injury hasn’t healed the way we hoped it would and I need to put my long-term health first,” Simona Halep said in announcing she was skipping the elite eight-player tournament. “I’m said I won’t be able to play the fifth and final edition here in Singapore, but I’m confident this is the right decision and will do everything I can to be back fighting for my place at the WTA Finals next year.” With Halep’s withdrawal, Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands took the final spot, joining Angelique Kerber, Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki, Sloane Stephens, Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina in the USD $7 million showpiece. Halep suffered a herniated disc while training for the Wuhan Open in September, where she lost in the second round. She played in Shanghai, but retired midway through her opening match.
Halep clinched the year-end number one ranking, despite not playing in Singapore. She had her best year on tour in 2018, reaching the Australian Open final in January, then winning her first Grand Slam tournament title at the French Open in June.
STRAIGHT IN
Two Americans – Jack Sock and Taylor Fritz – along with Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen have been given wild card entries into the Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel. Fritz has had a solid 2018 season, reaching the semifinals in Houston and Chengdu, as well as a fourth-round result at Indian Wells. It is the sixth time Laaksonen has been given a wild card into the Basel main draw, but has never won a match in the Swiss event.
STRIKING CHANGE
No longer will Wimbledon matches go on forever. The All-England Lawn Tennis Club announced they will introduce a final-set tiebreak beginning next year. However, the tiebreak will begin after the final set – five for men, three for women – reaches 12-12. “While we know the instances of matches extending deep into the final set are rare, we feel that a tiebreak at 12-12 strikes an equitable balance between allowing players ample opportunity to complete the match to advantage, while also providing certainty that the match will reach a conclusion in an acceptable time frame,” said Philip Brook, the AELTC chairman. Kevin Anderson beat John Isner in a Wimbledon semifinal this year 26-24 in the final set. Isner won a match against Nicolas Mahut in 2010 that spanned three days and more than 11 hours on court, capturing the final set 70-68. The US Open is the only Grand Slam event that uses a final-set tiebreak in singles play after 6-6. The Australian Open and French Open uses the tiebreak only for doubles.
SEASON OVER
The season is over for Australian Nick Kyrgios. “Sorry guys, I won’t be able to play today, this evening,” Kyrgios said after pulling out of the Kremlin Cup after he suffered a recurrence of an elbow injury. “It is obviously very unfortunate, dealing with ongoing elbow injury. It started to bother me a little bit this week. I am going to choose to wrap up my season and to go home. I will start a recovery and see you in 2019.” An injury forced Kyrgios to miss the French Open. At the US Open, he was involved in a bizarre incident in which chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani came down from his chair to give Kyrgios a “pep talk.”
SENT PACKING
Twins Gleb and Vadim Alekseenko of the Ukraine have been banned from tennis for life and fined USD $250,000 each for what the Tennis Integrity Unit said were “multiple match-fixing offenses.” The 35-year-old brothers were found guilty of committing the offenses at lower level Futures tournaments in Romania, Russia, Germany and Turkey between June 2015 and January 2016. They were found to have solicited a third party to place a bet on matches in which they then contrived the outcome.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Antwerp: Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Marcelo Demoliner and Santiago Gonzalez 6-4 7-5
Luxembourg: Greet Minnen and Alison Van Uytvanck beat Vera Lapko and Mandy Minella 7-6 (3) 6-2
Moscow (men): Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram beat Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 7-6 (4) 6-4
Moscow (women): Alexandra Panova and Laura Siegemund beat Darija Jurak and Raluca Olaru 6-2 7-6 (2)
Ningbo: Gong Mao-Xin and Zhang Ze beat Hsieh Cheng-Peng and Christopher Rungkat 7-5 2-6 10-5 (match tiebreak)
Stockholm: Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara beat Marcus Daniel and Wesley Koolhof 7-5 7-6 (8)
Suzhou: Misaki Doi and Nao Hibono beat Luksika Kumkhum and Peangtarn Plipuech 6-2 6-3
SURFING
Singapore: http://www.wtafinals.com/
Vienna: https://www.erstebank-open.com/
Basel: https://www.swissindoorsbasel.ch/
Paris: https://www.rolexparismasters.com/
Zhuhai: http://www.wtaelitetrophy.com/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
MEN
$3,222,580 Erste Bank Open 500, Vienna, Austria, hard
$2,442,740 Swiss Indoors, Basel, Switzerland, hard
$122,498 Open Brest Credit Agricole, Brest, France, hard
WOMEN
$7,000,000 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, Singapore, hard
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
MEN
$6,268,650 Rolex Paris Masters, Paris, France, hard
WOMEN
$2,349,363 Hengqin Life WTA Elite Trophy, Zhuhai, China, hard
$125,000 L&T Mumbai Open, Mumbai, India, hard