Mondays with Bob Greene
STARS
Sara Errani beat Barbora Strycova 6-0 6-2 to win the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Pablo Cuevas beat Guido Pella 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-4 to win the Rio Open in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Nick Kyrgios beat Marin Cilic 6-2 7-6 (3) to win the Open 13 in Marseille, France
Sam Querrey beat Rajeev Ram 6-4 7-6 (6) to win the Delray Beach Open in Delray Beach, Florida, USA
Francesca Schiavone beat Shelby Rogers 2-6 6-2 6-2 to win the Rio Open women’s singles in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
SAYING
“I didn’t really expect to win this title this week after having a couple weeks off. But from the first round I started playing really well and just gained confidence as I kept winning matches.” – Nick Kyrgios, after winning his first ATP World Tour title.
“You work to be ready for the matches, but you never know which days you can play better or worse. The only thing I know is that I was ready to suffer, to stay on the court if there were bad moments.” – Sara Errani, following her victory at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
“This is one of the days where you try everything and then nothing is working. I tried everything and I couldn’t put one ball in. I don’t know why, what happened, but it’s just sometimes how it is in tennis.” – Barbora Strycova, after losing to Sara Errani.
“This has been the greatest victory of my career, beating the best player in history on clay, so I’m very happy.” – Pablo Cuevas, who upset Rafael Nadal in the Rio Open semifinals.
“I lost an opportunity, that’s it. I fought until the end. I have to accept it and keep working to try to change the dynamic. That’s what’s happening today and I have to work hard to change it.” – Rafael Nadal, after losing to Pablo Cuevas.
“Sometimes it feel better to win when you don’t play your best, because you know you have another gear.” – Sam Querrey, who beat fellow American Rajeev Ram to win the Delray Beach Open.
“It hurts. We’ll probably have a sleepless night thinking about what we could have done differently, but that’s doubles. It’s a fine line.” – Mike Bryan, after he and brother Bob lost the Delray Beach doubles final without being broken in the final.
STRAIGHT-SET WINNER
Young Australian Nick Kyrgios finally made news for the right reason. The 20-year-old beat Marin Cilic in straight sets to win his first ATP World Tour title, the Open 13 in Marseille, France. Playing in just his second career final, Kyrgios never was broken nor lost a set in the tournament, where he also knocked off Richard Gasquet and Tomas Berdych. He is the first player under the age of 21 to defeat top 10 players in consecutive matches since Juan Martin del Potro beat Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to win the US Open in 2009. “I think I served really, really well again,” Kyrgios said. “I was serving really well all week. I didn’t get broken once. That was the main thing that was good. And I was able to put pressure on my opponents’ serves a lot when I was going through my service games really quickly.” It was only the second tournament of the year for Kyrgios. He lost to Berdych in the third round of the Australian Open in January and had to withdraw from Rotterdam earlier this month with an elbow injury. Last year Kyrgios made news for the wrong reason. In August he was suspended for 28 days and fined USD $25,000 for a vulgar comment he made towards Stan Wawrinka during a tournament in Montreal, Canada. Two months later the Australian was fined for a verbal outburst during his first-round match at the Shanghai Masters. And he began 2015 by answering his cell phone on court before a mixed doubles match at the Australian Open. Against Cilic, Kyrgios was magnificent. He fired 17 aces and put pressure on his Croatian opponent from the start.
SARA TRIUMPHS
Sara Errani surprised even herself when she captured the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. “It’s an unexpected title for me,” the Italian said of her ninth career title. Errani ripped through the first eight games of the match. Then, as Strycova came out to serve the third game of the second set, the crowd cheered her on. It worked as Strycova finally won the game with a backhand volley before raising her hands in a victory gesture. She only won one more game as Errani rushed to victory. “I have no words,” Errani said. “I’m sorry for Barbora – she’s an amazing player – but I’m really happy tow win this tournament. It’s been a tough week for me and I’m really happy for me, my team and my family and friends.” The only problem for Errani was finishing up the match. Strycova saved four match points in the final game before Errani finally prevailed. “Of course it’s tough (to win) those last points,” Errani said. “I had match point at 5-1 and then I closed it on maybe the fifth match point. There were a lot of nerves.”
SCHIAVONE A WINNER
Showing flashes of the game that took her to the French Open title six years ago, Francesca Schiavone beat American Shelby Rogers to win her seventh career crown. “It was a very tough match and I want to congratulate Rogers,” the veteran Italian said after capturing the Rio Open. “She is a young player and she grew a lot in the circuit.” Schiavone fell behind a set and a break to Rogers, who was playing in just her second WTA main draw. But the veteran then showed her young opponent what experience can do as she grabbed 5-2 leads in both the second and third sets. “I’m really happy to be here today,” Schiavone told the on-court crowd in Portuguese. “I wrote this speech this morning, regardless of the result, because I wanted to share my joy with you. … I want to thank everybody who helped me, and now it’s time to enjoy.”
SEMIFINAL STUMBLE
Once again Rafael Nadal was a surprise loser during a tournament. This time, the fifth-ranked Spaniard was ousted by Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-7 (6) 7-6 (3) 6-4 in the semifinals at the Rio Open. It was just Nadal’s second defeat on clay to a player ranked outside the Top 30 since 2005. Yet it may not have been as big of a surprise as it first appears. Last year the two battled in a quarterfinal on the same court, with Nadal finally winning the thriller at 3:19 a.m., the second-latest finish in ATP World Tour history. This year, Cuevas got his revenge, firing 48 winners, including 11 aces – the final one coming on match point – and saving 10 of 12 break points. Nadal, on the other hand, appeared to tire as the match wore on. Nadal made 33 unforced errors, one more than his winners. Cuevas had 48 winners against 37 unforced errors. It was Cuevas’ first victory over Nadal in three career meetings and kept the Spaniard from reaching his 100th tour-level final. “The best thing I did was keep my confidence the whole match,” Cuevas said. “I always believed, being above or below. Even after an hour and a half and losing, I believed that I could defeat him.”
SEMIFINAL STOP
Juan Martin del Potro is back! Again! The 2009 US Open men’s singles champion reached the semifinals of the Delray Beach Open in his first tournament in nearly a year. Del Potro’s comeback bid was stopped by American Sam Querrey 7-5 7-5. Currently ranked 1,042nd in the world, del Potro was playing his first event since undergoing surgery on his left wrist last June. The 27-year-old missed most of the 2014 and 2015 seasons due to surgeries on both wrists. Once ranked as high as fourth in the world, del Potro hadn’t played in a tournament since March 2015.
SAM’S THE MAN
Sam Querrey won his first ATP World Tour title in nearly four years when he defeated fellow American Rajeev Ram at the Delray Beach Open. It was Querrey’s fourth victory over Ram in their five career meetings. Eleven of Querrey’s 15 finals have been played in the United States. “We were both a little nervous today, it wasn’t the cleanest match,” Querrey said. “I just battled through and happened to hit one great shot in the second set, and it was on match point.” That’s when Querrey raced to his right and rocketed a forehand down the line that caught just a couple millimeters of the baseline. “I played well on match point, I thought,” Ram said. “He just came up with a great shot. People don’t give (Querrey) credit for how well he moves.” Although he didn’t win the title, Ram had a great tournament, posting victories over Bernard Tomic and Grigor Dimitrov on his way to his first ATP World Tour final on hard court. Despite losing in straight sets, Ram won only two fewer points than Querrey.
SAVING MATCH POINTS
Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin refused to give in to the defending champions and top-seeded team of Bob and Mike Bryan. After staving off six match points, the Austrian/French pair finally prevailed to win the Delray Beach Open, their second title as a team. “It was a big honor to play against (the Bryans) in the final,” Marach said during the on-court trophy ceremony. “Fabrice and I have a great relationship. We only started playing together recently but I hope we continue and win some more tournaments this year.” Marach and Martin also won in Chennai, India, in January. It was Marach’s 15th doubles title and Martin’s second. “We always thought we had nothing to lose,” Martin said. “We knew we were going to make it a good match. We gave it everything we had, and we got a bit lucky in the end.” The winners saved a match point late in the second set and five more in the match tiebreak against the four-time champions. The Bryan brothers are seeking a record 110th ATP World Tour-level title. They lost despite not being broken in the final.
SQUEEZING IN
Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli won a tournament he almost wasn’t in. When the 34-year-old Chiudinelli lost his quarterfinal match at Bergamo, Italy, the week before, it meant he had missed the cut to enter the Wroclaw Open in Poland. Then, Pierre-Hugues Herbert beat Peter Gojowczyk in another Bergamo quarterfinal, opening up a spot at Wroclaw for Chiudinelli. If Gojowczyk had won the match, Chiudinelli couldn’t have played the Polish tournament. Given the reprieve, Chiudinelli stopped Jan Hernych 6-3 7-6 (9) in the final to capture his first ATP Challenger Tour title since 2009.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Delray Beach: Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin beat Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 3-6 7-6 (7) 13-11
Dubai: Chuang Chia-Jung and Darija Jurak beat Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic 6-4 6-4
Marseille: Mate Pavic and Michael Venus beat Jonathan Erlich and Colin Fleming 6-2 6-3
Rio de Janeiro (men): Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah beat Pablo Carreno Busta and David Marrero 7-6 (5) 6-1
Rio de Janeiro (women): Veronica Cepede Royg and Maria Irigoyen beat Tara Moore and Conny Perrin 6-1 7-6 (5)
SURFING
Sao Paulo: http://tenisbrasil.uol.com.br/
Acapulco: www.abiertomexicanodetenis.com/es/
Doha: www.qatartennis.org/tournaments/index/64
Monterrey: http://abiertomonterrey.com/
Kuala Lumpur: www.bmwmalaysianopen.com/
Dubai: www.dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
MEN
$2,359,935 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, hard
$1,454,365 Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco, Mexico, hard
$505,655 Brasil Open, Sao Paulo, Brazil, clay
WOMEN
$2,818,000 Qatar Total Open, Doha, Qatar, hard
$250,000 Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco, Mexico, hard
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
WOMEN
$250,000 BMW Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, hard
$250,000 Abierto Monterrey Afirme, Monterrey, Mexico, hard
DAVIS CUP
(First Round)
World Group
Great Britain vs. Japan in Birmingham, Great Britain, hard
Serbia vs. Kazakhstan in Belgrade, Serbia, hard
Italy vs. Switzerland at Pesaro, Italy, clay
Poland vs. Argentina at Gdansk, Poland, hard
France vs. Canada at Guadeloupe, clay
Germany vs. Czech Republic at Hannover, Germany, hard
Australia vs. United States at Kooyong, Australia, grass
Belgium vs. Croatia at Liège, Belgium, clay
Group I
Americas Zone: Ecuador vs. Barbados at Portoviejo, Ecuador, clay; Chile vs. Dominican Republic at Santiago, Chile, clay
Asia/Oceania Zone: South Korea vs. New Zealand at Seoul, South Korea, hard; Pakistan vs. China at Colombo, Sri Lanka, clay
Europe/Africa Zone: Romania vs. Slovenia at Arad, Romania, hard; Portugal vs. Austria at Guimaräes, Portugal, hard; Russia vs. Sweden at Kazan, Russia, hard; Hungary vs. Israel at Budapest, Hungary, clay
Group II
Americas Zone: Peru vs. Uruguay at Lima, Peru, clay; Mexico vs. Guatemala at San Francisco de Campeche, Mexico, hard; El Salvador vs. Puerto Rico at Santa Tecla, El Salvador, hard; Venezuela vs. Paraguay at Caracas, Venezuela, hard
Asia/Oceania Zone: Chinese Taipei vs. Malaysia at Kaohsuing, Taiwan, hard; Philippines vs. Kuwait at Manila, Philippines, clay; Indonesia vs. Vietnam at Surakarta, Indonesia, hard; Thailand vs. Sri Lanka at Nonthaburi, Thailand, hard
Europe/Africa Zone: Lithuania vs. Norway at Siauliai, Lithuania, hard; South Africa vs. Luxembourg at Centurion, South Africa, hard; Turkey vs. Bulgaria at Ankara, Turkey, hard; Bosnia/Herzegovina vs. Tunisia in Zenica, Bosnia/Herzegovina, carpet; Latvia vs. Monaco at Daugavpils, Latvia, hard; Egypt vs. Belarus at Cairo, Egypt, clay; Finland vs. Zimbabwe at Kittila, Finland, hard; Georgia vs. Denmark at Tbilisi, Georgia, carpet
