Ram/Salisbury Hold Nerve For Cincinnati Crown

They may have spent some time apart at the start of the North American hard-court swing, but Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury have not lost their winning edge.

The top seeds clinched their second ATP Masters 1000 title of the season at the Western & Southern Open on Sunday, when they completed a hard-fought 7-6(4), 7-6(5) victory against Tim Puetz and Michael Venus in Cincinnati.

“It gives us huge confidence to get the win this week,” said Salisbury, who only returned to action last week in Montreal after missing a month due to a back issue. “First and foremost, it’s a huge tournament, our third Masters 1000 title together and Raj’s home tournament, so it’s really special to win here.

“We had a while off from playing together after Wimbledon and lost first round last week, so it’s great to get the win this week and feeling good going into the US Open."

The fourth Masters 1000 meeting between the two teams was dominated by serve, with Ram and Salisbury winning 82 per cent (46/56) and Puetz and Venus 85 per cent (39/46) of points behind their first deliveries. It was Ram and Salisbury’s ability to raise their level in both tie-breaks that proved decisive, however, as they wrapped up a one-hour, 38-minute win to seal their third Masters 1000 crown as a team.

“Sometimes it just comes down to good serves at the right time,” said Ram, who saved Puetz and Venus’s only two break points of the match in his opening service game. “I felt like we did that great today, because they came out probably returning better than we did. We were able to stave off those break points, keep fighting and having a good attitude, and I think that’s what got us over the line.”

[ATP APP]

Ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings, respectively, Salisbury and Ram's previous best performance in Cincinnati was a semi-final run in 2020. For Ram, who hails from nearby Indiana, the victory was particularly poignant.

"It’s really cool, I’ve played [here] every year of my career,” said the American, who has now won 24 tour-level doubles titles. “We don’t get many home games in tennis, so it’s pretty special when you get to be successful at something that you consider a home tournament.”

The victory lifts Ram and Salisbury two spots to No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, as they seek to qualify for November’s Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/QwuR2Va

Rafael Nadal shows US Open rivals he means business as Spaniard ends three-year hiatus

RAFAEL NADAL is back in Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2019.

from Daily Express :: Tennis Feed https://ift.tt/oVriNU2

Scouting Report: Dimitrov, Rune & Thiem Star In Winston-Salem

A host of emerging talents will compete this week at the Winston-Salem Open, an ATP 250 hard-court event in North Carolina.

#NextGenATP stars Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune and Jack Draper will be seeking deep runs to further increase their Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals qualification chances in the final tour-level tournament before the US Open.

Grigor Dimitrov will lead the draw as the top seed, with Austrian Dominic Thiem in action.

Before play begins, ATPTour.com looks at five things to watch in Winston-Salem.

View Draws: Singles | Doubles

[FOLLOW ACTION]

1) Dimitrov Top Seed: The Bulgarian will look to bounce back from a disappointing first-round exit against Denis Shapovalov in Cincinnati when he makes his second appearance in Winston-Salem. The World No. 18 started the season strongly, reaching the quarter-finals in Indian Wells before advancing to the last four in Monte Carlo. Dimitrov will look to find the winning formula in North Carolina as he seeks his first title since 2017.

2) Thiem Makes Debut: Thiem showed signs that he was returning to his best in July, advancing to quarter-finals in Bastad and Kitzbühel, while he reached the semi-finals in Gstaad. Playing in his first hard-court event of the season, the Austrian will look to build further momentum on debut in Winston-Salem.

The former World No. 3, currently No. 228 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, opens against American J.J. Wolf and could play Dimitrov in the second round.

[ATP APP]

3) Musetti & Rune Seeking Second Titles: #NextGenATP stars Musetti and Rune will look to hit further heights when they compete in Winston-Salem. Italian Musetti, currently third in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Milan, lifted his maiden tour-level title in Hamburg before he came through qualifying in Cincinnati last week.

Rune, who is making his debut at the ATP 250 hard-court event, soared to his first tour-level trophy in Munich in April and arrives aiming to build on his battling performance against Cameron Norrie in Ohio last week. Good runs in Winston-Salem will see 20-year-old Musetti and 19-year-old Rune boost their already strong chances to qualify for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals for a second consecutive year.

4) Pepperstone ATP Race To Milan Continues To Heat Up: Behind third-placed Musetti and fourth-placed Rune, the battle to qualify for the 21-and-under event is heating up. Draper, currently fifth, advanced to his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final in Montreal earlier this month, while sixth-placed Jiri Lehecka captured his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title of the year at the start of August.

Chun-Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei holds a 36-16 record across all levels this season and is currently eighth. Draper will play Fabio Fognini or Dusan Lajovic in his opening match, while Lehecka plays Peter Gojowczyk in the first round. Tseng takes on Hugo Dellien.

[NEWSLETTER FORM]

5) Mektic/Pavic Headline Doubles: Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic will be seeking their fifth title of the season as a team when they take to court in Winston-Salem. The top seeds will face tough competition from second seeds and Roland Garros finalists Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek and third seeds Matthew Ebden and Jamie Murray. Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara are seeded fourth in North Carolina.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/mckOdFb

Worth The Wait: Coric Cruises Into Cincy Final

Borna Coric waited nearly four years to reach his third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final. It's no surprise he was able to handle a further delay of a few hours on a rainy Saturday at the Western & Southern Open.

But the Croatian didn't take long once he got on court, cruising past Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4 in just over 90 minutes to advance to his second Masters 1000 final. Back in top form following shoulder surgery, Coric will face World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev or fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas as he bids for his first title at that prestigious level.

"It was a very tough day, a very long day as well," the former World No. 12 said post-match. "I didn't expect to play at 7:30. I came here at 3 o'clock and I thought I was going to play a little bit earlier. Then I thought I was going to play later because of the delay.

"It was a crazy day but in the end it did finish very good. I was obviously very happy with my tennis today, I was playing extremely well."

[ATP APP]

Originally scheduled as a daytime match on centre court, Coric and Norrie instead walked onto the Grandstand just after 7:30 p.m. in Cincinnati as the schedule shifted in response to the rain. Norrie started brightly under the lights as he built a 3-1 lead in the opening set, but Coric snapped into gear to win five straight games and run away with the set.

"At the beginning I was not there, I was not feeling the ball very well," the Croatian said. "Then I did find my rhythm. I started to serve better, I started to play much better and I think that was the key to the match."

The Croatian did what Carlos Alcaraz could not do consistently enough against Norrie in the quarter-finals by bullying his opponent in the rallies, and he did not let up in the second set as he won eight straight points to surge ahead 4-2.

Coric's baseline brilliance made up for a 43 per cent first-serve percentage, and he saved the lone break point against him in the second set before dropping just three points in his final four service games.

While the Croatian did not repeat his near-perfect quarter-final performance on first-serve, when he won 31 of 32 points against Felix Auger-Aliassime, he won a healthy 79 per cent of the exchanges behind his first delivery against Norrie. He finished the match with 22 winners, including seven aces.

[FOLLOW ACTION]

Having entered the Cincinnati main draw with a protected ranking, Coric has soared 104 places to No. 48 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings this week. He could reach as high as No. 29 with a victory on Sunday against Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The Croatian leads Medvedev 4-2 their ATP Head2Head series and is level with Tsitsipas at 1-1, including a fifth-set tie-break win in their most recent meeting at the 2020 US Open.

Coric has dropped just one set this week, in his second-round upset of Rafael Nadal.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/ags69Q0

Elena Rybakina's dad hits back at claim that Wimbledon champion is a 'Russian product'

ELENA RYBAKINA has represented Kazakhstan since 2018.

from Daily Express :: Tennis Feed https://ift.tt/fV17nB5

Andy Murray spotted coaching Nick Kyrgios' doubles partner ahead of US Open

ANDY MURRAY is already in New York for the US Open.

from Daily Express :: Tennis Feed https://ift.tt/HsZJiwY

Rain Suspends Play In Cincinnati

Rain has suspended play at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Saturday, with the action not resuming before 4:00 p.m. local time.

World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas will meet in the semi-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 event following the completion of the second WTA singles match of the day. Caroline Garcia and Aryna Sabalenka are currently in the second set after the first WTA singles match was won by Petra Kvitova.

Croatian Borna Coric will then face four-time tour-level champion Cameron Norrie later.

View Schedule

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/lLRPDyJ