2018 in review: Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro shine at Masters
* Masters 1000 Indian Wells: Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) vs Roger Federer (SUI) 6-4 6-7(8) 7-6(2)
Juan Martin del Potro arrived in Indian Wells in a great form, winning his first ATP 500 title since 2014 in Acapulco and playing well here in the desert to earn the place in his fourth Masters 1000 final, the first since Shanghai 2013! Between the Argentinian and the title stood world number 1 and the defending champion Roger Federer and Juan Martin gave his best to prevail 6-4 6-7 7-6 in two hours and 42 minutes, claiming the title in one of the best finals at this level in the last 10 years! Roger suffered his first defeat in 2018 (17-1) and it could have been much different if he had managed to convert any of three match points he had at 5-4 in the deciding set on own serve.
Del Potro fends them off to prolong the encounter and his chances and he prevailed in the tie break 7-2 to lift the second biggest title of his career after the US Open 2009, beating Roger for the seventh time in 25 matches. This was the first Masters 1000 win for Juan Martin over Roger after losing the previous seven encounters and he earned it after saving three out of four break points and with a better second serve display, winning 14 points more than his rival overall. The Argentinian tamed his shots nicely, hitting 66 winners and just 19 unforced errors while Roger stood on a 71-33 ratio, making too many mistakes from his forehand wing.
Also, del Potro outplayed his rival in the shortest points up to four strokes and in the mid-range rallies as well to forge the main difference, keeping his focus in those crucial points for the maiden title at this level. Juan Martin made the best possible start, claiming the opening set 6-4 with a break at love in game five thanks to a poor forehand from Roger, controlling the pace from the baseline and using that opportunity he got in the only loose service game from Roger. Federer saved two break points at the start of the second set and he served well after that to keep the pressure on the other side of the net.
Del Potro had to work hard to reach the tie break, fending off two set points in game 10 and turning this epic final into a roller coaster ride. Roger wasted four set points at 6-3 and 7-6 and he had to save a match point at 7-8, keeping his focus to stay in the match. He earned a crucial mini-break in the 18th point to grab the breaker 10-8 when he forced a volley error from his rival, sending the match into a decider and seizing the momentum before set number three. Juan Martin had left that match point behind him and he stayed neck and neck with Roger in the first eight games of the decider before he got broken at 4-4 after a great return from the Swiss, allowing Federer to serve for the title in the following game.
He had three match points but del Potro found the way to repel them all (he saved two with forehand winners) and break back, setting up another tie break that was the best way to determine the winner of this epic clash. He had the drive now and he raced into a 5-0 lead to run away from Roger, sealing the deal on his third match point at 6-2 when Federer's forehand landed long to lift the precious trophy and write his name on the Masters 1000 winners list. With these 1000 points, Juan Martin returned into the top-6 on the next day for the first time since February 2014 and he played well in the rest of the season as well to finish inside the top-5 for the first time in half a decade.
* Masters 1000 Miami: John Isner (USA) vs Alexander Zverev (GER) 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4
The American John Isner will be remembered as the last champion of Miami Masters at the Crandon Park after a hard-fought 6-7 6-4 6-4 triumph over the 4th seed Alexander Zverev in two hours and 29 minutes! This was the fourth Masters 1000 final for Isner and the first title at this level that propelled him inside the top-10 on the ATP ranking list that came out on the following day. Isner scored just two wins in 2018 prior to Miami but he played great tennis in the last 10 days to lift his biggest title 25 days before his 33rd birthday. John is the first American player to conquer Miami since Andy Roddick in 2010 and he is also the third consecutive non-European player with Masters 1000 title, after 69 trophies that went to the old continent before that! In addition, Isner is the oldest first-time champion at Masters 1000 level, passing Ivan Ljubicic who won Indian Wells in 2010, and he is the 65th different Masters 1000 champion overall since 1990. John fired 18 aces and he saved all three break points he faced to keep the pressure on Sascha who had to play against 12 break points, saving 10 of those to keep himself in contention. Nonetheless, he dropped his serve in the ninth game of sets two and three to find himself on the losing side and miss a chance to win his third Masters 1000 title as the only active player after Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray who achieved that before him.
The American had 44 winners and 37 unforced errors, dominating with his serve and forehand despite too many errors from his stronger wing while Zverev stayed on 22 winners and 24 errors, which wasn't enough in the end. Sascha was the better player in the mid-range and longer rallies but that John erased that deficit in the shortest range up to four strokes, winning 15 points more than Zverev in them to cross the finish line first. It was important for both players to find the rhythm right from the start but we saw break points already in the second game when Zverev had to dig deep to remain unbroken.
John squandered three break points and the last one could have been very costly since he missed an easy volley at the net. Sascha had his chance on the return as well in the fifth game but Isner denied a break point with an ace down the T line to remain on the positive side of the scoreboard. It was the American's turn to make some damage on the return in game six again, creating two break points but wasting both, and they served well in the remaining games to set up a tie break. After four easy points on both sides we saw five mini-breaks in a row and Zverev opened a 5-4 gap after a costly double fault from Isner in the ninth point.
The German won the next two points on his serve to grab the breaker 7-4 after a grueling 58 minutes, looking strong to lift his third Masters 1000 crown. The second set was more fluid and returners won just six points in the opening eight games to stay neck and neck at 4-4. Out of sudden, Sascha squandered a game point in game nine after a double fault and Isner broke him with a cross court forehand winner that sent him 5-4 in front, allowing him to serve for the set in the following game. Instead of another easy hold, John faced two break points in that 10th game but he repelled them both (it was an epic point on the second break chance) and closed the set with a service winner, sending the match into a decider after an hour and 43 minutes.
The momentum was on Isner's side now and he used it to sail through his service games in set number three, serving at 83% and dropping three points in five service games! Zverev couldn't follow that pace and he saved a break point in game three and another four in game five to keep himself in contention, hoping to survive until the tie break. John had the other plans, though, winning 12 of the last 14 points to seal the deal and celebrate his biggest success in a career just before the 33rd birthday. Sascha opened the ninth game with a double fault and Isner fired a forehand winner to move 30-0 up, keeping the pressure on his young opponent.
A backhand error from the German gave two break points to the American and he converted the first when Zverev netted an easy forehand, earning a chance to serve for the triumph in the following game. John completed the win with an ace and he started a huge celebration in front of the delighted fans that witnessed the first American champion here in eight years.
* ATP 250 Houston: Steve Johnson (USA) vs Tennys Sandgren (USA) 7-6(2) 2-6 6-4
The 6th seed Steve Johnson successfully defended his Houston title after a 7-6 2-6 6-4 win over the fellow American Tennys Sandgren in two hours and 22 minutes, claiming his third ATP title and becoming the first player since Andy Roddick in 2002 who managed to win back-to-back crowns in Houston. This was their first meeting and Steve had to work hard to emerge over the top, winning just one point more than his rival and suffering three breaks of serve from five opportunities he offered to Sandgren.
Competing in his first ATP final, Tennys fends off 12 out of 14 break points to stay in touch until the closing stages of the match, wasting game points in the ninth game of the final set that would cost him dearly in the end. Johnson was off to a perfect start, losing four points in the opening five service games and creating four break points in games four and six to keep the pressure on Tennys. Sandgren fends them off with attacking tennis, staying on the positive side of the scoreboard and earning a break in game 11 when Steve netted an easy forehand.
Serving for the set, Tennys lost his serve after a poor volley at the net and they had to decide the winner in the tie break, with the momentum on Johnson's side. He grabbed three mini-breaks to open up a 5-2 lead and wrapped up the set with a forehand down the line winner, moving a set away from the title. Tennys had to give his best to avoid the setback in set number two, repelling all seven break points he faced in the first three service games and building the confidence for the rest of the set.
Johnson couldn't keep his focus after wasting so many chances and Tennys broke him in games six and eight, closing the set with his second break at 5-2 after a forehand error from Steve, sending the match into a decider and staying on the course for his first ATP title. They both served well in the opening eight games of the final set and Steve made a crucial move with a break in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead. Serving for the title, he saved a break point with a risky forehand down the line winner and a service winner pushed him over the finish line, celebrating his third title on the Tour despite the fact he scored just six wins prior to Houston.
* ATP 250 Marrakech: Pablo Andujar (ESP) vs Kyle Edmund (GBR) 6-2 6-2
A three-time ATP champion (twice at this tournament while it was still played in Casablanca) and a former world number 32 Pablo Andujar had to undergo three right elbow surgeries in 13 months and he lost his ranking in September last year. He played just three Futures matches in the entire last season and he started from the very beginning this January in Pune, playing with the protected ranking in order to shape his form and get back on the desired level. He scored one win in Rio de Janeiro before retiring against Dominic Thiem (luckily, it wasn't elbow that bothered him) and he scored his first big result since the comeback in Alicante Challenger, winning the first title at that level since 2010.
He arrived in Marrakech with a strong desire to continue in the same style and he did a perfect job, going all the way to pick up his fourth ATP crown after a commanding 6-2 6-2 win over the 2nd seed Kyle Edmund in the title match. Ranked 355th, Pablo is the lowest-ranked ATP champion since Lleyton Hewitt in 1998 when he won his maiden ATP crown in Adelaide ranked 550th. In addition, Andujar won his previous title in Gstaad 2014 and after everything that happened to him he probably couldn't even dream about this moment, happy for just being back on the court again. Kyle played great in the quarter-final and semi-final but he stood no chance against the more experienced rival, competing in his first ATP final.
The match lasted an hour and 22 minutes and the Spaniard controlled the scoreboard from start to finish, saving seven out of nine break points he faced to limit the damage in his games. Edmund served well in the previous four matches but he was nowhere near that today, serving at 54% and dropping almost 60% of the points behind his initial shot, giving his serve away six times from 10 break opportunities Pablo created. Andujar was off to a better start, breaking in the opening three return games for a 4-1 lead, which was very important for his confidence and the momentum.
Kyle lost his serve in the opening game of the match with a forehand winner from Andujar and the Spaniard held at love in game two to open up an early lead. Nothing worked well for the Briton and he sprayed a forehand error in game three to get broken again and fall 3-0 behind. Edmund managed to reduce the deficit to 3-1 with a break in game four after a backhand error from Pablo but Andujar earned another break in the game that followed with a nice drop shot that stayed out of Edmund's reach. Serving for the set at 5-2, Andujar saved two break points and he closed the set after a lucky net cord in 39 minutes.
Things went from bad to worse for the youngster, losing serve once again at the start of the second set and falling 4-1 down after yet another break he suffered in game five following a volley winner from Andujar. Kyle was still fighting and he pulled one break back a few minutes later, reducing the deficit to 4-2 but not being able to find any rhythm in his games, losing serve again in the seventh game after a forehand winner from Andujar who served for the title in the following game. The Spaniard saved two break points with winners and he claimed the triumph when Kyle sent a backhand wide to celebrate one of his biggest wins in a career considering everything that happened to him in the last couple of years.
* Masters 1000 Monte Carlo: Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs Kei Nishikori (JPN) 6-3 6-2
World number 1 and defending Monte Carlo champion Rafael Nadal proved his dominance on the clay and this tournament once again, defeating Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-2 in an hour and 30 minutes for the 11th title in the Principality in the last 14 years! No player has ever dominated one event in modern tennis in a way Nadal reigns in Monte Carlo, winning 68 out of 72 matches he played since 2003 when he was only 16. This was the 76th ATP title for Nadal, moving just one away from John McEnroe, and also the record-breaking 31st Masters 1000 crown, leaving Novak Djokovic on 30.
In addition, he stayed world number 1 after defending 1000 points he won 12 months ago and he had to do the same in Barcelona in the following week in order to stay in front of Roger Federer who was just 100 points behind him in the rankings. Nadal was the player to beat in Monte Carlo and he delivered rock solid tennis to go all the way, winning the title without dropping the set here for the first time since 2012 and rattling off 36 consecutive sets played on clay! This was the 10th victory for the Spaniard over Nishikori in 12 meetings (four encounters on clay), playing against each other for the first time since Rio Olympics when the Japanese scored a win.
This was the best tournament for Kei since 2016, scoring two top-10 wins (the last one before Monte Carlo came in Brisbane 2017) and entering the Masters 1000 final for the first time since Canada 2016. Still, it wasn't enough to go all the way and overpower such a strong rival, spending five more hours on the court compared to Rafa which was evident on the court in the title clash. It wasn't the perfect display from Nadal but he did enough to keep the upper hand and control the pace in the points, facing just two break points and mounting the pressure on the other side of the net.
Kei managed to break his opponent in the third game of the match to grab an early lead but that was pretty much all we saw from him on the return, wasting a break point in game seven and fading from the court in set number two, just like Grigor Dimitrov did on the previous day versus Rafa. The Japanese served at only 52% and that wasn't enough to keep him in contention, dropping 48% of the points in his games and giving his serve away four times from eight break points Nadal created. Rafa had 29 winners and just 15 unforced errors while Kei stood on the 19-15 ratio, spraying mistakes from both wings and finding it hard to deal with the Spaniard's down the line shots.
The Japanese stayed in touch in the mid-range and longer points but Nadal erased that deficit in the shortest exchanges to create the crucial gap. Rafa missed a chance to score an early break in game two when his forehand down the line finished just outside the line and Kei broke him in game three with a backhand winner at the net. Nonetheless, Nishikori couldn't stay in front for too long, hitting a double fault in game four to lose the advantage and Rafa held at love in game five with a smash winner to restore the order and gain the momentum.
The deciding moment came in game six when Nadal broke for the second time in a row, moving 4-2 ahead and saving a break point in the following game to cement his advantage. Kei held at love to reduce the deficit to 5-3 but Nadal closed the set on own serve in game nine, firing a forehand winner to get the job done in 56 minutes. Carried by this drive, Rafa was the dominant figure in set number two, serving at 80% and dropping four points in his games, keeping all the pressure on Nishikori who had no weapons that would keep him in touch.
The Japanese saved a break point in the first game but Nadal broke him at 15 in game three with a backhand return winner, jumping into a 3-1 lead with a forehand winner a few minutes later and looking better and better as the match progressed. Kei got broken again in game five and the title was in Nadal's hands when he blasted a backhand cross court winner at 5-2, celebrating another huge success on the court that gave him so much in the last 13 years.
* ATP 500 Barcelona: Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 6-2 6-1
World number 1 Rafael Nadal was the top favorite to deliver another title in Barcelona and he did that in style, beating all five rivals in straight sets to lift his 11th trophy at this event from as many finals he entered! Nadal is now 58-3 in Barcelona after defeating the young Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 6-1 in an hour and 17 minutes to claim his 77th ATP title, joining John McEnroe in the fourth place of the Open era list, 17 behind Ivan Lendl in third. In addition, this was his 55th ATP crown on clay and he has won staggering 401 matches from 436 played on the slowest surface, proving once again his status of the most dominant player on a single surface in the history of our game.
Rafa did not lose a set on clay since Rome last year and Tsitsipas was unable to end that streak, losing serve five times and missing all three break points he created on the return to end on the losing side in his first ever ATP final. The talented Greek played on a high level during the entire week, beating four seeds and entering the final without dropping a set where Nadal proved to be too tough to handle, controlling the pace from the baseline and overpowering his rival in the exchanges to win his second title in a row after Monte Carlo last Sunday.
With those 500 points, Nadal stayed world number 1 in front of Roger Federer on the newest ATP list and his focus switched to Madrid where he also had to defend the title. The Spaniard served at 71% and despite some troubles on his second serve he kept his service games intact, fending off all three break points (all in the fourth game of the second set when he was already 6-2 3-0 up) to keep the pressure on Tsitsipas and taking 56% of the return points to create 10 break chances. Stefanos found it hard to defend his second serve (3 from 16) and he had to give his serve away five times, unable to extend the match or soften the defeat.
Both players had more errors than winners but Nadal tamed his shots in a more efficient way to control the scoreboard all the time and claim his most convincing wins in all 11 Barcelona finals. Tsitsipas held at love with a forehand winner in the opening game, which was very important for his confidence, but he fired a forehand long in the third game to drop serve and send Nadal 2-1 up. Rafa held after a deuce in game four to confirm the break and he broke at love for the second time in a row after another forehand error from Stefanos in the next game, moving closer to grab the opener in the best possible way.
He did that with a service winner in game eight, wrapping up the first part of the match 6-2 in 40 minutes and hoping for more of the same in the rest of the match. Tsitsipas could not endure the rallies against the toughest possible rival and he sprayed another forehand error to lose his serve at the start of set number two, sealing his fate after another forehand mistake in game three to fall 6-2 3-0 behind. With one hand already on the trophy, Nadal saved three break points in game four and he converted his third match point in game seven, breaking Stefanos once again and starting a celebration of his 11th trophy in Barcelona from 14 appearances!
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2EcBU0N
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