ATP Tour Wrap: Thiem retires at Mallorca as Medvedev claims opener at Eastbourne
With Wimbledon right around the corner, the Viking International Eastbourne Tennis Tournament began this week held at Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in Eastbourne. Meanwhile, the Mallorca Open continues this week and featured a mix of big names and young guns scoring big wins at the tournament.
Seeds Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Alexander Bublik both found wins against qualifiers Mikael Ymer and Mikhail Kukushkin respectively. The Spanish eighth seed Davidovich Fokina bagged a win against Sweden’s Ymer 7-6 6-1, a stark difference to the last time the pair met in the Round of 32 of the Swedish Open in 2019. Meanwhile, Bublik found success against Kazakh Kukushkin, the scores were 6-1 6-4.
The tournament saw a handful of Australians dominate in the draw, as three came out on top with wins. John Millman defeated Britain’s Jay Clarke 6-3 6-2 in a tight contest lasting over an hour. Slovakian Norbert Gombos fell to Alexei Popyrin 6-4(1) 4-6(6), whilst Max Purcell defeated James Duckworth in a seesawing clash, 6-2 3-6 7-6(5).
It seemed that the hometown advantage was not on the cards for the Brits as unseeded Liam Broady sealed the only win for the side against American Frances Tiafoe. Broady’s win against the American, 6-3 7-6(4), was complete in under two hours.
Proceedings entered the Round of 16 at Mallorca, as world number two Daniil Medvedev claimed victory in his match against France’s Corentin Moutet. The 25-year-old from Russia was unstoppable against the Frenchman. Medvedev won 6-4 6-2.
Despite a promising start for top seed Dominic Thiem, who held the lead, it was France’s Adrian Mannarino who snatched the win. What was meant to be a grass-court debut for the Austrian turned sour after Thiem was force to retire after 38 minutes of play following an injury to his right wrist, with his shaky season going from bad to worse in one fell swoop.
Frenchman, Mannarino was thrilled to make the quarter-finals but expressed his wish for the match to have ended differently, following Thiem’s injury.
“It’s nice for me to be in the quarter-finals, but winning this way is not so cool. I really like Dominic, he’s such a nice guy and I hope he will be feeling better soon,” he said.
Karen Khachanov bagged a win against Spain’s Feliciano Lopez under two hours, with the final scores being 4-6 6-2 6-4. Young gun Casper Rudd also found success as he defeated American 29-year-old Tennys Sandgren in over an hour. Rudd, who has a serve rating 323, put on a classy performance to complete the 6-3 6-4 effectively.
VIKING INTERNATIONAL EASTBOURNE ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:
[6] Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) defeated Mikael Ymer (SWE) 7-6 5-1
Emil Ruusuvouri (FIN) defeated [7] Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 6-6 4-3
(8) Alexander Bublik (KAZ) defeated Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 1-4 6-6
Liam Broady (GBR) defeated Frances Tiafoe (USA) 6-3 7-6
Marton Fucsovics (HUN) defeated Aljaz Bedene (SLO) 7-6 3-6 7-6
Egor Gerasimov (BLR) defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 3-4 6-6
Ilya Ivashka (BLR) defeated Alastair Grey (GBR) 2-6 7-6
John Millman (AUS) defeated Jay Clarke (GBR) 6-3 6-2
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) defeated Norbert Gombos (SLO) 4-6 6-4 6-1
Vasek Pospisil (CAN) defeated James Ward (GBR) 6-4 6-4
Max Purcell (AUS) defeated James Duckworth (AUS) 6-2 3-6 7-6
Andreas Seppi (ITA) defeated Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 7-6 6-1
MALLORCA CHAMPIONSHIPS ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:
[1] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) defeated Corentin Moutet (FRA) 6-4 6-2
Adrian Mannarino (FRA) defeated [2] Dominic Thiem (AUT) 2-5 RET
[5] Casper Ruud (NOR) defeated Tennus Sandgren (USA) 6-3 6-4
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) defeated [6] Karen Khachanov (RUS) 4-6 6-2 6-4
Picture credit: Tennis World USA
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