Kevin Anderson and Roberto Bautista Agut earned the first ATP titles of 2019 on Saturday. Anderson outlasted Ivo Karlovic in three tiebreakers at the Tata Open, while Bautista Agut capped off an awesome run at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open with a three-set victory over Tomas Berdych.
In the tallest-ever final in ATP Tour history, Anderson recovered from a 5-2 deficit in the third-set ‘breaker to overcome Karlovic 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 7-6(5).
“I really wanted to go one step further than last year,” said the top-seeded South African, who finished runner-up to Gilles Simon last season in Pune. “You don’t get to win tournaments every week, so when you do it is very special and it is something that definitely means a lot to me…. With him at 5-2 in the third-set (tiebreaker), anything could have happened. I’m very happy I played five very good points to finish today’s match.”
“I was in that position (up 5-2 in the ‘breaker) because of my game-style, so in that moment I didn’t want to change anything,” Karlovic reflected. “It didn’t work out how I wanted it to, but that is life…. It was difficult last year, I was down, but I was able to rise a little bit and I am here now; so all is good. It was an excellent week. I hope to continue at this level.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAdh7ipBXWY
Bautista Agut’s week featured an upset of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the Doha semifinals. Maintaining momentum one day later, the Spaniard held off Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
“It was a great start to the season,” Bautista Agut commented. “I wish to feel good physically, mentally, like I am now, like I felt this week. And if this happens, I think I can get better in the rankings; and why not be closer to the top 10?”
He will climb only one spot from 24th to No. 23 despite the 250-point success.
“It’s always a very tough draw, very tough tournament, with a lot of good players in the draw,” the No. 7 seed continued. “And when I started the week, I was feeling good with the ball. I was enjoying practicing. I was playing match by match. And since the first moment of the tournament until the last point, I felt really good on the court.”
“It was overall a very good match and I think the biggest difference was one game in the third set where I lost badly my serve where I hit two double-faults in one game,” Berdych explained. “In such a tight match, (that) just made the big difference and that’s why I think Roberto won today–because he was playing well overall and he had a great week.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-xImdXo1oE
At the Brisbane International on Sunday, Kei Nishikori avenged last fall’s Tokyo final loss to Daniil Medvedev by beating the Russian 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Nishikori ended a shocking streak of nine consecutive setbacks in title matches.
“To win the tournament is very emotional,” the Japanese world No. 9 assured. “That’s why I’m playing. I was trying in every final and every tournament…. I played a great match against (Grigor) Dimitrov (in the quarterfinals) and today’s match was another good tennis (match). I’m sure Daniil is going to be top 10 soon.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKP6kn263bI
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Novak game is becoming readable and lacks an element of surprise. He can only grind opponents into making errors from the baseline. The younger generation and even the lost one is beginning to understand that and not allowing him to do his thing any more. He needs to change something asap … http://www.138mph.com/atp-tennis-will-the-big-three-continue-to-dominate-in-2019/