Tomic wins first ATP title since 2015
The big news for this week was Bernard Tomic winning the Chengdu ATP 250 title. He saved four match points in the third set tiebreaker on his way to the title where he defeated Italy’s Fabio Fognin6-1, 3-6, 7-6(7). Tomic had also saved a match point in his round two match against South Africa’s Lloyd Harris. The win saw Tomic rocket up the rankings, moving from 123 to 76. Tomic had reached the main draw through qualifying. He adds to titles won in Sydney (2013) and Bogota (2014, 2015). Tomic and Nick Kyrgios are the only Australian men to win ATP titles in 2018. Kyrgios won the Brisbane International to start the year.
Ash Barty reached the semifinals in Wuhan for the second straight year. She was runner-up in 2017. Barty defeated world no. 3 Angie Kerber in round three before losing to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenko in the semis. Barty got through her quarterfinal match where she picked up an injury.
Kimberly Birrell won her first $60,000 ITF title when she defeated fellow Australian Ellen Perez in the Darwin final.
See results from the week below.
Men’s ATP
Chengdu, China ATP 250
Matt Ebden [6] d Evgeny Donskoy RUS 6-3, 6-4. R2 d Matteo Berrettini ITA 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3). QF lost to Fabio Fognini [1] ITA 6-4, 6-2
Bernard Tomic [Q] d Bradley Klahn USA 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-2. R2 d Lloyd Harris [Q] RSA 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-6(6). QF d Felix Auger-Aliassime [LL] CAN 6-2, 6-4. SF d Joao Sousa 6-4, 6-4. Final defeated Fabio Fognini [1] 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(7)
Shenzhen, China ATP 250
Alex de Minaur [7] d Yuichi Sugita JPN 6-3, 6-0. R2 d Mackenzie McDonald USA 1-6, 7-6(1), 6-0. QF d Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 7-6(7). SF lost to Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(8)
Women’s WTA
China Open, Beijing – Premier (commenced 29 Sept)
Daria Gavrilova d Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-1
Wuhan, China – Premier
Ash Barty [16] d Johanna Konta GBR 7-5, 6-4. R2 d Zheng Saisai CHN 6-4, 6-1,6-2. R3 d Angie Kerber GER 7-5, 6-1. QF d Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. SF lost to Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(2),6-4
Daria Gavrilova d Jelena Ostapenko [10] LAT 6-2, 6-4. R2 d Barbora Strycova CZE 6-2, 7-6(3). R3 lost to Wang Qiang CHN 7-5, 6-2
Sam Stosur lost to Zhang Shuai CHN 6-2, 6-2
Men’s ATP Challenger
Tiburon, USA – $100,000
John-Patrick Smith d Pedro Martinez ESP 6-4, 6-2. R2 d Bjorn Fratangelo 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. QF to play Marcel Granollers [1] ESP
Marc Polmans [7] lost to Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-4
Alexei Popyrin d Marc Polmans [7] 6-4, 6-4. R2 lost to James Duckworth 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(6)
James Duckworth d Alexander Sarkissian [Q] USA 7-6(1), 6-4. R2 d Alexei Popyrin 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(6). QF d Marcelo Arevalo ESA 7-5,6-3. SF lost to Michael Mmoh 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Maverick Banes lost to Mikael Torpegaard [SE] DEN 6-4, 6-2
Jordan Thompson [2] lost to Marcelo Arevalo ESA 2-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(5)
ITF $60,000 Darwin
Kimberly Birrell won the title defeating Ellen Perez 6-3, 6-3
