In our last edition of tennis news, we had an exciting time looking at the 2021 Australian Open. In this update, we look at several smaller — but very high quality — tournaments.
If you weren’t able to keep up with everything going on, we’ve got your back. Below are the tournament news/results, top headlines, and spotlight story!
ATP & WTA Tournament News and Results: Rotterdam, Adelaide, Qatar, & More
Several tournaments inevitably led to some exciting matches, some top players winning trophies, and some young guns making names for themselves.
Singapore Tennis Open
Result: Australian Alexei Popyrin would defeat Alexander Bublik 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 to win the Singapore Tennis Open, his first ATP title.
Story: Wildcard Matthew Ebden would defeat (2) John Millman, Radu Albot would upset (1) Adrian Mannarino, 2014 US Open Champion Marin Cilic would make a run to the semifinals, and Alexei Popyrin would claim his first title.
Doubles: Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen would defeat Matthew Ebden and John-Patrick Smith 6-2, 6-3 to win the championship.
Cordoba Open
Result: 19-year-old Juan Manuel Cerundolo would defeat (5) Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 to claim his first ATP title.
Story: Ramos-Vinolas would upset (1) Diego Schwartzman, Federico Coria would upset (2) Benoit Paire, and Cerundolo would make a dream run in Cordoba. If you don’t already know the 19-year-old, now is the time to make yourself familiar.
Doubles: Rafael Matos and Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves would defeat Romain Arneodo and Benoit Paire 6-4, 6-1 to take the title.
Open Sud de France (Montpellier)
Result: (2) David Goffin would defeat (1) Roberto Bautista Agut 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to claim his first ATP title since 2017.
Story: Davidovich Fokina would upset (4) Hurkacz, Bedene would upset (5) Sinner, (Q) Gojowczyk would upset (8) Struff, Dennis Novak would upset (3) Lajovic, and Bautista Agut and Goffin would setup a (1) & (2) championship where Goffin would end his title drought.
Doubles: Henri Kontinen and Edouard Roger-Vasselin would defeat Jonathan Erlich and Andrei Vasilevski 6-2, 7-5 to claim the title.
Adelaide International
Result: 2020 Roland Garros Champion Iga Swiatek would defeat (2) Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-2 to claim the 2021 Adelaide International title.
Story: American Danielle Collins would upset (1) Ash Barty, American Shelby Rogers would upset (3) Johanna Konta, and 16-year-old American Coco Gauff would make a run to the semifinals. If you’re not familiar with these American women, you’re going to be soon.
Doubles: (3) Alexa Guarachi and Desirae Krawczyk would defeat Hayley Carter and Luisa Stefani 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 10-3 to win the championship.
Rotterdam Open
Result: In the championship, (4) Andrey Rublev would defeat (Q) Marton Fucsovics 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to win the title.
Story: Dusan Lajovic would upset (1) Daniil Medvedev, Kei Nishikori would make a solid run defeating Auger-Aliassime, and De Minaur, Alexander Bublik would upset (3) Alexander Zverev, and Andrey Rublev would continue his recent dominance.
Doubles: (2) Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic would defeat Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 to claim the trophy.
Argentina Open
Result: (1) Diego Schwartzman would defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 6-2 to claim the championship.
Story: In an all Argentine final, Schwartzman would manage to come out with the trophy in his home country. He would play very well throughout the tournament and, despite a lack of great competition at the tournament, Schwartzman looks ready for another great clay-court season.
Doubles: Tomislav Brkic and Nikola Cacic would defeat (4) Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar 6-3, 7-5 to secure the championship.
WTA Qatar Open
Result: (4) Petra Kvitova would defeat Garbine Muguruza 6-2, 6-1 to claim the 2021 WTA Qatar Open championship.
Story: After a solid run at the Australian Open, the 27-year-old American Jessica Pegula would make a run to the semifinals where she was halted by Kvitova. En route to the semifinals, she would defeat the second-seeded Karolina Pliskova. Muguruza would also play a very good tournament, defeating Kudermetova, (3) Sabalenka, Sakkari, and Azarenka (walkover) on her way to the finals.
Doubles: (2) Nicole Melichar and Demi Schuurs would defeat Monica Niculescu and Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 2-6, 10-8 to win the doubles championship.
WTA Lyon Open
Result: In the championship match, 18-year-old Clara Tauson would defeat Viktorija Golubic 6-4, 6-1 to claim the trophy.
Story: The two finalists were really the story of the tournament. As if the 18-year-old Tauson defeating the top-seeded Alexandrova and going on to win the championship wasn’t already enough of a story, Golubic would make a valiant run of her own. She would defeat (3) Caroline Garcia and (2) Fiona Ferro on her way to the championship.
Doubles: The top-seeded team of Viktoria Kuzmova and Arantxa Rus defeated the team of Eugenie Bouchard and Olga Danilovic 3-6, 7-5, 10-7 to win the championship.
Upcoming Tournaments
Following these two exciting weeks of tennis, we’ll get two more weeks full of great tennis tournaments.
On the ATP Tour, next week there will be action at the Qatar Open, the Marseille Open, and the Chile Open. The following week we’ll see action in Dubai and Acapulco.
On the WTA Tour, next week there will be action at the Dubai Tennis Championships and Abierto Zapopan. The following week we’ll see action in Monterrey and St. Petersburg.
If you’d like to read more about any of these upcoming tournaments, check out these links:
- Qatar Open
- Marseille Open
- Chile Open
- Dubai Tennis Championships (ATP)
- Acapulco Open
- Dubai Tennis Championships (WTA)
- Abierto Zapopan
- Monterrey Open
- St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy
Top 10 News Stories Around the Pro Tennis Tour
If you enjoy tennis-related headlines, these recent news stories will surely be must-reads for you.
- Former World No. 3 David Nalbandian is back and is coaching the 21-year-old Miomir Kecmanovic.
- Gilles Simon is taking a break from tennis to protect his mental health.
- Donna Vekic underwent successful knee surgery and is now beginning rehab to return to playing.
- Andy Murray is pumped to be competing again and is ready to be winning on the tour again.
- Andy Roddick lends a helping hand to Texans after severe winter storms.
- Coco Gauff is looking more and more dangerous after a deep run in Adelaide.
- Kei Nishikori fixed his service motion and so far it’s working for him.
- The ATP wants to help its players and is going to do so by providing COVID-19 support packages.
- A near-death experience for a ball girl scared many tennis fans during a match in Las Palmas.
- Kim Clijsters will resume play at the 2021 Miami Open and we’re ready to see her back in action.
Spotlight Story: David Nalbandian is Back on the ATP Tour as a Coach
After retiring in 2013, former World No. 3 David Nalbandian is back on the ATP Tour, but this time as a coach.
He recently joined ATP Top 50 player Miomir Kecmanovic’s team. Kecmanovic is only 21 years old and is of Serbian descent. He has a lot of nice things to say about Nalbandian.
“It means a lot to me to have David with me now. He was one of the best of his generation and his experience could really help me a lot,” Kecmanovic told ATPTour.com after their first training session together. “I watched him play for many months on television. I remember a lot of his matches, seeing them on YouTube, when he beat the Big Three. That was incredible.”
“I hope to be able to work with him a lot. He’s already mentioned some ideas to me. I hope to go far this week, but it’s important to learn, to be able to progress and we’ll gradually change and the results will take care of themselves.”
As for Nalbandian’s take on Kecmanovic, “He’s a young boy with good potential and I’ll try to improve him as a player,” Nalbandian said. “It’s a way of trying a few weeks out, in Cordoba, Buenos Aires, and Santiago and then we’ll look at the schedule.”
If you’d like to read more about Nalbandian and Kecmanovic’s new partnership, make sure to check out this article by the ATP Tour.
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