NOTTINGHAM TENNIS NEWS & UPDATES – EVANS FIGHTS WAY INTO AEGON OPEN THIRD ROUND – TICKETS AND PACKAGES STILL AVAILABLE

Written by: Staff on 21st June 2016

NOTTINGHAM TENNIS NEWS & UPDATES - EVANS FIGHTS WAY INTO AEGON OPEN THIRD ROUND - TICKETS AND PACKAGES STILL AVAILABLE |

The outside courts at Nottingham are looking good in the sunshine #aegonopen #tennis – Photo by @bbcnottinghamsport via Instagram.

EVANS FIGHTS WAY INTO AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM THIRD ROUND TO JOIN ANDERSON AND BAGHDATIS

British No. 4 Dan Evans produced another impressive comeback to reach the third round at the Aegon Open Nottingham, beating Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 2-6 7-6(3) 6-2 to set up a meeting with second seed Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay on Wednesday.

Evans goes into the last 16 at the Nottingham Tennis Centre along with top seed Kevin Anderson, 2008 and 2015 runners-up Fernando Verdasco and Sam Querrey, as well as last year’s semi-finalist Marcos Baghdatis, while British No. 3 Kyle Edmund lost in straight sets to Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Wednesday’s Centre Court tie against Cuevas will be the first time Evans has made the third round at an ATP World Tour event since February 2014 in Zagreb.

“It was tough one,” the 26-year-old said after his win over Berankis. “He was playing far better than me at the start. I just had to hang in, try and get some momentum in the second set, stay with him. I snuck the tie-break and then I was on top in the third.”

Ahead of his first match against Cuevas, Evans added: “I don’t know him that well at all. It’ll be a good match and good to get back out there again. It’s all good practice for next week. It’s been nice to get two wins so far and hopefully I can get another tomorrow.”

We had a happy Dan on centre at the #AegonOpen today #tennis #Comeback #ThisDanCan #HappyBirthdayBerankis #SorryNotSorry @britishtennis @tennisinnotts – Photo by @tennisvolution via Instagram.

Elsewhere defending champion Denis Istomin and third seed Joao Sousa were both knocked out, and it took World No. 24 Anderson more than two hours to overcome Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3.

The 30-year-old South African said: “It was a very difficult match out there. I was really pleased with the way I stayed patient, as it was tough to lose that second set, but it paid off in the end.”

On his third round tie with Verdasco, which will be last on Centre Court on Wednesday, he added: “We’ve played a couple of times, he’s one of the best ball-strikers in the game. It’s going to be a tough match but I can take many positives into it from today.”

And former World No. 8 Baghdatis came through round two in straight sets against Russian Evgeny Donskoy, continuing his streak in the East Midlands, where he is yet to lose a completed match on what is his fourth appearance at the Nottingham Tennis Centre.

“I feel undefeated here,” the 31-year-old from Cyprus said. “I played the Challenger here twice and the ATP once before. I retired in the first Challenger I played, won the second and then retired last year in semis, so I feel happy and good here

“Every time I come to Nottingham I play good tennis.”

AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM – NOTTINGHAM, GBR

€704,805

19-25 JUNE 2016

RESULTS – JUNE 21, 2016

Men’s Singles – Second Round

[1] K. Anderson (RSA) d I. Dodig (CRO) 63 67(5) 63

[2] P. Cuevas (URU) d [Q] S. Robert (FRA) 64 76(3)

D. Sela (ISR) d [3] J. Sousa (POR) 63 76(3)

[4] A. Dolgopolov (UKR) d K. Edmund (GBR) 64 76(5)

[5] S. Querrey (USA) d [Q] E. Escobedo (USA) 64 64

[6] S. Johnson (USA) d J. Millman (AUS) 62 62

[7] A. Seppi (ITA) d M. Jaziri (TUN) 75 63

[8] G. Muller (LUX) d J. Vesely (CZE) 76(2) 62

[9] M. Baghdatis (CYP) d E. Donskoy (RUS) 75 62

M. Youzhny (RUS) d [10] P. Carreno Busta (ESP) 61 64

[11] V. Pospisil (CAN) d D. Dzumhur (BIH) 61 64

A. Mannarino (FRA) d [12] P. Lorenzi (ITA) 62 62

B. Becker (GER) d [13] G. Pella (ARG) 36 61 63

[14] F. Verdasco (ESP) d V. Estrella Burgos (DOM) 61 46 63

[Q] F. Dancevic (CAN) d [15] M. Kukushkin (KAZ) 46 76(4) 76(2)

D. Evans (GBR) d [16] R. Berankis (LTU) 26 76(3) 62

First Round

D. Dzumhur (BIH) d D. Istomin (UZB) 16 76(4) 64

Men’s Doubles – First Round

[2] D. Inglot (GBR) / D. Nestor (CAN) d J. Erlich (ISR) / C. Fleming (GBR) 76(6) 61

R. Lindstedt (SWE) / A. Qureshi (PAK) d J. Knowle (AUT) / M. Matkowski (POL) 63 75

S. Gonzalez (MEX) / S. Lipsky (USA) d [WC] K. Skupski (GBR) / N. Skupski (GBR) 76(1) 63

ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon

[5] S. Querrey (USA) vs [9] M. Baghdatis (CYP)

D. Evans (GBR) vs [2] P. Cuevas (URU)

[8] G. Muller (LUX) vs M. Youzhny (RUS)

[1] K. Anderson (RSA) vs [14] F. Verdasco (ESP)

COURT 1 start 11:00 am

A. Mannarino (FRA) vs [7] A. Seppi (ITA)

D. Sela (ISR) vs B. Becker (GER)

[Q] F. Dancevic (CAN) vs [4] A. Dolgopolov (UKR)

[11] V. Pospisil (CAN) vs [6] S. Johnson (USA)

COURT 2 start 11:00 am

N. Monroe (USA) / A. Sitak (NZL) vs [2] D. Inglot (GBR) / D. Nestor (CAN)

[1] I. Dodig (CRO) / M. Melo (BRA) vs [WC] J. Marray (GBR) / A. Shamasdin (CAN)

[3] T. Huey (PHI) / M. Mirnyi (BLR) vs O. Marach (AUT) / F. Martin (FRA)

S. Gonzalez (MEX) / S. Lipsky (USA) vs P. Cuevas (URU) / J. Sousa (POR)

The Aegon Open Nottingham

Tickets to the Aegon Open Nottingham ATP event, which starts Saturday, 18 June are available for as little as £10. Go to https://www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-open-nottingham/tickets/ for more information.

Follow all the Aegon Open Nottingham action and reaction by following the live tournament blog here.

For information on the hospitality packages on offer at The Aegon Open Nottingham head to http://www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-open-nottingham/nottingham-hospitality/ or contact Elliot Sheasby on aegonopen@lta.org.uk

The Aegon Open Nottingham sees two tournaments take place in June, with the men’s ATP event staged from 18-25 June 2016. Both the WTA and ATP tournaments are an integral part of the British grass-court season, which features 11 international grass-court tournaments in eight venues across the country.

2017 Grass Court Tournament Calendar

Earlier this year the LTA announced exciting changes to the three week 2017 grass court tournament calendar. Nottingham will host a combined men’s and women’s tour-level tournament in the same week for the first time in 44 years. The pre-existing ATP 250 tournament will move back to Eastbourne, merging with the WTA Premier Aegon International to form a combined event (as it was from 2009-2014) featuring the following format: a 28-player main draw men’s event and 48-player main draw for the women staged across nine days. Other changes include a doubling of prize money at the Aegon Trophy Series (ATP Challenger & ITF Women’s Pro Circuit) creating the highest value circuit at this level in world tennis.

Topics: Aegon Open, Atp World Tour, Nottingham, Sports, Tennis