Archive: sao-paulo
Juan Martin Del Potro captured the 21st title of his career and his biggest since 2013 when he cruised past Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel on Saturday.
Rarely is Dubai overshadowed by anything going on at the same time, but that will certainly be the case this time around. February's final week features Acapulco as the best of the trio—and it isn’t even close.
Kei Nishikori had struggled all the way to the final here. Kevin Anderson had looked very solid. So what happened come the final? Nishikori was in pretty complete charge.
This wasn't a particularly long match -- about an hour and forty minutes, and it would have been shorter had Stan Wawrinka not fired multiple lets on match points -- but if Wawrinka wants to get his ranking back up, he'll need to do better than this. He still needs at least three more wins to rise above his current #8.
Milos Raonic sealed his debut with a 19th ace to see off Russian qualifier Alexander Kuznetsov 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-5. The Canadian second seed needed a comeback after losing the opening set to the No. 88 before taking control in the second set and keeping up the pressure in the third to book into the second round.
Juan Carlos Ferrero played Davis Cup, then hurried here. It may have been a little too much for him. Fortunately, it won't affect his ranking significantly. Santiago Giraldo is really in a slump all of a sudden. And if he can't break his funk on clay, where can he?
Ricardo Mello just fell to #123. This won't put him back in the Top Hundred, but it might arrest the decline....
