PETE ZIEBRON in CINCINNATI from August 12 to August 20
Grigor Dimitrov in action at the Western & Southern Open. Photo Credit: Christopher Johnson www.GrandSlamMagazine.com
The Western & Southern Open held each year in the northern Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio is my favorite tennis tournament of the year. The 2016 edition was my eighth consecutive year covering the event.
Arriving on the opening day of qualifying and staying through the conclusion of the semifinals eight days later allowed me to enjoy fantastic vantage points both on the courts and well as in the press conferences. The following are observations of the peak performances of both the better known players as well as some that were not necessarily on the radar of the majority of tennis aficionados around the world.
Top Performances:
Marin Cilic
d. Viktor Troicki 63 64
d. Fernando Verdasco 63 61
d. #6 Tomas Berdych 63 46 64
d. Borna Coric 62 RET
d. Grigor Dimitrov 46 63 75
d. #1 Andy Murray 64 75
2016 Cincinnati Champion Marin Cilic. Photo Credit: Christopher Johnson www.GrandSlamMagazine.com
In his 71st Masters 1000 tournament, the towering Croat finally won his very first title. Despite the fact that Cilic won the 2014 US Open, he never before reached even the semifinals in the Masters Series events despite eight previous trips to the quarterfinals.
In one of the best matches of the tournament, Cilic defeated #6 seed Tomas Berdych in the round of 16. Following his win in the next round against Borna Coric, I said to Cilic in press that I felt that his tennis in the match against Berdych resembled the form he showed in the 2nd week of his run to the US Open crown two years ago. Cilic agreed, stating "(For) the first set and a half, I played maybe the best ever."
Cilic would go on to defeat Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals in a match that lasted until 1:40 AM on Championship Sunday morning due to long rain delays in the evening and night. Next, Cilic would also top Rio Gold Medalist and Wimbledon Champion Andy Murray in the Final. The victory ended Murray's 22-match winning streak.
Karolina Pliskova
1st round BYE
d. Jelena Ostapenko 64 61
d. (LL) Misaki Doi 75 63
d. #7 Svetlana Kuznetsova 63 46 62
d. #4 Garbine Muguruza 61 63
d. #2 Angelique Kerber 63 61
2016 Cincinnati Champion Karolina Pliskova. Pete Ziebron Images
Karolina Pliskova leads the WTA in aces and she brought her big game to the Western & Southern Open. Pliskova elected not to go to Rio and play in the Olympic Games, choosing instead to rest with the opportunity to play her best tennis on the North American hard courts. "Last year I played a lot of tournaments, and in the end of the US Open I felt really tired. I just want to prepare for the big tournaments better than I did last year."
As a result of her strategy, Pliskova dropped just one set in the tournament and won the biggest title of her career. Three consecutive wins against top 10 players in Cincinnati proved that she indeed made the correct decision with respect to opting out of the Olympic Games. Her semifinal win over Halep ended the Romanian's 13 match winning streak. Next, Pliskova defeated Rio Silver Medalist and 2016 Australian Open Champion Angelique Kerber. With the win, Karolina Pliskova reaches a career high of #11 in the world, just 55 points behind #10 Svetlana Kuznetsova. Concurrently, Pliskova sits in 9th place on the Road to Singapore.
d. Gilles Simon 61 63
d. #16 Feliciano Lopez 57 63 76(3)
d. #2 Stan Wawrinka 64 64
d. Steve Johnson 76(8) 62
l. #12 Marin Cilic 64 36 57
Grigor Dimitrov reached the Western & Southern semifinals. Photo Credit: Christopher Johnson www.GrandSlamMagazine.com
Since bringing on new coach Danny Vallverdu, Dimitrov reached the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 in Toronto, losing to finalist Kei Nishikori and the semifinals in Cincinnati, losing to eventual Champion Marin Cilic. Prior to Canada, the Bulgarian's ranking was #40 in the world. Due to his resurgence, he has climbed to world #24.
The impressive win over 2-time major Champion Stan Wawrinka in the round of 16 made a statement to the rest of the ATP field that Dimitrov was indeed starting to get back on track and find concurrently finding the game that led him to the career high #8 ranking that he enjoyed two years ago.
Varvara Flink
Qualifying
d. #22 Cagla Buyukakcay 64 61
d. #1 Misaki Doi 06 76(5) 64
Main Draw
l. (Q) Alison Riske 46 67(6)
Varvara Flink won 2 qualifying matches on the same day in Cincinnati. Pete Ziebron Images
Varvara Flink received a Wild Card into the qualifying draw and certainly made good on the decision to grant a spot in the draw to the 19-year old Russian who entered the tournament ranked #360. Due to excessive rain on the opening day of qualifying, Flink would have to play both qualifying matches the next day if she were to win her opening match against world #69 Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey.
Link started well in the match and closed even better, dropping just a single game in the second set to advance. Next up was the world #38 Misaki Doi of Japan, who just missed out on a place in the Main Draw. Despite being blanked in the opening set and falling behind 2-5 in the second set, Flink successfully won all 3 service games when she served to stay in the match and broke Doi twice in the third set to stun the Japanese.
Next up for Flink was American Alsion Riske, ranked #69 in the world. After dropping the first set to Riske, Flink held a 5-0 lead in the 2nd set tiebreaker, as well as a set point at 6-5 but was not able to clinch the set and fell to Riske in the opening round of the Main Draw. Nonetheless, Flink played inspired tennis in this match and especially so in her two wins in qualifying.
Yuichi Sugita
Qualifying
d. #2 Guido Pella 61 57 75
d. Kyle Edmund 64 63
Main Draw
d. Alexander Zverev 67(4) 64 62
d. Nicolas Mahut 63 75
l. #4 Milos Raonic 16 63 16
Yuchi Sugita won 2 Main Draw matches on the same day in Cincinnati. Photo Credit: Christopher Johnson www.GrandSlamMagazine.com
Yuichi Sugita came to Cincinnati after an opening round win in the Rio Games over American Brian Baker. Prior to Rio, he dropped a very close 3-set match to Grigor Dimitrov in the opening round of the Toronto Masters 1000. After taking out the #2 seed in qualifying Guido Pella, he recorded yet another impressive win over Kyle Edmund.
Due to the massive rain in Cincinnati, The winner of the Sugita-Zverev match would need to play two Main Draw matches in one day to make sure that tournament schedule would remain intact. I must admit, I attended Sugita's match against Zverev to watch the young German and hoped to be able to see him again later that night. However, Sugita had other ideas. After getting hooked on a call very late in the 3rd set on tiny Court 4, the opening set went to a tiebreaker that Zverev won. The Japanese continued to play well while Zverev lost his cool on several occasions. As a result, Sugita would earn the victory and the right to play again, where he would defeat Frenchman Nicolas Mahout in straight sets.
Next up was Wimbledon Finalist Milos Raonic. Following the opening set where Raonic displayed his massive serving in the 140-145 MPH range en route to a 61 first set win, Sugita turned the tables on Raonic and stole the second set on Grandstand to level the match. Raonic promptly corrected course and rolled to another 61 set win to advance. With his appearance in the 3rd round, Yuichi Sugita reached a career high of 383 in the world.
Thiago Monteiro
Qualifying
d. #14 Ivan Dodig 76(3) 63
l. #1 Jiri Vesely 67(5) 61 46
Thiago Monteiro continues to rise quickly up the ATP rankings. Pete Ziebron Images
Thiago Monteiro of Brazil started 2016 with a ranking of world #463. Throughout the year, he steadily climbed the ATP rankings mostly by winning several Challenger matches and currently sits inside the top 100 with a ranking of #99. Most notably this year, he recorded wins over Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Rio 500 in February, over Julien Bennetteau at the Provence Challenger in May and most recently over Gilles Simon at the Gstaad 250 just last month.
Admittedly, Montiero was not on my radar as far as up and coming talent on the ATP Tour. On the opening day of qualifying a fan shared with me that he was very impressed with Monteiro's game and suggested and encouraged me to watch him play. That piece of advice was spot on as I watched a spirited Brazilian win the 2nd set against Jiri Vesely 61. Vesely defeated world #1 Novak Djokovic at the Monte-Carlo Masters in April and his n=big game is a threat to all in the the ATP.
My biggest takeaway about Monteiro's game is his endless energy. The 22-year old Brazilian reminds me of Lleyton Hewitt, especially since he runs everything down and plays each and every point all out. Going forward, I will make it a point to attend Thiago Monteiro's matches whenever possible and will certainly keep an eye on his continued upward trajectory in the ATP rankings.
Donna Vekic
Qualifying
d. #11 Varvara Lepchenko 76(6) 76(4)
d. Mariana Duque-Marino 61 76(2)
Main Draw
d. Ana Ivanovic 64 62
l. #10 Johanna Konta 62 63
Donna Vekic after the Match Point she won to reach the Main Draw in Cincinnati on Court 3. Pete Ziebron Images
Donna Vekic entered Cincinnati on a 7 match losing streak. The 20-yar old Croat quickly corrected course at the Western & Southern Open. Venice won all 3 tiebreakers in her two qualifying matches and upset #11 seed Varvara Lepchenko in her opening match. Next, Vekic ousted Colombian Mariana Duque-Marino in straight sets, winning yet another tiebreaker in the process.
Two years ago, Ana Ivanovic was a Finalist in Cincinnati. In 2016, Ivanovic suffered a straight sets loss to Vekic and only managed to win 6 games in the match. Next up for Vekic was Johanna Konta, who reached the quarterfinals at her two previous tournaments. At the Rio Games, Konta lost to eventual Silver Medalist Angelique Kerber and she also reached the quarters at the WTA Premier event in Montreal. Prior to these tournaments, Konta defeated Venus Williams to win Stanford.
Donna Vekic would only manage to win 5 games against Konta as the world #10 from Britain continued her fine form. However for Vekic, she regained her confidence, winning 3 matches, including a Main Draw contest against former world #1 Ana Ivanovic.
Steve Johnson
d. Federico Delbonis 64 75
d. Julien Benneteau 36 62 76(5)
d. #7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 63 76(6)
l. Grigor Dimitrov 67(8) 26
Steve Johnson marched to the Cincinnati quarterfinals, defeating #7 seed Jo-Wilfired Tsonga in the 3rd round. Photo Credit: Christopher Johnson www.GrandSlamMagazine.co
Steve Johnson arrived in Cincinnati fresh off his Bronze Medal Doubles performance with Jack Sock at the Rio Summer Games. Johnson proudly donned the medal following his pre-tournament press conference and was the only Medalist in either draw that brought his medal to the venue.
Johnson cruised past Argentine Federico Delbonis in the opening round then had a tussle with veteran Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who needed a Protected Ranking to enter the Main Draw due to injury. Johnson dropped the opening set 3-6, then corrected course in the second set before outlasting Benneteau 7-7 in the 3rd set tiebreaker.
Next up was another Frenchman, #7 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the round of 16. Johnson continued his inspired play, won the opening set and despite falling behind 3-6 in the 2nd set tiebreaker, reeled of five consecutive points to win the breaker and the match. Following that win, I pointed out to Johnson in press that this was a top ten victory. Johnson: "It's great. I didn't even actually know that. I had my first one earlier this year, and to get another one is great. You know, I'm starting to come into my own and I really feel comfortable in those moments. That's the most important thing for me."
Despite having prime opportunities in the opening set of his quarterfinal against Grigor Dimitrov, Johnson would fall in the 1st set tiebreaker 8-6 and the drop the second set. With his run to the quarters, Steve Johnson rose to world #21 and became the top ranked American.
Borna Coric saves Match Point and defeats Nick Kyrgios on Court 3. Photo Credit: Christopher Johnson www.GrandSlamMagazine.com
The best match I watched in Cincinnati was the 3rd round encounter between ATP Young Guns Borna Coric of Croatia and #14 seed Nick Kyrgios of Australia. The winner would face Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.
Borna Coric would save a match point in the 3rd set tiebreaker and ultimately prevail 76(2) 46 76(6). The match featured fantastic play from both. Kyrgios played with reckless abandon at times, hitting 2nd serves at 130 MPH, both for aces as well as for double faults. Coric would hold his ground and would ultimately prevail but not before Kyrgios smashed 3 racquets following the first set when he double faulted with one of his 130 MPH serves to end the tiebreaker and the set.
A full write up of the Coric - Kyrgios match can be found on the 8/18/16 entry on Tennis Acumen.
Thank you Cincinnati, it is always a pleasure and a privilege to cover the Western & Southern Open!
A packed crowd on Court 3 enjoys the drama between Borna Coric and Nick Kyrgios under a glorious Cincinnati mid-August sunset. Photo Credit: Christopher Johnson www.GrandSlamMagazine.com
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