World Tennis News - Vinci trumps Errani in Palermo

Vinci trumps Errani in Palermo

At the tenth attempt Roberta Vinci won her home town tournament in Palermo with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over doubles partner Sara Errani at the XXVI Italiacom Open.

Second seed and World No.11 Vinci came from a break down to win the opening set but saw top seeded defending champion Errani race 5-1 ahead in the second and level the match.

30 year-old Vinci opened a 4-0 lead in the decider and held off an Errani fight back to win after two hours and 11 minutes.

Stat Attack – Vinci

Vinci snapped a five match losing streak against Errani and had not won a set against her compatriot since October 2010
The Italian now holds a 9-1 record in WTA singles finals with her only loss coming against Francesca Schiavone at Barcelona in 2010

Stat Attack – Errani

Errani has a 51-11 record on clay since the beginning of 2012

Mahut edges out Hewitt in Newport

Nicolas Mahut won his second career title at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, Rhode Island, with a battling 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 victory over former World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt.

Both players had won semi-finals earlier in the day and then fought out a thrilling final on the grass. Having taken the opening set Hewitt served for the match at 5-4 in the second only to see the Frenchman fight back.

Fourth seed Hewitt also led by an early break in the decider but Mahut reeled him and served out the match to love after two hours and 20 minutes.

31 year-old Mahut also won on the grass of s-Hertogenbosch before Wimbledon.

Stat Attack – Mahut

The Frenchman had lost both previous meetings with Hewitt in straight sets in 2008
In four weeks Mahut has improved his singles ranking by 165 places from 240th to 75th

Stat Attack – Hewitt

The only two grass court finals Hewitt has lost have come in Newport the last two years; he has won all the other 7 he has played

Fognini battles to win Stuttgart crown

Fabio Fognini won his maiden ATP World Tour singles title at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart with a come from behind 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Second seed Kohlschreiber edged a tight first set, including five breaks of serve, to take the lead but Fognini responded with a break at the start of the second set en route to levelling proceedings.

The fifth seeded Italian carried the momentum into the decider and built a 4-1 lead. Kohlschreiber fought back but Fognini held firm on serve in the tenth game to triumph after two hours and seven minutes.

Stat Attack – Fognini

The Italian had lost both his previous ATP World Tour singles finals in Bucharest and St Petersburg last year
Fognini rises to 25th in this week’s Emirates ATP rankings; one spot behind Italian No.1 Andreas Seppi

Stat Attack – Kohlschreiber

Kohlschreiber was aiming to become the first German champion in Stuttgart since Michael Stich in 1991

Halep continues hot form in Budapest

Simona Halep lifted her 3rd WTA singles title in five weeks with a 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-1 victory over Yvonne Meusburger at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest.

Having taken the first set the 3rd seeded Romanian led 6-3 with three match points in the second set tie-break. Meusburger fended them off and levelled the match only to see Halep go on to dominate the decider.

Halep was also victorious on clay in Nürnberg after Roland Garros.

Stat Attack – Halep

Halep was ranked 64th heading into Rome in May; having now won 22 of her last 25 matches she moves up to a new career high of 23rd this week
The Romanian is the second woman after Serena Williams to lift 3 WTA singles titles in 2013

Stat Attack – Meusburger

As well as now reaching her 2nd WTA singles final the 29 year-old has won three ITF singles titles on clay during 2013

Berlocq on top in Bastad

Carlos Berlocq lifted his first ATP World Tour singles title at the SkiStar Swedish Open in Bastad with a 7-5, 6-1 defeat of Fernando Verdasco.

Berlocq initially led 4-1 in the first set before holding off a Verdasco comeback. Having edged the opener the unseeded Argentinean comfortably took the second to complete victory in an hour and 38 minutes.

Stat Attack – Berlocq

Berlocq is the ninth man aged over 30 to win an ATP World Tour singles final in 2013
The Argentinean is now ranked 46th; nine places off his career high of 37th set in March 2012

Stat Attack - Verdasco

The Spaniard has reached at least one ATP World Tour final for eight of the last nine years with the only exception being 2006

2014 Stats

Men
- Most singles titles
  7 – Djokovic
- Singles Champion by seed
  No.1 (18) Nadal (Doha, Rio De Janeiro, Madrid, ROLAND GARROS), Wawrinka (Chennai), Del Potro (Sydney), Fognini (Vina Del Mar), Ferrer (Buenos Aires), Nishikori (Memphis), Dimitrov (Bucharest), Kohlschreiber (Dusseldorf), Djokovic (WIMBLEDON, Beijing, Paris, ATP World Tour Finals), Nishikori (Kuala Lumpar), Berdych (Stockholm), Federer (Basel)
  No.2 (8) Djokovic (Indian Wells, Miami, Rome), Gulbis (Nice), Federer (Halle, Cincinnati), Raonic (Washington), Murray (Shenzhen, Vienna), Cilic (Moscow)
  No.3 (10) Isner (Auckland), Berdych (Rotterdam), Gulbis (Marseille), Wawrinka (Monte Carlo), Lopez (Eastbourne Aegon International), Bautista Agut ('s-Hertogenbosch, Stuttgart), Hewitt (Newport), Federer (Shanghai), Murray (Valencia)
  No.4 (5) Federer (Dubai), Dimitrov (Acapulco, London Aegon Championships), Verdasco (Houston), Nishikori (Barcelona, Tokyo)
  No.5 (2) Cilic (Zagreb), Monfils (Montpellier)
  No.7 (2) Cilic (Delray Beach), Rosol (Winston-Salem)
  No.8 (3) Wawrinka (AUSTRALIAN OPEN), Garcia-Lopez (Casablanca), Goffin (Metz)
  No.13 (1) Tsonga (Toronto)
  No.14 (1) Cilic (US OPEN)
  Unseeded (7) Hewitt (Brisbane), Delbonis (Sao Paulo), Berlocq (Oeiras). Cuevas (Bastad), Mayer (Hamburg), Tomic (Bogota), Goffin (Kitzbuhel)
  Qualifier (1) Klizan (Munich)
- Lowest ranked singles Champion
  124 - Tomic (Bogota)
- Fewest games lost en route to title
  16 – Djokovic (ATP World Tour Finals)
- Most games lost en route to title (non-Grand Slam)
  74 – Klizan (Munich)
- Longest winning streak (ATP main draw)
  14 - Nishikori, Federer
- Most Match Wins
  73 – Federer
- Most Aces
  1,185 - Ivo Karlovic
- Longest completed match (games)
  71 – Australian Open 1st round Simon bt Brands
  6-7(4), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 16-14
  71 - Wimbledon 2nd round Tsonga bt Querrey
  4-6, 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 6-3, 14-12
- Shortest completed match (games)
  12 games - 6-0, 6-0 on 2 occasions
- Match points saved en route to title
  5 - Shenzhen F: Murray bt Robredo 5-7 7-6(9) 6-1
  Murray saved 5 mp 2nd set tie-break
  5 - Shanghai 2nd round: Federer bt Mayer 7-5 3-6 7-6(7)
  Federer saved 2 mp 4-5 3rd set and 3 mp 3rd set tie-break
  5 - Valencia F: Murray bt Robredo 3-6 7-6(7) 7-6(8)
  Murray saved 2 mp 2nd set tie-break and 3 mp 3rd set tie-break
  2 - Rio Open SF: Nadal bt Andujar 2-6 6-3 7-6(10)
  Nadal saved 2 mp 3rd set tie-break
  2 - Atlanta 2nd round: Isner bt Ginepri 4-6 7-6(5) 7-5
  Isner saved 2 mp 4-5 3rd set
  2 - Winston-Salem F: Rosol bt Janowicz 3-6 7-6(3) 7-5
  Rosol saved 2 mp 4-5 3rd set
  1 - Aegon Championships F: Dimitrov bt Lopez 6-7(8) 7-6(1) 7-6(6)
  Dimitrov saved 1 mp 5-6 2nd set
- Youngest Singles Champion
  Dimitrov (Acapulco) 22 years, 9 months & 14 days
- Oldest Singles Champion
  Hewitt (Newport) 33 years, 4 months & 19 days
Women
- Most singles titles
  7 - S.Williams
- Singles Champion by seed
  No.1 (14) Li (Shenzhen), S.Williams (Brisbane, Miami, Rome, Stanford, Cincinnati, US OPEN, WTA Finals), Cibulkova (Acapulco), Suarez Navarro (Oeiras), Ivanovic (Birmingham Aegon Classic), Halep (Bucharest), Wozniacki (Istanbul), Lisicki (Hong Kong), Stosur (Osaka)
  No.2 (6) Ivanovic (Auckland, Monterray), Bouchard (Nurnberg), Svitolina (Baku), Kvitova (New Haven), Ka.Pliskova (Seoul)
  No.3 (5) Zakopalova (Florianopolis), Radwanska (Montreal), Knapp (Tashkent), Ivanovic (Tokyo), Kvitova (Wuhan)
  No.4 (6) Li (AUSTRALIAN OPEN), Makarova (Pattaya City), Cornet (Katowice), Petkovic (Bad Gastein, Sofia), Sharapova (Beijing)
  No.5 (2) Nara (Rio De Janeiro), Garcia (Bogota)
  No.6 (5) Sharapova (Stuttgart), Kvitova (WIMBLEDON), Kuznetsova (Washington), Riske (Tianjin), Pavlyuchenkova (Moscow)
  No.7 (4) Halep (Doha), Vekic (Kuala Lumpar), Sharapova (ROLAND GARROS), Ka.Pliskova (Linz)
  No.8 (1) Sharapova (Madrid)
  No.14 (1) Petkovic (Charleston)
  No.20 (1) Pennetta (Indian Wells)
  Unseeded (9) Pavlyuchenkova (Paris), V.Williams (Dubai), Torro-Flor (Marrakech), Puig (Strasbourg), Keys (Eastbourne Aegon International), Barthel (Bastad), Lucic-Baroni (Quebec City), Niculescu (Ghangzhou), Beck (Luxembourg)
  Qualifier (3) Murgurza (Hobart), Pironkova (Sydney), Vandeweghe ('s-Hertogenbosch)
- Lowest ranked singles Champion
  107 – Pironkova (Sydney)
- Fewest games lost en route to title
  15 – Murgurza (Hobart)
- Most games lost en route to title (non-Grand Slam)
  65 – Vekic (Kuala Lumpar)
- Longest winning streak
  13 – Li
- Most Match Wins
  58 – Ivanovic
- Most Aces (main draw)
  452 - S.Williams
- Longest completed match (games)
  41 – Wimbledon 1st round - Ka Pliskova bt Knapp
  6-7(4), 6-4, 10-8
  41 - Wimbledon 3rd round - Smitkova bt Jovanovski
  4-6, 7-6(5), 10-8
- Shortest completed match (games)
  12 games - 6-0, 6-0 on 11 occasions
- Match points saved en route to title
  1 - Australian Open 3rd round: Li bt Safarova 1-6 7-6(2) 6-3
  Li saved saved 1 mp 5-6 2nd set
  1 - Katowice Final: Cornet bt Giorgi 7-6(3) 5-7 7-5
  Cornet saved 1 mp 4-5 3rd set
  1 - Linz Final: Ka.Pliskova bt Giorgi 6-7(4) 6-3 7-6(4)
  Pliskova saved 1 mp 5-6 3rd set
- Youngest Singles Champion
  Vekic (Kuala Lumpar) 17 yrs, 9 months & 23 days
- Oldest Singles Champion
  V.Williams (Dubai) 33 yrs, 8 months & 5 days

Statistics sourced with the help of the ATP and WTA.