Last week’s three ATP 250 tournaments threw up predictable results. World no.2 and top seed Roger Federer won the inaugural TEB BNP Paribas Open at Istanbul. But the Swiss didn’t have a cake-walk. In his semifinal against Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, Federer had dropped the first set before taking the next two. In the final, Federer needed to see off an inspired Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas, who had accounted for the second seed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Cuevas had produced a terrific form against Dimitrov breaking the Bulgarian 5 times in a 6-2, 6-4 victory to progress to the final clash with Federer. In the BMW Open in Munich, top seeded Andy Murray defeated Germany’s double champion Philipp Kohlschreiber in three hard-fought sets in a rain-interrupted final that had to be played over two days on Sunday and Monday. Incidentally, it was Murray’s first ATP World Tour clay-court title. The inaugural Millennium Estoril Open title was taken by Richard Gasquet, who defeated Australian youngster Nick Kyrgios in the final. It was a sweet revenge for Gasquet, who had lost to the Australian in the second round of the last year’s Wimbledon after holding nine match-points.
Roger Federer took his tally of ATP World Tour titles to 85 on Sunday by winning the Istanbul Open against Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas. The third seed had earned the right to play against the world no.2 by defeating second seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinal. But Federer found the Uruguayan as a tough customer despite winning the first set 6-3 in 33 minutes. In the second set, Federer broke again in the seventh game and looked like wrapping up the match with ease. But the 29-year-old Cuevas walked back into the match by breaking back immediately to level the set at 4-all. In the ninth game, the Swiss had three break points on Cuevas’ serve before the Uruguayan held his nerve to make it 5-4. The set went to the tie break where Federer saved three set points and afterwards needed five match points before sealing victory. The men’s doubles crown at Istanbul was won by the first-time pair of Radu Albot of Moldova and Dusan Lajovic of Serbia. They defeated top seeds Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-4, 7-6 in an hour and 21 minutes.
In the BMW Open at Munich, Andy Murray won an ATP World Tour clay-court title for the first time. The final began on Sunday and had to be carried over to Monday because of rain. Murray also had to play his semifinal on Sunday as overnight rain created a huge backlog of matches. He played Roberto Bautista Agut earlier in the day and beat the Spaniard 6-4, 6-4 to reach the final. The final was a nail-biting affair with the 58-minute first set going without any service breaks. Murray took the first set on tiebreak but lost the eventful second set 5-7. The two players traded breaks before Kohlschreiber broke Murray once more in 11th game to move to a 6-5 lead and later served out for the set. The third set also went to tiebreak and Murray produced a powerful game to take the match and the title 7-6, 5-7, 7-6. The double title was claimed by top seeds Alexander Peya/Bruno Soares, when they beat German wild cards Alexander Zverev/Mischa Zverev 4-6, 6-1, 10-5.
Richard Gasquet emerged as the champion in the inaugural Millennium Estoril Open, when he defeated Australia’s Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 6-2 in Sunday’s final at Estoril, Portugal. The two finalists were playing their first match since their memorable second round in 2014 Wimbledon. The gritty Kyrgios had come through from the brink at Wimbledon after saving 9 match points against Gasquet. In the 65-minute match, Gasquet broke Kyrgios in sixth game of the first set and after taking the first set, played even better in the second to break the Australian twice. The doubles crown at Estoril was lifted by the Filipino/American duo of Treat Huey/Scott Lipsky, who outplayed top seeded Spaniards Marc Lopez/David Marrero 6-1, 6-4 in just 47 minutes.
