Grass Season Begins with Three ATP & WTA Events at Different World Venues

The day after Roland Garros, the tennis scene shifted to the grass courts of ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, Stuttgart in Germany and Nottingham in England. Topshelf Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch is one of seven tour-level events played on grass, hosting both men’s and women’s tours; the Mercedes Open in Stuttgart is purely a men’s event while the Aegon Open at Nottingham is women’s only tournament. The men’s edition of the Aegon Open will begin a week before Wimbledon. All these tournaments have already reached the quarterfinal stages. At Topshelf, home favorite Robin Haase, Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Adrian Mannarino, Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, Belgium’s David Goffin, Romanian Marius Copil and Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko have entered the round-of-eight. Among women, Annika Beck of Germany, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, Camila Giorgi of Italy, Coco Vandeweghe of USA, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, Kiki Bertens of Netherlands, Kristina Mladnovic of France and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan have entered the quarterfinals at Topshelf. At Stuttgart, Frenchman Gael Monfils has already reached the semifinal and he awaits for the winner between Rafael Nadal and Bernard Tomic for a place in the final. German qualifier Mischa Zverev, Croatia’s Marin Cilic, USA’s Sam Groth and Serbia’s Victor Troicki have also reached the quarterfinals at Stuttgart. At Nottingham, the quarterfinal line is clear, where Agnieszka Radwanska faces Lauren Davis, Monica Niculescu takes on Johanna Konta, Alison Riske meets Yanina Wickmayer and Sachia Vickery plays against Ana Konjuh.

In the Topshelf Open, Local hero Robin Haase reached the quarter-finals for the first time in seven appearances by beating Fernando Verdasco of Spain 7-6, 6-3. The Dutchman survived 10 Verdasco aces and converted one of his three break points to win in 83 minutes. For a place in the semifinal, Haase will have to defeat Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, who made it to the last eight by beating Tatsuma Ito of Japan 7-6,7-6. In the other match, Gilles Muller of Luxembourg scored a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 victory over Canadian Vasek Pospisil. Muller will now take on Romania’s big-serving Marius Copil, who came through by upsetting 4th seeded Guillermo Garcia Lopez 7-6, 6-4. Second seeded David Goffin saved six out of seven break points against him and reached the QF by beating Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6, 6-2. For a place in the semifinal, Goffin will face Ukrainian Illya Marchenko, who ousted 8th seed Joao Sousa of Portugal. In women’s quarterfinals Topshelf, Germany,s Annika Beck will take on Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic will face Frenchwoman Kristina Mladnovic, Italian Camila Giorgi will meet Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan and Coco Vandeweghe of USA will play against Kiki Bertens of Netherlands.

At Stuttgart, no.4 seed Gael Monfils defeated sixth seed Philipp Kohlschriber 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 to enter the semifinals of the Mercedes’ Cup. To reach the final, Monfils will have to beat either Rafael Nadal or Bernard Tomic, who play each other in the quarterfinal. German qualifier Mischa Zverev defeated Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-4 to reach the QF, where he will face second-seeded Marin Cilic, who beat Matthias Bachinger of Germany 7-6, 6-3.

In the quarterfinals at the Nottingham’s Aegon Open for women, Agnieszka Radwanska faces Lauren Davis, Monica Niculescu takes on Johanna Konta, Alison Riske meets Yanina Wickmayer and Sachia Vickery plays against Ana Konjuh. Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Christina McHale 6-3, 6-1; Britain’s Johanna Konta beat Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig. Yanina Wickmayer also reached the QF after beating Serbian Bojana Jovanovski 6-0, 6-4. Ana Konjuh of Croatia defeated Australian Casey Dellacqua while USA’s Sachia Vickery beat Kazhak Zarina Diyas.