kenneth in the (212): Weekend Tennis Roundup

Monday, February 13, 2023

Weekend Tennis Roundup

Titles for Sinner, Baez, Wu(!), Bencic and Potopova. Plus all the ATP beef that's fit to post BELOW.

I will flesh this out later ...

Jannik Sinner captured his seventh tour-level title and his first of the season on Sunday when he moved past American Maxime Cressy 7-6(3), 6-3 to triumph at the Open Sud de France – Montpellier

Sebastian Baez prevailed 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in an all-Argentine championship match against Federico Coria on Sunday at the Cordoba Open

Wu Yibing came back from the brink to make history Sunday at the Dallas Open, where the fast-rising 23-year-old saved four championship points before downing John Isner 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 7-6(12) to become the first Chinese player to lift an ATP Tour trophy.

Before this week, no Chinese man had ever reached a tour-level final in the Open Era or defeated an opponent in the Top 10 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Wu achieved both of those in one go with his semi-final victory against World No. 8 Taylor Fritz in Dallas, and he continued his history-making run in Sunday’s final with a milestone victory for tennis in his country.

No.8 seed Anastasia Potapova clinched her second career Hologic WTA Tour singles title on Sunday, cruising past No.6 seed Petra Martic 6-3, 6-1 in the Upper Austria Ladies Linz final.

Belinda Bencic came back to defeat an opponent she had never previously beaten to win the at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, her second Hologic WTA Tour singles title of the year. The No.2 seed Bencic saved three championship points in the second-set tiebreak before overcoming No.8 seed Liudmila Samsonova 1-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 in Sunday’s 2-hour and 48-minute final. Bencic won the eighth WTA singles title of her career.

Jamie Murray and Michael Venus began their partnership this year. On Sunday, they stepped into the winners' circle together for the first time.

The top seeds rallied past second seeds Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 1-6, 7-6(4), 10-7 to win the Dallas Open for their first title as a team.