Tennis News (By: Shubham Soni)
Two tournaments that are currently being played on the ATP tour are the Valencia Open, and the Basel Open. The Valencia (500 Series) Open is being held in Spain, and the Basel Open is being played in Roger Federer’s hometown, Basel, Switzerland.
The currently 15th ranked Canadian, Milos Raonic, was playing at the Valencia Open. Very surprisingly, he was taken out in the first round by Gilles Muller of Luxembourg. Unfortunately for Raonic, he was very close to winning. However, Gilles Muller ended up barely defeating Raonic with a score of 7-5, 7-6(1).
Another upset occurred with 11th ranked American, John Isner. He ended up losing in the second round to David Goffin, with another very tight and intense score of 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-4. Despite the fact that Isner was able to pull off an impressive 21 aces, it just wasn’t sufficient enough to defeat the Belgian. Luckily for David Goffin, he was able to bring up his rank from 175th in the world, to 45th in the world. With the World Tour Finals coming up very soon, this loss jeopardizes Isner’s chances of qualifying for it. His last option will be the Paris Masters.
In the other half of the draw, Marin Cilic (world rank: 14th) was able to defeat the Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco, with a score of 6-1, 6-4; Cilic advances to the Quarter-Finals. Advancing with him will be Ivan Dodig, from Croatia. He defeated the Australian expert, Lleyton Hewitt, with a score of 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
Over at the Basel Open, Federer managed to dominate his first two rounds, and defeated Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil with a score of 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-5 on Wednesday. Federer managed to save four consecutive set points in the second set tiebreaker. Federer now has a possibility of playing Benoit Paire of France, or Lukasz Kubot of Poland in the Quarter-Finals. Another competitor who advanced to the Quarter-Finals was Richard Gasquet, from France. He defeated Marco Chiudinelli (Federer’s childhood friend) with a score of 6-1, 6-4.
