Japan’s Yuichi Sugita on Wednesday shocked Dominic Thiem 6-2, 7-5, sending the Austrian out in the second round of the Gerry Weber Open.
Third seed Thiem, French Open runner-up to Rafael Nadal earlier this month, was joined on the sidelines of the pre-Wimbledon tuneup by Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori, a 6-2, 6-2 loser to Karen Khachanov.
Last year, the 36th-ranked Russian also beat Asia’s top player in the second round at Halle, when Nishikori was forced to quit with a hip injury.
Photo: Reuters
Thiem switched over to grass this week and arrived at the court with a first-round win in northern Germany at a venue styled as a smaller replica of the iconic Centre Court at Wimbledon.
“Sugita played really well and gave me little chance to attack,” Thiem said. “I was missing a few percentage points on my game.”
“I was not great on returns and was struggling on serve. He completely deserved the victory,” he added.
The Austrian was on the back foot early, as he lost the opening set to his 52nd-ranked opponent.
Sugita was unable to convert on three match points, but hammered his sixth ace to claim victory on a fourth after 88 minutes.
The Japanese is to play a grass-court quarter-final for the second time in his career when he takes on American qualifier Denis Kudla, who defeated Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4.
Against Thiem, who leads the ATP with 36 match wins this season, Sugita kept up the pressure on his rival’s serve, forcing the Austrian to save 10 of 13 break points before dropping serve in the final game.
Thiem is to return to Austria for five days of rest and fly to London next week.
However, he remains unconcerned with the state of his grass game, after also losing in Halle in the second round a year ago before reaching a career-best Wimbledon fourth round.
“Last year I played the same as I did this year and played well at Wimbledon. I would have rather done much better,” Thiem said. “But margins are much tighter on grass. If you have a bad day you can’t dig it out like I can on clay. If I don’t play at 100 percent — like today — the match is lost.”
Nishikori has a mixed record at the Wimbledon tune-up event, dominated over the past decade-and-a-half by Roger Federer with nine titles.
The Japanese world No. 27 is coming back from wrist injury problems and working to rebuild his ranking, which once placed him firmly in the top 10. He began this year by playing a lower-level Challenger tournament before returning to the ATP in February.
The 28-year-old reached the Halle semi-finals in 2014 and 2015, but also exited injured in 2016 and last year, when he quit against Khachanov trailing 3-2 in the first set.
“I made too many unforced errors, I had a lot of mistakes,” Nishikori said. “He was playing good, but nothing special, I couldn’t make a first serve and I should have stayed back more at the baseline.”
“Khachanov hits a flat ball and that makes it not so easy on grass. I need to train more before Wimbledon,” he added.
Khachanov advanced to a quarter-final today against Spanish fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, a 6-4, 7-5 winner over Dutchman Robin Haase.
QUEEN’S CLUB
AP, LONDON
Top-seeded Marin Cilic on Wednesday set up a quarter-final with Sam Querrey after coming from a set down to beat Gilles Muller 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 at Queen’s Club Championships.
Cilic was the losing finalist in the grass-court tournament and at Wimbledon last year.
“It was not easy, he [Muller] broke me in the beginning of the match and served out the first set,” said Cilic, who is a genuine threat on grass. “I managed to keep my composure and managed to serve well... It’s last year’s form, it continued this year, grass suits me greatly for my game, my shots hitting flat and deep through the court and serving well.”
Cilic was champion at Queen’s Club in 2012 and runner-up in 2013. He came close at Wimbledon last year, losing to Roger Federer due to bad blisters in the final.
Fifth-seeded Querrey, Queen’s Club winner in 2010, beat Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-7 (7/3), 6-1.
The big-serving American won in just less than two hours against Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion. The first two sets were even, but Querrey ran away with the decider to set up a meeting with Cilic at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.
Wawrinka has yet to find his top form after a double knee operation, but said he must be patient.
“For sure, I’m sad and frustrated, because I need to win matches, I want to win matches and I want more. That’s for sure,” the Swiss said. “But there is a lot to take in the right way, and I’m sure if I can, as I say, keep doing the right things day by day, building on this and keep trying to improve, the results will come. I need to be patient with that.”
Frances Tiafoe beat Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to set up a last-eight clash with Jeremy Chardy, who beat Russian Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (8/6), 6-3.
EVERY DAY A VICTORY: Players on the women’s team faced pressure from society just getting out onto the field as they prepare for their first Women’s Asian Cup game today Bangladesh’s national soccer team face daunting odds at their first-ever Women’s Asian Cup, but have already scored a major victory by qualifying. In the South Asian nation of 170 million, social stigma, family expectations, poverty and religious hardliners have long relegated women and girls to sports sidelines. The first women’s soccer league matches took place in 2011 and the squad, known to fans as the Red and Green, have kept pressing forward despite deeply embedded prejudices. “Many more girls would have joined us if the community had been even slightly supportive,” captain Afeida Khandaker told AFP ahead of her side’s March 3
Soccer officials yesterday offered “full support and assistance” to the Iranian team in Australia for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after the US and Israel launched massive attacks on their homeland. Iran’s 26-strong squad arrived on the Gold Coast days before the strikes on Saturday killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Washington and Tel Aviv seek to topple the Islamic republic. They are due to open their tournament today against South Korea. The AFC in a statement said it “continues to closely monitor the recent developments in the Middle East during this challenging period.” “The AFC’s foremost priority remains the welfare, safety and
ROAD RASH: Marc Marquez retired after a crash, marking the first time after 88 consecutive races stretching back to 2021 that a Ducati bike failed to make the podium Marco Bezzecchi yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening grand prix in Thailand from pole position as defending world champion Marc Marquez retired late with a buckled wheel. Aprilia’s Bezzecchi led from start to finish to top the podium in Buriram, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta second and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez third. Ducati’s Marquez is chasing a record-equaling eighth world title this season, but he exited the race in dramatic fashion while in fourth place with five laps to go. The Spaniard, who started from second on the grid, took a corner wide, with the jolt to his bike dislodging the rear tire, badly damaging his
Liverpool on Tuesday suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Andre’s stoppage-time strike sealed a dramatic victory for the English Premier League’s bottom club. Arne Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike in the closing stages at Molineux. Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool level with his first goal in 11 top-flight games dating back to November last year. However, Andre’s first goal for Wolves inflicted the latest humbling loss in a chastening season for Liverpool. It was the first time the Premier League’s bottom club had beaten the reigning champions since Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in 2017. Liverpool
RSS