By Chris Oddo | Monday May 8, 2017
David Ferrer battled back from a set down to reach the second round at the Mutua Madrid Open.
Photo Source: Julian Finney/Getty
It hasn’t been the best season for 35-year-old David Ferrer and it appears that father time has taken a toll on his body, making it difficult for him to play the brand of physical, grinding tennis that made him one of the most feared players in the world for the better part of the last decade, particularly on clay.
He’s only 6-8 on the season, but a switch to the European clay has helped him elevate his game of late. Last week at Estoril he reached his first semifinal of the season and on Monday in Madrid, he moved within one victory of his 700th career win with a 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 victory over Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin.
Ferrer will bid for the milestone against No. 10-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who defeated Russian qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov in three sets on Monday.
The Spaniard saved 11 of 14 break points, including all three he faced in the third to improve to 7-0 lifetime against Kukushkin.
The former French Open runner-up and owner of 321 clay-court wins (and 12 clay titles) is happy to have a few wins under his belt this spring. He hopes it will build his confidence.
“It's very important,” he told reporters on Monday. “I haven't managed to win a lot of matches like this one, have a lot of victories in a row. Especially to be able to win two matches in Estoril and another one here, that may give me a little bit of confidence to achieve the level that I want to achieve.”
Ferrer would become just the fourth active player to hit the 700-win mark, and the 13th overall.
“I'm very proud of my career,” he said. “But that figure is a very big figure. It's something quite big to achieve, very difficult to achieve for a tennis player. Fortunately, I've been lucky. I have had a long career. I still have a lot of time ahead of me. I've won a lot of matches and that makes me very happy. I've been very happy playing tennis.”
Dimitrov Gets a Needed Victory
Grigor Dimitrov snapped a four-match losing streak that began at Indian Wells. The No.12 seed beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6(7), 6-4 in one hour and 48 minutes to improve to 8-5 lifetime at Madrid. “I had to fight very hard for every single point in tough conditions,” said Dimitrov. “I didn’t have any expectations against a very good player and competitor. I tried to do a few things better and I’d like to get back into the rhythm of playing matches.”
Dimitrov will move on to face either Ivo Karlovic or Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round.
Copil, Simon save Match Points
Marius Copil saved two match points to beat fellow wild card Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-6(9), while Gilles Simon saved a pair to knock off No.15-seeded Gael Monfils. Copil, playing at a career-high ranking of 104,will face top-seeded Andy Murray on Tuesday.