ATP / WTA Grass tournaments 2018 (DenBosch/Stuttgart, Queens/Halle, Antalya, Newport)

[suresh]

I think Atithee was joking and understands PKB's sentence perfectly.

[sameerph]

Yuki's last two losses have been against two next-gen players Medvedev and De Minaur. I hope he reverses this trend against Friz. ATB

Yuki lost to Fritz in 3 sets last year in the same week at lkley Challenger. Hope, Yuki can avenge that loss.

[Atithee]

I think Atithee was joking and understands PKB's sentence perfectly.

Exactamundo! And I wasn’t joking. I knew exactly why Samarth’s friends were aghast at his choice.

[S_K_S]

Start delayed at Queens. Starts now at 11.30am.

[PKBasu]

Yuki at 4-all in the first set against Taylor Fritz.

[PKBasu]

Yuki wins the first set 6-4, and breaks Fritz in the first game of the second set!

[PKBasu]

Euro1.2m Queen's Club championship, London

[FQR] 5-Yuki Bhambri (IND, 84) d. 3-Taylor Fritz (USA, 67) 64 62

Yuki breaks Fritz again! 3-0
Yuki holds at 30. 4-0
Yuki breaks Fritz yet again, at 15. 5-0
YB serving for the match: DF, 0-30 (second serve), 15-30, 30-all (both first serves in, last 2 pts), 40-30 (MP 1), Deuce, Ad-in (MP 2), Deuce, Ad-out, Broken. 5-1
Fritz serving: 30-40 (MP 3), Deuce, Ad-out (MP 4), Deuce, Ad-in, game Fritz. 5-2
Finish it man, Yuki!
YB serving for the match again: 15-0 (first serve), 30-0 (wins on his 2nd serve), 40-0, Match!! 6-2

[kishash]

Great straight sets win by Yuki against a very promising next-gen player. Congratulations Yuki

[Omkara]

With that he recovers half of his TOPS income that he lost.

[PKBasu]

Very nice victory for Yuki over a higher-ranked player. Should boost his confidence greatly.

The qualifiers will play either Chardy, Berdych, Raonic or Djokovic in R1 of the main draw. Apart from Raonic, I think Yuki can beat the others on current form (although I don't know what his mindset will be if he plays anyone other than Chardy).

[suresh]

With that he recovers half of his TOPS income that he lost.

[jayakris]

Now Yuki decides that he is going to play some serious matches! What got into him?... Maybe feeling physically better? Terrific. Go Yuki...

[kishash]

Does Yuki's live ranking improve due to qualifying here?

[PKBasu]

Actually, there are no easy matches for the qualifiers in R1 of the main draw. Chardy is in the final at DenBosch, Raonic has just lost the final in Stuttgart (to Federer), so they will both be primed for action on grass -- with the qualifier (eg, Yuki) having just a couple of slight advantages (more familiarity with the Queen's Club courts, and having played slightly less tennis in the runup to the R1 match). It may actually be better to play Berdych or Djokovic in R1.

[PKBasu]

Does Yuki's live ranking improve due to qualifying here?

Not much. He goes back up to his career-high ranking of 83 (but that would have happened even if he had lost to Fritz). Winning R1 at Queen's will take him to 78 -- but of course beating any of the four potential R1 opponents will be a HUGE boost to his career and self-confidence.