Mens Tennis: ATP Nice

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The ATP Nice Open (or Open de Nice Côte d’Azur in French) is an ATP World Tour 250 series and, formerly, Grand Prix tennis circuit affiliated men's tennis tournament. It is held in Nice, France at the Nice Lawn Tennis Club and played on outdoor clay courts.

The event was played under various names from 1971 through 1995 and then again starting in 2010. The tournament was known as the Phillips Open from 1990 until 1995.

Ilie Năstase, Björn Borg, and Henri Leconte have each won the singles title twice.

 

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Past Winners

Philips Open

1995 Marc Rosset
1994 Alberto Berasategui
1993 Marc-Kevin Goellner
1992 Gabriel Markus
1991 Martín Jaite
1990 Juan Aguilera

Swatch Open

1989 Andrei Chesnokov
1988 Henri Leconte

Nice International Open

1987 Kent Carlsson
1986 Emilio Sánchez
1985 Henri Leconte
1984 Andrés Gómez
1983 Henrik Sundström
1982 Balázs Taróczy

Donnay International Open

1981 Yannick Noah

Nice International Open

1980 Björn Borg
1979 Víctor Pecci

Montano-Snauwaert International Championships

1978 José Higueras

Nice International Championships

1977 Björn Borg
1976 Corrado Barazzutti
1975 Dick Crealy

Craven International Championships

1973 Manuel Orantes

Nice International Championships

1972 Ilie Năstase
1971 Ilie Năstase

 

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Montanes bows out

Albert Montanes suffered a shock defeat at the Open de Nice as he crashed out to Alexandr Dolgopolov on Tuesday.

The sixth seed, winner of the Estoril Open 10 days ago where he knocked out Roger Federer, was off colour as his Ukrainian opponent emerged victorious 6-3 7-5 in an hour and 16 minutes

 

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Kubot beats Mina, Rochus tops Mannarino in first round of Open de Nice

Eighth-seeded Lukasz Kubot of Poland beat Gianni Mina of France 7-5, 6-4 to reach the second round of the Open de Nice on Monday.

Earlier, Olivier Rochus of Belgium beat Adrian Mannarino of France 6-3, 6-1 to set up a meeting with top-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden.

 

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Bhupathi and Bopanna in QFs of French ATP event

Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna made the doubles quarter-finals of the ATP 250 event in Nice, France after winning the first round with their respective partners.

Top seeds Bhupathi and Max Miryni of Belarus overcame a late fight from Brit Ross Hutchins and Jordan Kerr of Australia 6-1 7-5 in their opening round of the euro 398,250 clay court event, which serves as a build up to the French Open.

 

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Soderling and Monfils debut in Nice

Tournament top seed Robin Soderling will take the court on Wednesday against Belgium’s Olivier Rochus. Joining him is No. 3 seed Gael Monfils.

Early exits on the most recent clay events have prompted world No. 7 Robin Soderling to get in more match play on clay before going into next week’s French Open. The Swede was the surprise finalist in Paris last year, after upsetting Rafael Nadal in the round of 16.

http://www.tennistalk.com/en/news/20100519/Soderling_and_Monfils_debut_in_Nice

 

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Monfils, Baghdatis crash in Nice

Gael Monfils and Marcos Baghdatis, ranked third anf fifth seeds respectively, both crashed out in the quarter-finals of the ATP tournament here on Thursday.

World number 15 Monfils fell to Italian journeyman Potito Starace, ranked 63rd, in straight sets, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 and did not offer any excuses for a defeat which does not bode well for the French Open that starts Sunday.

 

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Verdasco reaches Nice semifinals

Second-seeded Fernando Verdasco continued his hot run on the clay-court circuit Wednesday with a quarterfinal victory at the Nice Open.

Verdasco eliminated Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4 in a match that took 2 hours, 20 minutes.

 

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Gasquet, Verdasco reach Nice final

Frenchman Richard Gasquet will meet second seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the final of the ATP Nice Open after both men won their semi-final ties on Friday.

Former French number one Gasquet, who was drawn against world number four Andy Murray of Great Britain in the first round of the French Open earlier in the day, beat Italy's Potito Starace 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (8/6).

 

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Nadal to confirm he is king of clay

At the young age of 23, French man Rafael Nadal has achieved what players in their thirties have not yet confirmed as a goal. Nadal, last week, in Madrid won a record-breaking 18th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title as he defeated rival Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6(5), in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 final Sunday at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. This was their first meeting after the 2009 Madrid final, which Federer won on the way to claiming his first French Open.

But Nadal is back to his best on his favourite surface. He became the first player to win all three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay court tournaments in the same year, having triumphed at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and Madrid Masters tournaments.

With 28 tour-level clay-court titles, the Spaniard has moved into level pegging with Ivan Lendl in fifth place and Ilie Nastase in modern day tennis. Guillermo Vilas, however, holds the all-time record of 45 titles on clay. If Nadal stays fit over the next five years, he could yet eclipse Vilas’ record.

On the back of the win over his main challenger, Federer, Nadal goes to Roland Garros buoyed by the fact that he is about back to his clay court best.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Sport/5570516-147/nadal_to_confirm_he_is_king.csp

 

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Bopanna, Qureshi lose in final

Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul Haq Qureshi Saturday went down 6-1, 3-6, 5-10 against Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in the final of the ATP Nice event in France

 

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Gasquet wins Nice tennis title

Richard Gasquet tuned up for his French Open first-round clash against Britain's Andy Murray with a 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7-5) defeat of Spain's Fernando Verdasco in the ATP Nice Open final on Saturday.