Tennis Stars News • Thiem, Schwartzman, Kyrgios Head To Rogers Cup Fresh Off ATP Titles

By Ricky Dimon

Dominic Thiem, Diego Schwartzman, and Nick Kyrgios head to the Rogers Cup in Montreal off respective ATP titles.

Thiem wrapped up the 2019 clay season by triumphing at home in Austria for the first time, beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(0), 6-1 in Saturday’s Generali Open final.

“It is already one of my most beautiful moments ever in my tennis career,” the world No. 4 assured. “It was one of the most emotional moments because I have a special connection with Kitzbuhel. I was here for the first time when I was six on this huge center court. I was watching the tournament many times. I got my first wild card here and now to finish the tournament as the champion is incredible. I reached one big childhood goal today.”

Thiem now makes the transition to hard courts and will open at the Montreal Masters 1000 against Denis Shapovalov on Wednesday. Shapovalov treated the home crowd to a victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert on Monday night.

On the hard courts of the Abierto de Tenis Mifel, Diego Schwartz captured his third career ATP title by getting the best of Taylor Fritz 7-6(6), 6-3. Fritz, who has finished runner-up in back-to-back weeks (Atlanta and Los Cabos) missed three set-point opportunities in the opener.

“This feels really great because I’ll take a lot of confidence with me for the next tournaments,” said Schwartzman. “It was really important for me to come here and win big matches against the big guys. The title is like the cherry on top for me.”

Up first for Schwartzman on Tuesday in Montreal is Marco Cecchinato.

As usual, it was Kyrgios who made the most headlines. The mercurial Australian capped off a remarkable run at the Citi Open by defeating Daniil Medvedev 7-6(6), 7-6(4) on Sunday evening.

“This has honestly been one of my favorite weeks of my life,” Kyrgios commented. “I’ve made massive strides. I started becoming friends with the smoothie guy; he knew what smoothie I wanted. I was playing ping pong with some kids before I’m playing. You guys were amazing. It was honestly a week to remember.

“I’ve had people behind me, backing me, and they never lost faith in me even when I lost faith in myself. This week means a lot. It’s great to get the win, but I’ve proved to myself and the people backing me that I can still produce at the highest level.”

Kyrgios has a tough Montreal opener on his hands against Kyle Edmund.

Ricky contributes to10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.