Pablo Carreno Busta said claiming the biggest title of his career at the Canadian Masters on Sunday has given him a massive boost in confidence and self-belief for the remainder of the season.
The unseeded Spaniard beat Hubert Hurkacz 3-6 6-3 6-3 to win the ATP 1000 event in Montreal, which is part of the US Open Series leading up to the year’s final Grand Slam.
“Not just in the US Open Series, but in the rest of the season it’s very important,” Carreno Busta, who reached the semi-finals of the US Open in 2017 and 2020, told reporters.
“I won 1,000 points. I won a trophy, a very important trophy. My game during all the week was very, very high. I play really, really good from the first match against (Matteo) Berrettini until the last one against Hubie. I think I just need to continue this way, believe in myself, being aggressive, and for sure I will have chances to win matches in this season and I hope in the next ones also.”
The 31-year-old said his long wait for a maiden Masters title had not weighed on his shoulders, pointing to compatriot David Ferrer, who had a career-high ranking of third but won just one Masters tournament.
“I know it’s not easy to win these kind of titles,” Carreno Busta said. “Not everyone has a Masters 1000 on his career. For example, Ferrer was world number three and just won one. “I know it’s very difficult to win it. It wasn’t extra pressure to have this title. But it’s true that now I have it and I will enjoy it, no?”
The US Open main draw begins on Aug 29.
Halep to win Canadian Open
Simona Halep kept control against unpredictable Beatriz Haddad Maia on Sunday, beating the Brazilian 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to win a third WTA Candian Open 1000 title in Canada.
The former world number one from Romania added the trophy in Toronto to those she captured in Montreal in 2016 and 2018. She needed two and a quarter hours to deny the South American lefthander the upset victory.
“Here there are many Romanians and they always come to support me. I’m really happy that I could win also here,” said Halep, who was backed by chants of “Si-mo-na!” from her vocal fans throughout the match.
She shrugged of nine double-faults and broke Haddad Maia five times from 10 chances as she became the third player with at least nine WTA 1000 titles, after Serena Williams (13) and Victoria Azarenka (10). Halep, who was playing in her ninth final at the elite level as Haddad Maia tackled her first, won her 38th match of the season and claimed her biggest success since the Rome trophy in May, 2020.
Meanwhile teenager Coco Gauff has become the new world No 1 in women’s doubles according to the rankings were released yesterday after her weekend title win at the Canadian Open with fellow American Jessica Pegula.
Gauff will move up from sixth to displace Elise Mertens from the top of rankings, on the back of the victory, over Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez in the final of the US Open warm-up tournament.
The 18-year-old is the second youngest player to top the women’s doubles rankings after Martina Hingis, aged 17 when she achieved the feat in 1998. Gauff said becoming world number one in doubles was “pretty cool” even if she could not claim it was a childhood dream. Gauff and Pegula, who reached the final at the French Open this year, confirmed that they would pair up for the rest of the season where their schedules allowed.
That includes later this month at the US Open, where they will be looking to become the first all-American team to win the women’s doubles title at Flushing Meadows since Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in 2011.
Nadal missing from Davis Cup squad, Zverev set to play
Rafael Nadal will sit out the group stage of the Davis Cup finals next month after not being named in the Spain team yesterday, while Alexander Zverev will lead the German side.
The 36-year-old Nadal won the Australian Open and French Open titles earlier this year to take his men’s record tally of Grand Slam singles triumphs to 22. But he was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon with an abdominal injury before his scheduled semi-final against Nick Kyrgios.
Nadal is making his return this week at the Cincinnati Masters as he prepares for the US Open, but will not make a first Davis Cup appearance since winning the tournament for the fifth time with Spain in 2019. Spain will instead be looking to teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz for inspiration.
Sergi Bruguera’s team will face Canada, Serbia and South Korea in Group B which is being staged in Valencia from September 13-18.
The top two in each of the four groups will progress to the knock-out phase in Malaga in November.
Careno
