Malaga, 01-05-2016

Three very long and extremely disputed finals - never before six tie-breaks were played in the finals of the same week – marked the end of a tennis week in which the German Philipp Kohlschreiber, the Argentinian Diego Schwartzman and the Spanish Nicolas Almagro were the winners in Munich, Istanbul and Estoril, respectively.

Nicolas Almagro won in Estoril, beating Pablo Carreño-Busta, 6-7 (6) 7-6 (5) 6-3 to raise his 13th ATP title - all on clay - four years after his last victory in Nice 2012. Almagro, after his injury of 2014 lost his top-100 status – he became number 9 in the world in 2011- rises with this victory to the 48 position of the ATP, coming back to the top-50.

Carreño played a magnificent tournament defeating Verdasco, Simon and Paire and staged the final - the second of his career after Sao Paulo last February – without losing a single set. A great performance that was very close to crown with a victory in the final. By the way, the fifth played between two Spanish in the history of the tournament that has a marked Spanish flavour; not in vain, Almagro is the tenth member of the "Armada" who wins this title. Estoril Open Roll of Honour

Kohlschreiber, ATP number 27, won a thrilling match of 2 hours and 31 minutes to the Austrian Dominic Thiem by 7-6(7) 4-6 7-6(4). Kohlschreiber had two match points with 5-4 and service in the third set but Thiem managed to lead the match to the final tiebreak, where he finally succumbed.

With this triumph, Kohlschreiber gets his seventh ATP title and his third in Munich, undoubtedly his favourite tournament, where he also has played two other finals. To achieve this, the German had to break the extraordinary Austrian streak, who had won this season the 14 previous matches he had led to the decisive set. Kohlschreiber, winning two tie-breaks, was also able to break the impressive statistics of 12-4 presenting by Thiem in the tie-breaks of this season.

Kohlschreiber, as he did it last week reaching the Godo semifinals, showed he is in a great moment. Before facing Thiem, he defeated Florian Mayer, Juan Martin del Potro and Fabio Fognini losing only 15 games and leading the final stats of the tournament in percentage of total service points won and total return points won. Munich 2016 stats

As for Thiem, he still leaves good feelings despite the loss. Munich has been his third final of the year – he won the previous two in Buenos Aires and Acapulco - and he is the player with more victories on the season, with 29, one more than Djokovic. The Austrian will play in Madrid against Del Potro and there could be an exciting match in third round before Roger Federer. 2016 wins ranking

In Istanbul, Diego Schwartzman got opening his ATP track record by defeating in 2 hours and 47 minutes the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-7 (5) 7-6 (4) 6-0. After a 2015 empty of titles for the Argentines, it is the third this year, after Monaco and Delbonis, who wins a tournament. The way was hard for Schwartzman who spent 7 hours and 50 minutes on court in the last three rounds and beating the seeded number 1 and 2 of the tournament – Tomic and Dimitrov – as well as Dzumhur and Delbonis, two players who are getting great results in recent weeks. Very meritorious the victory of the Argentinian who also was the best retriever of the tournament with 48.44% of total points won. Istanbul 2016 stats

New disappointment for Dimitrov who, after the three titles achieved in 2014, he has not returned to taste the sweetness of the victory. This time he came close to break the curse by winning the first set and leading 5-2 the second set. But anxiety seized him and allowed the reaction of Schwarzman who won the second set in the tie-break. Starting from there, a completely deranged Dimitrov - broke several rackets during the match - was unable to present any resistance and he lost the set without winning any game, getting only 8 points. Bad times for the Bulgarian who is struggling to meet the expectations that were placed on him.

During the week also stood out Alexander Zverev, Ivo Karlovic and Nick Kyrgios, semi-finalists in Munich, Istanbul and Estoril, respectively. The promising German got an impressive victory before David Goffin and he already counts 16 wins, two more than he could achieved throughout 2015. Kyrgios won the clash against Borna Coric and he only gave way to the greater experience of Almagro on clay. Karlovic got in Istanbul his two first victories of the season – he had a balance of 0-7 - and showed that he has not forgotten how to serve. He scored 42 aces in 41 service games and he did not lose a single service in the tournament. Dimitrov beat him in two tie-breaks without having a single break point in the match. Istanbul 2016 stats (2)

This week the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid with all the top-20 in action, with the only absences of Main Cilic and John Isner and great expectation around Nadal who, by the way, has a complicated draw with Federer, Murray and Djokovic on the way of the title. Although with the excellent roster of the tournament the difficulty will be the maximum for all players.

Gabriel Garcia / thetennisbase.com

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