#NextGen star Yoshihito Nishioka reached his maiden ATP World Tour semi-final on Friday at the BB&T Atlanta Open, recording his most convincing win of the week over Horacio Zeballos, 6-4, 6-4.

Nishioka opened the match by breaking Zeballos and held his slight lead throughout the rest of the set. The 20-year-old baseliner dropped just three points on serve in the opening set and denied his Argentine opponent any break point chances.

The second set was identical to the first, with Nishioka breaking his opponent to love in the opening game and only dropping three points on serve to take the match.

Nishioka, No. 97 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, cracked the Top 100 last month after winning the ATP Challenger Tour event in Winnetka, Illinois. He also reached the quarter-finals of the Memphis Open in February.

Next up for the Japanese star is the winner of the match between second seed Nick Kyrgios and fifth seed Fernando Verdasco.

It is every NBA fan’s dream: Build your team. Forget the modern-day restrictions, such as the salary cap. No worrying about free agency or building a team to last. Out of the current NBA players, just choose the best starting five.

We assigned Nick Kyrgios this task, and the #NextGen star struggled with some positions – shooting guard – more than others. He also admitted his bias when he chose one particular aging former Boston Celtic. But once his decisions were made and his team built, the 21-year-old Aussie, No. 18 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, also made a guarantee: His team, if assembled, would dominate everyone and win an NBA title.

“Yeah, 100 per cent,” Kyrgios said. “You can’t lose with that team.”

Small Forward: LeBron James

The Selection: Kyrgios grabbed James off the board first, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ recent NBA championship likely front of mind. James, widely thought of as the best player in the NBA, also has reached the past six NBA finals, and has been on the winning side of three of them.

The Rationale: “I feel like he’s the best all-around player in the NBA. Hands down,” Kyrgios said.

Point Guard: Kyrie Irving

The Selection: To run the show, Kyrgios chose James’ Cleveland running mate, Irving, who, with James, helped the Cavaliers win their first NBA title in 52 years last June. The 24 year old also was born in Melbourne and holds dual Australian and U.S. citizenship.

The Rationale: “Him and LeBron, they’ve got unbelievable chemistry,” Kyrgios said. “And they’ve already been through a lot together, obviously winning a championship.”

Shooting Guard: Klay Thompson

The Selection: Kyrgios hemmed and hawed more with this position than any of the five. “I’ll probably take, umm, I feel like, oh man this is tough,” he said before burying his head in his hand.

Finally, he chose his first non-Cleveland Cavalier: Golden State Warrior Thompson, one of the best three-point shooters in the league. Thompson would be playing with two of his rivals in James and Irving, but Kyrgios didn’t think that’d be a problem.

The Rationale: “He doesn’t really have to have the ball too much. I think he can just shoot from anywhere as well,” Kyrgios said. “He’s a humble guy and he’s pretty cool as well.”

Power Forward: Kevin Garnett

The Selection: Kyrgios admittedly let his bias slip into this pick. He started the choice off with a question: “Does it have to be past or present?” When we decided on just present NBA players, he still chose Garnett, a 21-year veteran. The 6’11”, 40 year old played for Kyrgios’ favourite NBA team, the Boston Celtics, and won an NBA title in the green and white (2008).

The Rationale: “He might not have that much to offer anymore on the offensive end, [but] I think he’s a great leader. He’s the type of guy that you’d love to have on your team and you hate to play against,” Kyrgios said. “He’s an unbelievable competitor. That’s a bit biased probably, but I’ll take him.”

Center: DeMarcus Cousins

The Selection: To help Garnett down low, Kyrgios decided to bring in some youth in Sacramento Kings big man Cousins, who stands at 6’11” and weighs 270 pounds. Last season, the 25 year old was an NBA All-Star and averaged almost 27 points and 12 rebounds a game.

The Rationale: “I’m a massive fan of DeMarcus Cousins,” Kyrgios said. “I think he’s the greatest talent in that position. As long as he’s focused and he puts his mind to it, I think he’s unstoppable.”

Coach: Brad Stevens

The Selection: Kyrgios may have let his Celtics passion slip into this pick as well, although Stevens, the Celtics coach, is widely respected and has quickly turned around Boston’s NBA squad. They went 25-57 in his first season but have made the playoffs the past two years.

The Rationale: “They were the underdogs and they really pushed through, and I think that comes down to the coaching staff,” Kyrgios said. “Brad Stevens did a great job. The Celtics are just the team to beat.”

Video: Watch Kyrgios Make His Selections

NBA TV’s Steve Smith Weighs In

We ran Kyrgios’ picks past someone who knows NBA talent: Former NBA player Steve Smith. The current NBA TV host played 14 seasons in the league and won a title with the 2002-03 San Antonio Spurs. He also met and shot some hoops with Kyrgios at the NBA TV studio in Atlanta earlier this week.

“I think it’s a very good team,” Smith said. “It’s balanced. You have veteran leadership. You have a player that can post up, in Cousins. And obviously you have the ultimate playmaker and just basketball mind in LeBron James… I mean, how can you go wrong with that team?”

Basketball Dream Team of ATP World Tour Stars

Kyrgios, who tries to play basketball in between tennis matches, also had some fun choosing the best starting five comprised of ATP World Tour stars. Disclosure: He chose his starting five fresh off some two-on-two hoops with Reilly Opelka, Christopher Eubanks and #NextGen star Taylor Fritz in Atlanta while playing in the BB&T Atlanta Open.

Center: 6’11” Reilly Opelka, 18-year-old American

“He’s practically unguardable,” Kyrgios said. “I’ve played a lot of basketball players and I’ve played a lot of tennis players. He’s definitely one of the best ones I’ve seen.”

Power Forward: 6’7” Christopher Eubanks, 20-year-old American

“The guy can shoot the lights out.”

Small Forward: 6’4” Gael Monfils, 29-year-old Frenchman

“Good athlete that can just go to the rim all day.”

Shooting Guard: 6’3” Jack Sock, 23-year-old American

“He can shoot pretty well.”

Point Guard: Himself

“I can play.”

Sixth Man: 6’4” Taylor Fritz, 18-year-old American

“He played well,” Kyrgios said after their games.

Veteran Leader/Coach: 6’10” John Isner, 31-year-old American

“I hear that he can play. I’ve never seen him before, but I think he’s a good veteran that can lead us.”

Nearly a decade after Hyung-Taik Lee became the first Korean player to reach the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, Duckhee Lee appears ready to soon do the same.

The 18 year old posted the best result of his young career by reaching the semi-finals of the $125,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Chengdu, China. On Thursday, he ousted fellow teenager local favourite and fellow teenager Fajing Sun in the quarter-finals, 6-4, 6-4.

Lee also reached the semi-finals of the Challenger held last June in Fergana, Uzbekistan. His strong results this summer are an admittedly stark contrast from last year, when he underwent a steep learning curve as he got used to competing against world-class players.

“I played Challengers last year and felt like it was too tough,” he admitted. “I’m up against players who are working hard and not making any mistakes. But I said to myself that I can do it.”

Lee’s accomplishments are even more impressive because he was born deaf. Although he can hear vibrations, he relies completely on hand gestures and the scoreboard because he can’t hear line calls or the umpire call out the score.

But ironically, not being able to hear most things actually serves as a benefit on the court for Lee because he can block out most distractions.

“My hearing difficulty does help me to focus on my own play and match,” he said to ATPWorldTour.com in July 2015.

Lee’s goal for 2016 is to finish inside the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, but he has much loftier ambitions for the rest of his career.

“I want to be the top player in Asia like Kei Nishikori,” said Lee. “But I like Nishikori, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer. I can’t pick just one.”

Nick Kyrgios waited for a thunderstorm to pass, then rained nine aces to down Jared Donaldson 7-6(4), 6-3 to book a place in the quarter-finals of the BB&T Atlanta Open on Thursday. The #NextGen star improved to 27-11 in 2016 and is currently a career-best No. 18 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Kyrgios is hunting for a second ATP World Tour title after winning in Marseille earlier this year.

“I knew that Jared had a good week last week, so he was confident. I haven’t played too much tennis recently, so I’m happy to be though. The conditions really suited my game,” Kyrgios said. “I like the set-up here, with the hotel so close to the courts. It’s a great environment.”

Donaldson is coming off a strong run at the Rogers Cup, where he qualified for the main draw and reached the third round before falling to Milos Raonic. The 19-year-old American held a break point at 3-3 before the opening set was interrupted due to rain, but was unable to win a point returning Kyrgios’ serve in the tie-break. A confident Kyrgios raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set before securing the win in 76 minutes. He only dropped five first-serve points (30/35) and broke the Donaldson serve three times (3/5) during the match.

“It’s tough to return on this surface, and the ball flies quite a bit, but as soon as I won the first set, I began to feel more comfortable,” Kyrgios said. “I’ll have a tough match tomorrow. I’ll need to play even better than tonight.”

Next up for the No. 2 seed is Fernando Verdasco, who eased past Julien Benneteau 6-1, 6-3. The Spaniard improved to 5-0 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with the Frenchman, who earned his first hard-court victory of the season in the first round (d. Smith). The 32 year old won 21 of 25 first-serve points and did not face break point in the 58-minute win.

Kyrgios won his lone FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting with Verdasco. Last year in Montreal, the Aussie prevailed 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round of the Rogers Cup.

NextGen’s Yoshihito Nishioka upset fourth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 on Thursday at the BB&T Atlanta Open to reach his third tour-level quarter-final. The 20 year old from Japan capitalised on four of his seven break point chances to notch the win in 94 minutes. He next faces Horacio Zeballos, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Tobias Kamke. The Argentine did not face a break point in the 74-minute win.

Also in action today: Fifth seed Fernando Verdasco takes on Julien Benneteau and second seed Nick Kyrgios makes his Atlanta debut against fellow NextGen star Jared Donaldson. 

Should Donaldson defeat the Aussie, he would join fellow teens Reilly Opelka and Taylor Fritz, top seed John Isner and seventh seed Donald Young as the fifth American to reach the last eight in Atlanta. That would tie the tournament record set at the inaugural BB&T Atlanta Open in 2010.

A major milestone of our sport is to be ranked Top 20 in the world. It’s a lifelong dream for so many, representing an elite tier in tennis that signifies taking titles and winning a whole lot more matches than you lose. 

But you may be surprised to learn how fine, at least statistically, the margin is to push from the Top 40 to the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. An Infosys ATP Beyond the Numbers analysis reveals that the move from 40 to 20 is predicated on improving your points-won percentage by less than 1 per cent.

Dominic Thiem, the 22-year-old Austrian, is ranked No. 10 in the world this week, and finished 2015 ranked No. 20. He finished 2014 ranked 39 in the world, so he is clearly on track to halve his ranking from the year previous in recent times. Thiem’s 2015 match record was 36-26, excluding Davis Cup matches.

The following table divides Thiem’s points won and lost into two distinct categories from the 2015 season – from the matches he won, and the matches he lost.

Overall in 2015, Thiem only won 139 points more than he lost. Out of 9897 points, he won 5018, lost 4879, which calculates to an unbelievably close winning margin of 50.7 per cent of all points played. Essentially, Thiem took a 50-50 battle, tipped it 0.7 per cent in his favour, and reached the Top 20.

This season, Thiem has been as high as No. 7 in the world, and currently sits at No. 10. He is 48-15 in 2016, but has still only won 51 per cent of total points.

What does all this mean? Because the margins in our sport are so incredibly small, it’s vital to stick to the highest percentage patterns of play when serving, returning, rallying and approaching. There are a variety of playing styles that can catapult you into the Top 20 in the world, and Thiem performed better on the serving side of the equation relative to his peers.

In 2015, ATP Stats LEADERBOARDS show that Thiem finished 31st in the Serve Leaders category powered by the Infosys Information Platform and 58th in the Return Leaders category. Thiem’s performance on second serves was a bright spot. He finished 11^th on tour in this category, winning 54.8 per cent of points.

Reaching the Top 20 in the world will always be a coveted goal in our sport. Creating the balance of power to achieve it is actually a lot closer than we ever realised.