Andrey Rublev started the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals mired in a five-set battle against the World No. 305 Gianluigi Quinzi, the Italian wild card. The Russian looked uncomfortable and said he wasn’t so sure about the shorter format being used in Milan.

Three days later, it looks as if Rublev has acclimated well. The 20-year-old Moscow native handed Croatian Borna Coric his first loss of the tournament, sweeping the Group B winner 4-1, 4-3(6), 4-1 on Friday night to reach the title match of the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals.

“Today I played my best tennis of the week. I’m really happy,” Rublev said.

On Saturday night, the top-seeded Russian will go for his second ATP World Tour title against either South Korean Hyeon Chung, who also hasn’t lost yet in Italy, or seventh-seeded countryman Daniil Medvedev. Chung and Medvedev are playing the second semi-final at the Fiera Milano.

Rublev celebrated his maiden ATP World Tour title in July in Umag, when, as a lucky loser, he raced through the draw and beat Italian veteran Paolo Lorenzi in the final. On Friday, the Russian looked ready to hoist another trophy this weekend.

Rublev was relentless against Coric, swinging away from the start. He broke when Coric double faulted for a 2-0 lead, and then the Russian held to love to gain a one-set lead after 15 minutes. Coric, who came back from two sets down against Russian Karen Khachanov on Thursday night, rallied in the second but couldn’t get over the hump during the tie-break. A single break sealed the match for Rublev in the third set.

“He was just playing too good for me today,” Coric said. “He was the better player on the court.”

Rublev finished with 17 winners to only eight unforced errors. Coric, meanwhile, hit 12 winners but 14 unforced errors.

The winners of the 2017 ATP World Tour Awards presented by Moët & Chandon were revealed Thursday night as the year’s best eight singles players and doubles teams gathered at the Tower of London for the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals Official Launch, presented by Moët & Chandon.

Rafael Nadal was recognised for his achievement of clinching the year-end No. 1 Emirates ATP Ranking for the fourth time in his career, while the No. 1 doubles battle between Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo and Henri Kontinen/John Peers will come down to the upcoming season finale, to start Sunday at The O2. Nadal will be presented the No. 1 trophy on court at the conclusion of the opening session.

Visit the official ATP World Tour Awards section on ATPWorldTour.com

Four other players competing at the Nitto ATP Finals – Roger Federer, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, and Horia Tecau – accepted their ATP World Tour Awards as part of the Official Launch festivities. #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who was competing this week at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, and South African Neville Godwin sent video messages acknowledging their honours. 

The 36-year-old Federer increased his record tally of ATP World Tour Awards to 36, adding three new trophies to his collection Thursday. He was selected by his peers as Comeback Player of the Year for the first time and as the recipient of the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for the 13th time. Federer, along with the Bryans, extended their reigns as the singles and doubles ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite presented by Moët & Chandon, winning the popular vote from fans for respectively a 15th and 13th straight year.

Eighteen-year-old Shapovalov also won multiple honours in the 2017 ATP World Tour Awards. He was voted by fellow players as the Most Improved Player of the Year, and will also be honoured as the ATP Star of Tomorrow presented by Emirates when he visits The O2 on Saturday, 18 November to collect his trophies in an on-court ceremony.

Tecau was named the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award for his efforts in championing children’s rights and education in his home country of Romania, while Godwin won Coach of the Year after guiding countryman Kevin Anderson to his first Grand Slam final at the US Open earlier this year.

The ATP World Tour’s best tournaments in their respective categories were also honoured, with the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (Masters 1000), the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco (500) and the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha (250) announced as the Tournaments of the Year.

Meanwhile, Argentina’s Guillermo Salatino was named the first Latin American journalist to win the Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award.

The evening also featured the official group photos in front of the iconic White Tower, where guests inside enjoyed a reception following a tour of the Tower of London grounds by Yeoman Warders. Players then took the stage in the New Armouries building in front of VIP guests, including President, CEO & COO, Nitto Denko Corporation, Hideo Takasaki, for the robin-robin group introductions and a short Q&A with Andrew Castle.

The Nitto ATP Finals welcomes more than 250,000 fans to The O2 arena each year, as well as generating a global TV viewership of more than 100 million, as the ATP’s best eight singles players and doubles teams compete over eight days at the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world.

After an exciting three days of round-robin play, two players have made themselves the favourites heading into knockout play at the Next Gen ATP Finals. But anything could happen in the semi-finals, with four players attempting to earn their spot in Saturday’s final.

Hyeon Chung and Borna Coric, who both who won their respective groups with a 3-0 round-robin record, will look to continue their excellent form as their group’s second-place finishers, Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev, push for an upset.

The South Korean and Croatian both won nine of 12 sets and almost the same amount of games (Coric-43, Chung-41). Both players won five-set matches on Thursday to close out group play.

Fourth-seeded Coric won Group B and will play the top seed, Andrey Rublev, in the first match on Friday.

The duo are two of the seven first-time champions on the ATP World Tour this season. The 20-year-old Coric, who turns 21 next Tuesday, captured his first ATP title in Marrakech in April (d. Kohlschreiber). This is his first semi-final since then. On Thursday, already having clinched a spot in the final four, Coric rallied from two sets down to beat No. 2 seed Karen Khachanov, 3-4(3), 2-4, 4-2, 4-0, 4-2.

Rublev lifted his first ATP World Tour trophy in Umag in July (d. Lorenzi) as a lucky loser. The 20-year-old Russian beat third-seeded Denis Shapovalov 4-1, 3-4(8), 4-3(2), 0-4, 4-3(3) in a two-hour, two-minute battle to advance to his second ATP World Tour semi-final in 2017.

The sixth-seeded Chung won Group A and will face Medvedev for the first time.

Chung attempts to advance to his first ATP World Tour final, while Medvedev tries to reach his second — in the opening week of the season, the 21-year-old Russian was a finalist in Chennai (l. to Bautista Agut).

Medvedev finished 2-1 in Group B as he came back from a set down to defeat fifth-seeded Jared Donaldson 3-4(3), 4-2, 4-3(1), 4-0 on Thursday. Both players have cracked the Top 50 in the Emirates ATP Rankings this season with Medvedev reaching a career-high No. 48 on 24 July and Chung No. 44 on 11 September. Medvedev has won seven of 12 sets this week.

Borna Coric came back from two sets down to clinch his status as Group B champion on Thursday night and finalize the semi-finals for the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.

The fourth-seeded Coric knocked out second seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 4-3(3), 4-2, 2-4, 0-4, 4-2 in a match that finished just before midnight in Italy.

Joining Coric from Group B will be Russian Daniil Medvedev, who needed and received help from Coric.

Representing Group A in the last four will be champion Hyeon Chung of South Korea and Russian Andrey Rublev, who beat Canadian Denis Shapovalov in an elimination match earlier Thursday evening.

The Friday semi-finals will be as follows: 7 p.m. Coric v. top seed Rublev, and not before 9 p.m., sixth seed Chung v. seventh seed Medvedev.

“It does feel great,” Coric said after his comeback win. “I just need to get some rest and I need to focus on tomorrow.”

The 21-year-old finished the round-robin stage with a perfect 3-0 record, joining Chung as unbeaten champions. Coric will now look to win his second ATP World Tour title (Marrakech). It will be the first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting between Coric, No. 48 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, and World No. 37 Rublev.

Khachanov had a narrow path to the semi-finals. The #NextGenATP regular season win leader (25) needed to beat Coric in three or four sets. Win in five or lose, and the Russian would be headed home.

But for two sets, it looked as if Khachanov was going to fit into the semi-finals. The 6’6” right-hander won 80 per cent of his service points in the first set (16/20) and in the second, he erased the only break point he faced.

No player had come back from two sets down yet in this inaugural tournament, but Coric has had an answer for everything so far. The fourth seed had beaten Medvedev in four sets and Jared Donaldson in three, and he turned it around just in time against Khachanov.

“I did change my tactic a little bit. I just went for a little bit more. I stepped into the court. I was going for my shots,” Coric said. “I did take my chances and when I won that third set, his level dropped a little bit, and mine raised.”

Coric has now won 24 matches on the year. One more win, and he’ll have an even 25-25 record on the season, and a spot in the title match of the Next Gen ATP Finals.