For all of Janko Tipsarevic’s technical abilities, the Serbian’s greatest asset was on full display on Friday at the Intrum Stockholm Open: his heart

Tipsarevic saved a staggering nine match points, most of them with clean winners, before Japanese Yuichi Sugita prevailed in their dramatic 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(4) quarter-final. The 35-year-old refused to go away quietly, literally bringing Sugita to his knees with his tenacity in the final stages of the match. 

Although every ATP Tour player’s dream is to end their career with a title, a match that more closely resembled a street fight was an almost equally fitting finish for Tipsarevic.

”If I were to choose one of the ways to finish my career, it would be like this, leaving everything on the court,” Tipsarevic said in his on-court interview after the match. “I will remember this moment for the rest of my life.”

Tipsarevic, who will officially retire after next month’s Davis Cup Finals in Madrid, received a standing ovation from those in attendance. A video tribute then played on Centre Court that highlighted the greatest moments of his career.

”Dealing with different emotions is what I will miss the most. Those butterflies in your stomach before and after the match, there’s nothing like it,” Tipsarevic said in the video. “I enjoy seeing the world. You really have a tremendous ability to see different cultures, meet different people. This way of living, if you really devote yourself 100 per cent to it, makes you mentally tough.”

The Serbian was visibly moved by the presentation and thanked those in attendance for their support. He also vowed to not be a stranger to tennis and said he intends to maintain the relationships he’s built during his 17-year ATP Tour career.

“I see you’re trying to make me cry now. It is [working],” Tipsarevic joked. “I feel happy, proud, sad. There’s a tremendous amount of mixed emotions happening right now… Even though I’m incredibly sad right now, I’m excited for the next chapter of my life.

“The ATP [Tour] is a tremendous part of my life and a huge part of my future. I see myself staying connected to this beautiful sport.” 

Sugita cruised through the opening set, but Tipsarevic remained patient and waited for his turn to strike. At 4-4 in the second set, the Serbian broke serve with a forehand winner and let out a roar of delight. He then comfortably held in the next game to force a decider.

Both players traded comfortable service holds for most of the final set, but the last few games of the match were anything but that. Tipsarevic saved four match points on his serve at 4-5 with aggressive baseline play, bringing the crowd to their feet when a forehand winner completed a Houdini act to even the score.

But the Serbian wasn’t done. He saved four more match points at 5-6 with three forehand winners and a smash. A ninth match point came and went as Sugita pushed a backhand long. With the Japanese struggling to bend his knees as cramps began to take over his left leg, Tipsarevic forced a tie-break with yet another forehand winner.

An impossible comeback suddenly looked realistic when Tipsarevic took a 2/0 lead in the tie-break, but Sugita bravely responded by going on a five-point run. A forehand into the net from Tipsarevic set up two more match points for Sugita and the Japanese finally converted, reacting with a mix of exhaustion and delight after a backhand unforced error from the Serbian wrapped up the match after three hours and 10 minutes.

”This is one of the most emotional matches for me,” said Sugita, who will now face #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the semi-finals. “I just tried my best.”

Andy Murray’s comeback keeps getting better and better, reaching his first singles semi-final since returning in Cincinnati on Friday at the European Open. But less than two months ago, the Scot was not the most confident.

He lost his third-round match at an ATP Challenger Tour event held in Mallorca the same week of the first round of the US Open, and was concerned about where his level — on the court and with his body — stood.

“Those couple of weeks after that obviously I put some work in, but I felt like I was quite far from this level. Spoke to my team quite a lot about that and I was a bit down after I lost in the Challenger because I felt like I could have done better there and was probably expecting myself to do a little bit better,” Murray said. “Physically I was really tired after the matches there.”

The Scot, who underwent hip surgery after the Australian Open, has slowly rounded into form since. Murray earned the first tour-level singles win of his return in Zhuhai, made the quarter-finals in Beijing, and has now won three matches this week in Antwerp.

“It’s just difficult [in] tennis, because you don’t get the opportunity to just come in and play one set like you might in other sports and build up your fitness by playing a little bit longer each time,” Murray said. “You need to get it through playing matches and maybe at that stage I just wasn’t quite ready physically for long matches. But now obviously my body’s getting a little bit more used to it and coping fairly well.”

If Murray is to capture his first title in nearly three years, he will have to win four matches in four days. He is halfway there after defeating Pablo Cuevas on Thursday and Marius Copil on Friday. On Saturday, he will face fifth seed Guido Pella or #NextGenATP Frenchman Ugo Humbert.

“That will be the first time I’ve played three days in a row of singles,” Murray said. “Although the match was long tonight, physically it wasn’t that draining because there were quite a lot of quick points, on his service games especially.”

The good news for Murray is that the more he is playing, the more he is winning. And now it’s a matter of continuing to build back towards his best.

“Things obviously are going in the right direction and I feel like I’m hitting the ball better from the back of the court,” Murray said. “I just need to improve the serving, and if I do that then I’ll give myself a lot of chances in matches.”

Home favourite Dominic Thiem and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga kicked off this year’s Erste Bank Open in style on Friday, enjoying a friendly hit on the Erste Campus roof as they took in the Vienna skyline.

Thiem, the top seed in Vienna, looks for his fifth ATP Tour title of the year. He won his maiden ATP Tour crown on home soil this August in Kitzbühel (d. Ramos-Vinolas). The Austrian will play his first-round match on Tuesday night.

“It’s always nice to watch Vienna from the [roof]. I’m always surprised at what a wonderful city it is. I don’t have many chances to be up somewhere and check out a beautiful city,” Thiem said. “[The preparations] are going good. I already had some great practises on Center Court and it’s very nice to be back on this special court.”

Tsonga looks to build on his past success in Vienna. The Frenchman prevailed in 2011 (d. Del Potro) and finished runner-up in 2016-2017 (l. to Murray and Pouille). Tsonga has excelled indoors this season by lifting ATP Tour crowns in Montpelllier (d. Herbert) and Metz (d. Bedene).

“It’s good to spend time with Dominic and the view is beautiful,” Tsonga said. “I’ve always been treated the best way here. I’ve won here before and have very good memories not only on the court, but outside of the court as well.”

Russian Karen Khachanov, Italian Matteo Berrettini and Frenchman Gael Monfils round out the top four top seeds at the ATP 500 event.

The last time former World No. 1 Andy Murray faced Marius Copil, in Washington, D.C. last year, the Scot needed more than three hours in a match that went past 3 am. Murray even broke into tears — partially from the emotions of the moment, but also from the hip pain he was still dealing with.

More than a year and a hip surgery later, the Scot had another complicated match against the Romanian on Friday in Antwerp. And while it wasn’t easy, as Murray was broken while serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set, he battled past Copil 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-4 to reach the last four of the European Open, his first semi-final since returning to the singles court in Cincinnati.

“I haven’t played loads of matches the past few years, so when you get to the end of the match, it’s always difficult to serve it out. I played a bad game at 5-3 in the second set and after that I think he gained a lot of confidence,” Murray said on court. “He served extremely well. He was being a lot more aggressive at the end of the second set and in the third, but thankfully I managed to get the break right at the end. It was a tough one to get through.”

Murray appeared to be in some of the best form he has shown since his return, fending off Copil’s booming serve and doing well to make the Romanian hit tough volleys as he consistently charged the net. But the Scot had to overcome a second-set slip to triumph after two hours and 36 minutes.

At 5-3 in the second set, Murray’s serve began to fail him. And he relinquished his break with a double fault, beginning to show his frustration. Copil capitalised, playing aggressively and putting pressure on the 45-time tour-level champion by rushing the net at every opportunity. In the first set-and-a-half, more points were contested from the baseline, where Murray was in control.

In the tie-break, Murray gained a 5/2 advantage and later had a match point on the Romanian’s serve. But Copil hit a booming serve and then followed it up with an inside-out forehand winner. Two points later, Murray shoveled a backhand off his back foot into the net to allow Copil into a decider.

Entering the match, Copil had pushed elite competition before. Last year in Basel, he earned both of his Top 10 wins, defeating Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev en route to the final before falling to Roger Federer. So it was not the World No. 92’s first time under the spotlight — not even close.

But Murray served far better in the third set, losing only five service points. He did not face a break point in the decider, and at 4-4 he threw in a surprising drop shot that caught Copil off balance, following it into net to secure the break. He hit his ninth ace on match point to move on, overcoming the Romanian’s 20 aces.

If Murray is to win his first ATP Tour title since 2017 Dubai, he will need to win four matches in four days. Including his second-round triumph over Pablo Cuevas, Murray has played three hours and 59 minutes over the past two days.

“I feel okay just now. It’s more how you feel the following day. The good thing about the indoor matches is that the points are fairly short, so it doesn’t take as much out of you as on some of the slower courts outside,” Murray said. “But I feel okay, hopefully I pull up well tomorrow.”

Murray will now face Ugo Humbert for a place in Sunday’s final after the #NextGenATP Frenchman rallied to defeat fifth-seeded Argentine Guido Pella 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Humbert broke serve at 4-4 in the deciding set before clinching victory after two hours and 25 minutes. The win puts the 21-year-old into his third ATP Tour semi-final of the year.

Humbert looks to qualify for a maiden appearance at the Next Gen ATP Finals, held from 5-9 November in Milan. He is currently in eighth place in the ATP Race to Milan with 778 points, but will receive an additional 90 points for reaching the semi-finals in Antwerp. Should the Frenchman defeat Murray, he’ll grab another 60 points and move past Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (893 points) to take seventh place.

Former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka let slip a match point in the second set of his quarter-final against former World No. 6 Gilles Simon on Friday at the European Open. But the Swiss star remained calm and found some of his best tennis to reach the semi-finals in Antwerp, his first trip to the last four on the ATP Tour since making the Rotterdam final in February.

Wawrinka, the fourth seed, broke Simon’s serve on five of his seven opportunities to advance past the Frenchman 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2 after two hours and 14 minutes. The 34-year-old is competing for the first time since the US Open, where he made the quarter-finals (l. to Medvedev).

“I expected [a tough match],” Wawrinka said. “I’m really happy with the level today, the way I was playing. [I was] serving well, I was staying strong mentally… I’m really happy with the match.”

The 16-time tour-level champion now leads Simon 5-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. This was their first clash since 2016 Shanghai.

Throughout the match, Wawrinka put his shotmaking skills in full display, ripping winners every which way as he maintained his position on the baseline. But Simon continuously tried to put the Swiss in awkward positions.

The Frenchman’s broke and then served for the second set, but could not close it out. And it appeared Wawrinka would ride that momentum to a tie-break victory to clinch the match. But Simon showed his swift movement to hold off Wawrinka’s aggression at 5/6, eventually forcing a decider.

Wawrinka shrugged off any disappointment he felt, though, breaking immediately to start the third set and saving the only break point he faced in the final frame to move on. In the semi-finals, he will face #NextGenATP sensation Jannik Sinner, who battled past 2018 Delray Beach titlist Frances Tiafoe in three sets earlier in the day.

Wawrinka learned firsthand how talented Sinner is at the US Open, where the teen pushed the three-time Grand Slam champion to four sets. The duo shared on social media that following the event, they practised together in Monte-Carlo.

“I really think at that time he was playing really well. He’s playing powerful from the baseline on both sides. He’s a great player already. He’s young and he can improve a lot, but he’s already tough to beat,” Wawrinka said. “It was a tough match at the time [of the US Open]. I expect the same tomorrow.”

Dominic Thiem enjoyed a breakthrough this past summer, when he won his first title on home soil at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel. He will look to continue his success in Austria at the Erste Bank Open, an ATP 500 tournament. Thiem, a winner of four tour-level titles this season, will be making his ninth appearance in Vienna, where he is a two-time quarter-finalist.

Matteo Berrettini, a recent semi-finalist in Shanghai, will attempt to strengthen his position in the top eight of the ATP Race to London with a strong showing in Vienna. Gael Monfils, Diego Schwartzman and Karen Khachanov, who trail Berrettini by less than 1,000 points in the standings, will look to gain valuable Race points in order to boost their Nitto ATP Finals hopes.

The field also includes Next Gen ATP Finals qualifiers Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, former World No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov and 2011 champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Here’s all you need to know about the Vienna tennis tournament: what is the schedule, where to watch, who has won and more.  

Established: 1974

Tournament Dates: 21-27 October 2019

Tournament Director: Herwig Straka

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 19 October, 12:00pm at the Marriott

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Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: starts Saturday at 11:00am
* Main draw: starts Monday at 2:00pm
* Doubles final: Sunday, 27 October at 11:45am
* Singles final: Sunday, 27 October at 2:00pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: Wiener Stadthalle
Main Court Seating: 8,800
Surface: Indoor Hard

Prize Money: € 2,296,490 (Total Financial Commitment: € 2,433,810)  

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Brian Gottfried (4)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bob Hewitt, Anders Jarryd, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Lukasz Kubot, Frew McMillan (3)
Oldest Champion: Tommy Haas, 35, in 2013
Youngest Champion: Horst Skoff, 20, in 1988
Lowest-Ranked Champion (since 1978): No. 175 Anders Jarryd in 1990
Most Match Wins: Brian Gottfried (31)

2018 Finals
Singles: [2] Kevin Anderson (RSA) d [5] Kei Nishikori (JPN) 63 76(3)   Read & Watch
Doubles: Joe Salisbury (GBR) / Neal Skupski (GBR) d Mike Bryan (USA) / Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 76(5) 63  Read More

Social
Hashtag: #ErsteBankOpen
Facebook: @erstebankopen
Instagram: @erstebankopen
Twitter: @erstebankopen

Did You Know… Austrian Thomas Muster, a former World No. 1, never won the Vienna title, though he reached the final three times. Horst Skoff became the first Austrian to triumph here, with victory over Muster in the 1988 final. Jurgen Melzer joined Skoff on the honour roll with back-to-back singles titles in 2009-10. 

Roger Federer returns to his hometown tournament in pursuit of a 10th Swiss Indoors Basel title. The 38-year-old Swiss, who was a Basel ball boy as a child, has won 20 straight matches at this ATP 500 tournament and reached the final the past 12 times he’s played the event. 

“To come through and win again here in my hometown, never knowing if this might be your last time that you had the opportunity to play a final, maybe win for the last time here in my city, it obviously means a lot to me and it becomes very emotional,” Federer said following his triumph last year.

Federer will be joined in Basel by fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka, World No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas and a number of Nitto ATP Finals contenders, including Alexander Zverev, Roberto Bautista Agut and Fabio Fognini. Tsitsipas claimed the sixth spot in the elite eight-man field at The O2, leaving just two spots up for grabs with two weeks left in the regular season.

Here’s all you need to know about the Basel tennis tournament: what is the schedule, where to watch, who has won and more. 

Established: 1970

Tournament Dates: 21-27 October 2019

Tournament Director: Roger Brennwald

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 19 October, at 4:00pm, at the Town Hall in Basel

Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday & Sunday at 12:00pm
* Main draw: Monday – Friday at 1:00pm and 7:00pm, Saturday at 12:00pm
* Doubles final: Sunday, 27 October at 12:00pm
* Singles final: Sunday, 27 October not before 3:00pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: St. Jakobshalle Basel
Main Court Seating: 9,000
Surface: Indoor Hard

Prize Money: € 2,082,655 (Total Financial Commitment: € 2,219,975)  

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Roger Federer (9)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan, Daniel Nestor, Tomas Smid, Nenad Zimonjic (4)
Oldest Champion (since 1972): Roger Federer, 37, in 2018
Youngest Champion (since 1972): Jim Courier, 19, in 1989
Lowest-Ranked Champion (since 1978): No. 35 Jim Courier in 1989 
Most Match Wins: Roger Federer (71)

2018 Finals
Singles: [1] Roger Federer (SUI) d [Q] Marius Copil (ROU) 76(5) 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: Dominic Inglot (GBR) / Franko Skugor (CRO) d Alexander Zverev (GER) / Mischa Zverev (GER) 62 75  Read More

Social
Hashtag: #swissindoorsbasel
Facebook: @swissindoorsbasel
Instagram: @swissindoorsbasel_official

Did You Know… Each of the 12 years he’s reached the final at the Swiss Indoors Basel, Federer has thrown a post-match pizza party for all the ball boys and girls. Read More

Henri Kontinen/Edouard Roger-Vasselin continued their outstanding run on Friday at the Intrum Stockholm Open, saving three match points in a thrilling 6-3, 3-6, 16-14 semi-final victory over fourth seeds Wesley Koolhof/Fabrice Martin.

The Finnish-French pairing fought back from 8/9, 10/11 and 12/13 in the Match Tie-break to move closer to their first ATP Tour doubles crown as a team. Kontinen seeks his second ATP Tour doubles title of the year and Roger-Vasselin looks for his fourth.

Kontinen/Roger-Vasselin await the winner of top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau and third seeds Mate Pavic/Bruno Soares. Rojer/Tecau prevailed over Andre Goransson/Nathaniel Lammons 7-6(5) 6-2. Pavic/Soares, last week’s champions at the Rolex Shanghai Masters (d. Kubot/Melo), cruised through Radu Albot/Robert Lindstedt 6-3, 6-3.

At the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Simone Bolelli/Andres Molteni upset third seeds Marcus Daniell/Philipp Oswald 6-4, 6-4 to reach the final. They’ll face fourth seeds Marcelo Demoliner/Matwe Middelkoop or Thomas Fabbiano/Andreas Seppi in Saturday’s championship match.

European Open top seeds Kevin Krawietz/Andreas Mies encountered few problems in their 6-4, 6-3 quarter-final win over Sander Arends/David Pel in Antwerp. The German pair are aiming for their first title since prevailing at Roland Garros (d. Chardy/Martin) as they look to qualify for a debut appearance at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November.

Eighteen-year-old #NextGenATP star Jannik Sinner’s stock continues to rise.

The Italian teen reached his first ATP Tour semi-final on Friday, defeating fellow #NextGenATP player Frances Tiafoe of the United States 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to make the last four of the European Open in Antwerp. Sinner is the youngest tour-level semi-finalist since 17-year-old Borna Coric accomplished the feat in Basel five years ago.

“I just can say thanks for the wild card!” Sinner said on court after his one-hour, 42-minute triumph. “I think I played good today once more. It was not easy in the end. I was shaking a little bit. On the important points, I was serving quite good, and I’m happy to be in the semi-finals.”

Sinner is proving mature beyond his years, showing a steady composure throughout his run in Antwerp as a wild card. At a career-high No. 119 in the ATP Rankings, Sinner broke Tiafoe for 4-2 in the deciding set with a lasered forehand passing shot that forced a backhand volley error.

But the pressure mounted as he served for victory at 5-3, with a miss on a sitting volley on top of the net giving Tiafoe two break points. Sinner responded well, saving both of those chances with his serve, forcing errors off the American’s racquet. After eliciting a backhand into the net at deuce, Sinner finished off his win with another big serve.

“I tried to start well in the third set, and I think I served a little bit better in the third set. I think that was the key,” Sinner said. “Of course at the end I was shaking a little bit. I tried to reset after the easy volley in the last game and I served a very good first serve and second serve, so I’m very happy now that I’ve reached the semi-finals.”

Sinner struck 10 aces in the match and saved four of the five break points he faced to back up his second-round win over top seed Gael Monfils, which was his first Top 50 victory. The teen was already the youngest quarter-finalist in this event’s history and the youngest player to reach the last eight on the ATP Tour since 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime did it last year in Chengdu.

“I played against a tough player, of course. I tried to play my tennis. In the first set, it worked. In the second set, he was a little bit more aggressive, so I felt a little bit under pressure,” Sinner said. “I tried to play quite long, quite deep the ball. It worked very good today.”

Depending on results at other events this week, Sinner could potentially crack the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings on Monday for the first time. This week last year, he was World No. 778. In the semi-finals, Sinner will face former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka — to whom he lost in four sets in his Grand Slam debut at the US Open — or former World No. 6 Gilles Simon.

“Both players are very good,” Sinner said. “I hope I can play once more against Wawrinka, so maybe I can win this time, and I’m looking forward to the next one.”