Stefanos Tsitsipas dug deep to produce some of his best tennis on Friday at the Swiss Indoors Basel. The third-seeded Greek weathered an inspired start from Serbian Filip Krajinovic to prevail 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in their quarter-final clash.

Tsitsipas finished the night with 38 winners to just 26 unforced errors. The 21-year-old has won 10 of his past 12 matches, finishing runner-up in Beijing (l. to Thiem) and defeating Novak Djokovic en route to a semi-final showing at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

Awaiting him in the semi-finals is top seed and nine-time Basel champion Roger Federer, who advanced when fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka withdrew due to a back injury. The pair are tied 1-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry, with Tsitsipas prevailing at the Australian Open and Federer getting revenge in the Dubai final.

Krajinovic, runner-up last week in Stockholm (l. to Shapovalov), continued his strong form indoors in the opening set. He broke Tsitsipas twice, was flawless on net points (6/6) and only gave the Greek three unforced errors. Krajinovic let out a roar after Tsitsipas sent a forehand wide to give the Serbian an early advantage after 33 minutes.

Tsitsipas adjusted his tactics in the second set, standing further behind the baseline and adding more height to his shots in a bid to prolong the rallies. The strategy worked as Krajinovic began to leak errors from his forehand. The third seed broke serve at 1-1 in the second set and held the slight advantage, rifling a forehand winner on set point to bring the match to a decider.

Both men traded service breaks to start the final set, but Krajinovic began to feel the effects of playing eight matches over the past 10 days. Tsitsipas noticed the Serbian starting to tire and pounced, earning another break at 3-3 as he rode the momentum to victory after one hour and 53 minutes.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, the top two players in the ATP Rankings, return to action at next week’s Rolex Paris Masters. It is a critical moment in the battle for the year-end No. 1 ATP Ranking, with two very different narratives potentially to be written based on results from the season’s final ATP Masters 1000 tournament of 2019.

Nadal controls his own destiny and could clinch year-end No. 1 with a title. However, if he lifts his fifth trophy in Bercy, Djokovic can claw closer to the Spaniard and put himself in prime position to sneak out the season-ending top spot at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Nadal currently has the edge with a 1,280-point lead in the ATP Race To London — which acts as a barometer for who will finish year-end No. 1 — over the Serbian. But with 1,000 points up for grabs in Paris and a maximum of 1,500 available at the Nitto ATP Finals,is very much alive.

Nadal, if he triumphs at the Rolex Paris Masters for the first time, could put the battle out of reach, guaranteeing that he will finish year-end No. 1 for the fifth time, joining Djokovic, Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors at that mark. If Nadal triumphs in Paris, an undefeated run by Djokovic at The O2 would still not be enough to see the Serb finish in top spot.

But if Djokovic captures his 34th ATP Masters 1000 title, he will put plenty of pressure on Nadal heading into the season finale in London from 10-17 November. Although Nadal, the all-time Masters 1000 title leader (35) has not lost his opener at this level since 2016 Shanghai, doing so would allow Djokovic to pull within 280 points in the Race with a trophy.

A sixth year-end No. 1 finish for Djokovic would be historic, as he’d equal Pete Sampras’ all-time record for most year-end finishes atop the ATP Rankings. He could potentially face his Shanghai conqueror Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals. Daniil Medvedev, who has lifted the past two Masters 1000 trophies, is also in his half of the draw.

This will be Nadal’s first tournament since his US Open win, and he will face tricky Frenchman Adrian Mannarino or a qualifier/special exempt in his opener. Federer is in his half of the draw. Nadal has not made the final of this event since 2007.

Regardless of how Djokovic and Nadal perform in Paris, Nadal will arrive at The O2 as the new World No. 1. Although Djokovic currently owns a 320-point lead in the ATP Rankings, Nadal will reclaim the title on 4 November when the Serbian drops 600 points from his runner-up finish in Paris last year and an additional 1,000 points from reaching the championship match of last year’s Nitto ATP Finals.

No other player is in contention for year-end No. 1.

Gael Monfils moved inside the Top 10 in the ATP Race To London on Friday, after his 7-5, 6-1 victory against Aljaz Bedene at the Erste Bank Open.

The fourth seed claimed 81 per cent of first-serve points (29/36) to earn his 35th tour-level victory of the season after 70 minutes. Monfils improves to 14-5 at the ATP 500 event, where he reached the championship match in 2008.

The 33-year-old overtakes David Goffin and Fabio Fognini to occupy 10th position in the Race after earning 90 points for the quarter-final victory. Monfils is just 310 points behind Matteo Berrettini, who occupies the eighth and final qualification position. Berrettini defeated Andrey Rublev to reach his eighth tour-level semi-final of the year in the first match of the day on Center Court.

The Frenchman will meet fellow London contender Diego Schwartzman for a place in Sunday’s final. Monfils owns a 2-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against the Argentine, who beat Karen Khachanov in straight sets to reach the last four.

Monfils is attempting to lift his second indoor ATP Tour trophy of the year this week. The World No. 14 captured his eighth tour-level crown at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in February.

Appearing in his second quarter-final at the tournament, Bedene was aiming to reach the semi-finals in Vienna for the first time. The 30-year-old, who also advanced to the last eight in 2012, reached his first indoor ATP Tour final at the Moselle Open last month.

With two qualifying spots remaining for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, the Rolex Paris Masters will determine who packs their bags for The O2 in London from 10-17 November. Ten players are still in contention, including German Alexander Zverev, Italian Matteo Berrettini and Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, but they’ll need to weather challenging draws at the last ATP Masters 1000 event of the season.

Zverev, seeded sixth, is in good standing to give himself a chance to defend his title in London. He’s currently in seventh place in the ATP Race to London with 2,855 points, but will need to be in top form in Paris as he starts against Croatian Borna Coric or Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. Zverev shares the same quarter of the draw as third-seeded Swiss Roger Federer and a pair of London hopefuls, No. 11 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy and No. 13 seed Gael Monfils of France. Monfils is tenth in the Race with 2,350 points.

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Tenth-seeded Berrettini has a heathy grip on eighth place in the Race with 2,660 points. The Italian arguably has the most challenging draw of any player in Paris, though. He’ll begin against home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or in-form Russian Andrey Rublev, then could face eighth-seeded Russian and defending champion Karen Khachanov in the third round. Should he escape that treacherous section, a potential quarter-final clash awaits with second-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

Ninth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, currently ninth in the Race (2,530), also seeks a big week in Paris and will open against #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur or Serbian Laslo Djere. The Spaniard is in the same quarter of the draw as top seed Novak Djokovic, seventh-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and fellow London hopeful Diego Schwartzman. The Argentine is 14th in the Race with 2,040 points.

Belgian David Goffin is 11th in the Race with 2,325 points. The No. 13 seed will need to reach at least the semi-finals in Paris if he wants to return to The O2. His week begins against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov or #NextGenATP Aussie Ugo Humbert, with fourth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev and fifth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem also looming in his quarter.

Swiss Stan Wawrinka, American John Isner and Khachanov must take the title in Paris in order to have a chance at qualifying for London. Isner returns to action for the first time since the birth of his second child last week.

Read More: Isner Welcomes Second Child

Djokovic, seeking his fifth title in Paris, opens against Frenchman Richard Gasquet or fellow Serbian Dusan Lajovic. The World No. 1 holds a 32-8 record at this event and has reached the championship match in four of his past five appearances.

Nadal is back in action against a qualifier or Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, then could renew his rivalry with Wawrinka in the third round. Although Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 18-3, Wawrinka’s last win over the Spaniard came four years ago in the Paris quarter-finals.

We could have @rogerfederer versus @RafaelNadal semi-final in Paris ?

Projected quarters (by seeding) for the @RolexPMasters ? pic.twitter.com/mFOLIWv5b1

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 25, 2019

Federer looks for his first title in Paris since 2011. The Swiss plays play Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili or Moldovan Radu Albot in his opening match and shares the same half of the draw as Nadal. The pair have never faced off at this event.

Medvedev aims to continue his winning ways as he begins his campaign against a qualifier or Argentine Guido Pella. The Russian, who captured his second Masters 1000 title this month at the Rolex Shanghai Masters (d. Zverev), is on a nine-match winning streak and has reached the final of his past six ATP Tour events.

How much do you know about the Rolex Paris Masters, the ninth ATP Masters 1000 tennis tournament of the 2019 season?

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will return for the 2019 edition, where they will be joined by in-form Russian Daniil Medvedev and defending champion Karen Khachanov, but do you know which player has won the most titles here? The Rolex Paris Masters is also the final battleground in the ATP Race To London. Do you recall which American clinched his spot at the Nitto ATP Finals with his triumph in 2017? We test your knowledge in this quiz!

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In a meeting of Nitto ATP Finals contenders, Diego Schwartzman defeated Karen Khachanov 7-6(6), 6-2 at the Erste Bank Open on Friday.

Competing in his 60th tour-level encounter of the year (38-22), the Argentine rallied from 0-3 down in the opener and broke serve on four occasions to record his second FedEx ATP Head2Head victory in three meetings against Khachanov. As a result of the quarter-final win, Schwartzman moves into 14th position in the ATP Race To London.

With 1,995 points, the Los Cabos champion is now 665 points behind fellow Vienna semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini in the Race. The Italian currently occupies the eighth and final qualification position for the elite eight-man event to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November.

Schwartzman will meet fourth seed Gael Monfils or Aljaz Bedene for a place in the championship match. The 27-year-old owns one victory from three FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters against both players.

Khachanov overpowered Schwartzman in the early stages, dictating rallies with his forehand to establish a 3-0, double-break advantage. But Schwartzman fought back, ripping a forehand return winner to get on the scoreboard in the fourth game.

With Khachanov serving for the set at 5-4, Schwartzman levelled the set with impressive accuracy. The Argentine fired a series of low passing shots as Khachanov attempted to close the net and eventually claimed the opener in the tie-break after his opponent committed his first double fault.

Schwartzman carried the momentum into the second set, landing another backhand passing shot to break in the opening game. The fifth seed increased his advantage four games later and converted his first match point as Khachanov fired his forehand return beyond the baseline.

“It was really difficult in the beginning, I didn’t feel very well. He was playing good tennis, but I think I was doing many mistakes and many unforced errors,” said Schwartzman. “I started to change my game and then I had one break back at 3-0.

“I was just one break down and when he was serving for the set I had a little bit of luck in a few points and I did the comeback. In the second set, I think my tennis was better than his and I felt really well at the end.”

Khachanov was bidding to become the first Russian semi-finalist in Vienna since Andrei Chesnokov in 1992. The World No. 9 currently sits in 16th position in the Race and will now travel to Paris to defend his Rolex Paris Masters crown.

Fourth seeds Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury continued their winning ways on Friday at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, edging Marcus Daniell/Philipp Oswald 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 to reach the final.

Ram/Salisbury also moved closer to making their debut appearance as a team at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held from 10-17 November at The O2 in London. Their semi-final win pushed them into sixth place in the ATP Doubles Race To London with 3,290 points. Ram/Salisbury will pick up an additional 200 points if they can take the title in Vienna.

The American/British pair look to improve their 1-3 record in ATP Tour doubles finals this year, having prevailed in Dubai and finished runner-up in Brisbane, Queen’s Club and Antwerp. They await the winner of top seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo and third seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut.

At the Swiss Indoors Basel, Ivan Dodig/Filip Polasek upset second seeds Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus 7-6(8), 6-4 to move into the semi-finals. They saved set points at 5/6 and 7/8 in the first-set tie-break en route to advancing in one hour and 30 minutes.

Dodig/Polasek, who are in ninth place in the ATP Doubles Race To London, will face fourth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau on Saturday. Rojer/Tecau are in seventh place in the Race.

Reilly Opelka dealt a blow to Roberto Bautista Agut’s Nitto ATP Finals hopes on Friday, serving his way past the Spaniard 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 after one hour and 33 minutes to reach the semi-finals of the Swiss Indoors Basel.

Entering the match, Opelka had lost three consecutive matches against Top 10 opposition. But the American crushed 31 aces to upset Bautista Agut, winning 91 per cent of his first-serve points (49/54) in the match and saving three of the five break points he faced.

Bautista Agut, the ninth-placed player in the ATP Race To London, was trying to keep pace with eighth-placed Matteo Berrettini, with both men hoping to earn a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals from 10-17 November. But since Berrettini reached the semi-finals in Vienna on Friday and Bautista Agut crashed out in Basel, the Italian’s lead for the final spot grows to 130 points, and that lead can increase depending on Berrettini’s performance the rest of the week at the Erste Bank Open.

Bautista Agut defeated Opelka 6-4, 7-5 in their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting just two weeks ago at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. But in that match, the American won just 70 per cent of his first-serve points.

“I definitely served a lot better today. That court against Roberto, I played him in China, is not an easy one to play him on,” Opelka said. “That day the court was really fast and it was a little chilly out, so it felt pretty much impossible for me to beat him there. Similar today, honestly. If I didn’t make my first serve, [I] didn’t win the point. So he’s a nightmare.”

It seemed the steady Spaniard was biding his time for his opportunities with consistent play despite his opponent’s massive serving at this ATP 500 event. But Opelka, who was broken in his second service game of the match, consistently fell back on his booming first delivery when in trouble.

Entering the week, Opelka overcame a 0/40 deficit just once form 21 tries this season. But the 22-year-old flipped the script in a major way at 5-3 in the opener, when he served for a one-set lead. Opelka hit five consecutive aces from 0/40 to gain the advantage.

And although Bautista Agut dominated on second-serve return — winning 78 per cent of those points, including all seven in the second set — it was not enough. Opelka, who used every opportunity to attack with his forehand during rallies, blasted a forehand down the line to clinch the critical break at 4-3 in the third before serving out his victory. The reigning New York Open champion will face #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur, who battled past German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 7-6(4), in the last four.

“[Bautista Agut] and De Minaur are two of the guys I always say I don’t want to be anywhere near in the draw,” Opelka said.

Each of the three previous times De Minaur won a quarter-final this season (3-3), he went on to win the title. The Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier takes a 3-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead into his semi-final against Opelka, with all three of those matches coming this year.

Like Opelka, Struff based his game off of his serve and powerful baseline game, striking 12 aces and winning 83 per cent of his first-serve points against the Aussie. But De Minaur played splendid defence throughout, putting up a wall that the German was unable to crack often enough. The 20-year-old broke twice in his one-hour, 43-minute victory.

“Whenever you play Reilly, you don’t know what’s going to happen either way. He’s an incredibly tough opponent. He’s one of the toughest opponents out there,” De Minaur said. “It’s going to be another fun match. We’re really good friends, so I’m really looking forward to just being alive [in the draw] another day and coming back tomorrow and being able to play again.”

Did You Know?
By reaching the semi-finals, Opelka could potentially receive a special exempt entry into the Rolex Paris Masters, and on Monday he will become the No. 2 American, passing good friend Taylor Fritz.