#NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime saved three match points on Thursday, battling through a slew of tweeners and screaming forehands to overcome Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-0, 6-7(6), 7-6(9) in a two-hour, 40-minute thriller at the Open 13 Provence that the players nor fans watching will soon forget.

The seventh seed steadied himself well after letting slip one match point in the second-set tie-break, eventually triumphing on his sixth match point to reach the quarter-finals in Marseille. Auger-Aliassime, who lost to Herbert in straight sets two weeks ago in Montpellier, struck 16 aces and won 85 per cent of his first-serve points as he continues his pursuit of a maiden ATP Tour title.

The 19-year-old Canadian has now saved multiple match points in his first two matches at this indoor ATP 250 event, erasing two of them in his first-round victory against Italian Stefano Travaglia. Auger-Aliassime will next play third seed David Goffin or Belarusian Egor Gerasimov.

For a moment, it seemed destiny was on Herbert’s side. The Frenchman not only hit a tweener lob on set point in the second set to force a decider, but he struck another clutch tweener to help escape pressure on serve deep in the third set.

Then at 6/6 in the ensuing tie-break, Auger-Aliassime played a perfect point and crushed an overhead into the open court. But on the full stretch, Herbert blasted a forehand pass down the line that the diving Canadian couldn’t handle, giving him a match point on his own serve. The Frenchman was unable to muster the courageous tennis he played under pressure during the rest of the match, pushing a backhand into the net.

On the other two match points Auger-Aliassime faced — at 5/6 and 7/8 in the same tie-break — the teen showed no fear, dictating with his forehand and then blasting an unreturned serve down the T. Felix finished off his victory with an ace out wide, letting out a roar of “Allez!”

It is a key week for the Canadian, who last year reached his first ATP Tour final in Rio de Janeiro as the World No. 104. He has since reached three additional tour-level championship matches, including one last week in Rotterdam (0-4).

Sixth-seeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert needed all of his fighting qualities on Thursday at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com, erasing a set point to battle past #NextGenATP Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 7-6(6) and move into the quarter-finals.

Humbert broke Kecmanovic as the Serbian served for the second set at 6-5, then fought back from 5/6 in the tie-break to prevail after one hour and 43 minutes. The Frenchman picked up his first win over Kecmanovic in their ATP Head2Head series (1-3), taking revenge after losing to the 20-year-old last week in New York.

”It’s always tough to play against Miomir because he’s a great player. He always plays at a high level against me,” Humbert said. “I lost to him last week and was a little bit stressed before the match, so I’m very happy to get the win today. You have to enjoy the victory because it’s not easy every week.”

Humbert advanced to his third quarter-final of the year and moved to 8-3 this season. The 21-year-old captured his maiden ATP Tour title last month in Auckland (d. Paire).

“Winning in Auckland gave me a lot of confidence,” Humbert said. “I beat some great players, [but] I have to continue my improvements every day.”

Next up for the sixth seed is the winner of the all-American clash between Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul. Humbert fell to Tiafoe during round-robin action in last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals. 

The evening session will feature second-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic taking on German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe and Jack Sock squaring off with fellow American Steve Johnson.

World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev struggled for consistency early on, but his greater experience told on Thursday in a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion Jannik Sinner in 80 minutes at the Open 13 Provence.

Medvedev could only shrug his shoulders in the 25-minute first set, when Sinner played with great discipline off both wings to break twice. The top-seeded Russian tightened up his defence in the second set – breaking in the fourth and six games – by keeping the ball low and short to negate Sinner’s groundstroke power. Medvedev didn’t look back, going on to win 16 of the first 19 points in the deciding set.

Last week, Sinner recorded the first Top 10 match win of his career over No. 10-ranked David Goffin in the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament second round. The 18-year-old rose to a career-high No. 68 in the FedEx ATP Rankings on 17 February.

Medvedev, who has an 8-3 match record in 2020, will next face Gilles Simon, the 2007 and 2015 champion, who saved two set points from 4/6 in the first set tie-break of a 7-6(6), 6-4 victory over Aljaz Bedene in one hour and 52 minutes. Bedene had won their three previous ATP Head2Head meetings.

Earlier in the afternoon, Denis Shapovalov struck 17 aces past two-time former finalist Marin Cilic in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory in just under two hours. The 20-year-old will play Alexander Bublik in the quarter-finals.

“I knew going into it that Marin was going to be a tough opponent as we’d had two close matches before,” said Shapovalov. “I started well in the first set, got an early break and held there. In the second set, I felt like he improved his serve and raised his game. He played too well, then in the third set I needed to raise my game. Today was really good tennis and I felt comfortable on the court. My game has been there the past five or six months and I hope to show it more this week.”

Later today, third seed Goffin takes on qualifier Egor Gerasimov and seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime meets Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

Roger Federer announced today that he will return to competitive tennis during the grass-court swing, after undergoing right knee surgery in Switzerland on Wednesday.

“My right knee has been bothering me for a little while,” Federer announced on Twitter. “I hoped it would go away, but after an examination, and discussion with my team, I decided to have arthroscopic surgery in Switzerland yesterday. After the procedure, the doctors confirmed that it was the right thing to have done and are very confident of a full recovery.

“As a result, I will unfortunately have to miss Dubai, Indian Wells, Bogota, Miami and the French Open. I am grateful for everyone’s support. I can’t wait to be back playing again soon, see you on the grass!”

The 38-year-old, who reached the Australian Open semi-finals (l. to Djokovic) last month, also underwent arthroscopic left knee surgery on 3 February 2016, limiting him to seven tournaments that season.

pic.twitter.com/VVGI1o8XYZ

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) February 20, 2020

It was in January 1983 that Bjorn Borg announced his retirement from professional tennis, leaving behind a Hall of Fame legacy that redefined the game. Now, 37 years later, another Borg has arrived on the scene.

On Tuesday, Bjorn’s son Leo Borg made his pro debut at the Trofeo Perrel Faip in Bergamo, Italy. The ATP Challenger Tour event, which is celebrating its 15th edition, welcomed the 16-year-old with a main draw wild card. Despite falling to fellow teen Chun-hsin Tseng 6-3, 6-1 in the first round, Borg admits he learned a lot from the experience.

“My level is not so far from this,” said the Swede. “It was a very positive experience. I had fun and I enjoyed it. I feel it was a good performance for me.”

Borg’s arrival on the Challenger circuit has been one of the more talked about storylines this week. The teen, who has been developing his game in juniors in recent years, decided to step up to the next level and test his talents. The local media took notice, with two of the most important Italian TV stations – Sky Sports and Mediaset – traveling to Bergamo to cover the Swede’s debut. Tournament organisers hurried to put together a press conference, with more journalists arriving as the day progressed.

Despite the fanfare surrounding the occasion, Borg is blocking out all the noise. Comparisons with his father are only natural, but he admits he is doing better at focusing on his own game and what he can control.

Not wanting to be a distraction, the elder Borg remained in Stockholm, while his son traveled to Bergamo with coach Marios Dimakos. But that did not stop him from preparing young Leo for the moment, providing words of encouragement before the 16-year-old stepped on the court for what would be an anxious debut.

“At first it was a bit difficult to manage the comparisons with my father, but now it’s alright. Of course we spoke before this match and he told me to enjoy the moment, to have fun and not to think about victory or defeat.”

Having grown up a fan of Rafael Nadal, Borg hopes to take one critical trait from the Spaniard: his fighting spirit and “ability to fight for every ball”. The teenager will continue to plot his ascent on the junior circuit for the foreseeable future, while seizing any professional opportunities that come his way.

“I believe that in 2020 I will combine events at many levels. I will come back to play juniors, but I hope to make some ATP points too, playing in ATP Challenger and ITF tournaments.”

Next week, Borg will travel to Pau, France, where he will make his second Challenger appearance at the Terega Open Pau-Pyrenees.

Prior to this week, Pat Cash had only observed Brandon Nakashima’s game through videos. The former Wimbledon champion is now getting an up-close look at the #NextGenATP American in their first week working together at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com.

Nakashima admitted that he hadn’t watched footage of Cash’s Wimbledon triumph, but knew of his on-court accomplishments and what he could offer as a coach. The pair have quickly hit it off as the 18-year-old has powered into the quarter-finals in his ATP Tour debut.

“It’s nice to work with a kid who’s very keen, focussed and has a lot of talent,” Cash said. “I’m just getting to know him, but I’ve been very impressed with his mentality. He’s very good under pressure, wins a lot of tie-breakers. He was just looking forward to the match [on Monday] and knew there was a possibility he could get the win.”

Cash and Nakashima were originally scheduled to spend this week training in California before heading to an ATP Challenger Tour event next week in Calgary. But after the San Diego native received a wild card into Delray Beach, Cash adjusted his travel arrangements.

The Aussie nearly didn’t make it after discovering en route to the airport in Brisbane that he had lost his passport. He managed to get a new passport photo at the last moment and arrived in Florida at 5:30am on Monday, less than eight hours before Nakashima took the court for his first-round match.

Although some players prefer not to tinker with their game during a tournament, Cash is trying to implement parts of their planned training week in Delray Beach. The former No. 4 in the FedEx ATP Rankings believes that developing one’s game shouldn’t be limited to practice sessions at home and is essential for Nakashima to continue progressing this week.

“My job is to come here with a game plan and to improve his game,” Cash said. “We thought we were going to be training this week and play a tournament next week, but now we’re cramming in two tournaments. You’ve got to learn how to improve stuff when you’re on the road. He’s a good professional already. I’m very impressed.”

Nakashima has been travelling this season with coach Beau Treyz. Although Cash hasn’t finalised his plans with the rising American beyond the next two weeks, he’s open to travelling more with him throughout the year. Although he’s impressed with what Nakashima currently brings to the table, he’s even more excited about unlocking his full potential.

“He’s got a lot of developing to do. He’s got good technique and is very solid on the baseline. Now he needs to develop a big shot, a bit more power, and keep getting fitting and stronger,” Cash said. “There are a lot of good players out there who play like him, so now he needs finds to something a bit special. That’s what we’ll be working on.”

#NextGenATP American Brandon Nakashima continued to turn heads with his all-court game on Wednesday at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com. The 18-year-old wild card, competing in his debut ATP Tour event, raced past British qualifier Cameron Norrie 7-5, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.

”I always knew that I had the game to compete with these high-level pros. I just had to have the right opportunities,” Nakashima said. “I was just hoping to play a good first-round match here, but after winning these two matches, I have a lot of confidence in my game now… Hopefully I can keep it going.”

Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, Nakashima’s newly appointed coach, watched in the stands as the teenager used powerful groundstrokes to stay on top of Norrie in their rallies. With Norrie serving at 5-6 in the opening set, the wild card cracked a 95mph forehand winner to earn two set points and then laced a backhand passing shot to grab the early advantage.

The angle on this… ??

Watch the @DelrayBeachOpen live on @TennisTV ? pic.twitter.com/2LQkYOeMgi

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 19, 2020

The San Diego native continued to raise his level as Norrie became visibly frustrated. He dropped just six points on serve in the second set and converted both break points to prevail in one hour and 22 minutes. He is the youngest quarter-finalist at this event since an 18-year-old Kei Nishikori took the title in 2008 and the fourth-youngest in tournament history.

WHAT a debut ?

18-year-old Nakashima is into the @DelrayBeachOpen QF, overcoming Norrie 7-5 6-2 ?

?: @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/NECMK6BsbV

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 19, 2020

Awaiting him in the next round is Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, who eased past American qualifier Noah Rubin 6-1, 6-2. Nishioka only lost seven points on serve (32/39) and didn’t offer Rubin a break point.

”He’s obviously had a really good career so far and has had a lot of great wins,” Nakashima said. “I’m just excited to play and am looking forward to a good match tomorrow.”

Fourth seed Reilly Opelka put in a flawless serving display to dismiss Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-4. The 22-year-old has yet to drop serve this week and has fired 37 aces across his first two rounds.

“I’m trying to get better in every department. The serve doesn’t do it. You’ve got to have more than that,” Opelka said. “I like playing here. I live not far at all from here, so being able to sleep in my own bed and feel like I’m at home for once is nice.”

Next up for Opelka is South Korean Soonwoo Kwon, who outlasted American wild card Ryan Harrison in a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(0) battle. Kwon let slip two match points with Harrison serving at 4-5 in the final set, but recovered to prevail in two hours and 39 minutes. The 22-year-old is through to his third quarter-final this month, having also reached the last eight in Pune and New York.

Third seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos made a statement in their first-round match on Wednesday at the Rio Open presented by Claro, breaking Juan Ignacio Londero and Albert Ramos-Vinolas five times for a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory. Last year’s US Open finalists will take on Maximo Gonzalez and Fabrice Martin in the next round.

Roman Jebavy and Igor Zelenay rallied to defeat Marcelo Demoliner and Matwe Middelkoop 5-7, 6-3, 10-8. They’ll now turn to their attention to a quarter-final clash with second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.

At the Open 13 Provence, Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic needed 73 minutes to move past Pune finalists Jonathon Erlich and Andrei Vasilevski 6-3, 7-5. The second seeds will face Frederik Nielsen and Tim Puetz for a place in the championship match.

Nielsen and Puetz converted four of eight break points to beat Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 6-7(3), 10-8. After failing to convert match point at 5-4 in the second set, Nielsen and Puetz rallied from 4/7 down in the Match Tie-break to reach the semi-finals.

Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin also advanced, beating Hubert Hurkacz and Gilles Simon 7-6(5), 6-4. The fourth seeds will meet Nicolas Mahut and Vasek Pospisil in the quarter-finals. Mahut and Pospisil saved six of seven break points to defeat French wild cards Arthur Cazaux and Harold Mayot 7-5, 6-1.

At the Delray Beach Open, Marcelo Arevalo and Jonny O’Mara defeated third seeds Marcus Daniell and Philipp Oswald for the second straight week. Adding to their success at last week’s New York Open, Arevalo and O’Mara broke serve on four occasions to claim a 6-4, 6-2 victory after 67 minutes.

Arevalo and O’Mara will meet face wild cards Christian Harrison and Dennis Novikov in the quarter-finals. The American pairing won 82 per cent of first-serve points (31/38) to defeat Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt 6-4, 6-4.

Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak booked a quarter-final clash against top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan. Sharan and Sitak recovered from a set down to beat Andre Goransson and Ugo Humbert 5-7, 6-4, 10-7. Five-time champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan advanced to the quarter-finals via walkover.