Sebastian Baez made a winning start to his Tennis Napoli Cup campaign on Wednesday when he moved past Italian Lorenzo Sonego 7-5, 7-6(3) to reach the second round.

In a tight match, the Argentine broke twice and struck 23 winners to advance after two hours and 15 minutes at the ATP 250 event, improving to 1-2 in his ATP Head2Head series against Sonego.

The sixth seed, who snapped an 11-match losing streak, will next face Chinese qualifier Zhizhen Zhang or Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.

In other action, Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena defeated Chilean Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 6-4, while Corentin Moutet edged #NextGenATP Italian Luca Nardi 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 6-2 in three hours and 32 minutes.

The 19-year-old Nardi is currently 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Milan on 385 points. He is 37 points behind 10th-placed Dominic Stricker. The Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals will be held from 13-20 November.

Play is currently suspended in Naples due to humidity on the courts in Italy.

Stefanos Tsitsipas is the ultimate “closer” when serving this season.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the current Top 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings from the 2022 season identifies the Greek as the leading player who holds serve the most after building at least a two-point lead in his service games. Tsitsipas has surged to a 30/0, 40/0, and 40/15 lead 946 times this season and has only dropped serve seven times from these three specific point scores. It’s a jaw-dropping stat, especially considering it does not add up to getting broken even one percent (.007%) of the time.

A “closer” is a specialized baseball pitcher brought in toward the end of the game when his team is leading. His job is to convert the lead into a victory. Tsitsipas perfectly fits the bill from a tennis serving perspective.

Stefanos Tsitsipas: 2022 Season

• Holding from 30/0 – 4 service games lost from 366.
• Holding from 40/0 – 0 service games lost from 269.
• Holding from 40/15 – 3 service games lost from 311.
• Combined – 7 service games lost from 946.
• Combined Hold Percentage – 99.3%

The following breakdown identifies the leading players in the Top 10 rankings holding serve from 30/0, 40/0, and 40/15.

Holding From 30/0 (Top 10 Average = 97.2%)

1. Stefanos Tsitsipas = 98.9% (362/366)
2. Taylor Fritz = 98.6% (285/289) )
3. Felix Auger-Aliassime = 97.5% (314/322) )

A 30/0 lead is a solid way to start a service game, but the server has still only won two of the required four points to hold serve. It seems like there is still ample opportunity for things to get sideways for the server. Not so for Tsitsipas, Fritz, and Auger-Aliassime, who close the door on their service games better than anyone else in the Top 10. They were also the only three players in the data set to hold from greater than 97 per cent of the time.

Holding From 40/0 (Top 10 Average = 99.5%)

T1. Stefanos Tsitsipas = 100% (269/269) )
T1. Felix Auger-Aliassime = 100% (213/213) )
T1. Alexander Zverev = 100% (112/112) )
T1. Novak Djokovic = 100% (93/93) )

Overall, the current Top 10 have only dropped serve 10 times (1844/1854) this season when leading 40/0. No current Top 10 player has dropped more than two service games from 40/0. Stepping outside the data set, Maxime Cressy is the only player since 2015 to have led 40/0 more than 200 times and not dropped serve, holding 275 consecutive times from 40/0.

Holding From 40-15 (Top 10 Average = 98.1%)

1. Stefanos Tsitsipas = 99.0% (308/311) )
2. Felix Auger-Aliassime = 99.0% (287/290) )
3. Alexander Zverev = 98.5% (133/135)

The point score of 40/15 is once again a dominant scoreline for the Greek, only dropping serve three times in 311 service games. Interestingly, current world No. 1, Carlos Alcaraz, has dropped serve from 40-15 eight times (247/255) this season, which is more than any other Top 10 player.

Tsitsipas is currently ranked No. 5 in the ATP rankings and is competing in the Stockholm Open this week. He is less than 900 points behind the players ranked two to four, and only 1800 points separates Tsitsipas and world No. 1, Alcaraz. Tsitsipas is in contention to equal or surpass his career-high ranking of No. 3, and the top rung is certainly in play if he can once again capture the Nitto ATP Finals, which he did in 2019.

Jack Draper will be the first Briton to compete in the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals. The lefty on Wednesday qualified for the 21-and-under season finale, which will be played in Milan from 8-12 November.

The 20-year-old entered the season with two tour-level wins, but has tallied a 16-9 tour-level record in 2022 to establish himself as a star on the ATP Tour. Draper joins Lorenzo Musetti and Holger Rune in the Milan field. BUY TICKETS NOW

The Briton was the No. 265 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings at the start of the year. He has climbed as high as World No. 46, a bigger jump than anyone else in the Top 50.

Draper won four ATP Challenger Tour titles early in the year and never relinquished his momentum. The lefty served his way to his first ATP Tour semi-final in front of his home fans in Eastbourne before bursting through at the ATP Masters 1000-level in August in Montreal, where he made the quarter-finals as a qualifier.

During his run in Canada, Draper stunned World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 20-year-old continued his ascent at the US Open, where he made the third round with an upset of Felix Auger-Aliassime.

With his back against the wall Wednesday, Cameron Norrie found a way to reach the quarter-finals at the Stockholm Open.

The second seed trailed Aslan Karatsev 2-4 in the third set but rallied to advance 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-4 at the ATP 250 event. Norrie will next play #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune after the 19-year-old defeated Cristian Garin 7-6(2), 6-1. The 27-year-old Norrie is aiming to win his third tour-level title of the season in Sweden after triumphing in Delray Beach and Lyon.

“It was a tough match,” Norrie said. “Every time Aslan was down he raised his level and he really stole that first set from me. I had a couple of set points and I didn’t execute as well as I could have done in the tie-break. I stayed solid and I was a bit frustrated in the third set but I managed to claw it back. I feel good and fresh.”

In a dramatic match, Norrie recovered from squandering a set point in the first set as he played consistently and patiently from the baseline in the second and third sets to turn the clash around and advance after three hours and two minutes.

The Briton, who is 47-23 on the season, is currently 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin on 2400 points. He will need a strong end to the season if he is to close the gap on seventh-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime (3065 points) and qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 13-20 November.

Denis Shapovalov also advanced, moving past Swiss qualifier Antoine Bellier 6-4, 7-5 in 83 minutes. The Canadian, who reached the semi-finals in Tokyo earlier this month, will next meet Alex de Minaur or J.J. Wolf.

Daniel Evans wasted little time reaching the quarter-finals at the European Open on Wednesday when he cruised past Frenchman Constant Lestienne 6-2, 6-1 in Antwerp.

The fifth seed looked in control throughout the 75-minute match, winning 82 per cent (18/22) of his first-serve points and breaking five times to earn his 27th tour-level win of the season.

The Briton now leads Lestienne 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, after winning their previous meeting in San Diego in September. Evans, who is currently No. 24 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, will next face second-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime or Frenchman Manuel Guinard. Guinard defeated countryman Geoffrey Blancaneaux 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

The 32-year-old is making his second appearance at the ATP 250 event, having reached the semi-finals in 2020. Earlier this season, Evans enjoyed runs to the last four in Sydney, San Diego and an ATP Masters 1000 event in Montreal.