Jenson Brooksby underwent arthroscopic right wrist surgery on Thursday to repair his tendon subsheath. It is the same surgery he underwent on his left wrist in March.

The American has not competed since the Australian Open and is unsure when he will return to the court. However, he is excited to come back better.

“I underwent a successful arthroscopic right wrist surgery this morning to fix my dislocated tendon,” Brooksby wrote on Instagram. “Thank you to Dr. Shin and his team at Kerlan Jobe for their care and guidance. My left wrist has been responding well and rehab is going 💪”

 

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Brooksby’s right wrist tendon was between 70 and 80 per cent dislocated compared to his left wrist tendon, which was 100 per cent dislocated. The 22-year-old tried to avoid the second surgery by resting and rehabbing, but the discomfort was too much to overcome. Dr. Steven Shin performed both surgeries.

“Surgery on the right wrist was the best route for me to get back on court 100%,” Brooksby wrote. “I have been playing with heavily taped wrists dating back to the 2nd half of 2022 so this wasn’t something new. The last few months have been tough and I know the next few will present its challenges.”

Brooksby showed good form despite the injuries, upsetting Casper Ruud at this year’s Australian Open. The three-time ATP Tour titlist is keen to tackle his recovery and improve his game.

”I am excited to return to training and work on improving areas of my game, including my serve😉,” Brooksby wrote. “I don’t have a fixed date for return to competition — we will do everything to put me in the best position to succeed.”

Ugo Humbert and Tomas Martin Etcheverry will contest for the ATP Challenger Tour 175 crown in Bordeaux, France after they each advanced in straight sets Friday.

The 24-year-old Humbert continued his form by winning an all-French semi-final against Richard Gasquet 6-0, 6-2 at the BNP Paribas Primrose. Humbert hammered any ball that his countryman left in the middle of the court, while also showing deft feel on numerous drop shots.

Despite getting broken in the opening game of the second set, the World No. 50 Humbert quickly regrouped to oust Gasquet in one hour, 16 minutes. Humbert, who beat another tour veteran, Stan Wawrinka, in the quarter-finals, delivered a strong-serving performance Friday, winning 75 per cent of first-serve points, compared to Gasquet’s 40 per cent.

When Humbert has competed at Challenger Tour events this year, he’s been a dominant force, tallying a 13-2 Challenger-match record. Earlier this month, the Metz native triumphed at the Cagliari Challenger, where he fended off two match points in his quarter-final against Taro Daniel to stay alive.

Back-to-back 175 finals!@HumbertUgo knocks out fellow Frenchman Gasquet 6-0, 6-2 to reach the Saturday title match.#ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/jhkfAMWWBp

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) May 19, 2023

Humbert reached a career-high No. 25 in 2021 and will next aim for a second consecutive Challenger 175 crown Saturday, when he clashes against Etcheverry.

Should the Frenchman win a ninth Challenger title, he would return to the Top 40 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings for the first time since 31 January, 2022.

The heavy-hitting Etcheverry earned the highest-ranked win of his career by upsetting top seed and World No. 28 Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-2 in the semi-finals.

The 23-year-old Etcheverry took a deep return stance that Struff often countered with a serve-and-volley. But the Argentine stayed steady from the baseline, displaying lethal inside-out forehands en route to a one-hour, 14-minute victory. Etcheverry dropped just one point on serve in the opening set and didn’t face a break point all match.

A battle for the Bordeaux title 🏆 #ATPChallenger | @BNPPprimrose pic.twitter.com/Ub2zoaO4jN

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) May 19, 2023

Seeded seventh, Etcheverry has played his best tennis this season. He was a finalist at the ATP 250 events in Santiago and Houston and last month reached a career-high No. 59, which he is guaranteed to surpass this upcoming Monday. A three-time Challenger champion, the La Plata native will next attempt for his biggest career title against Humbert, who defeated him in five sets at Wimbledon last year.

In Bordeaux doubles action, top seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara will contest third seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul in Saturday’s championship match.

Watch Bordeaux Challenger Final: Ugo Humbert vs Tomas Martin Etcheverry (N.B. 3:15 p.m. local time)

Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski reached their first ATP Masters 1000 final as a team on Friday when they moved past Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-3, 7-5 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

The Monegasque-Polish tandem were dominant on serve throughout the 84-minute clash on centre court, winning 93 per cent (27/29) of their first-serve points and saving all three break points they faced to advance.

Nys and Zielinski are yet to drop a set in Rome, having also defeated third seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek. They will play for their first title of the season against Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski or Robin Haase and Botic van de Zandschulp.

Nys and Zielinski are currently fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings and could rise to top spot if they win the title. Earlier this season, they advanced to the Australian Open final, losing against Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler.

Is this the week Casper Ruud or Holger Rune win their first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 title?

The Norwegian and Dane will meet at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Saturday in the first Masters 1000 all-Scandinavian semi-final since Jonas Bjorkman defeated Thomas Enqvist in Paris in 1997.

Ruud arrived in Rome having had a modest season by his standards. The fourth seed lifted his 10th trophy in Estoril but struggled at Masters 1000 events, failing to advance beyond the third round in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo or Madrid. The 24-year-old has looked back to his best on the clay in Rome, though, where he has earned victories against Arthur Rinderknech, Alexander Bublik, Laslo Djere and Francisco Cerundolo to reach the semi-finals in the Italian capital for the third consecutive time.

“Tennis is a strange sport, as we all can tell. And I think I’ve really lived through it the last 12 months or so, some of my best moments of my career and some tougher losses in the past couple of months,” Ruud said following his quarter-final win. “But here we are back in Rome and I feel great. I know that I’ve had success in Italy before in my career, here [I made] two times [the] semi-finals, Turin last year was amazing for me… It’s something in the food maybe, I don’t know.”

Standing in his way from a second ATP Masters 1000 final (Miami 2022) is Rune, who stunned World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to advance to the last four on his debut in Rome. The 20-year-old has reached at least the semi-finals in three of his past six Masters 1000 events, highlighted by his title run in Paris last year.

A regular on the big stage now, the seventh seed has had a strong clay-court season again. Rune enjoyed a run to the final in Monte-Carlo, before he clinched his fourth tour-level title in Munich. Holding a 12-2 record on the surface this season, he will look to take confidence from his victory against Djokovic as he aims to earn his first win against Ruud.

“I stay humble of course. I have a lot to achieve,” said the Dane, who will rise to No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings if he reaches the final. “I think you should always be humble. I think I am, I hope so and I hope people see me this way. I’m a huge fighter on the court and I leave everything when I play my matches.”

Rune demonstrated his explosive game against Djokovic, hammering his groundstrokes with precision and power to outlast the Serbian. The 20-year-old, who has held serve in 42 of his 47 games in Rome, will look to impose his all-court game against Ruud, an opponent Rune has struggled against in the past.

The fourth seed leads the seventh seed 4-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, with all four matches coming on clay. Despite his impressive record, Ruud is aware of the threat Rune holds.

“He’s improved so much. I played him a couple times in 2021 and a couple of times in 2022, and his improvement is just really, really good,” Ruud said. “You can see that his confidence is good on court and [he] really deserves [to be] where he is at the moment.

“He has big goals for his career and is going through one goal by another so I’m just going to try to think about what I’ve done well against him before — I have a winning record against him. Tennis is always open, it’s never over until it’s over, and I’m just going to try to fight.”

With both chasing their second titles of the season, fireworks will be expected when they walk onto center court on Saturday.

View Ruud & Rune’s ATP Head2Head rivalry.

Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will renew their long-running rivalry when they meet for a place in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final on Saturday.

Medvedev and Tsitsipas arrived in Rome last week having had contrasting fortunes at the clay-court event. Medvedev had never won a match in three previous appearances in the Italian capital, while Tsitsipas held a 10-5 record, advancing to the championship match last year.

The third seed Medvedev has found his best level in the Italian capital this fortnight, though, defeating Alexander Zverev en route to his second ATP Masters 1000 clay-court semi-final (Monte-Carlo 2019). The 27-year-old has enjoyed a standout season, earning a Tour-leading 37 wins, with 18 coming at ATP Masters 1000 events. Medvedev, who is currently first in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, has captured five ATP Masters 1000 titles, more than semi-finalists Tsitsipas (2), Rune (1) and Ruud (0) combined.

The third seed has never clinched a tour-level crown on clay, though, and downplayed his chances of winning his fifth trophy of the season in Rome when asked by a journalist following his quarter-final win against German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann.

“I definitely don’t put myself as a favourite,” Medvedev said. “But I have been playing extremely well here, feeling extremely well. So if I manage to play this well in the semi-finals, I’m sure I’m going to give a hard time to my opponent. That’s what I want to do. Hopefully I can go even further and try to win two more matches.”

Medvedev leads Tsitsipas 7-4 in their ATP Head2Head series, with the pair locked at 1-1 on clay. Tsitsipas’ two ATP Masters 1000 triumphs both came on the clay in Monte-Carlo and the Greek looks in good shape to add to his tally this weekend in Rome. The 24-year-old, who has won three of his past four clashes against Medvedev, has not dropped a set en route to his 14th ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.

“He’s been playing well and I’m playing [well] also,” Tsitsipas said on court of his upcoming match against Medvedev. “I feel good on court, regardless if it’s a night session or a day session and I really hope to bring the best out of me against him. I feel like he’s playing better than the years before.”

Tsitsipas used a good mix of power and creativity in his 13th clay-court win of the season against Borna Coric, changing the spin on his shots and executing the drop shot effectively to pull the Croatian around. With Medvedev favouring a deep court position to soak up his opponent’s aggression, Tsitsipas could look to use similar tactics against the third seed to disrupt his rhythm on center court.

Seeking his first trophy of the season in Rome, the Greek will rise to third in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin if he reaches the final, surpassing Novak Djokovic. Medvedev currently leads the Race To Turin and will climb to No. 2 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings if he clinches the crown in Rome.

View Medvedev & Tsitsipas’ ATP Head2Head rivalry.