Can Alex de Minaur’s red-hot form carry him all the way to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 crown?

The Australian wasted little time booking his spot in the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers championship match with a 6-1, 6-3 triumph against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Saturday in Toronto. De Minaur stayed largely solid to ease to victory against his under-par opponent in just 78 minutes, breaking in all but one of the Spaniard’s eight service games to reach his fourth ATP Tour final of the season.

“It was a very tough day. Very tricky conditions out here,” said De Minaur. “Very windy, and not easy to play tennis, so from the first point I just told myself to stay positive. I was going to try and win every point, try to be solid and not expect perfect tennis. I think that made the difference today.”

Now 16-5 since the beginning of the grass-court season in June, De Minaur will meet seventh seed Jannik Sinner or 12th seed Tommy Paul on Sunday at Sobeys Stadium as he chases the biggest title of his career. His run in Toronto, where he took out Top 10 opponents Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev prior to Davidovich Fokina, has lifted him five spots to 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Davidovich Fokina’s low-energy performance on Saturday suggested he may have been feeling the effects of his previous exertions this week in Toronto, where he upset seeded players Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud. De Minaur was clinical in capitalising on his opponent’s struggles, cruising to become the first Australian to reach the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers final since Patrick Rafter in 2001.

Even when Davidovich Fokina found some rhythm on return, he was unable to regain control as he offered up 38 unforced errors to De Minaur’s nine overall. The Australian claimed the only hold of the second set in the second game before the windy conditions contributed to seven straight breaks of serve to finish the match.

“[I‘m proud of] bringing out the level that I knew I always could and being able to back it up day after day,” said De Minaur, who had not been past the last 16 of a Masters 1000 prior to this week. “That’s been one of the goals of mine, to stay consistent and keep bringing this level, and give myself chances to play in the deep ends of tournaments. To play against the best in the world and go toe to toe with them.

“I gave myself the chance this week, I’ve taken that opportunity, and tomorrow I get to play another final.”

De Minaur has now risen six spots to No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run in Toronto, three clear of his career-high No. 15. He is set up nicely for a bid to crack the Top 10 for the first time across the rest of the North American hard-court swing.

“For a couple of years now I’ve been chasing that goal, and probably put a lot of stress on myself to try to achieve that,” said De Minaur. “I’m always going to get the absolute most out of myself. I’m not content where I am, so I’m just going to keep on pushing.”

Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer raised their game spectacularly amidst the tension of a Match Tie-break Saturday to reach their maiden ATP Masters 1000 final as a team at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.

The Salvadoran-Dutch pair prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 against Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in Toronto to book a championship-match appointment against Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury or Kevin Krawietz/Tim Puetz. Arevalo and Rojer won eight of the final 10 points from 2/3 in the Match Tie-break against Granollers and Zeballos to complete a 93-minute semi-final win.

Coming up clutch 💪@CheloArevaloATP and Jean-Julien Rojer book their final tickets 6-3 3-6 10-5 over Granollers/Zeballos

📸 @NBOtoronto | #NBO23 pic.twitter.com/e7OkXVDSzR

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 12, 2023

The six-time ATP Tour champion team Arevalo and Rojer delivered a strong returning display to notch their second victory in three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with Granollers and Zeballos. They carved out seven break points across the three sets, although they were only able to convert one as their opponents forced the Match Tie-break.

Arevalo and Rojer’s previous victory against Granollers and Zeballos came at the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals. Their performances in Toronto this week have boosted their chances of qualifying for the prestigious season finale for a second straight year: Arevalo and Rojer have so far risen three spots to 11th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings as a result of their run at Sobeys Stadium.

Jannik Sinner moved one step closer to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title Friday when he defeated Gael Monfils in the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers quarter-finals.

The 21-year-old survived a heavy-hitting contest to oust the Frenchman 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 after two hours and 22 minutes of exciting baseline rallies. Monfils and Sinner thrilled the crowd to 32 points consisting of nine shots or more, with the Italian firing 20 winners to advance to his fifth Masters 1000 semi-final.

“It was very tough,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “In the second set, I made a couple unforced errors but he raised his level. In the third set, I just tried to stick to my game plan, trying to play a little more free, which I’ve done so I’m very happy about the performance.”

The Italian, who let slip an early break lead in the second set, overcame Monfils’ 19 aces and won 61 per cent of points behind the 36-year-old’s second serve to earn victory at 12:13 a.m. Sinner will next meet 12th seed Tommy Paul, who upset World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz to kick off the evening session.

A deep run in Toronto has lifted Sinner to fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He is trying to qualify directly into the Nitto ATP Finals field for the first time, having replaced countryman Matteo Berrettini as an alternate mid-tournament in 2021.

A two-time finalist at Masters 1000 level, Sinner is aiming for his eighth tour-level title this week. He advanced to the last eight after defeating countryman Matteo Berrettini in his opening match, followed by Andy Murray giving Sinner a walkover Thursday due to an abdominal injury.

The World No. 8 improved to 4-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Monfils, who was playing in his first tour-level quarter-final since last year’s Australian Open.

Monfils earned wins this week against Christopher Eubanks, fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and Aleksandar Vukic despite playing in just his eighth tour-level event of the year due to injury.

Did You Know?
A first-time ATP Masters 1000 champion is guaranteed in Toronto, where Paul, Sinner, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Alex de Minaur are the four remaining.

Carlos Alcaraz will have little time to dwell on his surprise defeat to Tommy Paul in the Toronto quarter-finals Friday night. The 20-year-old Spaniard will immediately head to the Western & Southern Open, where his hold on the No. 1 Pepperstone ATP Ranking is under threat.

Novak Djokovic returns to American soil for the first time since 2021 and with no points to defend at the ATP Masters 1000 event the Serbian has the opportunity to reclaim the mantle he has held for 389 weeks throughout his career.

And Alcaraz doesn’t have an easy draw at the Lindner Family Tennis Centre: He is seeded to meet Paul for the second time in two weeks, this time in the third round.

“I realise that I didn’t play well, these matches,” the 20-year-old said of a sketchy first tournament back after his Wimbledon triumph. “So all I can do now is practise to be better. I have some weeks before the US Open. But now I have to be focussed on Cincinnati. It’s a Masters 1000. It’s a big tournament as well.

“Obviously, I take a lot of lessons from this tournament, coming to the next ones… I think I did well some things in this tournament, but probably everything can be better.”

After slipping to 1-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head against Paul, who also beat him in Canada this time last year, the reigning US Open champion had high praise for the American, who has moved to a career-high No. 12 in the Pepperstone Live ATP Rankings.

“He’s certainly a complete player. The matches that we have played has been really tough ones, last year in Miami and this one,” Alcaraz said. “He’s a really solid player. Has great talent, great shots. He’s really, really fast as well. So he’s one of the best players in the world right now. There’s no doubt about it.

“He’s really tough on every surface. I mean, he’s a mix of everything. It makes him really, really tough.”

Despite Friday’s defeat, Alcaraz still leads the ATP Tour with 49 match wins and six titles on the season. He also has a 940-point lead over Djokovic in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He is the only player to have qualified for this year’s Nitto ATP Finals, where he will make his debut after missing last year through injury.

Tommy Paul ended Carlos Alcaraz’s 14-match winning streak when he upset the World No. 1 in Friday’s quarter-finals at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.

The American struck the ball cleanly to down the top seed 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 and reach his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final. The 26-year-old, who defeated Alcaraz last year in Montreal, displayed all-court coverage and often looked for opportunities to move forward to earn his first win over a World No. 1.

“I played a really good match today. I really went after my shots,” Paul said in his on-court interview. “You can’t start any points on your heels against him or he’ll take advantage of that. So you really have to go after your shots early in the rally and I was feeling really good on the first-strike tennis. That was the difference today.”

The 12th seed won 21 of 23 net points and rushed Alcaraz with aggressive returning throughout the two-hour, 20-minute battle, in which the Spaniard committed 17 unforced forehand errors.

Despite being broken while serving for the opening set at 5-2, Paul stayed focussed to close the set in the ensuing game. Alcaraz grew frustrated with his unforced errors, while the World No. 14 showed smooth transition from defence to offence to reach the last four.

The Spaniard increased his level as he won 10 consecutive points from 2-3 in the second set, during which he struck a tweener past Paul that brought the Toronto crowd to their feet. But it was Paul who gained an advantage by earning a break in the sixth game of the final set and won 76 per cent of points behind his first serve in the decider. 

The one-time tour-level titlist improved to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Alcaraz, who slips to 49-5 on the season. Last year, Paul saved a match point to down Alcaraz in Montreal.

“It helps knowing that you can beat your opponent,” Paul said. “You never want to walk on the court and be like ‘I don’t know if I can beat this guy’. It’s the attitude you’ve got to have no matter who you are playing. I would say it helped a little bit.”

A semi-finalist at this year’s Australian Open, Paul will next meet seventh seed Jannik Sinner or Frenchman Gael Monfils. The New Jersey native is at a career-high No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Alcaraz, who has collected a season-leading six tour-level titles, suffered his first loss since Roland Garros. It was also his first quarter-final loss of 10 appearances in the last eight this year. He could meet Paul again next week in Cincinnati, where they are seeded to meet in the third round.

With Friday’s doubles action exclusively on the Grandstand at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, fans in Toronto’s second stadium were treated to a nail-biting day of quarter-final matches.

First up, seventh seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos upset fourth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 7-5, 6-7(6), 10-8. The Spanish-Argentine team saved both break points against them and won 85 per cent of their first serve points in the dramatic victory, with the pair recovering quickly after losing its first set of the week.

Seeking their eighth tour-level title as a team and their first of 2023, this year’s Wimbledon finalists will meet 2022 Roland Garros champs Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer in Saturday’s semis.

Arevalo/Rojer won a Match Tie-break of their own, edging eighth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-0, 6-7(4), 10-8 on Friday afternoon. Despite a dominant start and five breaks of serve, the El Salvadoran-Dutch pair needed to hold its nerve down the stretch to reach its first ATP Tour semi-final since Geneva in May. 

In the opposite half of the draw, third seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury continued their Toronto run with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 win against Max Purcell and Andrey Rublev, surviving 10 aces to advance. They will take on sixth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in the semis after the Germans won the lone straight-sets match of the day, 7-5, 6-3 against Hubert Hurkacz and Mate Pavic.

The Western & Southern Open draw was revealed on Friday, with top seeds Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic in the same field for the first time since their Wimbledon final epic. While the top two players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings can only meet in the title match at the Cincinnati ATP Masters 1000, there will be plenty of intrigue long before that in the opening round.

Among the many must-see first-round matchups, breakout American stars Ben Shelton and Christopher Eubanks will clash on home soil, 13th seed Cameron Norrie will meet Gael Monfils, and 16th seed Alexander Zverev will face Grigor Dimitrov.

Perhaps the biggest of the early blockbusters will see 12th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime bid to break out of his recent slump when he meets Matteo Berrettini. Auger-Aliassime defeated the Italian two years ago in Cincinnati, but that is his only win in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head Series, which Berrettini leads 4-1.

Both men will be eager to make up for early exits in Toronto, where Berrettini lost to countryman Jannik Sinner in the second round and Auger-Aliassime was upset by Aussie Max Purcell to bring his losing streak to four matches.

Other first-round showdowns in Cincinnati include Andy Murray vs. 11th seed Karen Khachanov, ninth seed Taylor Fritz vs. Jiri Lehecka, and Toronto semi-finalist Alex de Minaur vs. J.J. Wolf.

Defending champion Borna Coric will open against Sebastian Korda in another marquee matchup, with the 15th seed in line for a potential Cincy final rematch against fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round.

Another potential third-round showdown could see Zverev and third seed Daniil Medvedev renew their rivalry, with Medvedev leading their Lexus ATP Head2Head 9-6.

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz will open against John Isner or a qualifier, and the Spaniard is seeded to meet Tommy Paul in the third round and Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals.

Novak Djokovic will begin his campaign against Toronto semi-finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Tomas Martin Etcheverry, with Norrie and Sinner potentially beyond that.

Main-draw play at the 2023 Western & Southern Open will take place from 12-20 August.