Tennis News

Cobolli saves 3 MPs, upsets home favourite Paul in Cincinnati

Flavio Cobolli battled back from the brink to notch a milestone win on Monday afternoon at the Cincinnati Open.

The 22-year-old Italian saved three match points en route to a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 upset of home favourite Tommy Paul at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Ohio. Cobolli held firm under severe pressure from Paul in the 10th game of the deciding set, when he recovered from 15/40 to hold serve and avoid defeat. He then crucially broke Paul’s serve in the next game, before serving out for a two-hour, six-minute triumph.

His first-round victory against World No. 13 Paul was Cobolli’s biggest by PIF ATP Ranking, although the 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF competitor arrived in Cincinnati with some good recent pedigree against Top 20 opponents. He defeated 14th-ranked Ben Shelton en route to his maiden ATP Tour final in Washington two weeks ago, before defeating 19th-ranked Felix Auger-Aliassime in Montreal last week.

Cobolli 🤝 Cinci 🙌

He takes down home hope Paul with a 6-2 4-6 7-5 win 🔥@CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/pygjnT8Kjb

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 12, 2024

Cobolli made a rapid start to his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Paul but was later forced to rally from 1-3 in the decider and then save the three match points in the 10th game of the third set. The Italian completed his win having struck 25 winners to his opponent’s 15, and he converted six of 12 break points he earned in the match, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Having started 2024 as the World No. 101, Cobolli is now up to No. 30 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings after clinching his sixth Masters 1000 match win of the year. Next up for the Italian at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, where he is making his tournament debut, is a second-round clash against Alejandro Tabilo or countryman Luciano Darderi.

Paul was seeking a deep run in Cincinnati this week as he chases a maiden appearance at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals. The American lifted his first ATP 500 trophy at the Queen’s Club in June and then reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics, but he won just one match across Montreal and Cincinnati. The 27-year-old is currently 11th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and he remains 370 points behind eighth-placed Alex de Minaur, who currently occupies the final qualification spot.

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Alcaraz calls playing with Nadal ’something I will never forget’

Carlos Alcaraz returns to the Cincinnati Open one year on from a memorable championship match here against Novak Djokovic, which he lost in a gruelling three hours and 49 minutes. This time, he has more experience in his back pocket.

The Spaniard brings with him to Mason priceless experience from the Paris Olympics, where he partnered Rafael Nadal in the men’s doubles. The pair lost in the quarter-finals to eventual silver medalists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram of the United States.

“It was a great experience, talking with Rafa off the court, knowing each other much better off the court. It was a great experience, obviously, playing doubles together. It was great,” Alcaraz said during his press conference Sunday in Cincinnati. “It was something that I will never forget, for sure. I learned a lot talking to him on court, off the court as well. I think we played a great tennis in doubles, even if we are not used to playing doubles very often.

“A little bit disappointing at the end, because we thought that we could do it better, but in general, we were happy. And obviously talking about myself, I reached my dream, my dream came true, playing doubles alongside Rafa.”

Nadal has earned countless accolades in his career. The 38-year-old has spent 209 weeks at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, won 22 major titles and 36 ATP Masters 1000 trophies. Alcaraz was able to pick his countryman’s brain in Paris to learn from all of his experiences. What advice from Nadal helped him the most?

“How to deal with some situations playing doubles. Sometimes when we were down, he was there in a positive way, talking to me like, ‘Well, right now they are going to feel [it] with the pressure. We have to just stay there, put some balls in, try to get them in trouble’,” Alcaraz said. “Some situations, some things that you probably don’t see, or is difficult to see, he sees very, very clear and off the court, how to prepare the difficult situations or the matches. It [was] a master class.”

Alcaraz claimed the silver medal in singles, losing the gold-medal match in two tie-breaks to Djokovic. The winner of Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, Alcaraz is hungry to learn from that defeat to continue challenging for and winning the biggest tournaments.

In Cincinnati, the second seed can complete the full set of American Masters 1000 titles, having already triumphed at Indian Wells and Miami.

“I always want to be better. I always think that I could do it better. Obviously, I had a great summer: Roland Garros, Wimbledon, silver in the Olympics. Obviously, I wanted the gold medal,” Alcaraz said. “After the matches, if I win or I lose, I like to find the bad things that I did in the matches, try to be better, try to in the next match not make the same mistakes in the shots or dealing with some situations. And that’s what happened.

“That’s what I saw in the final in Paris, that I couldn’t deal with the situations as good as I wanted, and that’s what I was thinking after the match, just to be better, and probably being harder on myself.”

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#NextGenATP Gaubas survives three-hour final, wins first Challenger title

#NextGenATP Vilius Gaubas tossed his racquet in relief and threw his hat down on the Italian red clay. Covering his face with his hands, the 19-year-old had just clinched a milestone moment in his young career. Gaubas on Sunday won the Serena Wines 1881 – Acqua Maniva Tennis Cup, his first ATP Challenger Tour title.

Gaubas, the youngest of three Lithuanian champions in Challenger history (since 1978), rallied past Spaniard Carlos Taberner 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in a three-hour, two-minute title match amidst humid conditions. The teen failed to serve the match out at 5-3 in the decider, but quickly rebounded to triumph in his third Challenger final.

“Amazing sensations,” Gaubas said in his on-court interview. “I lost the first set, it was very difficult. Carlos was playing very good. It was very hot, humid. Then in the end, I just tried to enjoy it and play my best. Winning it was an amazing feeling.”

Seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, Gaubas is aiming for his maiden trip to the 20-and-under Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, which runs from 18-22 December.

“For the end of the year, I think one of my goals is to enter the Next Gen tournament and hopefully I can get into US Open qualifying,” said Gaubas, who is at a career-high World No. 186 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

Jacob Fearnley is also at a career-high, No. 162, following his title run at the Lincoln Challenger. Having competed in just three Challenger tournaments this year, the 23-year-old who graduated from Texas Christian University in May has lifted the trophy at two of those appearances. The Briton raced past #NextGenATP Coleman Wong 6-4, 6-2 to win the hard-court event in Lincoln, Nebraska.

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/08/12/16/33/fearnley-lincolnch-2024.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Jacob Fearnley celebrates winning the Lincoln Challenger.” />
^{Jacob Fearnley celebrates winning the Lincoln Challenger. Credit: Lincoln Challenger}

Fearnley won his first Challenger title in June, when he triumphed on the Nottingham grass, claiming the trophy as the then-World No. 525. He won his first major main-draw match at Wimbledon and took a set off seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in the second round.

The in-form Hugo Dellien collected his third Challenger title in the past two months with a dominant run at the Bonn Open in Germany. The 31-year-old Bolivian, who beat Maximilian Marterer 7-6(2), 6-0 in the final, did not drop a set across five matches.

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/08/12/16/27/dellien-bonnch-2024.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Hugo Dellien wins the Challenger 75 event in Bonn, Germany.” />
^{Hugo Dellien wins the Challenger 75 event in Bonn, Germany. Credit: Bonn Open}

Argentine Facundo Mena won his fourth Challenger title and first this season at the DirecTV Open Bogota, where the sixth seed defeated Brazilian Mateus Alves 6-4, 7-5 in the final. Mena, 31, went one step further than his two final appearances in June (Santa Cruz, Ibague).

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/08/12/16/31/mena-bogotach-2024.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Facundo Mena in action at the Bogota Challenger.” />
^{Facundo Mena in action at the Bogota Challenger Credit: DirecTV Open Bogota}

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Fritz, Paul, LeBron James & an Olympics memory for a lifetime

LeBron James is one of the most recognisable people on the planet. If you looked closely at the basketball legend on television during the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics, there were nearby faces familiar to tennis fans, including Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.

With WTA star Coco Gauff a co-flagbearer for the United States alongside James, the rest of the tennis team was invited to the front of the American boat, giving them time with James and the rest of the basketball team.

“It was really cool. It was awesome that Coco was a flagbearer, and it was awesome for all of us as well, because of the fact that we did kind of get to experience the opening ceremonies a little bit differently than all the other Americans, because we were up front with the basketball players,” Fritz told ATPTour.com at the Cincinnati Open, where he is the 11th seed. “We were just right in the front, on the boat in the opening ceremonies. It was one of the coolest experiences.”

James, who helped lead the United States to a gold medal in men’s basketball, took a photo with the entire American tennis contingent.

“It was cool. We were just riding the Coco Gauff train. We were only up there because of her, so it was cool seeing her have her moment,” Paul said. “Obviously unreal to be a flagbearer at the Olympics, so that was really cool.”

The ATP tennis players who attended the Opening Ceremony — Fritz, Paul, Christopher Eubanks and Marcos Giron — also rode to the ceremony on the same bus as their country’s basketball team, which was a who’s who of the best players in the world.

“Being on the on the bus with the U.S. basketball team was really cool, too,” Paul, the 10th seed in Cincinnati, said. “We didn’t talk too much to them. I talked to Jrue Holiday a little bit, and Derrick White, but Bron, we kind of just got a picture with. I think he was talking to Coco most of the time.”

Fritz reached the third round in singles and Paul advanced to the quarter-finals, but they did not come home empty handed. The Americans earned bronze in men’s doubles, joining silver medalists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram as tennis medalists from the United States.

With memories for a lifetime in hand, they will turn their attention to their first tournament in the United States since the Olympics, the Cincinnati Open.

Fritz said: “I think before the event even started, before we were able to medal, just that alone made me happy with my decision to go.”

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Popyrin rides blazing tie-break vs. Korda to reach Montreal final

Alexei Popyrin turned near disaster into unexpected triumph to snap Sebastian Korda’s eight-match winning streak and charge into his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Montreal Sunday night.

After coming within two points of defeat earlier in the day during a tense three-set quarter-final win over Hubert Hurkacz, the Australian survived a roller-coaster opening set against Korda before rolling over the American to claim a 7-6(0), 6-3 win.

“It means the world… it’s an amazing achievement for myself to be honest, and sometimes you have to pat yourself on the back,” said Popyrin, who has followed in the footsteps of countryman Alex de Minaur, who reached the final in Toronto last year. “I’ll do that tonight but tomorrow it’s all hands on deck and back to work.”

“It was a topsy-turvy first set with some breaks here and there. I had some points at 5-4 but played some sloppy points and didn’t convert. I just stayed mentally strong and I knew exactly what I was going to do on my next break point if I got an opportunity. “

Popyrin, who turned 25 last Monday, won 83 per cent of points on his booming first serve and mercilessly attacked the second serve of Korda, who won just 38 per cent of second-serve points.

In Monday’s final Popyrin will play 2024 Madrid champion Andrey Rublev, whom he defeated in the first round of Monte-Carlo at the beginning of the clay season.

Popyrin let slip two set points on Korda’s serve at 5-4 in the first set and when he was broken from 40/15 in the following game, the newly minted Washington champion seemed to have all the momentum. But Popyrin immediately broke back to force a tie-break, in which he blanked Korda 7/0.

Popyrin arrived in Montreal for the hard-court Masters 1000 after winning two matches on clay at the Paris Olympics and had spent eight hours, 22 minutes on court this week en route to the semis.

Earlier in the day Popyrin rallied from a set and 1/3 down against Hurkacz, who was two points from a straight-sets quarter-final victory when the players were locked at 5/5 in the second-set tie-break. But the Australian hit 11 aces and won 75 per cent of his first-serve points to tough out a 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 win despite converting just three of 20 break point chances.

Popyrin came into the match having not won a set against the Pole in their three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings.

Having surged 32 places this week in the PIF ATP Live Rankings to a career-high No. 30, Popyrin will rise to No. 23 should he take the title. Monday’s final begins at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

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Inspired by the rock star Bruce Springsteen

Teen Javed Khan finds unexpected inspiration in Springsteen’s songs

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Rublev beats rain, Arnaldi to reach Montreal final

An extended rain break couldn’t extinguish Andrey Rublev’s explosive run to the final of the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers, as the World No. 8 dismissed Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 6-2 to charge into Monday’s ATP Masters 1000 final in Montreal.

After a one hour, 40 minute suspension in play at 6-4, 1-1 Sunday night, Rublev returned to court crushing winners at will to win five of the final six games of the match.

Rublev advanced to his sixth ATP Masters 1000 final one day after upsetting World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals.

Rublev’s clean-hitting display in the first set took him to the lead after 51 minutes when rain suspended play at 6:05 p.m. local time.

Rublev will play American Sebastian Korda or first-time Masters 1000 semi-finalist Alexei Popyrin in the final.

Arnaldi was competing in his second tour-level semi-final and first at Masters 1000 level. The 23-year-old Italian is currently up 17 spots to No. 29 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

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Alcaraz's big focus: Year-end No. 1

Carlos Alcaraz has enjoyed a hot stretch of form, winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and capturing the singles silver medal at the Paris Olympics. Now the Spaniard has his sights set on one thing: ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours.

The 21-year-old enters the Cincinnati Open just 450 points behind first-placed Sinner in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, which serves as a barometer for year-end No. 1.

“Obviously being No. 1 is a goal every time that I am [behind] and the race is an important ranking for me. At the end of the year, if you end the race No. 1, in the rankings [it is] quite similar, so you’re going to end the No. 1,” Alcaraz said. “So I’m really focused on that. I’m focused on going to every tournament, thinking about playing great tennis, doing a good result just to get better in the race, and this year, ending the year as No. 1 is one of my main goals right now. So I’m looking forward to doing it and let’s see.”

For nearly the entire first half of the season, it seemed Sinner was in prime position to become the first Italian year-end No. 1 in history. But after earning back-to-back major titles, Alcaraz is hot on the 22-year-old’s heels.

“I’m fighting for being No. 1 in the race, that’s something that I really want to to do as soon as possible, if I could do it in the future,” Alcaraz said. “This one is a really important tournament, really good tournament for me. So I’m going to try to play good tennis, try to play same level as I was playing, and let’s see.”

Alcaraz has won 20 of his past 22 matches dating back to the start of Roland Garros. During that stretch, he has emerged victorious against nine of the 10 Top 20 players he has faced.

“I’ve been playing great tennis, but probably most of the matches I won, I won them without playing great tennis, or I felt like I didn’t play really great tennis,” Alcaraz said. “So the way that I approach every match, I stay there strong mentally in some situations, I’m really, really happy about that.

“[I’m happy] about the way that I [handled] some situations, that I stayed there, even knowing that I didn’t play, or I wasn’t playing great tennis. But [I played] with a positive attitude, with the right face always and trying to find solutions in some moments that I could do it. I’m really happy about it.”

After losing a heartbreaking gold-medal match to Novak Djokovic in Paris, Alcaraz went on holiday with one of his brothers and two close friends. “I just needed a few days without thinking about tennis,” he said.

The Spaniard touched a racquet for the first time since the Olympics on Sunday when he practised in Cincinnati. The second seed will play Gael Monfils or Alexei Popyrin in his opening match.

“I’m excited to to play here again. I’m really happy to be back. Obviously great memories from last year, reaching the final, losing a really tight and epic match,” Alcaraz said. “This is a tournament that I love playing and yeah, excited to start the tournament.”

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