Sabalenka wins first title since Australian Open
Aryna Sabalenka wins her first title since January’s Australian Open by powering past Jessica Pegula in the final of the Cincinnati Open.
Aryna Sabalenka wins her first title since January’s Australian Open by powering past Jessica Pegula in the final of the Cincinnati Open.
Shang Juncheng did not take long to kick-start his campaign at the Winston-Salem Open.
The Chinese #NextGenATP star marked his debut appearance at the hard-court ATP 250 with a commanding 6-2, 6-1 triumph against Francisco Comesana on Monday afternoon. Shang won 10 of the final 11 games to wrap a 69-minute win and set a second-round showdown with seventh seed Mariano Navone.
After winning 80 per cent (24/30) of points behind his first serve against Comesana, according to Infosys ATP Stats, Shang improved to 20-23 for the season. The 19-year-old lefty has enjoyed a breakout year on the ATP Tour in 2024, during which he has reached semi-finals in Hong Kong and Atlanta and risen as high as No. 73 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
With his victory against Comesana on Monday, Shang has also boosted his hopes of reaching the season-ending Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF for the first time. He is currently third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, with only Arthur Fils and Alex Michelsen ahead of him.
Meanwhile a contestant at the past two editions of the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, Dominic Stricker, enjoyed a breakthrough of his own on Monday in Winston-Salem. The 22-year-old downed Federico Coria 7-5, 6-2 to notch his first tour-level win of the season.
Stricker Strikes 🎯@DominicStricker opens the day with a 7-5 6-2 win over Coria!@WSOpen pic.twitter.com/TcaGjqI0FV
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 19, 2024
The Swiss lefty Stricker reached a career-high No. 88 in the PIF ATP Rankings last October, but he did not compete for the first five months of this year due to a back injury. After beating Coria for his first Top 100 win since he upset Casper Ruud in Basel last October, Stricker will next prepare for a second-round clash against 10th seed Lorenzo Sonego.
Alexandre Muller was also an early winner on Monday in North Carolina. The Frenchman defeated his countryman Constant Lestienne 6-3, 6-2 to advance to face 15th seed Pavel Kotov.
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Britain’s Heather Watson, Paul Jubb and Sonay Kartal make it through the first round of qualifying for the US Open.
Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic charged into the ATP Masters 1000 winners’ circle together in style on Monday at the Cincinnati Open.
The fourth-seeded duo eased past home favourites Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelsen 6-2, 6-4 in the championship match in Ohio. Arevalo and Pavic did not face a break point and converted three of five of their own, according to Infosys ATP Stats, as they sealed their fourth tour-level title as a team in just 63 minutes.
🏆 Cincinnati Doubles Champions! 🏆
No. 4 seeds Pavic and Arevalo defeat McDonald/Michelsen 6-2 6-4!@CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/OEcPhxLAJd
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 19, 2024
“It’s never easy in the finals, especially [against] those guys,” said Pavic. “They won a couple of great matches this week, they beat the number one seed, [who] for me at the moment are maybe in the best shape on tour, so they proved they can beat anybody in doubles. They are good singles guys, good players so it was not easy.
“It was a bit of a different matchup, we didn’t know what to expect, we didn’t seen them playing that much, compared to when we played the other doubles teams. We were playing smart, we were playing good [doubles] from the beginning and throughout the week we were playing some good tennis.”
It was the first Masters 1000 crown that Arevalo and Pavic have won together. Since first teaming in January, the pair has also won a Grand Slam title at Roland Garros and two ATP 250 crowns in Hong Kong and Geneva, respectively.
“We have been playing the whole year, so we started playing well and then we had a little bit of ups and downs, but we kept believing, we kept working together as a team, with our coaches and everything,” reflected Arevalo. “After that we started getting better results and now we are feeling confident together, we have good communication.
“I’ve always said it’s super important in a doubles team to have a good vibe on and off the court and I think that’s something that we [have been] doing pretty well for the last [few] months. It takes a lot of work, a lot of dedication and we are just happy that we were able [to win] and we were lucky to get through this match and the title as well.”
With Monday’s victory, Arevalo became the first titlist from El Salvador in Cincinnati tournament history. He and Pavic also consolidated second place in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Rankings. They are now just 460 points behind leaders Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, whom McDonald and Michelsen upset in the semi-finals in Cincinnati.
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#NextGen ATP Frenchman Luca Van Assche sailed past veteran Pablo Cuevas 6-2, 6-1 Monday to advance to the second round of qualifying at the US Open.
Eighteen years younger than his opponent, Van Assche converted five of 10 break points to dispatch the 38-year-old Uruguayan as he bids to make a second main draw appearance at Flushing Meadows, where he lost in the first round on debut last year.
The 20-year-old is currently No. 111 in the PIF ATP Rankings, having slipped from No. 65 a year ago. He is currently fifth in the PIF ATP Race to Jeddah as he aims to return to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF for the second consecutive year.
[ATP APP]Van Assche led the French charge on Day 1 of qualifying, with Richard Gasquet, Lucas Pouille and Harold Mayot all advancing.
Gasquet hopes to make his 20th main draw appearance at Flushing Meadows this year. His best result came in 2013 when he reached the semi-finals, losing to Rafael Nadal in straight sets.
Pouille will aim to replicate his qualifying success at Wimbledon earlier this year, where he won all three matches to make the main draw. The former No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings will face countryman Mayot in the next round, who is trying to advance through qualifying for the first time this year, having fallen in the qualifying rounds at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Former US Open quarter-finalist Diego Schwartzman also progressed to the second qualifying round following his 7-5, 6-3 win over Andrea Pellegrino. Earlier this year, the Argentine announced that he will retire after the Argentina Open in 2025, making this his final US Open. He faces fellow Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante in the next round.
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Top seed Roman Safiullin made a dramatic comeback Saturday at the Cary Tennis Classic, where he saved two championship points to claim his fifth ATP Challenger Tour title.
The 27-year-old escaped Mattia Bellucci 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the final, during which the Italian qualifier led 6-1, 4-1. Safiullin stared down two championship points on serve at 4-5 in the second set, but found a way to turn around the match and lift the trophy after two hours, 53 minutes. Appearing to fade physically in the latter stages, Safiullin let out a sigh of relief when he converted his eighth championship point.
“I just decided to put the ball back [in play], try to let him win it and he made some mistakes and I played some good balls. At the end of the match, I was able to turn it around,” Safiullin told commentator Rob Werner.
“It was super humid today. It was really tough with the conditions, but I’m happy that I managed it. It was a very good test for me ahead of New York, because New York is going to be similar conditions.”
[ATP APP]Following his title run, Safiullin is up seven places to No. 57 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. He was playing just his fifth Challenger event since September 2022.
Now 5-0 in Challenger finals, Safiullin is the sixth player inside the Top 70 to win a title this year at that level. Safiullin last year became the first player since Nick Kyrgios in 2014 to win a Challenger title and reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals in the same season.
In other Challenger action, Damir Dzumhur became the first player this season to win four trophies at that level with his triumph at the RD Open 2024 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The 32-year-old defeated Ecuador’s lucky loser Andres Andrade 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/08/18/19/23/dzumhur-santodomingoch-2024.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Damir Dzumhur in action at the Santo Domingo Challenger.” />
Damir Dzumhur in action at the Santo Domingo Challenger. Credit: Gabriela Ascuasiati
Dzumhur won the inaugural edition of the Santo Domingo Challenger in 2015 and nine years later, the Bosnian returned to the winners’ circle for his 12th Challenger crown.
Coming into the tournament, the former World No. 23 returned to the Top 100 for the first time in four-and-a-half years. Dzumhur is up to No. 81 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, setting him up for his highest ranking since June 2019.
Swiss Marc-Andrea Huesler dropped just one set all week at the Kozerki Open in Poland, where he raced past top seed Vit Kopriva 6-1, 6-4 in the final. The 29-year-old earned his sixth Challenger title and first since April 2022.
“I served well this week, played lots of good tennis and was able to save lots of break points. That helped,” said Huesler, who dropped serve once all week, having saved nine of the 10 break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats. “In the final, as soon as I got a bit tight, my first serve was there, so that really helped me to get through the week. It also allows me to be more aggressive on return and take a couple risks.
“I was not really expecting a lot this week because I didn’t really have a hard court preparation. I saw that when your expectations are low, then at the end of the week, you are standing here as the winner.”
<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/08/18/19/33/huesler-grodziskmazowieckich-2024.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Marc-Andrea Huesler poses with the Grodzisk Mazowiecki ballkids affter the trophy ceremony.” />
Marc-Andrea Huesler poses with the Grodzisk Mazowiecki ballkids affter the trophy ceremony. Credit: Kozerki Open
Carlos Taberner went one step further than his previous week’s runner-up finish in Cordenons with a triumph at the Internazionali di Tennis Citta di Todi Sidernestor Tennis Cup. The Spaniard’s consistency helped him down Argentine Santiago Rodriguez Taverna 6-4, 6-3 in the final to score his seventh ATP Challenger Tour title.
“Very happy to get this title. Maybe by score, the final was the only match of my last three that I won in two sets, but it was not easy,” Taberner said. “It was very, very difficult. I’m very happy because I think the whole time I played the same level.”
<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/08/18/19/29/taberner-todich-2024.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Carlos Taberner celebrates winning the Challenger 75 event in Todi, Italy.” />
Carlos Taberner celebrates winning the Challenger 75 event in Todi, Italy. Credit: Yuri Serafini
World number one Jannik Sinner overcomes Alexander Zverev in a three-set thriller to reach the final of the Cincinnati Open.
Frances Tiafoe reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final in dramatic fashion on Sunday at the Cincinnati Open.
The American rallied from a 2-5 deficit in the third set of his semi-final against Holger Rune and saved two match points on serve at 4-5 before rallying past the 15th seed 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4). Tiafoe will face Jannik Sinner, the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, on Monday for the trophy.
“Crazy, crazy. That last set was nuts,” Tiafoe said in his on-court interview. “It got pretty breezy there at the end so we were kind of just playing the percentages. But yeah, I got really lucky there. I had a couple net cords, but I also battled. I competed really hard and put myself in position.”
🌟 The dream is still alive 🌟@FTiafoe takes out Rune with a 4-6 6-1 7-6 win to face Sinner in the #CincyTennis final!@CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/v1Ip4lREMk
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 19, 2024
Tiafoe began the week with a 19-18 record on the season. But he has found form in a big way under the tutelage of new coach David Witt, becoming the first American to reach the Cincinnati final since John Isner in 2013.
With his victory, Tiafoe ascended to No. 20 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. When the new PIF ATP Rankings are released, there will be five Americans — Taylor Fritz, Sebastian Korda, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton and Tiafoe — inside the Top 20 for the first time since the week of 24 February 1997.
The fans’ favourite was just millimetres from losing. On the first match point he faced at 4-5, Tiafoe hit a forehand that clipped the top of the net and just popped over to stave off elimination. Rune had another opportunity to close out the match, but missed a backhand return.
“At 5-3 I played a really tough game, made returns. The luck goes on your side sometimes. Those net cords made a huge, huge difference,” Tiafoe said. “Saved one of my match points like that. But in the breaker I came up with some good shots, man. I played well, hit some good serves early, didn’t serve great at the end. But I battled, I battled and he got a little tight. One thing led to another and here we are.”
[ATP APP]From there, momentum was firmly in the American’s corner. Rune has one of the best backhands in the world, but Tiafoe was willing to trade blows off that side and often came out better in those rallies.
The three-time ATP Tour titlist hit a sensational curling backhand passing shot crosscourt to take a 6/3 lead in the final-set tie-break and was able to seal his victory after two hours and nine minutes.
Tiafoe hit 13 aces and saved four of the six break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats. The key was second-serve success — the unseeded American won 61 per cent of those points and Rune only managed to capture 46 per cent of them.
Sinner leads Tiafoe 3-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and this will be their first match of the season. They most recently clashed last year in Vienna, where the Italian won 6-3, 6-4. With that in mind, the American said that the top seed is the favourite, but he is excited for the opportunity to battle in front of the Cincinnati fans.
“Absolutely, for sure he is, right? He’s lost like [five] matches all year? He’s the favourite in every match he plays, no question about it,” Tiafoe said. “You’ve got to tip your hat to a guy like him.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]In the second round of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, top seed Roger Federer played an opponent, Rafael Arevalo, who had never cracked the Top 400 in the PIF ATP Rankings. The 22-year-old from El Salvador, not known for its tennis history, would never climb higher than World No. 374.
But that match proved a launching pad for the standout career of another Salvadoran: Rafael’s younger brother, Marcelo Arevalo, who will partner Mate Pavic in the Cincinnati Open final on Monday against Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelsen.
“It was like a dream because my brother was at home, and then a few days later, I was watching my brother on TV against Federer, who at that point was dominating everybody. He still was number one in the world. It was crazy,” Arevalo told ATPTour.com. “Seeing my brother playing against Federer, and coming from the same house, the same family, that’s when it kind of hit me, and I said, ‘You know what, I can also become good. If my brother is there, then I can be like my brother’. And that’s when I actually started taking tennis more seriously.”
Tennis was a family affair for the Arevalo’s. They belonged to a beach club in their hometown of Sonsonate, which had two hard tennis courts.
“I was always [playing] against the wall. I was always with my racquet and one tennis ball and playing on the wall. And then my dad, after a long day, he would play with me,” Arevalo said. “It was crazy, because most of the people would go to the beach club to spend time at the beach. [They would] go to the beach and just be in front of the beach, jump in the water, come back, jump in the water again when they get hot, whatever. But we were spending basically the whole Saturday or Sunday at the tennis court, which was on the opposite side of the beach.”
[ATP APP]Marcelo was inspired by his brother, who is four years older than him. Rafael would travel to different countries to represent El Salvador as a junior.
“Being the younger brother, I was like, ‘Wow, my brother is representing the country, playing in Guatemala or in Honduras, or Nicaragua, or Costa Rica’. So I kind of got into that world also because of him,” Arevalo said. “I wanted, as a younger brother, to be like my older brother, and he was my idol back in the day. I would say he was the reason that I got into the sport.”
Shortly after Rafael played Federer at the Beijing Olympics, Marcelo, then 18, moved to the capital of El Salvador and began homeschooling so he could train four or five hours per day. He reached a career-high No. 8 in the juniors.
“At the end of the day, you’re still a kid, and then you kind of do whatever your parents or your family push you to or guide you [to do],” Arevalo said. “And I was lucky enough that my family was always supportive and let me follow my dreams.”
After playing some ITF World Tennis Tour events as a teen, Arevalo played college tennis at the University of Tulsa, where he was named Conference USA Player of the Year as a sophomore.
The Salvadoran embarked on a professional career in singles, winning three ATP Challenger Tour titles and reaching No. 139 in the PIF ATP Rankings. But his greatest success has come as a doubles standout.
Arevalo went more than three years without a trophy after winning his first ATP Tour title in 2018 with Miguel Reyes-Varela in Los Cabos. But since partnering Jean-Julien Rojer in 2022, he has become one of the very best doubles players in the world.
<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2022/11/15/11/17/arevalo-rojer-turin-2022-tuesday.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Marcelo Arevalo/Jean-Julien Rojer” />
The former college tennis player won seven titles with the Dutchman across two seasons (2022-23) and qualified for the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals. That season, the pair won Roland Garros, making Arevalo the first Central American Grand Slam champion.
“I feel it’s still not normal and I think that’s something that I would love to keep that way, because I feel like whenever I win something, it doesn’t matter if it’s something big or small,” Arevalo said. “I still feel the same joy from years ago when I won my first ATP 250 back in 2018. In that moment, it was probably the biggest achievement of my career. But nowadays, for example, after I won Hong Kong at the beginning of the year, I felt that same happiness, the same joy, and that’s something that I really like about myself, because I try to enjoy the moment.
“It doesn’t matter if you are on the top or on the bottom, a win is a win, I always think that way. And of course, you’ve got to be grateful when you win big things, big titles like Grand Slams or ATP Masters 1000s. But you always have to also accept, or be aware, that those titles might not come that often.”
<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/06/08/18/10/arevalo-pavic-roland-garros-2024-final.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Marcelo Arevalo, Mate Pavic” />
Arevalo has not had to worry about that this year. The Salvadoran has formed a fruitful partnership with Croatian Mate Pavic. They triumphed at Roland Garros and are second in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, well on their way to Nitto ATP Finals qualification.
The 33-year-old has come a long way in the 16 years since he watched his brother play Federer on television.
“It’s amazing. I feel like it’s a whole family dream, a whole family achievement. I think everyone [put in] effort for me to be where I am right now, in terms of dedicating time, investing money,” Arevalo said. “I remember my parents instead of going for vacation would not go because they needed to pay for our tennis travels, send us to tournaments or sometimes for a week to an academy, to try to play with better kids. So it was a whole family effort.
“At the end of the day, maybe I’m the one representing my family in this whole dream, but I see it as a whole family effort, a dream come true.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Will this be the year Borna Coric emerges victorious at the Winston-Salem Open? The former No. 12 player in the PIF ATP Rankings made a good start towards that goal on Sunday.
Coric defeated Sumit Nagal 6-4, 6-2 in 70 minutes to reach the second round of the ATP 250 event. The Croatian is now 8-3 at the tournament, including a semi-final showing last year.
“I like the fast conditions, and obviously, also during the day, it’s actually much quicker than when I play at night,” Coric said in his on-court interview. “But I like the city as well. It’s obviously very calm and before I go to New York, I need some calm, so that’s very good.”
After breaking to open the second set, Coric lost his serve in the next game. But the three-time ATP Tour titlist remained undeterred, claiming 89 per cent of his first-serve points and breaking Nagal’s serve four times to move on.
“I knew obviously I didn’t need to panic, because it was still one-all, and I just stayed calm,” Coric said. “I was feeling very good on the court today, so I knew I just needed to be patient and my time would come.”
Coric will next face top seed Sebastian Baez, who lifted the Winston-Salem trophy last year.
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In the match of the day, Zizou Bergs clawed past big-serving American wild card Reilly Opelka 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1) in two hours and 20 minutes. The Belgian withstood 14 Opelka aces and saved three of the four break points he faced.
“It’s great. I came early because I lost early in Cincinnati, so I had some time to explore a little bit,” Bergs said. The second-round opponent for sixth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry later added: “I just got my first match with a nice atmosphere. So it was good, night session is always special and nice to get [a win].”
In the top section of the draw, Frenchman Arthur Cazaux overcame Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-1, 7-6(3). In a match that was interrupted by heavy rain, Cazaux rallied from a 0-3 deficit in the second set to triumph in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting and set a clash with 16th seed Rinky Hijikata.
Australian Aleksandar Vukic hit 11 aces and converted four of his 15 break points to rally past Briton Daniel Evans 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. Vukic did not face a break point after the first set according to Infosys ATP Stats and he will next challenge fourth seed Adrian Mannarino.
Hungarian Marton Fucsovics also won a three-setter, battling past Japan’s Taro Daniel 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. He will take on #NextGenATP American Alex Michelsen, who is still in Cincinnati to compete in the ATP Masters 1000 event’s doubles final at 1 p.m. Monday alongside Mackenzie McDonald, who is scheduled to play singles later in the evening in Winston-Salem against Corentin Moutet.
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