Tennis News

London Hopes Murray/Skupski Book Vienna Final Spot

Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski advanced to their second final as a team on Friday at the Erste Bank Open.

The Western & Southern Open finalists (l. to Carreno Busta/De Minaur) broke serve on three occasions to defeat Robert Farah and Fabrice Martin 6-4, 6-4 in 77 minutes. Murray and Skupski are chasing their first team trophy in the Austrian capital.

The British standouts are also attempting to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time as a pair. Murray and Skupski entered the tournament in eighth position in the FedEx ATP Battle For London, with four qualification positions still available.

Murray and Skupski will face third seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo or two-time Roland Garros champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies for the trophy. Krawietz and Mies will compete at The O2 in London for the second straight year from 15-22 November.

McLachlan/Skugor Earn Nur-Sultan Quarter-final Win
Ben McLachlan and Franko Skugor reached their second ATP Tour semi-final of the year together at the Astana Open in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

The fourth seeds won 72 per cent of their second-serve return points (13/18) to overcome Sander Arends and Artem Sitak 6-3, 7-6(4). McLachlan and Skugor will face London contenders Max Purcell and Luke Saville in the semi-finals.

Marcelo Arevalo and Tomislav Brkic also advanced at the ATP 250 with a 7-6(4), 3-6, 11-9 victory against third seeds Marcus Daniell and Philipp Oswald. The unseeded pair overcame the Sardinia champions in one hour and 35 minutes to book a semi-final clash against top seeds Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.

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Monfils, Medvedev Play The Percentages On Return

Gael Monfils and Daniil Medvedev have manipulated time and distance on a tennis court to their advantage to lead the ATP Tour in Returns Made in the past two seasons.

Most players traditionally prefer to stand slightly behind the baseline to return first serves and inside it to attack second serves. Monfils and Medvedev are not the norm. They take up residence far behind the baseline to return serve, which reduces the effect of the power of the serve and increases their time to get better prepared and return the ball back into play.

Different strokes for different folks.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of first and second serves returned back in play finds Monfils leading the First Serves Returned table and Medvedev topping the Second Serves Returned list. The data set includes players that competed in a minimum of 25 matches on Hawkeye courts at ATP events in 2018 and 2019.

Monfils put an impressive 75 per cent of first serves back in play. A mark considerably greater than the 67.5 per cent average of the 37 players that qualified for the analysis. There were eight players overall who made north of 70 per cent of their first serve returns, with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Medvedev hot on the heels of Monfils’ Tour-leading average. The leading 10 players in the data set are in the table below.

2018-19 First Serves Returned Infosys LEADERBOARD

Medvedev topped the table for Second Serve Returns In, putting almost nine of every 10 second serve returns back in the court. Medvedev moved up from fourth best in the First Serve Returns leaderboard to top the Second Serve Returns chart, putting 89.7 per cent of second serve returns back in play. The data-set average was significantly lower at 83.3 per cent. Roberto Bautista Agut, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev all made their way high up the list of the leading 10 players returning second serves back in play.

2018-19 Second Serves Returned Infosys LEADERBOARD

Standing up in the court to return serve allows the returner to rebound the serve back quickly, which takes time away from the server and increases the likelihood of a Serve +1 error. Standing further back, like Monfils and Medvedev prefer to do, allows more time to hit the maximum amount of returns back in play to begin the point. This is just another layer of our sport where players seemingly step ‘out of the box’ with a strategy to enhance their specific game style.

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Ruusuvuori Breaks New Ground In Nur-Sultan; Mannarino Survives Tense Finish

Emil Ruusuvuori became the first Finn to reach an ATP Tour semi-final for six years on Friday at the Astana Open. The 21-year-old qualifier blocked out the Kazakhstan crowd and competed with a clear game plan to oust local favourite Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-1. He won 87 per cent of his first-service points.

“Overall, it was one of my best matches in the tournament,” said Ruusuvuori. “I served, returned and moved well, and put Mikhail under a lot of pressure over the two sets. He plays very well on flat shots and likes pace, so I tried to mix it up a bit and made him play some high balls. My serve and return helped a lot today.

“At this point, I’m looking forward to big matches and being in my first semi-final is good. I hope my best performances are still coming and I just want to do my best tomorrow.”

Ruusuvuori started the 2020 season at No. 123 in the FedEx ATP Rankings and is now up to No. 98, having attained a career-high No. 91 on 14 September. On Saturday he will play 32-year-old Adrian Mannarino, who will contest his first tour-level semi-final since October 2019, when he reached the VTB Kremlin Cup final.

Ruusuvuori is the first Finnish player to reach an ATP Tour semi-final since Jarkko Nieminen at Kuala Lumpur in September 2014 (l. to Nishikori).

Earlier in the day, Mannarino survived a late comeback from Mackenzie McDonald for a place in the Nur-Sultan semi-finals. The third-seeded Frenchman came through 6-1, 6-4 in one hour and 40 minutes, but was left to rue missing out on two points for a set and 4-1 lead.

“It was a tough match and I got a little tight at the start of the second set and I lost pace on my serve,” said Mannarino, who committed 12 unforced errors. “I led 3-1 and had two points for a 4-1 lead, and I started to serve too quickly. Mackenzie then started to play really well and started putting on the pressure. He is a really good player.”

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Anderson Earns Milestone Medvedev Win In Vienna

Kevin Anderson made it through to his first ATP Tour semi-final in 21 months at the Erste Bank Open on Friday.

The former World No. 5, appearing in Vienna for the first time since lifting the trophy in 2018, defeated Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 7-6(5) to earn his first Top 10 win since the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals. Anderson was impressive on serve throughout the 89-minute encounter. He won 83 per cent of first-serve points (34/41) and saved the only break point he faced.

”I am very, very pleased. I have waited a long time to play a match like this. It was very high quality and I knew I had to play very well against Daniil to get through,” said Anderson in an on-court interview.

The South African was appearing in his first quarter-final since undergoing a second right knee surgery on 19 February. Anderson improves to 9-8 this season with his seventh straight victory in Vienna. Anderson’s return to the Austrian capital almost ended in the first round, when he saved three consecutive match points to beat Austrian Dennis Novak in a final-set tie-break.

”I love playing here,” said Anderson. “I have good memories from playing a couple of years ago. I was very disappointed not to be able to come back last year, but I am happy to be back here playing great tennis and I am really looking forward to my match tomorrow.”

Anderson will face Nitto ATP Finals contender Andrey Rublev for a spot in the final. The 6’8 right-hander is tied at 1-1 in his ATP Head2Head series against the Russian.

Medvedev was attempting to reach his first semi-final since last month’s US Open. The Russian won back-to-back matches for the first time since that event — against Jason Jung and Vasek Pospisil — to advance to the last eight in Vienna.

Anderson opened the match with an immediate break, as he rushed Medvedev with deep returns and capitalised on unforced errors. The 34-year-old stepped inside the baseline to finish rallies with his forehand and dropped just three first-serve points to take the first set.

Anderson was unable to convert four break points at the start of the second set, but he kept his composure on serve to reach a second-set tie-break. The 2018 champion played with consistency from the baseline to earn three match points and extracted a backhand error from his opponent on his third match point to claim victory.

”Right from the beginning, I felt very good about my game and obviously [I knew] it was going to be tough,” said Anderson. “I couldn’t be happier right now to be through to the semi-finals. Obviously the job is not done. but I just want to take a moment to appreciate the work that has gone in for me to play a match like this.”

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Tiafoe Moves Into Nur-Sultan Semi-finals; Millman Saves 2 M.P.

Frances Tiafoe booked a place in his first ATP Tour semi-final for two-and-a-half years on Friday at the Astana Open, an ATP 250 tournament in Nur-Sultan.

The 22-year-old American improved to 9-10 on the season with a hard-fought 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-5 victory over Egor Gerasimov of Belarus in two hours and 35 minutes. Tiafoe last reached a tour-level semi-final (or better) en route to the Millennium Estoril Open final in May 2018.

Earlier this month, Tiafoe lifted the fifth ATP Challenger Tour trophy of his career at the Internazionali di Tennis Emilia Romagna in Parma (d. Caruso).

Tiafoe will next meet fourth-seeded Australian John Millman, who completed a remarkable comeback to advance to his first ATP Tour semi-final since October 2019, when he reached the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships final (l. to Djokovic).

Millman saved two match points at 3-5 in the deciding set and recovered from 0/5 down in the third-set tie-break to complete at 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Paul in two hours and 51 minutes.

The 23-year-old Paul, who reached the Adelaide International semi-finals (l. to Harris) in January, hit a double fault at 5-4, 40/30 and a forehand long at Ad-In in the third set.

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Musetti's Newest Highlight: Landing The Esquire Italia Cover!

It has been a breakthrough year in more ways than one for Italian #NextGenATP sensation Lorenzo Musetti. Less than two months after bursting onto the ATP Tour with an impressive run at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where he reached the third round as a qualifier, the 18-year-old is on the cover of Esquire Italia’s November issue.

The teen began the season outside the Top 350 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. But even with the five-month suspension of the ATP Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Musetti has proven himself one of the brightest #NextGenATP stars.

After defeating Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori in back-to-back matches in Rome, Musetti maintained his momentum by winning his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Forli. In Sardinia, he reached his maiden ATP Tour semi-final. Those efforts propelled him to a career-high World No. 123 last week.

Find below a translated excerpt of Esquire Italia’s story and interview with the Italian. 

^{Photo Credit: Pietro Cocco}
At the age of 18 he is the future of Italian tennis. [He is] a talent with great strokes that likes rap but considers himself retro, doesn’t like clubs or TikTok, and is not into breaking rules at all.

Lorenzo Musetti has made a lot of promises to himself and one of them is to never open a TikTok account. At the age of 18 he became the first player born in 2002 to win a match on the ATP Tour, he won a junior Slam in Melbourne in 2019 and the tournament in Forlì this September.

Asked if sometimes all the discipline needed to succeed in tennis [becomes] too much, he says: “No, I wouldn’t say that. I’m not really tempted to go out dancing or to a pub. If I have time off, which isn’t often, I prefer to relax or go to the sea, which I love very much.” 

Q: How did everything start?
A: Thanks to my father who works in a marble company in Carrara. I started playing a bit with him at my grandmother’s basement when I was four years old. It quickly became more serious and when I was eight they took me to the club in La Spezia, where I took part in team matches. That’s where I met Simone Tartarini, who was first my teacher and then became my coach. It’s thanks to him that I became a player.

Patrick Mouratoglou’s academy has also been important since they often welcomed me for practice weeks there. But I have to say it again: If I become a great player, it will be a hundred per cent thanks to Coach Tartarini. 

Q: What other sports do you like?
A: I really like basketball. But it’s difficult to follow the NBA because of the time difference. LeBron James is one of my idols. 

^{Photo Credit: Pietro Cocco}

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Alexander Zverev denies allegation of domestic violence by former girlfriend

US Open finalist Alexander Zverev denies his ex-girlfriend’s allegation he was violent towards her.

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Nadal Goes For Paris Double; When Is The Draw & More

Rafael Nadal returns to Paris three weeks after his 13th Roland Garros triumph, and this time, the Spaniard has his sights on his first title at the Rolex Paris Masters. Nadal, a winner of seven different ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, enjoyed his best result here on his 2007 debut, when he finished runner-up to David Nalbandian.

With victory at the Rolex Paris Masters, the Spaniard would once again join Novak Djokovic atop the ATP Masters 1000 leaderboard with 36 titles at this level. Nadal would also become the fourth player in the Open Era to join the 1000-match wins club should he win his opening match.

World No. 3 Dominic Thiem is set to lead the bottom half of the draw. Thiem, the reigning US Open champion, reached the Paris semi-finals in 2018, falling to eventual champion Karen Khachanov.

The Masters 1000 field also includes Top 10 stars Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Diego Schwartzman and Matteo Berrettini. Rublev has won a tour-best four titles in 2020 (tied with Djokovic), while Zverev enters Paris following back-to-back title wins at the ATP 250 tournaments in Cologne. 

Here’s all you need to know about the Paris tennis tournament: what is the schedule, where to watch, who has won, how much is the prize money and more. 

Established: 1986

Tournament Dates: 2-8 November 2020

Tournament Director: Guy Forget

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 31 October

Are You In? Subscribe To Get Tournament Updates In Your Inbox

Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday, 31 October (10:00am start) – Sunday, 1 November (11:00am start)
* Main draw: Monday – Thursday from 11:00am; Friday from 2:00pm; Saturday from 11:45am
* Doubles final: Sunday, 8 November at 12:15pm
* Singles final: Sunday, 8 November at 3:00pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: AccorHotels Arena

Prize Money: €3,901,015 (Total Financial Commitment: €4,289,970)  

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Novak Djokovic (5)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan (4)
Oldest Champion: Novak Djokovic, 32, in 2009
Youngest Champion: Boris Becker, 18, in 1986
Last Home Champion: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008
Highest-Ranked Champion: No. 1 Stefan Edberg in 1990, Pete Sampras in 1997, Andre Agassi in 1999, Novak Djokovic in 2014-15, 2019
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 50 Tomas Berdych in 2005
Most Match Wins: Novak Djokovic (37)

2019 Finals
Singles: [1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) d Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 63 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: [7] Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) / Nicolas Mahut (FRA) d Karen Khachanov (RUS) / Andrey Rublev (RUS) 64 61  Read More

Social
Hashtag: #RolexParisMasters
Facebook: @rolexparismasters
Twitter: @RolexPMasters
Instagram: @rolexparismasters 

Did You Know…The ‘Tree of Fanti’ trophy, sculpted by Italian artist Lucio Fanti, bears the name of the winners on the trunk. The two branches show how the two sides of the draw played out. “When I was asked to create a work to commemorate the centenary of Roland Garros, the tournament organisers sent me the draws and results from down the years,” says Fanti. “When I turned one of the pieces of paper 90 degrees and by starting the players off at the top, you ended up with the winner alone at the bottom. Overall, it looked like a tree, so all I had to do was imagine it in 3D.”

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Gille/Vliegen Charge Into Nur-Sultan Quarter-finals

Top seeds Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen booked their spot in the inaugural Astana Open quarter-finals, while the second seeds Max Purcell and Luke Saville became the first team to reach the final four after an action-packed day in Nur-Sultan. 

The Belgian duo faced Americans Mackenzie McDonald and Tommy Paul in the second round, and had to fend off three break chances across both sets. But Gille and Vliegen responded emphatically, never dropping serve and breaking McDonald and Paul immediately afterwards each time en route to a 6-3, 6-4 victory in 64 minutes.

In the quarter-finals, Gille and Vliegen will take on Jonathan Erlich and Andrei Vasilevski after the Israeli-Belarussian duo defeated Mohamed Safwat and Denis Yevseyev 6-3, 6-3 to eliminate the last Kazakh player left standing in the doubles draw. Yevseyev’s countryman Mikhail Kukushkin has reached the singles quarter-finals after taking down top seed Benoit Paire in a rollercoaster three-set battle earlier in the day.

Gille and Vliegen are still on the hunt for their first trophy of the season as they seek to back up a breakthrough 2019 that saw the pair claim three ATP Tour titles, winning in Bastad, Gstaad and Zhuhai. Since the Tour’s resumption, the pair have picked up steam with a quarter-final run at the US Open and a semi-final at Antwerp in the lead up to Nur-Sultan.  

Second seeds Purcell and Saville continued to make their case in the FedEx ATP Battle For London as they defeated Luke Bambridge and Divij Sharan to capture the first semi-final spot at the Astana Open. The Australian Open finalists edged through in straight sets 6-3, 7-5 as Saville and Bambridge combined for seven double faults in the opening set. Purcell and Saville began the week in ninth place in the Battle as they pursue their first Nitto ATP Finals qualification.

Also in action in Nur-Sultan, fourth seeds Ben McLachlan and Franko Skugor joined Marcelo Arevalo and Tomislav Brkic in the quarter-finals after both teams needed Match Tie-breaks to advance. McLachlan and Skugor edged past Matwe Middelkoop and Hugo Nys 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 12-10, while Arevalo and Brkic came from a set down to oust Rohan Bopanna and Frederik Nielsen 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 10-5.

[WATCH LIVE 1]

Top Two Seeded Teams Out In Vienna

At the Erste Bank Open, the doubles field is wide open as the top two seeded teams bowed out after a day full of surprises in Vienna. 

Two-time French Open winners Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies came out on top in a battle between 2020 Grand Slam champions against Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares, who triumphed at the US Open earlier in the season. 

In a rematch of the 2020 Roland Garros final, Krawietz and Mies repeated the same result, breaking Pavic and Soares four times to record a 6-1, 4-6, 10-8 victory over the top seeds and book their spot in the semi-finals. 

The second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury also exited Vienna after Ram was forced to withdraw due to a leg injury, sending Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski into the semi-finals.

Third seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo dodged St. Petersburg champions Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 to become the lone seeds through to the final four in Vienna. The pair currently sit in 11th place in the Battle For London, and are hoping to make their fourth consecutive appearance as a team at the Nitto ATP Finals. 

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Medvedev Serves 17 Aces & Revenge In Vienna

Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev served a dose of revenge Thursday in Vienna, rallying past Canadian Vasek Pospisil 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 behind 17 aces to reach the Erste Bank Open quarter-finals.

“It was really tough and Vasek was playing some unbelievable tennis,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “I’m really happy that he didn’t finish the match [as strongly] and played a little bit worse. I took my chances. I’m really happy about it [and] looking forward [to] tomorrow.”

In February, Pospisil played lights-out power tennis to overwhelm the Russian in Rotterdam. Although the World No. 81 played inspired tennis again early in Austria, Medvedev made appropriate adjustments to wear down the Canadian after one hour and 58 minutes, taking a 2-1 lead in their ATP Head2Head series.

The turning point came with Pospisil serving at 3-4 in the second set. The 30-year-old was cruising to a service hold at 40/15, and he had not yet been broken in the match. But Pospisil made four consecutive errors — including three unforced forehand errors from the baseline — to let slip his grip on the match.

Medvedev took full advantage of that opening, stepping closer to the baseline to take time away from the former World No. 25. Pospisil became increasingly frustrated in the third set after he missed an inside-out forehand wide at 1-1 to give the Russian the break in the final set. In the first half of the match, the veteran was playing aggressively without missing much. But as time wore on he began misfiring from the baseline.

Medvedev, who is pursuing his first ATP Tour title of the season, kept his foot on the gas and broke again in his next return game when Pospisil missed a volley-lob long. The fourth seed did not face a break point in the third set, completing his victory with his 17th ace of the match.

The 24-year-old has been building momentum since the ATP Tour restarted in August. At the US Open, Medvedev did not lose a set en route to his second Grand Slam semi-final. He has already qualified for his second consecutive appearance in the Nitto ATP Finals.

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