Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares extended their winning streak to seven matches at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday.

The US Open champions converted five of six break points to defeat Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 6-2 in 66 minutes. Pavic and Soares are aiming to lift their second ATP Masters 1000 trophy as a pairing, having won their maiden team trophy at the level at last year’s Rolex Shanghai Masters.

Pavic and Soares will meet Kitzbühel finalists Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the quarter-finals. The fourth seeds recovered from a set down to beat Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic 4-6, 6-4, 10-3. 

Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov ended Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah’s bid for a third straight Rome trophy. The US Open quarter-finalists saved five of six break points to overcome the top seeds 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 in 82 minutes.

Bopanna and Shapovalov are chasing their maiden team title this week. The pair reached its first ATP Tour championship match at last year’s MercedesCup in Stuttgart.

Bopanna and Shapovalov’s victory ends Cabal and Farah’s 10-match winning streak in Rome. The Colombians won back-to-back trophies in the Italian capital in 2018 and 2019.

The Indian-Canadian tandem will face Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin in the quarter-finals. The Frenchmen dominated a Match Tie-break to eliminate US Open finalists Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic 4-6, 7-6(2), 10-0.

Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas lead the way at the Hamburg European Open, an ATP 500 tournament in Germany. Held the week preceding Roland Garros in the revised 2020 ATP Tour calendar, the tournament also features three other Top 10 players: Matteo Berrettini, Gael Monfils and Roberto Bautista Agut. 

Medvedev returns to Hamburg for the first time since his debut as a qualifier in 2016. This will mark the Russian’s first appearance on clay since last year’s Roland Garros. He enjoyed a breakthrough in the second half of 2019, when he reached six straight finals, highlighted by two ATP Masters 1000 titles and a runner-up finish at the US Open. 

Tsitsipas, the reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion, will be making his Hamburg debut. The Greek will be looking to rebound from a loss in his clay return this past week at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (l. to Sinner). 

Nikoloz Basilashvili will go for his third straight title against a strong Hamburg field that also includes Andrey Rublev, Fabio Fognini, Denis Shapovalov, Diego Schwartzman, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Cristian Garin and Kevin Anderson. Garin won two clay-court titles earlier during season at the Rio Open presented by Claro and Cordoba Open. 

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

Established: 1892

Tournament Dates: 21-27 September 2020

Tournament Director: Sandra Reichel

Draw Ceremony: Saturday 19 September

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Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday – Sunday from 10:30am
* Main draw: Monday, 21 September – Sunday, 27 September
* Singles final: Sunday, 27 September at 12;00pm
* Doubles final: Sunday, 27 September, following singles final 

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: Rothenbaum Tennis Stadium

Prize Money: €1,062,520 (Total Financial Commitment:€1,203,960)  

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Roger Federer (4)
Most Titles, Doubles: Andres Gomez, Emilio Sanchez (4)
Oldest Champion: Andres Gimeno, 33, in 1971
Youngest Champion: Andrei Medvedev, 19, in 1994
Lowest-Ranked Champion (since 1979): No. 143 Roberto Carretero in 1996
Most Match Wins: Guillermo Vilas (35)

2019 Finals
Singles: [4] Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) d Andrey Rublev (RUS) 75 46 63   Read & Watch
Doubles: [3] Oliver Marach (AUT) / Jurgen Melzer (AUT) d [4] Robin Haase (NED) / Wesley Koolhof (NED) 62 76(3)  Read More 

Social
Hashtag: #hamburgopen

Facebook: @HamburgOpen
Twitter: @hamburgopen
Instagram: @hamburgopen

Did You Know… The Hamburg honour roll includes a number of former World No. 1s, including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Gustavo Kuerten, Marcelo Rios, Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl and John Newcombe. Read Tournament Heritage

Eighth seed Diego Schwartzman kickstarted his Internazionali BNL d’Italia campaign on Thursday with a straight-sets victory over John Millman to reach the third round. The Argentine – a semi-finalist in Rome last year – needed two hours and 19 minutes to hold off the Australian, 6-4, 7-6(1). 

Schwartzman saved a set point at 4-5 in the second set and turned it up a notch in the ensuing tie-break. He reeled off seven straight points to book a clash with either ninth seed Andrey Rublev or Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.

The 28-year-old is one win from reaching his fourth straight clay-court quarter-final this season. He reached the final on home soil at the Cordoba Open in February and a week later, the semi-finals at the Argentina Open before a leg injury ruled him out of remaining South American events in Rio de Janeiro and Santiago.

Following a first-round exit at the US Open, he returned to clay last week when he fell to Laslo Djere in the quarter-finals of the Generali Open in Kitzbühel. In only his second appearance in Rome, Millman was coming off a straight-sets win over lucky loser Joao Sousa in the opening round.

Gael Monfils bids to reignite a red-hot run of early-season form when he makes his tour return at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday. The French fifth seed faces German qualifier Dominik Koepfer for a place in the third round.

In his most recent outing, Monfils let slip three match points against Novak Djokovic in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals in February. It would have been his first triumph in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series in 17 tour-level meetings.

Following a fourth-round defeat to Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open, Monfils had won two titles – in Montpellier and Rotterdam – and hit a 12-match, 25-set winning streak before the World No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings denied him. It was the first time he had claimed multiple titles in a season.

Qualifier Koepfer scraped back from a set down and saved a match point against Australian World No. 27 Alex de Minaur on Tuesday. It will be his first ATP Head2Head meeting with the Frenchman.

A trio of Italians – Lorenzo Musetti, Fabio Fognini and Lorenzo Sonego – stands to join compatriots Matteo Berrettini, Jannik Sinner and Stefano Travaglia in the third round at home. If two advance it would set a new Open Era record for Italians through to the round of 16 in Rome.

On Tuesday, 18-year-old qualifier Musetti sprung the upset to beat former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka to become the first player born in 2002 to win an ATP Tour match. A win in his first meeting with former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori would make him the youngest man to reach the third round in Rome since an 18-year-old Fabrice Santoro in 1991.

A right elbow injury wiped out Nishikori’s opening two months of 2020 before the tour’s COVID-19 pandemic pause. Nishikori downed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the opening round for his first match win since August 2019 on Monday.

Seventh seed Fognini returns for his 13th main draw appearance at the Foro Italico on Thursday when he meets Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the duo’s first ATP Head2Head meeting. The 33-year-old is searching for his first match win since undergoing surgery on both ankles in May.

Humbert, who started his year with a title at Auckland, comes off an opening-round win over Kevin Anderson. The third Italian in action, Sonego, takes on World No. 34 Casper Ruud in a first-time ATP Head2Head meeting.

Two US Open quarter-finalists continue their campaigns on Thursday as ninth seed Andrey Rublev takes on Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and 12th seed Denis Shapovalov meets Spanish qualifier, Pedro Martinez – both first-time ATP Head2Head clashes. Rublev, who started the season with titles in Doha and Adelaide, downed qualifier Facundo Bagnis in his Rome debut, while Shapovalov also had the measure of an Argentine, Guillo Pella, first up.

The top-ranked Argentine, eighth seed Diego Schwartzman, takes on Australian John Millman for a place in the third round, having retired during their pair’s only prior ATP Head2Head encounter at the 2016 Australian Open. Former World No. 3 Milos Raonic – a finalist at the Western & Southern Open last month – will carry a 1-0 ledger into his showdown with Serb Dusan Lajovic.

ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2020
CENTRALE start 11:00 am
[Q] Pedro Martinez v [12] Denis Shapovalov
WTA Match
[7] Fabio Fognini v Ugo Humbert

Not Before 7:00 pm
WTA Match
[Q] Lorenzo Musetti v Kei Nishikori

PIETRANGELI start 11:00 am
WTA Match
[13] Milos Raonic v Dusan Lajovic
WTA Match
WTA Match

Not Before 7:00 pm
[Q] Dominik Koepfer v [5] Gael Monfils

GRAND STAND ARENA start 11:00am
[8] Diego Schwartzman v John Millman
WTA Match
Hubert Hurkacz v [9] Andrey Rublev
Casper Ruud v Lorenzo Sonego

Click here to view the full Internazionali BNL d’Italia Thursday schedule.

Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin saved three consecutive match points on Wednesday to advance to the Internazionali BNL d’Italia second round in Rome.

Trailing 6/9 in a Match Tie-break, the Dubai semi-finalists claimed five consecutive points to complete a 6-4, 1-6, 11-9 victory against Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Melzer and Roger-Vasselin started well, winning 83 per cent of first-serve points (15/18) in the opening set before their opponents charged back into contention.

The Austrian-French duo is seeking its first title this week. Prior to this year, Melzer and Roger-Vasselin had made only two appearances as a team. Their next opponents will be 2017 champion Nicolas Mahut and Benoit Paire. Mahut and Paire battled past third seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 7-6(6), 2-6, 10-6.

US Open champions Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares extended their winning streak to six matches. The unseeded pairing saved all three break points it faced to eliminate fifth seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek 6-1, 6-3 in 58 minutes.

The team Pavic and Soares defeated in the US Open final — Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic — also advanced to the second round. The eighth seeds beat Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 6-4, 6-4.

Kitzbühel finalists Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos continued their strong run of form, beating wild cards Gianluca Mager and Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-2. The fourth seeds are chasing their third clay-court trophy of the year, following back-to-back title runs at the Argentina Open and the Rio Open presented by Claro in February.

Rafael Nadal made a welcome return to the ATP Tour on Wednesday evening, when he got his quest for a 10th Internazionali BNL d’Italia crown off to a strong start in his first tour-level match for 200 days.

Nadal grew in confidence to extend his unbeaten ATP Head2Head record to six matches against fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in a 6-1, 6-1 victory over 73 minutes at the Foro Italico in Rome.

It was Nadal’s first match since 29 February, when he lifted the 85th tour-level trophy of his career at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC (d. Fritz) in Acapulco.

“It’s good to be back on the Tour,” said Nadal, in an on-court interview. “I miss the crowds. I played a good match, maybe he was a little bit tired after all his matches in New York. It was a perfect start for me. It was solid, [and I hit] good shots on the forehand and backhand. I didn’t expect to play that well.”

The 33-year-old superstar, who owns a 62-6 record in Rome, is attempting to capture a record 36th ATP Masters 1000 title this year, which would break a tie with World No. 1 and four-time former Rome champion Novak Djokovic. Nadal will next play No. 13 seed Milos Raonic or Dusan Lajovic in the third round.

Nadal saved one break point in the first game, and from 1-1 won 16 of the next 22 points. En route to a 5-1 advantage included Nadal striking a powerful backhand winner for a 3-1 lead. He was then a recipient of a backhand wide from Carreno Busta in the sixth game. Nadal closed out the 36-minute opener with an ace.

There was no let-up for Carreno Busta, the recent US Open semi-finalist (l. to Zverev), who needed to save two break points in the first game of the second set. Nadal raced up the court for a forehand volley winner to break at 1-1, and pressure continued to mount on Carreno Busta, who dropped to 1-4 after a forehand wide. Nadal went on to complete his 14th victory in 17 matches this season with a fifth service break.

Did You Know?
Nadal has been ranked in the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings for 782 consecutive weeks since 25 April 2005, second only to Jimmy Connors (789). Nadal has won a tour-level title for an Open Era record 17 straight seasons (2004-20).

Jannik Sinner barely put a foot wrong for more than an hour on Wednesday afternoon in a battle between two Next Gen ATP Finals champions. But a relatively subdued Stefanos Tsitsipas found his clay feet to ensure a resurgence at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Sinner led 6-1, 5-2 and looked set for the second Top 10 win of his career, but Tsitsipas had other ideas. The third-seeded Greek won four straight games to serve for the second set at 6-5, but needed to save match points in the tie-break at 6/7 and 8/9. However, in the decider, it was all Sinner.

The 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion regained his focus to beat 2019 Nitto ATP Finals titlist Tsitsipas 6-1, 6-7(9), 6-2 in two hours and 13 minutes for a place in the third round against No. 15 seed Grigor Dimitrov or Yoshihito Nishioka.

“He is obviously a very experienced player,” said Sinner, in an on-court interview at the Foro Italico. “I played against him last year here in Rome. I just wanted to play my game and move better. In the beginning, I was feeling great and I knew it was his first match on clay. When I served for the match [at 5-3 in the second set], I hit one double fault and the tie-break could have gone either way. I tried to start strongly in the third set.”

Wild card Sinner never let Tsitsipas settle on Pietrangeli, the second show court, for the first 40 minutes. The 19-year-old broke Tsitsipas three times in the 30-minute opener and won seven straight games from 2-1 in the first set to 3-0 in the second set.

Sinner, who lost two points in his first three service games (12/14), saved a break point at the start of the second set. Tsitsipas, the 2019 semi-finalist, left his comeback late, breaking Sinner at 3-5 and at 5-5. While Tsitsipas hit a double fault at Ad-Out when serving for the second set, there was no let up on drama.

Tsitsipas first led 4/1 in the tie-break, forcing Sinner to come back. The Greek held set points at 6/5 and 8/7, while Sinner over-hit groundstrokes on match points at 7/6 and 9/8. Tsitsipas clinched the 72-minute set, 11/9, when Sinner hit a forehand into the net. But Tsitsipas then lost the first four games of the decider.

World No. 81 Sinner is now 6-7 in a season hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Tsitsipas, who is currently No. 6 in the FedEx ATP Rankings and next in line to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in November, had beaten Sinner 6-3, 6-2 in the Rome second round last year. The Open 13 Provence titlist is now 18-8 on the season.

“When you’re young, in one year you can do a lot of things,” said Sinner. “I think I have improved everything. Especially the serve. I served a little bit better [today], changing rotation and everything… Playing against him is never easy. Last year was my first test against a Top 10 player. It was a little test… Today, I knew that I had the level to compete better against him. Obviously, it was a great match, and I’m very happy.”