Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to his second straight Open 13 Provence championship match on Saturday, beating Alexander Bublik 7-5, 6-3 in Marseille.

The second seed dropped only one point on serve in the second set (20/21) to complete his seventh straight victory at the ATP 250 event. Tsitsipas has won 14 consecutive sets in Marseille, dating back to a first-round loss against eventual quarter-finalist Nicolas Mahut in 2018.

Tsitsipas is bidding to win back-to-back titles at an ATP Tour event for the first time. The 21-year-old beat Mikhail Kukushkin to lift his second tour-level trophy at this tournament last year.

Tsitsipas will face Rotterdam runner-up Felix Auger-Aliassime or two-time champion Gilles Simon for the title. The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion owns one victory from three ATP Head2Head clashes against Auger-Aliassime and is yet to meet Simon.

“It keeps getting better and better,” said Tsitsipas. “I really appreciate all the love that I receive here and tomorrow is an exciting day. I need to prepare, be ready for it and I can’t wait to show an even better Stefanos tomorrow.”

Tsitsipas made an early breakthrough at 3-2, hitting with confidence on his forehand as Bublik began to misfire off the same wing. Despite dropping serve for the first time this week at 5-4, the defending champion moved up the court and continued to attack Bublik’s forehand to claim the first set with a second service break.

After earning his third straight love service hold, Tsitsipas increased his advantage in the opening stages of the second set with another service break. The World No. 6 returned with precision and found the target with passing shots to break for a 3-1 lead. Tsitsipas continued to serve with confidence and forced Bublik into a backhand volley error on his fourth match point to move to 7-2 in Marseille.

“I tried to stay in the match as much as possible and play each point individually. I know he can be quite unexpected,” said Tsitsipas. “You don’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what to expect from today’s opponent… I am really happy with myself that I found a balance and I didn’t panic when things got tight. That is a great attitude that I put out on the court.”

Bublik was aiming to reach his third ATP Tour final. The Kazakh defeated two seeded players — Benoit Paire and Denis Shapovalov — in three-set matches en route to the semi-finals.

Making his first appearance at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships since 2016, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will face 2018 semi-finalist Malek Jaziri in the opening round.

The 32-year-old, who owns a 36-6 record at the ATP 500 event, is returning to action for the first time since lifting a record-extending eighth Australian Open title last month. Four-time Dubai titlist Djokovic’s most recent win in Dubai came against Jaziri en route to the quarter-finals in 2016. 

Chasing his first Dubai trophy since 2013, the 17-time Grand Slam champion could face Philipp Kohlschreiber or Mohamed Safwat in the second round. Djokovic shares the top quarter of the draw with seventh seed Karen Khachanov.

View Dubai Singles Draw

Headlining the second quarter of the draw is third seed Gael Monfils. The in-form Frenchman enters Dubai on a nine-match winning streak, having lifted back-to-back titles on indoor hard courts in Montpellier and Rotterdam. Monfils will attempt to improve his 13-2 record this year when he meets Marton Fucsovics of Hungary in the first round.

The 10-time tour-level titlist is joined in the second quarter by fellow Frenchmen Benoit Paire and Richard Gasquet. Eighth seed Paire will face former World No. 3 Marin Cilic in his opening match. Cilic owns a 5-1 ATP Head2Head record against Paire, which includes a five-set victory in their most recent encounter at the Australian Open last month.

Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas leads the way in the bottom half of the draw. Last year’s runner-up will begin his Dubai campaign against Rotterdam semi-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta. The winner of that encounter will face Hubert Hurkacz or Marseille semi-finalist Alexander Bublik in the second round.

Fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut occupies the remaining seeded position in the bottom quarter. The 2018 champion will be aiming to extend his three-match unbeaten ATP Head2Head record against Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round.

Fourth seed Fabio Fognini and sixth seed Andrey Rublev will compete in the third quarter of the draw. Fognini will make his debut in Dubai against Daniel Evans, while Rublev opens his bid for a third trophy this year against a qualifier. Rotterdam semi-finalist Filip Krajinovic and Delray Beach semi-finalist Yoshihito Nishioka also feature in the third quarter.

Gustavo Kuerten has been in attendance at this week’s Rio Open presented by Claro, giving his home fans a look at his trademark smile. He has even more reason to smile as he approached the 20th anniversary of when he climbed to No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time on 4 December 2000.

“As a tennis player, nothing could be higher than becoming No. 1 at the [Tennis Masters Cup], beating Pete and then Andre back to back,” Kuerten said. “This is the highlight of my career by far.”

At the end of the 2000 season, Kuerten competed in Lisbon, Portugal at the Tennis Masters Cup. The Brazilian began the tournament as World No. 2, but he beat Magnus Norman and Yevgeny Kafelnikov in round-robin play to earn a spot in the semi-finals. Then he rallied past Pete Sampras to make the final, where he avenged a round-robin loss against Andre Agassi to win the season finale and climb to World No. 1.

“The most perfect match that I ever played was in the final,” said Kuerten, who beat Agassi 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Those are happy memories, but Kuerten is excited to watch today’s stars, especially at his home ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro. It is the seventh edition of this event.

“Tennis is still very emotional to me. I often go to the court. I also need to be around,” Kuerten said. “It’s important to me to come here, to connect still [with] people, make sure they understand the value of this tournament to Brazilian tennis.

“I think we’ve gotten to a point that everybody knows how good it is to be playing here in Rio. I’m sure in two or three years we’re going to have a Brazilian player with a real chance to build up expectations.”

#NextGenATP Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild won a match and pushed Borna Coric to a third-set tie-break. #NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, at the age of 16, defeated World No. 41 Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the first round. Alcaraz is the youngest player to beat an opponent ranked as high as No. 41 in an ATP Tour match since David Koch defeated No. 41 Fabrice Santoro at 1993 Prague.

“Alcaraz, his age and his potential is just bright. You have to look at Nadal. Even knowing that’s kind of impossible, but the mentality, the way you see, it’s a different human being,” Kuerten said.

Cristian Garin opened the ATP Tour’s ‘Golden Swing’ through Latin America by winning the Cordoba Open title, and he will be aiming to conclude it with another trophy at the inaugural edition of his home country tournament, the Chile Dove Men+Care Open in Santiago.

Garin was only a teenager the last time Chile hosted an ATP Tour event. He grew up watching Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu at the tournament in Vina del Mar, and in 2013, he made an impressive tour-level debut there as a 16-year-old, when he defeated Dusan Lajovic to become the fifth player aged 16 years and under to win a tour-level match since 2000. Last April in Houston, Garin broke through to become the first Chilean since Gonzalez in 2009 to win an ATP Tour singles title.

Casper Ruud will be attempting to win his second title of the 2020 ‘Golden Swing’. The 21-year-old triumphed at the Argentina Open last week to become the first player from Norway to win an ATP Tour title. Marco Cecchinato and Juan Ignacio Londero, who claimed the clay-court crowns last season respectively in Buenos Aires and Cordoba, will also be among the contenders in Santiago. 

Here’s all you need to know about Santiago tennis tournament: when is the draw, what is the schedule, where to watch and more. 

Established: 2020

Tournament Dates: 24 February – 1 March 2020

Tournament Director: Catalina Fillol

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 22 February at 12:30pm, Club Deportivo Universidad Catolica CDUC

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Schedule (Visit Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday and Sunday at 12:00pm
* Main draw: Monday – Friday at 1:00pm and 8:30pm, Saturday at 3:00pm
* Doubles final: Saturday, 29 February at 3:00pm
* Singles final: Sunday, 1 March at 4:00pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV  
TV Schedule

¡YA ESTÁN EN CHILE! ???

Pablo Cuevas y Hugo Dellien entrenaron juntos hoy preparando lo que será el #ChileDoveMenCareOpen.

¡Mucha suerte, @PabloCuevas22 @hugo_dellien ! ??? pic.twitter.com/gcucxkY5Dw

— Chile Open (@chile_open) February 21, 2020

Venue: Club Deportivo Universidad Catolica CDUC

Prize Money: USD $604,010 (Total Financial Commitment: USD $674,730) 

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

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

Social
Hashtag: #ChileDoveMenCareOpen

Facebook: @ChileOpenTenis
Twitter: @chile_open
Instagram: @chile_open

Did You Know… Chile previously hosted an ATP Tour event from 1993-2014, with the event held in Santiago (1993-2000, 2010-11) and Vina del Mar (2001-09, 2012-14). Fernando Gonzalez won the title four times (2002, ’04, ’08-09).

Rafael Nadal leads the charge at the 2020 Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, the ATP 500 Tournament of the Year in the 2019 ATP Awards. The Spaniard is a two-time champion in Acapulco, having won the title in 2005 and again in ’13, the last edition held on clay before the switch to hard courts. Nadal, who finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2019, will be playing his first tournament since a quarter-final finish at the Australian Open (l. to Thiem).

Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev are also back in action for the first time since the Australian Open, and they both enter Acapulco as defending champions. Kyrgios completed a dream run — including wins over Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and John Isner — by defeating Zverev in the singles final. Zverev still finished his tournament on a high note, as he came back to win the doubles title alongside brother Mischa Zverev. 

Wawrinka and Isner return for the 2020 edition, as well as 2014 champion Grigor Dimitrov. The field also includes #NextGenATP stars Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alex de Minaur. 

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

Established: 1993

Tournament Dates: 24-29 February 2020

Tournament Director: Raúl Zurutuza

Draw Ceremony: Saturday 22 February, 2:00pm at the Official Hotel.

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

Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday and Sunday at 4pm
* Main draw: Monday – Friday from 4pm
* Doubles final: Saturday, 23 February at 6pm
* Singles final: Saturday, 23 February not before 9pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV  
TV Schedule

Venue: Acapulco Princess Mundo Imperial
Main Court Seating: 7,000

Prize Money: USD $1,845,265 (Total Financial Commitment: USD $2,000,845) 

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

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

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Thomas Muster, David Ferrer (4)
Most Titles, Doubles: Donald Johnson (3)
Oldest Champion: David Ferrer, 32, in 2015
Youngest Champion: Rafael Nadal, 18, in 2005
Highest-Ranked Champion: No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten in 2001
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 129 Juan Ignacio Chela in 2000
Most Match Wins: David Ferrer (32) 

2019 Finals
Singles: Nick Kyrgios (AUS) d [2] Alexander Zverev (GER) 63 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: Alexander Zverev (GER) / Mischa Zverev (GER) d Austin Krajicek (USA) / Artem Sitak (NZL) 26 76(4) 10-5  Read More 

Social
Hashtag: #AMT2020

Facebook: @AbiertoMexicanoDeTenis
Twitter: @AbiertoTelcel
Instagram: @abiertomexicanodetenis

Did You Know… The Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC has been selected by players as the ATP 500 Tournament of the Year for a third time. It previously won the award in 2007 and 2017. The Acapulco tournament enjoyed record attendance in 2019, welcoming more than 55k fans.

Milos Raonic’s booming serve is a well-known weapon. But that wasn’t what propelled the former World No. 3 into the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com semi-finals on Friday evening.

Raonic defeated American Steve Johnson 7-6(6), 6-3 in one hour and 38 minutes to reach his first tour-level semi-final since Stuttgart last June despite Johnson hitting more aces than the Canadian, five to three, on a windy evening under the Florida lights.

“You just have to sort of scrap and find a way. I was moving well, I put a lot of returns in. I was doing the things I could control as well as possible,” Raonic said. “Didn’t serve particularly well, but it was just important to keep fighting. Got a few lucky breaks and made the most of them.”

Raonic was broken in the first game of the match, but he battled back into the opener. And at 6/6 in the tie-break, he ripped a cross-court backhand passing shot to earn his second set point, converting that opportunity with a missile-like forehand return down the line for a winner.

Watch Raonic’s Winner On Set Point:

That gave the second seed all the momentum, breaking immediately in the second set to give him the only advantage he needed. The eight-time ATP Tour champion won 63 per cent of his second-serve points to avoid too much pressure during his return games.

Raonic will next play Reilly Opelka, the 2019 New York Open champion, who did not face break point in a 6-3, 6-4 win against South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon.

“It’s going to be tough. He gets a lot of free points on his serve and you’ve got to make him play,” Raonic said. “You can’t just make him play though because he goes for it from the centre of the court. You’ve got to move in, you’ve got to find a way to be aggressive.”

Opelka crushed 16 aces against Kwon, who defeated Raonic last week indoors in New York. The American won 79 per cent of his first-serve points despite the wind.

“It was ugly, but that’s part of it,” Opelka said. “Given the circumstances I served unbelievably. It was one of the windiest matches I’ve played in a while, so I’ll take it.”

Opelka has not been broken in 37 service games this week. He lost against Raonic in straight sets at Wimbledon last year in the pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head meeting.

“I think it’s common to see servers do well here,” Opelka said. “The court is so live and the balls are so live.”

Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka beat American wild card Brandon Nakashima 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in two hours and 26 minutes to reach the last four. But it was more than just an ordinary win for the 24-year-old.

The victory nearly guarantees that Nishioka will climb past his previous career-high FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 58 on Monday. He is currently projected to climb to No. 52 pending results for the rest of the week. It’s an emotional accomplishment for the lefty, who achieved that ranking on 20 March 2017. Four days later, he tore his left ACL and he would fall as low as World No. 380 in April 2018.

“That should be my career-high ranking after coming back from my knee surgery,” said Nishioka, currently World No. 63. “I’m very happy for that.” 

Watch Nishioka & More ATP Stars Play DBO Kart In Delray:

Nishioka didn’t need to save a match point against Nakashima, but he was certainly tested. In the third set, Nishioka took a 5-1 lead, but Nakashima brought it back to 5-4 before the Japanese was able to finish off his victory.

“I think he played great tennis today… he played almost perfectly,” Nishioka said of Nakashima, who was trying to reach his first tour-level semi-final in his ATP Tour main draw debut. “He was playing so good from the beginning. I thought I lost today.

“He can hit the ball, he never misses that much. His service games are perfect. It was a very tough match, but I just kept my mind straight and just focussed.”

Nishioka will next play sixth seed Ugo Humbert, who was efficient in a 6-1, 6-2 win against 2018 champion Frances Tiafoe.

“Big performance today. It’s never easy to play Frances. You have to be at 100 per cent if you want to have a chance to win,” Humbert said. “He’s always dangerous, he has a big serve, big forehand, and I tried to stay focussed on my plan and what I had to do.”

Humbert is into his fifth ATP Tour semi-final, and his second in the United States. The lefty is the first Frenchman to reach the Delray Beach semi-finals since Adrian Mannarino in 2015.

Chilean Cristian Garin tied his personal-best winning streak on Friday, earning his seventh consecutive triumph with a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory against Argentine qualifier Federico Coria to reach the semi-finals of the Rio Open presented by Claro.

Since last April, the third seed has won his first three ATP Tour titles — all on clay — and he is now two wins from lifting tour-level trophy No. 4. Garin, who was victorious in Cordoba earlier this month, has rallied from a set down in five of his past six matches. Against Coria, he battled through the rain to overcome the inspired World No. 116 in two hours and 15 minutes.

Garin appeared in control when he served for the semi-finals at 5-4 in the deciding set. But Coria, the younger brother of former World No. 3 Guillermo Coria, did not hand the Chilean the win. Garin was unable to land a knockout blow, allowing the Argentine back on serve.

But Garin broke back immediately, crushing an inside-out forehand winner to earn another chance to serve for the match. And this time, he did not let slip his chance, raising his arms in celebration after Coria missed a forehand return long.

Garin, who won 76 per cent of his first-serve points, will next play fifth seed Borna Coric or Italian Lorenzo Sonego.

Gilles Simon has climbed as high as No. 6 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, captured 14 ATP Tour titles, and he is closing in on 500 tour-level wins. But the Frenchman has had more success at the Open 13 Provence than any other tournament, and on Friday he showed why.

Simon upset top seed and World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-0 in just 67 minutes to reach the semi-finals in Marseille. The 35-year-old has now won 29 matches at this tournament (29-11), more triumphs than he has earned at any other event.

Simon: Most Wins By Event

The World No. 58 leads the Russian star 3-0 in their ATP Head2Head series after winning 91 per cent of his first-serve points in their quarter-final. Simon broke serve five times from six opportunities and only dropped his serve once to reach the last four in Marseille for the fifth time. He will next play #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. 

Simon lifted his first ATP Tour trophy in Marseille in 2007, and he also emerged victorious here in 2015. He has won five of his 14 tour-level titles in France, with the other three coming in Metz.

The 35-year-old had not won multiple matches at the same event this season when he arrived in Marseille. But Simon has not dropped a set en route to the semi-finals. Medvedev, who reached nine tour-level finals in 2019, was pursuing his first semi-final of 2020.

Simon’s next opponent, seventh seed Auger-Aliassime, eliminated Pune finalist Egor Gerasimov of Belarus 7-5, 6-2. 

Gerasimov earned his first Top 10 win on Thursday against third seed David Goffin (previously 0-3, 0-7 in sets), so the Belarusian carried plenty of momentum into his battle against Auger-Aliassime. But the Canadian, who saved multiple match points in his first two matches of the tournament, broke serve four times and won 83 per cent of his first-serve points to beat the qualifier in straight sets.

Felix is now one win from reaching his fifth ATP Tour final (0-4). The 19-year-old most recently became the youngest finalist in Rotterdam history, falling short against Gael Monfils in the championship match. 

Auger-Aliassime made his first tour-level final one year ago this week, accomplishing the feat in Rio de Janeiro. He takes a 1-0 ATP Head2Head series lead into his clash against Simon, whom he defeated in Stuttgart last year 7-5, 6-4.

Did You Know?
In 2019, Simon earned at least 20 tour-level wins for the 13th time in the past 14 seasons (2006-16, 2018-19).

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have long enjoyed success at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com, winning the title five times. The American twins got off to a good start on Friday in their final visit to this ATP 250 event.

Bryan and Bryan, who will retire after this year’s US Open, battled past Indian Divij Sharan and New Zealand’s Artem Sitak 6-2, 4-6, 10-3 in 69 minutes to reach the semi-finals in Delray Beach. The top seeds were strong on serve in their first match of the tournament, winning 86 per cent of their second-serve points and saving four of the five break points they faced.

It is the brothers’ eighth trip to the semi-finals at this event, and each time they have made the last four, they have advanced to the final. Bryan/Bryan will next play El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo and Great Britain’s Jonny O’Mara, who have not dropped a set in the tournament. 

In last year’s semi-finals, Bryan/Bryan defeated Arevalo and American Jamie Cerretani in straight sets before beating fellow brothers Ken Skupski/Neal Skupski for the trophy.

Second Seeds Reach Final In Marseille
Second seeds Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic advanced to the Open 13 Provence final with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen and German Tim Puetz. It will be Koolhof and Mektic’s first final as a team. Koolhof won the season-opening Qatar ExxonMobil Open alongside Indian Rohan Bopanna.

Koolhof and Mektic will face the winner between top seeds Kevin Krawietz/Andreas Mies and Nicolas Mahut/Vasek Pospisil for the trophy.