Italian Paolo Lorenzi still dreams of Grand Slam glory at age 38. The No. 12 seed and oldest player in this year’s Australian Open qualifying draw took a first step on Tuesday towards his eighth main draw appearance in Melbourne with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Spaniard Adrian Menendez-Maceiras.

Several Aussie players delighted the local crowd by winning their opening-round qualifying matches, including Max Purcell, Aleksandar Vukic and Luke Saville. Vukic scored the upset of the day by dispatching No. 11 seed Thomas Fabbiano of Italy 7-6(4), 6-2.

Other notable players to advance on the opening day of qualifying include No. 7 seed Denis Kudla of the United States, No. 10 seed Norbert Gombos of Slovakia and No. 13 seed Gianluca Mager of Italy.

Click here to view all the results from Day 1 of qualifying.

Brit Kyle Edmund dug deep on Tuesday at the ASB Classic in Auckland, battling through a rain delay and the tricky game of Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to advance 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Rain took the players off the court for nearly 90 minutes with Davidovich Fokina serving at 2-6, 5-4. The Spaniard leveled the match when play resumed, but Edmund regrouped to pick up his first win of the season. He’ll face seventh-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino or Italian Andreas Seppi in the next round.

Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil continued his career resurgence with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 victory over Portuguese Joao Sousa, runner-up three years ago in Auckland (l. to Sock). Pospisil wrapped up last season with a third-round showing at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai and back-to back ATP Challenger Tour titles. Next up is a blockbuster second-round clash with second seed and fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

Elsewhere, Australia’s John Millman saved six of eight break points to overcome American qualifier Michael Mmoh 7-6(5), 6-4 in one hour and 47 minutes, before rain suspended play for the rest of the day. 

Inglot/Qureshi March Into Quarter-finals
Dominic Inglot/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi required just a single break in each set to move past Hugo Dellien/Thiago Monteiro 6-3, 6-4. They’ll take on the winner of fourth seeds Austin Krajicek/Franko Skugor and Santiago Gonzalez/Ken Skupski.

Daniel Evans continued his strong start to the year on Tuesday at the Adelaide International, sprinting into the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Kazakh Alexander Bublik.

The Brit missed an opportunity to serve out the first set at 5-4, but responded by winning eight of the next 10 games to advance in 75 minutes. Evans arrived in top form after a solid run at the ATP Cup, where he went 3-1 in singles play and scored a Top 20 win against Alex de Minaur in Great Britain’s quarter-final tie against Australia.

He’ll play the winner of American Sam Querrey and third-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev for a place in the semi-finals. Rublev captured his third ATP Tour title last week at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha (d. Moutet).

In first-round action, American qualifier Tommy Paul won 82 per cent of his first-serve points (27/33) to ease past Slovenian Aljaz Bedene 6-4, 6-4. The 22-year-old Paul broke into the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings last September on the back of winning three ATP Challenger Tour titles and earning his first ATP Masters 1000 victory in Montreal. Next up for him is Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas.

Dodig/Polasek, Murray/Skupski Advance
Fourth seeds Ivan Dodig/Filip Polasek opened their season with a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory against Chris Guccione/Robert Lindstedt. The Croatian-Slovakian duo won their first team Masters 1000 title last August in Cincinnati (d. Cabal/Farah) and made their first team appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals. Dodig/Polasek take on Cristian Garin/Juan Ignacio Londero in the next round.

Jamie Murray/Neal Skupski enjoyed a strong finish to their 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 first-round win over Marcelo Demoliner/Matwe Middelkoop. The British pair will meet Jurgen Melzer/Edouard Roger-Vasselin in quarter-final action.

No. 18 (Career-High) Andrey Rublev, +5
Andrey Rublev became the third-youngest champion in the history of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, winning each of the eight sets he contested in Doha to claim his third ATP Tour title. The 22-year-old beat Mikhail Kukushkin, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Miomir Kecmanovic to reach the championship match, where he defeated first-time ATP Tour finalist Corentin Moutet. Rublev rises five positions to a new career-high No. 18 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Read More.

No. 4 (Career-High) Daniil Medvedev, +1
The Russian claimed four singles victories en route to the semi-finals at the inaugural ATP Cup. Medvedev beat Fabio Fognini, John Isner, Casper Ruud and Diego Schwartzman, before a three-set loss to Novak Djokovic in a must-win semi-final match for Russia. Medvedev climbs one position to match his career-high of No. 4 in the FedEx ATP Rankings.

No. 9 (Career-High) Roberto Bautista Agut, +1
Roberto Bautista Agut won all six matches he contested as Spain’s No. 2 singles player at the ATP Cup. The 31-year-old dropped just 25 games throughout the tournament, which included back-to-back victories against Nick Kyrgios and Dusan Lajovic. Bautista Agut jumps one spot to equal his career-high position of No. 9 in the FedEx ATP Rankings.

No. 27 Dusan Lajovic, +7
The Serbian No. 2 compiled a 4-2 singles record en route to Serbia’s ATP Cup triumph. As the first player to compete for Serbia in each of its six ties, Lajovic recorded victories against Lloyd Harris, Nicolas Jarry, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Karen Khachanov. The Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters runner-up leaps seven positions to make his return to the Top 30 of the FedEx ATP Rankings at No. 27.

Other Notable Movers
No. 13 (Career-High) Denis Shapovalov, +1
No. 26 Nick Kyrgios, +3
No. 33 (Career-High) Daniel Evans, +9
No. 46 (Career-High) Casper Ruud, +7
No. 53 Miomir Kecmanovic, +9
No. 62 Cameron Norrie, -10
No. 70 (Career-High) Corentin Moutet, +11
No. 84 Andreas Seppi, -13
No. 89 Yuichi Sugita, +11
No. 100 Leonardo Mayer, -12

Roberto Bautista Agut gave Spain the early advantage with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Dusan Lajovic before Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-6(4) in the battle of the No.1 players. Djokovic and Viktor Troicki then clinched the live doubles rubber over Pablo Carreno Busta and Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4 to seal the title.

BY THE NUMBERS

For the past 10 days, the world’s top 24 countries have excited and delighted fans across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney for the love of country.

In total, 220,319 fans attended the first ATP Cup.

By the numbers brings you all the facts, stats and need-to-know details of ATP Cup 2020. 

On-court action
• 118 players, including eight of the Top 10 featuring world No. 1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) and No. 2 Novak Djokovic (SRB), 16 of the Top 20, 23 of the Top 30 and 35 of the Top 50 singles players starred in the inaugural edition
• Group Stages saw two groups of four teams play at Pat Rafter Arena (Brisbane), RAC Arena (Perth) and Ken Rosewall Arena (Sydney) for a spot in the Final Eight
• Australia, Great Britain, Russia, Serbia, Spain and Argentina won through to the Final Eight courtesy of winning their group
• Belgium and Canada were the two best second-placed teams
• A total of AUD $22 million / USD $15 million in prize money was awarded
• Up to 750 FedEx ATP Rankings points were up for grabs with points awarded for match wins in each round, with the number of points depending on the ranking of the opponent and the round of the result. In doubles, an undefeated player who played and won all possible doubles matches earnt up to 250 FedEx ATP Rankings points 
• Three of the four semifinals captains were former world No.1s: Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) (singles), Marat Safin (RUS) (singles) and Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) (doubles)
• There were three playing captains among the 118 playing group: Gilles Simon (FRA), Steve Darcis (BEL) and Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 
• At 41 years of age (19-04-1978), doubles player Toshihide Matsui (JPN) was the oldest of the 118 player field
• At 17 years of age (20-11-2002), singles player Khololwam Montsi (RSA) was the youngest of the 118 player field  
• Australia was the only team in the Final Eight to feature five players who competed in Group Stage play
• 129 matches and 304 sets were contested across the 10 days of competition 
• Four countries progressed to the Final Eight without losing a tie – Australia, Russia, Serbia, Spain 
• Australia and Spain were the only countries to advance to the Final Eight without losing a match 
• Spain won 90 percent of their sets in the Group Stage – the most of any country
• Spain won 65.8 percent of their games in the Group Stage – the most of any country
• At 204 minutes, Dan Evans (GBR) and Alex de Minaur’s (AUS) quarterfinal clash was the longest of the tournament.

Attendance
• 220,319 fans shared in the excitement of the ATP Cup across the three host cities 
• Day 2 (4 January) was the busiest day of the tournament attracting 31,631 spectators across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney
• The final between Serbia and Spain attracted a sell-out 10,223 crowd at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena
• Perth hosted the highest attended session during the Group Stages with 8,139 fans turning up for Spain vs. Japan.

Innovation 
• Team Zones in the corners of the court brought players closer to fans than ever before 
o Captains, players and coaches were equipped with access to real time statistics, data, insights and match vision and had the ability to bring up any points played according to specific match statistics at the touch of a button, as well as bookmark specific points for post-match analysis
o The Team Zone offered access to ATP’s Second Screen, an advanced platform providing player and ball tracking data in real time
• Strategy Rooms gave unprecedented access to match analysis and debriefing tools to captains and their teams
• Video Review (VR) enabled communication between Chair Umpires and VR operators and greater review capacity with six new and dedicated foot fault cameras. VR is designed to assist with contentious officiating decisions such as double bounces, foul shots, touches or invasion. Following a previous trial at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, the ATP Cup became the first FedEx ATP Rankings event in history to use VR
• On court coaching was allowed for the team captain and competing players’ individual coaches, while fellow team members were permitted to assist with input during changeovers and set breaks.

Accolades
• Australian tennis great Ken Rosewall unveiled the new canopy roof of the $50.5 million upgrade to Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre
• Aussie tennis legend Tony Roche was presented with ATP’s Tim Gullikson Career Coach Award for excellence, leadership, respect, and true love for the sport of tennis and the art of coaching.

Aces for Bushfire Relief Initiative 
• A total of 1,322 aces were served and AUD $132,200 donated to Tennis Australia’s Aces for Bushfire Relief initiative 
• Nick Kyrgios (AUS) served the most aces of any player with 69 aces to his name
• ATP players donated AUD $725,000 to WWF’s Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund.

Partners
• The ATP Cup attracted a strong cohort of premium brands for the first edition of the tournament
• Host city partners Tourism and Events Queensland and Brisbane Marketing, Tourism WA and Destination NSW hosted the tournament across Australia 
• Luxury watchmaker Rolex was the official timekeeper of the ATP Cup 
• Marriott Bonvoy accommodated the playing group, coaches, VIPs and tournament staff at participating properties in each city 
• ANZ continued its support of Tennis Australia’s grassroots program ANZ Tennis Hot Shots with a number of participation initiatives taking place during the tournament 
• Players across the three cities were transported by a fleet of 90 Kia cars during the tournament 
• Dunlop supplied the official tennis balls 
• Carlton & United Breweries (CUB)’s Stella Artois and Pure Blonde Organic Cider, Schweppes, Canadian Club, Aperol and Treasury Wines kept spectators refreshed
• La Roche-Posay provided spectators with sunscreen 
• Toshiba provided onsite technology support
• BLK Sport outfitted staff, ball kids, officials and volunteers in technical apparel. 

Tournament operations 
• 235 ball kids aged between 12 and 16 years of age participated in the ATP Cup across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney 
• 694 volunteers gave their time, supporting ATP Cup activations, accreditation, court services, media operations, patron services, player services, locker room and transport
• There was a total of nine chair and 145 line umpires officiating at the tournament including 32 from overseas representing 18 countries and 22 from interstate. 

Trophy 
• The ATP Cup trophy was made in Australia from locally sourced materials
• Made from sterling silver, the stunning symmetrical design of the ATP Cup consists of 24 shards, with each representing one of the 24 countries in competition. The shards support a silver stem adorned with a hand-blown glass silver sphere, replicating both a traditional tennis ball and the hemisphere logo of the event
• A team of six dedicated more than 320 hours to designing and producing the ATP Cup
• It stands 50 centimetres tall
• As well as the ATP Cup, ABC Bullion are responsible for producing the Australian Open men’s singles trophy, the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup and the Melbourne Cup.

Media
• 239 media representatives including 150 local and 89 international media provided detailed coverage of the ATP Cup Group Stages and Final Eight 
• More than 125 press conferences took place during the tournament. 

Production 
• Full court LED screens surrounded centre court in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney and heightened the in-stadium experience, providing a dynamic platform for entertainment, replays, reviews and stats
• State-of-the-art production captured behind-the-scenes footage and rare player access, players’ team dynamics and unique content across social media and broadcast throughout the event
• The Veronicas raised the roof at Ken Rosewall Arena as part of the prelude to the ATP Cup final. The Aussie pop duo performed two of their hit songs – In My Blood and Untouched. 

Broadcast
• The ATP Cup was broadcast in more than 180 territories worldwide 
• More than 15,000 broadcast hours in 40+ languages was expected
• Domestically, the ATP Cup was broadcast on Channel Nine 
• The ATP Cup host broadcast was produced by Tennis Australia and featured 100 cameras across the three cities utilising world leading broadcast technology 
• Live cameras included NetCams in all stadiums, GCams in all stadiums, RF beauty cameras in each city and Spidercam for the Final Eight 
• Camera and audio design specifically developed with the unique court set up in mind – taking in the team zones in the corners of the court where players and their team mates sat side-by-side during matches  
• Electronic Line Calling as well as the all-new Video Review and endless coverage of key areas behind the scenes put viewers in every gym and strategy room
• A contribution ring of 32 feeds between Brisbane, Perth and Sydney and up to 16 feeds were distributed off shore with live action for more than 17 hours a day
• Hundreds of pieces of post-produced event content were created
• Almost 300 broadcast crew and talent from all over the world worked on the coverage including a group of 21 of the world’s leading tennis experts – amongst them Jim Courier, Tim Henman, Samantha Smith, Mark Petchey, Roger Rasheed, Sam Groth, Casey Dellacqua, Joshua Eagle, Todd Woodbridge, Robbie Koenig and John Fitzgerald
• A newly developed scoring graphics package plus a suite of virtual and augmented reality graphics and some exclusive court surface chroma key graphics also featured throughout the coverage
• Up to five cameras with augmented reality capabilities were in use throughout the tournament.

Social media 
• The most popular post on Instagram: “It’s pretty sad, it’s tough” Nick Kyrgios’ post match interview  
• The most popular post on Facebook: Team Spain painting challenge 
• The most popular post on Twitter: Aces for bushfire 

ATPCup.com
• The top five countries to visit ATPCup.com were Australia, United States, Canada, United Kingdom and India
• The top three articles were: Learn More About 2020 ATP Cup Teams, Final Eight Qualification Scenarios, Learn More About Team Australia
• The most popular three videos were: Spain Breaks Serve After Successful Challenge, De Minaur/Kyrgios Clinch Tie In Dramatic Fashion, Hot Shot: Nadal Clinches Double Break After Marathon Point
• Throughout the tournament period there were 331 videos uploaded to the ATP Cup website. 

The ATP Cup is supported by official Host City partners, Tourism and Events Queensland and Brisbane Marketing, Tourism WA and Destination NSW.

Jeremy Chardy had a familiar foe across the net in fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon on Monday at the Adelaide International. In a battle of all-French veterans, it was Chardy who moved into the second round with a 6-3, 7-5 win.

Chardy missed a chance to serve out the match at 5-3 in the second set, but recovered to advance in one hour and 33 minutes. The 32-year-old improved to 3-4 in his ATP Head2Head with Simon and has won their past three meetings. He’ll take on fourth-seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta for a place in the quarter-finals.

Brit Dan Evans continued his outstanding tennis from the ATP Cup by easing past Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero 6-2, 6-4. Evans went 3-1 in singles play and scored a Top 20 win against Alex de Minaur in Great Britain’s quarter-final tie against Australia. Next up for him is Kazakh Alexander Bublik.

American Sam Querrey fired 28 aces and didn’t face a break point against French qualifier Gregoire Barrere, but was still pushed to the edge before prevailing 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-6(5). He’ll meet third-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev in the next round. Rublev captured his third ATP Tour title last week at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha (d. Moutet).

South African Lloyd Harris scored the upset of the day by taking out sixth-seeded Chilean Cristian Garin 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4. Awaiting him in the next round is Serbian Laslo Djere.

Australian wild card James Duckworth defeated Federico Delbonis 6-4, 6-4 in 67 minutes. The 27-year-old converted both his break points and won 87 per cent of first-serve points (34/39) to book a second-round clash against Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Kubot/Melo Open 2020 Campaign In Style
Second seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo opened their season with a convincing 6-2, 6-4 win over Raven Klaasen/Oliver Marach. Awaiting them in the quarter-finals are Maximo Gonzalez/Fabrice Martin, who defeated Alex Bolt/Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-3.

Garin and Londero recovered from singles losses to beat home favourites Lleyton Hewitt and Jordan Thompson 6-3, 2-6, 10-7. The Chilean-Argentine pairing will meet fourth seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek or Chris Guccione and Robert Lindstedt for a place in the semi-finals.

A LOOK BACK
Apis Canberra International (Bendigo, Australia): We often talk about players overcoming obstacles on the ATP Challenger Tour. That is, finding their way to the winners’ circle in the midst of injury or personal tragedy. That was the case this week at the Canberra International, but this time it was the tournament that triumphed in the face of adversity.

Philipp Kohlschreiber lifted the trophy on Sunday, overcoming upstart #NextGenATP star Emil Ruusuvuori 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 for the title. But the German’s victory is just a small part of the greater story that was written during the week. The tournament was originally set to be held in the Australian capital of Canberra, but was forced to be relocated to Bendigo due to hazardous smoke from the surrounding bushfires.

The decision to move the tournament was made just a few days before the start of play, as the unrelenting smokey conditions were deemed too dangerous. With many players and tournament staff already in Canberra, buses were deployed to transport everyone nearly seven hours to the new site. Bendigo, which will also host a Challenger 80 event beginning Monday, did an incredible job to accelerate their schedule on such short notice. That included establishing last-minute hotels, food and transport, as well as player and patron services, for an additional week.

In the end, the tournament was a great success, concluding with Kohlschreiber’s victory on Sunday and a cheque for nearly AU$ 100,000 donated to the Australian Red Cross. A total of 997 aces were struck during the week, raising AU $99,700 for disaster relief.

For the 36-year-old Kohlschreiber, the title was as sweet as they come. He lifted his first trophy since 2017, when he prevailed at the ATP Tour event in Kitzbühel. Moreover, it was the German’s first hard-court title in 12 years and first at the Challenger level since Reunion Island in 2005.

Ruusuvuori, meanwhile, carried his dominant run of form in 2020. The Finn rises to a career-high No. 104 in the FedEx ATP Rankings and is well on his way to cracking the Top 100 in the early weeks of the new season. He is now 25-4 at the Challenger level since mid-August and will be one to watch as the ATP Race To Milan moves along.

On the doubles court, Max Purcell and Luke Saville picked up where they left off in 2019. After winning a tour-leading seven titles last year, the Aussie duo lifted yet another trophy.

Oracle Pro Series – Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA): Ulises Blanch returned to the winners’ circle on Sunday, turning in an early candidate for ‘comeback of the year’ with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Roberto Cid Subervi in Ann Arbor. The American rallied from a set and 1-4 down to lift his second Challenger trophy, storming back for the most satisfying win of his career.

“I controlled what I could control this week,” said the 21-year-old Blanch. “I just wanted to focus on the little things to get myself back on track. Thankfully it went pretty well all week. It gives me a lot of confidence with all the work I’ve been putting in with my team and my family. I’m aiming higher than this, so at the end of the day it’s all about continuing to get better.”

In 2018, at the ripe age of 20, Ulises Blanch tasted his first moment of glory. Competing in his very first Challenger main draw in Perugia, the American would complete a stunning run to the title as a lucky loser. But after a year of struggles that would follow, Blanch entered the 2020 season in search of that spark once again. He would certainly find that on the campus of the University of Michigan, reeling off six wins in six days to lift the trophy.

Internationaux BNP Paribas Nouvelle-Caledonie (Noumea, New Caledonia): For the 17th straight year, the ATP Challenger Tour has launched its season in paradise. The capital of an island collectivity of France called New Caledonia, located off the east coast of Australia, Noumea has hosted the tour’s best for nearly two decades.

On Monday, J.J. Wolf etched his name in the tournament’s history books. The American dropped one set in six matches to hoist his third Challenger trophy, carrying his impressive form from 2019 to the new season. He dominated fourth seed and former World No. 36 Yuichi Sugita 6-2, 6-2. For the first time since 2017, a Challenger final was postponed to Monday due to rain, but that did not deter the 21-year-old.

Wolf, a former standout at Ohio State University, has kicked off his 2020 season exactly how he capped his 2019 campaign. After securing his second title in Champaign in November, he wasted no time in notching a third on the hard courts of Noumea. The win moves him to 19-5 since the US Open, boosting his FedEx ATP Ranking to a career-high No. 181.

A LOOK AHEAD
Two tournaments are on the calendar this week, with Challenger 80 events in Bangkok and Bendigo. Jiri Vesely leads the field at the 12th Bangkok Challenger, while Marton Fucsovics is joined by Stefano Travaglia and Steve Johnson in Bendigo.