#NextGenATP Aussie star Alex de Minaur reached his fourth ATP Tour final of the year on Saturday, eliminating American Reilly Opelka 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 7-6(3) after two hours and 34 minutes to reach the championship match of the Swiss Indoors Basel. The wild card will try to claim his fourth title of the season against nine-time Basel champion Roger Federer or third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“I can’t wait. It’s my first time here in Basel and it’s been a hell of an experience,” De Minaur said. “I’ve got my friends with me, so it’s a little bit different and it’s been paying off. I’m really looking forward to coming out tomorrow and having some fun.”

De Minaur now leads the big-serving Opelka 4-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, with all four of their matches coming in 2019. The 20-year-old is the first Aussie to reach the Basel final since Mark Philippoussis finished runner-up in 1997. No Australian man has won this tournament since its inception in 1970.

Although Opelka blasted 26 aces to surpass the 1,000-ace milestone this year and pass John Isner for the ATP Tour-lead with 1,014 aces in 2019, De Minaur’s consistency proved too difficult to overcome. The Aussie made zero unforced errors in the second and third sets, putting constant pressure on the American to hit clean winners, which led to errors off of his racquet in crucial moments.

“Probably the most important thing is not to get frustrated. You’ve got to know that he’s going to serve at least 40, 50 aces against you,” De Minaur said. “The way I like to look at things is I guess one way and commit to that way and if I guess right, make sure I make the return, don’t waste that opportunity.”

It’s been a strong three months for De Minaur, who earlier in the year struggled with a groin injury. He missed nearly two months after the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, and then lost seven of 10 matches upon his return. But De Minaur has bounced back in a major way, winning titles in Atlanta and Zhuhai before his deep run this week in Basel.

The two-time Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier will try to capture his first ATP 500 title from his second final at this level. Last year, he fell short against Alexander Zverev at the Citi Open.

De Minaur let slip a break in the first set, with Opelka rallying to force a tie-break. But the Aussie was too consistently solid, winning his first two return points of the tie-break to help him earn a 6/1 lead. At 6/2, Opelka blasted an approach shot down the middle to try to jam De Minaur, but the World No. 28 showed incredible reaction speed, finding a way to not only get his racquet on the ball, but to place a lob over the head of 6’11” Opelka.

There were no breaks of serve in the second set, and this time it was Opelka who got off to a strong start in the tie-break. The tall American showed his range with a cross-court backhand passing shot that even a diving De Minaur could not reach. Another mini-break made it seem this semi-final was on its way to a deciding set.

But De Minaur recouped both mini breaks and hit a big serve to recover from 1/4 to 4/4. Opelka quickly regrouped, though, using another critical backhand pass to help push the match to a third set.

“I knew coming in this was the match to expect. In the second set I did everything right, he just came up with two very big points, very big backhand passes on crucial points,” De Minaur said. “I knew I just had to say, ’Too good’, and get ready for another third set and hopefully take care of my serve and come the tie-break, guess right a couple times and make a couple of returns.” 

In their only previous match that went to a deciding set, earlier this year in Atlanta, De Minaur found his range off the return to earn a break and ride his serve to victory. But this time, Opelka forced the 15th all tie-break match of 2019 — and his fourth of the year. The American was unable to capitalise on looks at the Aussie’s second serve, making mistakes early in the tie-break, and that allowed De Minaur to triumph, blasting a final big serve of the day to force an error, pointing to his camp with a massive smile in celebration.

De Minaur hit 14 aces himself, but he won a higher percentage of service points than Opelka, 80 per cent to 70 per cent.

Did You Know?
De Minaur is now 7-0 in tour-level semi-finals and finals in 2019.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut will attempt to go one better than last year’s runner-up finish at the Nitto ATP Finals, having secured their team berth at The O2 for the fifth successive year.

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The Frenchmen, who have compiled a 5-8 record at the prestigious season finale in London, became the eighth team in tennis history to complete the career Grand Slam with their first Australian Open title in January.

Herbert and Mahut qualified in accordance to the Grand Slam rule, after Roland Garros champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies clinched their spot at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Individually in 2019, Herbert lifted the Qatar ExxonMobil Open trophy with David Goffin in January, while Mahut won the recent Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships title with Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Mahut and Roger-Vasselin also finished as runners up at Wimbledon and the Moselle Open.

Only three spots in the doubles draw at The O2 remain, with Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah, Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo and Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus having already qualified.

Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. They are the fourth team to clinch their spot at the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November.

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Just two weeks on from winning the Heilbronn crown on the ATP Challenger Tour, Krawietz and Mies captured their first Grand Slam championship title at Roland Garros in Paris.

The pair also clinched two ATP 250 titles at the New York Open (d. Gonzalez/Qureshi) in February and at last week’s European Open in Antwerp (d. Ram/Salisbury).

As a result of Krawietz and Mies’ qualification, Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, winners of the Australian Open in January, also secured their spot in London per the Grand Slam rule.

Only three spots remain in the Nitto ATP Finals doubles field, with Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah, Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo and Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus having already qualified.

The ATP Tour is experiencing baby fever this month! Mike Bryan is the latest player to share news on a growing family by announcing that he and girlfriend Nadia Murgasova are expecting their first child.

“IT’S A BOY!”, he wrote to his Instagram followers on Friday. The announcement included a photo of the couple hugging as blue balloons float around them. Jeremy Chardy, Bruno Soares and Jack Sock were among the players to congratulate him on social media. His twin brother and doubles partner, Bob Bryan, has three children.

Other baby news this month included Marin Cilic posting a photo of himself shopping for his first child that’s due next year, while Sam Querrey shared his own baby announcement last Sunday. John Isner revealed the arrival of a baby boy with wife Madison on 20 October, while Kevin Anderson tweeted that he and wife Kelsey welcomed a baby girl on 27 September.

The Bryan brothers have not competed since the US Open, but are on track for a record 16th team appearance in the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held from 10-17 November at The O2 in London. They are currently fifth in the ATP Doubles Race to London with 3,380 points.

Stefanos Tsitsipas dug deep to produce some of his best tennis on Friday at the Swiss Indoors Basel. The third-seeded Greek weathered an inspired start from Serbian Filip Krajinovic to prevail 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in their quarter-final clash.

Tsitsipas finished the night with 38 winners to just 26 unforced errors. The 21-year-old has won 10 of his past 12 matches, finishing runner-up in Beijing (l. to Thiem) and defeating Novak Djokovic en route to a semi-final showing at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

Awaiting him in the semi-finals is top seed and nine-time Basel champion Roger Federer, who advanced when fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka withdrew due to a back injury. The pair are tied 1-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry, with Tsitsipas prevailing at the Australian Open and Federer getting revenge in the Dubai final.

Krajinovic, runner-up last week in Stockholm (l. to Shapovalov), continued his strong form indoors in the opening set. He broke Tsitsipas twice, was flawless on net points (6/6) and only gave the Greek three unforced errors. Krajinovic let out a roar after Tsitsipas sent a forehand wide to give the Serbian an early advantage after 33 minutes.

Tsitsipas adjusted his tactics in the second set, standing further behind the baseline and adding more height to his shots in a bid to prolong the rallies. The strategy worked as Krajinovic began to leak errors from his forehand. The third seed broke serve at 1-1 in the second set and held the slight advantage, rifling a forehand winner on set point to bring the match to a decider.

Both men traded service breaks to start the final set, but Krajinovic began to feel the effects of playing eight matches over the past 10 days. Tsitsipas noticed the Serbian starting to tire and pounced, earning another break at 3-3 as he rode the momentum to victory after one hour and 53 minutes.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, the top two players in the ATP Rankings, return to action at next week’s Rolex Paris Masters. It is a critical moment in the battle for the year-end No. 1 ATP Ranking, with two very different narratives potentially to be written based on results from the season’s final ATP Masters 1000 tournament of 2019.

Nadal controls his own destiny and could clinch year-end No. 1 with a title. However, if he lifts his fifth trophy in Bercy, Djokovic can claw closer to the Spaniard and put himself in prime position to sneak out the season-ending top spot at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Nadal currently has the edge with a 1,280-point lead in the ATP Race To London — which acts as a barometer for who will finish year-end No. 1 — over the Serbian. But with 1,000 points up for grabs in Paris and a maximum of 1,500 available at the Nitto ATP Finals,is very much alive.

Nadal, if he triumphs at the Rolex Paris Masters for the first time, could put the battle out of reach, guaranteeing that he will finish year-end No. 1 for the fifth time, joining Djokovic, Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors at that mark. If Nadal triumphs in Paris, an undefeated run by Djokovic at The O2 would still not be enough to see the Serb finish in top spot.

But if Djokovic captures his 34th ATP Masters 1000 title, he will put plenty of pressure on Nadal heading into the season finale in London from 10-17 November. Although Nadal, the all-time Masters 1000 title leader (35) has not lost his opener at this level since 2016 Shanghai, doing so would allow Djokovic to pull within 280 points in the Race with a trophy.

A sixth year-end No. 1 finish for Djokovic would be historic, as he’d equal Pete Sampras’ all-time record for most year-end finishes atop the ATP Rankings. He could potentially face his Shanghai conqueror Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals. Daniil Medvedev, who has lifted the past two Masters 1000 trophies, is also in his half of the draw.

This will be Nadal’s first tournament since his US Open win, and he will face tricky Frenchman Adrian Mannarino or a qualifier/special exempt in his opener. Federer is in his half of the draw. Nadal has not made the final of this event since 2007.

Regardless of how Djokovic and Nadal perform in Paris, Nadal will arrive at The O2 as the new World No. 1. Although Djokovic currently owns a 320-point lead in the ATP Rankings, Nadal will reclaim the title on 4 November when the Serbian drops 600 points from his runner-up finish in Paris last year and an additional 1,000 points from reaching the championship match of last year’s Nitto ATP Finals.

No other player is in contention for year-end No. 1.

Gael Monfils moved inside the Top 10 in the ATP Race To London on Friday, after his 7-5, 6-1 victory against Aljaz Bedene at the Erste Bank Open.

The fourth seed claimed 81 per cent of first-serve points (29/36) to earn his 35th tour-level victory of the season after 70 minutes. Monfils improves to 14-5 at the ATP 500 event, where he reached the championship match in 2008.

The 33-year-old overtakes David Goffin and Fabio Fognini to occupy 10th position in the Race after earning 90 points for the quarter-final victory. Monfils is just 310 points behind Matteo Berrettini, who occupies the eighth and final qualification position. Berrettini defeated Andrey Rublev to reach his eighth tour-level semi-final of the year in the first match of the day on Center Court.

The Frenchman will meet fellow London contender Diego Schwartzman for a place in Sunday’s final. Monfils owns a 2-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against the Argentine, who beat Karen Khachanov in straight sets to reach the last four.

Monfils is attempting to lift his second indoor ATP Tour trophy of the year this week. The World No. 14 captured his eighth tour-level crown at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in February.

Appearing in his second quarter-final at the tournament, Bedene was aiming to reach the semi-finals in Vienna for the first time. The 30-year-old, who also advanced to the last eight in 2012, reached his first indoor ATP Tour final at the Moselle Open last month.

With two qualifying spots remaining for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, the Rolex Paris Masters will determine who packs their bags for The O2 in London from 10-17 November. Ten players are still in contention, including German Alexander Zverev, Italian Matteo Berrettini and Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, but they’ll need to weather challenging draws at the last ATP Masters 1000 event of the season.

Zverev, seeded sixth, is in good standing to give himself a chance to defend his title in London. He’s currently in seventh place in the ATP Race to London with 2,855 points, but will need to be in top form in Paris as he starts against Croatian Borna Coric or Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. Zverev shares the same quarter of the draw as third-seeded Swiss Roger Federer and a pair of London hopefuls, No. 11 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy and No. 13 seed Gael Monfils of France. Monfils is tenth in the Race with 2,350 points.

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Tenth-seeded Berrettini has a heathy grip on eighth place in the Race with 2,660 points. The Italian arguably has the most challenging draw of any player in Paris, though. He’ll begin against home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or in-form Russian Andrey Rublev, then could face eighth-seeded Russian and defending champion Karen Khachanov in the third round. Should he escape that treacherous section, a potential quarter-final clash awaits with second-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

Ninth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, currently ninth in the Race (2,530), also seeks a big week in Paris and will open against #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur or Serbian Laslo Djere. The Spaniard is in the same quarter of the draw as top seed Novak Djokovic, seventh-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and fellow London hopeful Diego Schwartzman. The Argentine is 14th in the Race with 2,040 points.

Belgian David Goffin is 11th in the Race with 2,325 points. The No. 13 seed will need to reach at least the semi-finals in Paris if he wants to return to The O2. His week begins against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov or #NextGenATP Aussie Ugo Humbert, with fourth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev and fifth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem also looming in his quarter.

Swiss Stan Wawrinka, American John Isner and Khachanov must take the title in Paris in order to have a chance at qualifying for London. Isner returns to action for the first time since the birth of his second child last week.

Read More: Isner Welcomes Second Child

Djokovic, seeking his fifth title in Paris, opens against Frenchman Richard Gasquet or fellow Serbian Dusan Lajovic. The World No. 1 holds a 32-8 record at this event and has reached the championship match in four of his past five appearances.

Nadal is back in action against a qualifier or Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, then could renew his rivalry with Wawrinka in the third round. Although Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 18-3, Wawrinka’s last win over the Spaniard came four years ago in the Paris quarter-finals.

We could have @rogerfederer versus @RafaelNadal semi-final in Paris ?

Projected quarters (by seeding) for the @RolexPMasters ? pic.twitter.com/mFOLIWv5b1

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 25, 2019

Federer looks for his first title in Paris since 2011. The Swiss plays play Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili or Moldovan Radu Albot in his opening match and shares the same half of the draw as Nadal. The pair have never faced off at this event.

Medvedev aims to continue his winning ways as he begins his campaign against a qualifier or Argentine Guido Pella. The Russian, who captured his second Masters 1000 title this month at the Rolex Shanghai Masters (d. Zverev), is on a nine-match winning streak and has reached the final of his past six ATP Tour events.

How much do you know about the Rolex Paris Masters, the ninth ATP Masters 1000 tennis tournament of the 2019 season?

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will return for the 2019 edition, where they will be joined by in-form Russian Daniil Medvedev and defending champion Karen Khachanov, but do you know which player has won the most titles here? The Rolex Paris Masters is also the final battleground in the ATP Race To London. Do you recall which American clinched his spot at the Nitto ATP Finals with his triumph in 2017? We test your knowledge in this quiz!

Need a little assistance? Check out these Paris resource pages:
Tournament Profile | All You Need To Know

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