Andrey Rublev and Alexander Bublik weren’t the only people showing off their athleticism on court on Wednesday at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.

With Bublik serving at 0-2, 15/0 in the final set, an errant forehand from Rublev floated into the air and well wide. Chair umpire Carlos Bernardes got more involved in the action than he anticipated and caught the ball from his courtside seat, sparking a round of applause from the centre court crowd.

Bublik may have won that battle, but it was Rublev who won the war by prevailing in a third-set tie-break to reach the second round.

David Goffin had lost his past three matches to Marin Cilic, but the sixth-seeded Belgian continued to push towards a third appearance at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Croatian on Wednesday at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

“It was a tough draw. To have [Marin] in the first round is not easy, but I knew I had to stay focussed on what I had to do. The key today was to serve well because it’s very fast indoors,” Goffin said. “I’ve always had close matches with him and it’s usually just a small difference.”

Blink and you’ll miss him ??

? : @TennisTV | @David__Goffin#SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/0wKFNXXg4W

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 23, 2019

The victory keeps the 28-year-old in strong contention for one of the two remaining qualifying spots at The O2 in London, from 10-17 November. Goffin is 10th in the ATP Race to London with 2,370 points after Wednesday’s win. He is 245 points behind eighth-placed Matteo Berrettini, who is currently in the Erste Bank Open quarter-finals, and could add an additional 410 points if he wins the Basel title.

Home favourite Stan Wawrinka closed out Wednesday’s day session with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win over Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas. The Swiss is in 15th place in the ATP Race to London with 1,865 points after his victory on Wednesday, but made solid inroads towards a fifth appearance at The O2 with the 150 points for his runner-up finish last week in Antwerp (l. to Murray).

“I’m really happy. I was sad to not be able to play the past two years. It was great a match from the beginning to the end. I served really well and was being super aggressive,” Wawrinka said. “It was an amazing crowd, amazing atmosphere and it’s great to play one more day here.”

Pablo Cuevas’ reaction is all of us after that point ??

?: @TennisTV | @stanwawrinka#SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/uBfvMOozKE

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 23, 2019

Cilic’s serve is widely regarded as his biggest weapon, but it was Goffin who put on a serving clinic with 11 aces (compared to four for Cilic) and 76 per cent of first-serve points won (37/49). The Belgian was also rock-solid in return games and converted all three break points to advance in one hour and 12 minutes. He finished the day with a tidy 24 winners to just 20 unforced errors.

Goffin now holds a 4-3 lead in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Cilic after defeating the Croatian for the first time since 2016. He’ll take on another big sever in American Reilly Opelka for a place in the quarter-finals.

Wawrinka, making his 14th appearance in Basel, hasn’t always excelled at this event and arrived with an 11-13 record. But he delighted the crowd with his top form against Cuevas, hammering 30 winners and taking 78 per cent (40/51) of his first-serve points. Wawrinka nailed his 10th ace of the day on match point to prevail in 67 minutes.

Next up for Wawrinka is #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe, who produced a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win over Brit Daniel Evans for his sixth ATP Tour quarter-final of the year. Earlier this week, Tiafoe qualified for his second appearance at the Next Gen ATP Finals, held from 5-9 November in Milan. 

Any formula for success requires a strong work ethic as a necessary ingredient. It’s a characteristic Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has met from an early age, and the #NextGenATP Spaniard’s commitment is already reaping him rewards.

On Monday, Davidovich Fokina burst into the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings for the first time in his budding career, leaping eight spots to No. 93. Pegged as one of Spain’s brightest young talents, the 20-year-old from Malaga is so far living up to lofty expectations during his steady rise.

“Breaking through [into the Top 100] is a huge step,” Davidovich Fokina tells ATPTour.com. “I see big things in my future. Even though it’s been a tough battle this year with lots of ups and downs, I’m trying to finish the season with strong results.”

Despite what he considers a difficult year, the teenager’s accomplishments are proof his hard work and dedication are paying off. Davidovich Fokina announced his arrival in 2019 with strong showings week after week while flashing all the signs that make for a promising star.

In the past 10 months, he has lifted his first ATP Challenger Tour title (Seville), reached his first ATP Tour-level semi-final (Estoril) and made his inaugural main draw at a Grand Slam (Roland Garros). Those results have catapulted the ambitious talent from No. 241 at the start of the year to his current ranking of No. 93, with several weeks to go before the end of the season.

As gracious as he is gifted, Davidovich Fokina credits his team for playing a critical role in his development. Since childhood, he’s been under the guidance of Jorge Aguirre, a prominent figure in Malaga tennis circles. The Spanish pupil is eager to repay his coach and team for their confidence in his abilities by fulfilling his own potential.

“I’ve had a great team backing me from the start,” says Davidovich Fokina. “They push me to learn and to grow every day. They’ve helped to build me into the player I become when I step on the court.”

Davidovich Fokina is 29-11 on the ATP Challenger Tour so far, which includes semi-final showings at Ningbo, China, and Biella, Italy; a pair of finals at Bangkok and Genova; and a title-winning effort in Seville.

By churning out consistent results on the ATP Challenger Tour, Davidovich Fokina has established himself as a player on the cusp of success at tour-level events in the near future. His short-term goal, however, is to finish the year in the best form possible. It’s at Challenger events in Liuzhou, China, this week and at Shenzhen next week where the #NextGenATP standout hopes his season will culminate with more positive results.

“I know that I can still improve in a lot of ways,” Davidovich Fokina says.

The Spaniard is already looking at the off-season as a chance to further refine his game. “Physically, technically and mentally, there’s room to grow. I plan on using the preseason to work on growing in those areas so I can start the next year even better than I did this one.”

The plan for the player and his team is to use this year’s gains as a vehicle toward even greater heights in 2020. One incentive to end the season on a high note: If his current ATP Ranking holds steady, Davidovich Fokina will be granted direct entry into the main draw at the Australian Open in January, an exciting and motivating prospect that the Spanish youngster relishes.

“That boosts my motivation even more,” the 2017 Wimbledon boys’ singles champion says about the possibility of Grand Slam entries without having to battle through three rounds of qualifying.

“It would mean I’d be able to save that energy for my main draw matches, and I would be a lot fresher if I have to go five sets. It’s difficult to compete at Grand Slams and even more so when you’re tired and must play longer to advance. [Direct entry] isn’t something that determines a career, but it’s definitely another step forward.”

Continued development and maturation are Davidovich Fokina’s focus points at this stage, and breaking into the Top 100 is just one step forward in what is poised to be a promising career.

Pablo Carreno Busta extended his late-season run of form on Wednesday by beating Denis Shapovalov for the second time in four weeks at the Erste Bank Open.

The Spaniard broke the four-match winning streak of last week’s Intrum Stockholm Open titlist with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over 72 minutes. Carreno Busta has now won 14 of his past 18 matches since reaching the US Open third round (l. to Goffin).

View Vienna Singles Draw

The former World No. 10 won the first three games of their fourth FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, breaking in the second game when Shapovalov made a backhand error. The second set looked destined for a tie-break, but a wayward forehand from 20-year-old Shapovalov at 5-5, 30/40 gave Carreno Busta an opportunity to serve for his 29th match win of the season. Carreno Busta committed 11 unforced errors to Shapovalov’s 34.

Carreno Busta beat Shapovalov en route to lifting his fourth ATP Tour trophy at the Chengdu Open on 29 September and last week advanced to the Stockholm semi-finals (l. to Krajinovic). Shapovalov, who has already qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals in November, drops to a 31-25 match record in 2019.

Carreno Busta will next play eighth-seeded Croatian Borna Coric or Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in the Vienna second round on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Shapovalov’s compatriot, sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who was due to play last week’s VTB Kremlin Cup champion Andrey Rublev, withdrew due to a left ankle injury. The Canadian is replaced in the main draw by Kazakhstani lucky loser Alexander Bublik.

Second seeds Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus encountered few problems in a convincing 6-3, 6-3 first-round win over Cristian Garin/Benoit Paire on Tuesday at the Swiss Indoors Basel. Next up for Klaasen/Venus are Ivan Dodig/Filip Polasek, who saved a set point at 5/6 in the first-set tie-break of their 7-6(6), 7-5 victory against Luca Margaroli/Jan-Lennard Struff.

Fourth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau held off a determined effort from Nikola Mektic/Franko Skugor to score a 6-3, 6-7(7), 10-5 win. Rojer/Tecau missed two match points at 6/5 and 7/6 in the second-set tie-break, but recovered quickly to set up a quarter-final battle with Jamie Murray/Neal Skupski.

At the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, third seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut saved all three break points in their 6-1, 6-4 victory over Grigor Dimitrov/Feliciano Lopez. Awaiting them in the quarter-finals are Andres Molteni/Diego Schwartzman, who took out Dominic Inglot/Austin Krajicek 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-5.

Fourth seeds Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury rallied from 2-5 in the second set and saved a set point at 4-5 to defeat Karen Khachanov/Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-6(4). They’ll play Luke Bambridge/Ben McLachlan for a place in the semi-finals.

Austrian Dominic Thiem started one of his favourite weeks on the ATP Tour with his first win against France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Tuesday, beating the Frenchman 6-4, 7-6(2) to make the second round of his home Erste Bank Open in Vienna.

Thiem came back from 0/40 down to break Tsonga in the seventh game of the opening set, and the top seed pulled away in the second-set tie-break. The Austrian, who was 0-2 against Tsonga in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, which included a 2013 Vienna loss, did not face a break point and won 80 per cent (33/41) of his first-serve points.

The 26-year-old has already secured his fourth consecutive trip to the Nitto ATP Finals at The O2 in London, from 10-17 November. Thiem is going for his fifth title of the season, which would be a career-best single-season haul.

He will next meet Fernando Verdasco, who beat Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. The Spaniard leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Thiem 4-0, which includes a 2017 hard-court matchup at the indoor Rolex Paris Masters.

Third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas continued his top form on Tuesday at the Swiss Indoors Basel, battling to a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6(6) victory in the night session against Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

“I knew it was going to be a difficult battle out there. He fought hard and gave me a hard time out there, but I’m satisfied and happy that this match didn’t go longer or to three sets,” Tsitsipas said. “The players that make it into [ATP 500] tournaments are all playing well, so I expect every match to be difficult. You have to fight for everything.”

Tsitsipas has won eight of his past 10 matches. The 21-year-old finished runner-up in Beijing (l. to Thiem) and defeated World No. 1 Novak Djokovic en route to a semi-final finish at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Those two results helped clinch his maiden appearance at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November. Tsitsipas will play Spaniard Pablo Andujar or Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis in the second round.

”I came into the match feeling very relaxed. I went out there to enjoy my game and experiment with a few different things,” Tsitsipas said. “I got some good support from the fans today. There were some Greek flags and people screaming my name, so that was very pleasing.”

The #NextGenATP champion controlled most of the baseline rallies early on in their centre court clash, forcing Ramos-Vinolas to step out of his comfort zone and try to win points at the net. Tsitsipas earned the lone break of the opening set at 3-2 and held his slight advantage to take the early lead.

It appeared that the third seed would coast after he scored another break to lead 3-2 in the second set, but Ramos-Vinolas dug deep and added more pace to his shots. He levelled the match in the next game and continued to prove his resilience by saving two match points at 4/6 in the tie-break. But Tsitsipas hung tough, showing impressive defense at 6/6 to goad Ramos-Vinolas into a forehand error before prevailing in one hour and 34 minutes.

American Reilly Opelka came out on top in a 7-6(5), 7-6(10) serving duel with Chilean Cristian Garin. There were no breaks in the match, but Opelka saved set points at 6/7 and 8/9 in the second-set tie-break before converting on his fourth match point. He finished the day with 27 aces and 98 per cent (51/52) of first-serve points won to even his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Garin at 1-1. Opelka awaits sixth-seeded Belgian David Goffin or Croatian Marin Cilic in the second round.

Hyeon Chung earned a confidence boosting victory on Tuesday to hand Milos Raonic his second straight first-round exit at the Erste Bank Open.

The 23-year-old South Korean worked his way to a 6-4, 7-5 victory over one hour and 44 minutes, withstanding a late comeback from Raonic in the second set.

The South Korean won the inaugural 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals title in Milan, but was sidelined this year for six months due to a back injury and returned in July. With his sixth tour-level victory of 2019, Chung will now play Andrey Rublev or Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Vienna second round.

World No. 139 Chung broke Raonic’s serve in the opening games of each set – both times courtesy of Raonic forehand errors. Chung led 4-2 in the second set, before Raonic won three consecutive games — moving Chung around the court to break to love in the eighth game.

Raonic could not convert one set point on Chung’s serve at 5-4, Ad-Out, when Chung hit a forehand approach winner. Raonic lost 10 of the next 14 points.

Elsewhere, France’s Gilles Simon knocked out Spain’s 2004 champion Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 34 minutes to set up a clash against Aljaz Bedene, who struck 14 aces and won 28 of 29 first-service points in a 6-4, 6-4 win over seventh seed Guido Pella of Argentina.

The third time was the charm for Taylor Fritz against Alexander Zverev at the Swiss Indoors Basel. The American picked up his maiden win over the second-seeded German with a convincing 7-6(7), 6-4 performance to reach the second round.

Both players won 41 points in the opening set, but it was Fritz’s inspired run in the tie-break that gave him the early lead. Zverev held a 4/0 lead, but the American clawed back and produced an outstanding reflex volley for set point at 6/5. The second seed erased it with a forehand winner and earned his own set point at 7/6, but Fritz evened the score with an overhead smash. The 21-year-old followed up with a big forehand and an ace for a commanding advantage.

Zverev’s form dipped slightly at the start of the second set and Fritz capitalised on the opportunity. He earned the lone break of the match at 1-1 and cracked a backhand winner to close out play after one hour and 25 minutes.

The victory gave Fritz his third Top 10 win of the year and fourth overall. He’s produced his best year on Tour this season, clinching his maiden ATP Tour title in Eastbourne (d. Querrey) and finishing runner-up in Atlanta (l. to De Minaur) and Los Cabos (l. to Schwartzman). The American will now look for another first-time win against #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur, who he trails 0-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

Zverev was seeking a big week to bolster his chances at qualifying to defend his title at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November. The German is in seventh place in the ATP Race to London with 2,855 points and holds a 410-point lead over ninth-placed Roberto Bautista Agut. The Spaniard begins his Basel campaign in the night session against last year’s runner-up, Marius Copil of Romania.

Moldovan Radu Albot rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Serbian Dusan Lajovic. The 29-year-old’s reward is a second-round clash with top seed and nine-time Basel champion Roger Federer, who has won his past 21 matches at this event.

The world’s best are battling hard for one of the two remaining spots at the Nitto ATP Finals, and the competition will be as intense as ever at this week’s Erste Bank Open and Swiss Indoors Basel, both of which are ATP 500 events. That means that deciding sets will be pivotal with places in London still up for grabs.

One player whose deciding-set efforts in 2019 have helped him secure a spot at the season finale is Dominic Thiem, the top seed in Vienna. The Austrian star had only emerged victorious in 60 per cent of his tour-level deciding sets prior to the season. But excelling in that department this year has helped Thiem craft one of his most well-rounded seasons to date.

View FedEx ATP Performance Zone

Thiem has won 10 of his 12 deciding sets in 2019, a success rate of more than 83 per cent. That leads the ATP Tour in 2019 for players who have contested at least 10 deciding sets.

2019 Leaders – Deciding Sets Won

^{*(at least 10 deciding sets played)}
What is most glaring is when those deciding sets have come. Thiem has gone to a deciding set in four tour-level semi-finals, emerging victorious three times. He also went to a deciding set in two championship matches, clinching the title on both occasions. In those title clashes alone — at the BNP Paribas Open and the China Open — he could have earned 600 fewer ATP Ranking points with losses.

The players directly behind him have also enjoyed the best seasons of their careers. Andrey Rublev (78.6%), Alexander Bublik (76.9%), Laslo Djere (72.7%) and Cristian Garin (71.4%) have all reached their career-high ATP Ranking in 2019, and they occupy the second through fifth spots in rate of deciding sets won this season.

The five active players with the best all-time winning percentages in deciding sets are not inside the Top 10 this year. Kei Nishikori (60%), Novak Djokovic (50%), Rafael Nadal (66.7%), Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro lead their peers in this FedEx ATP Performance Zone. Nadal has only played six deciding sets this year, going 4-2 in those matches. Both Murray and Del Potro have played less than 10 deciding sets, mostly because they have missed time due to injury.

Career Leaders – Deciding Sets Won (Active Players)

The only player currently in the Top 8 of the ATP Race To London who has not won at least half of his deciding sets this year is Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has triumphed in 47.8 per cent of those matches (11-12). The Greek has still managed to reach a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 5.

Did You Know?
Thiem won his first ATP Tour title on home soil earlier this year in Kitzbuhel. He has never made it past the quarter-finals in Vienna.