Strong Fields in Acapulco, Dubai & Sao Paulo: The busiest month of the season comes to a close this week with ATP World Tour 500-level tournaments in Acapulco and Dubai and the final Latin American clay-court stop in Sao Paulo. Eight of the Top 10 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings are in action, including five in Acapulco, led by No. 2 Novak Djokovic, and No. 6 Rafael Nadal. In Dubai, top-ranked Andy Murray, No. 3 Stan Wawrinka and No. 10 Roger Federer lead the way. In Sao Paulo, the top three are Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Albert Ramos-Vinolas and two-time reigning champion Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.

Emirates ATP Race to Milan Leaders: There are six #NextGenATP players among the Top 20 Emirates ATP Race to Milan (as of Feb. 20) in the main draw and two others in the final round of qualifying in the upcoming tournaments.

View full Race To Milan standings 

ABIERTO MEXICANO TELCEL (Acapulco): One of the favourite destinations on the ATP World Tour is the Acapulco Princess Mundo Imperial, site of the 500-level Abierto Mexicano Telcel. The tournament made the switch from clay to hard courts in 2014 and this year’s field features a tournament record five of the Top 10 players, led by wild card and World No. 2 Novak Djokovic, who is making his tournament debut. The others include No. 6 Rafael Nadal, who returns for the first time since 2013, No. 8 and defending champion Dominic Thiem, No. 9 Marin Cilic and No. 10 David Goffin. Rounding out the seeds are first-time entrants No. 16 Nick Kyrgios and No. 21 Jack Sock. Thiem and Nadal are the only former champions in the draw.

Novak Makes Debut: Djokovic, who accepted a wild card to play in Acapulco for the first time, is playing his first tournament match since his five-set 2R loss to Denis Istomin at the Australian Open on Jan. 19. After Melbourne, Djokovic played in Serbia’ s 1R Davis Cup tie vs. Russia and he defeated #NextGenATP star Daniil Medvedev in the second singles match in four sets (did not play reverse singles). The 29-year-old Serbian is making his Acapulco debut and second career pro tournament appearance in Latin America. Last summer he lost in the 1R at the Rio Olympics (l. to del Potro). Djokovic opened the season by defending his title in Doha (d. Murray). He enters with 758 career match wins and he is four wins away from tying Pete Sampras for 10^th place on the Open Era list.

Thiem Reigning Champion: Last year Thiem won the biggest ATP World Tour title of his career in Acapulco, defeating Aussie Bernard Tomic 7-6, 4-6, 6-3. It was the second of a career-high four ATP World Tour titles during the season and the 23-year-old Austrian finished as the youngest player in the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 8. On Sunday, Thiem won his first title of the season over Pablo Carreno Busta in Rio.

Nadal Eyes 70^th Title: Two-time Acapulco champion Nadal looks to continue his success and remain unbeaten (10-0) in the tournament. In his two previous appearances on clay, Nadal won without dropping a set, capped by final wins in 2005 (d. Montanes) and 2013 (d. No. 4 Ferrer). The 30-year-old Spaniard is playing in his first tournament since reaching the Australian Open final on Jan. 29 (l. to Federer in five sets). He opened the year by reaching the quarter-finals in Brisbane (l. to Raonic). Nadal is not only trying to capture his 70^th career title, he is also attempting to break a three-year-plus hard-court title drought. His last hard court title came in Doha in January 2014 (d. Monfils).

Delpo Returns: It’s been 11 years since Juan Martin del Potro played in Acapulco. In 2006, he came in ranked No. 146 and retired in the 1R vs. Albert Montanes trailing 6-2, 5-3. It was only his fifth career ATP World Tour match at the time. Since then the Argentine superstar has won 19 career titles, including the 2009 US Open, and reached a career-high ranking of No. 4. Just over one year ago he came into Delray Beach ranked No. 1,042. This past week he played in his first tournament of the season in Delray Beach and lost in the semi-finals to top seed Raonic. Last year he earned a second ATP Comeback of the Year award (2011). He finished at No. 38 with a 32-12 match record on the season, winning in Stockholm (d. Sock) and earning a silver medal at the Rio Olympics where he beat No. 1 Djokovic in 1R and No. 5 Nadal in SF, (l. to No. 2 Murray). He closed the year by leading his country to a first Davis Cup title with wins over Croatia’s Karlovic and Cilic.

#NextGenATP Stars: There are six #NextGenATP players in the main draw, led by World No. 59 Borna Coric, wild card World No. 113 Ernesto Escobedo and four qualifiers – No. 86 Yoshihito Nishioka, No. 90 Frances Tiafoe, No. 115 Stefan Kozlov, and No. 136 Taylor Fritz, who was last year’s ATP Star of Tomorrow recipient.

Sock Coming to Acapulco: No. 8 seed Sock, a winner over Milos Raonic in the Delray Beach final via walkover, is off to a quick start this season. Sock, the No. 1 American, is off to a career-best 10-1 start, winning his second career ATP World Tour title in Auckland (d. Sousa), reaching the 3R at the Australian Open (l. to Tsonga) and winning a match in the USA’s 5-0 Davis Cup 1R win over Switzerland.

Doubles Draw: The top seeds are last year’s World No. 1 duo: Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. The other seeds are: No. 2 Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, No. 3 Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo and No. 4/last year’s champions Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, who is aiming for his 50^th career ATP World Tour level doubles title.

DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS (Dubai): The 25^th anniversary of the prestigious 500-level tournament is highlighted by World No. 1 Andy Murray, who is joined by reigning champion Stan Wawrinka and seven-time winner Roger Federer, who is playing his first tournament since his title run at the Australian Open. The other seeds are: No. 4 Gael Monfils, No. 5 Tomas Berdych, No. 6 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 7 Lucas Pouille and No. 8 Gilles Muller. Prior to last year when Wawrinka captured the title, Djokovic or Federer were champions for a seven-year stretch from 2009-2015.

Murray Top Seed:  Murray is making his first tournament appearance since losing in the 4R at the Australian Open (l. to M. Zverev) on Jan. 22. The World No. 1 opened the season by reaching the final in Doha (l. to Djokovic). He has an 11-4 career record in Dubai, reaching the final in 2012 (l. to Federer) and the quarter-finals in 2008-09 and 2015. Murray is also playing doubles (w/Zimonjic).

Stan Reigning Champion: No. 2 seed Wawrinka is back to defend his title. Last year he returned to Dubai for the first time since 2008 (1R, l. to Hernych). After opening the tournament coming back to beat Stakhovsky in three sets, he did not drop a set the rest of the week, capping it off with a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Baghdatis in the final.  He won two more titles, including his third Grand Slam crown at the US Open (d. Djokovic) to finish No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the third straight year. This season he has compiled a 7-2 match record, opening with a semi-final in Brisbane (l. to Nishikori) and following with the same result at the Australian Open (l. to eventual champion Federer in five sets).

Roger Eyes Eighth Title: Federer is making his 13th appearance in Dubai and the 35-year-old Swiss superstar is playing in his first tournament since capturing his 18^th career Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open on Jan. 29 (d. Nadal in five sets). Federer owns a 47-5 career record in Dubai with seven titles (2003-05, 2007, 2012, 2014-15). He also was runner-up in 2006 and 2011. He has won 10 straight matches in Dubai since losing to Berdych in the semi-finals in 2013. He is trying to win an eighth title for the first time in his career. He also has captured seven titles in Basel, Cincinnati, Halle and Wimbledon. Last year he played his last match in the Wimbledon semi-finals on July 8, 2016 when he lost in five sets to Raonic. He missed the rest of last season with a knee injury.            

Kohli Eyes 400 Wins: No. 2 German Philipp Kohlschreiber is three match wins away from reaching the 400 wins milestone in his career. He has a record of 397-307, including 8-7 in Dubai, reaching the semi-finals in 2014 (l. to Berdych) and quarter-finals last year (l. to eventual champion Wawrinka).

Berdych Makes 10^th Appearance: No. 5 seed Tomas Berdych is making his 11^th  appearance in Dubai. The two-time finalist (2013-14), who has reached the quarter-finals or better the past six years, has a 22-10 career record. He began with a 4-4 record but is 18-6 since 2011.

Doubles Draw: The top seeds are Australian Open champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers. The other seeds are: No. 2 Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers, No. 3 Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin and No. 4 Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.

BRASIL OPEN (Sao Paulo):  Sao Paulo is the site of one of two Brazilian tournaments on the ATP World Tour (Rio de Janeiro). There are five players in the Top 50 Emirates ATP Rankings in the field, led by top seed, Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who finished runner-up in his biggest career ATP World Tour final in Rio on Sunday (l. to Thiem).  The other seeds are No. 2 Albert Ramos-Vinolas No. 3 and reigning two-time champion Pablo Cuevas, No. 4 Joao Sousa, No. 5 Fabio Fognini, No. 6 Diego Schwartzman, No. 7 Federico Delbonis and No. 8 Carlos Berlocq. There are two former winners in the field: Cuevas (2015-16) and Delbonis (2014).

Cuevas Two-Time Defending Champ: Two-time reigning champion Cuevas comes in with a 12-5 career record, having won nine straight matches over 2015-16 in Sao Paulo. The 31-year-old Uruguayan is off to a slow start this season with a 1-4 match record and he has lost his past three opening round matches, including last week in Rio (l. to De Greef). On Saturday, he captured his sixth career doubles title in Rio (w/Carreno Busta). They are the top seeds in Sao Paulo.

Carreno Busta Top Seed: For the first time in his career Carreno Busta is the top seed in an ATP World Tour tournament. The 25-year-old Spaniard lost in Sunday’s singles final in Rio (l. to Thiem). He saved one match point in his 2-6, 7-5 ,6-0 semi-final win over rising Norwegian #NextGenATP star Casper Ruud. Last season Carreno Busta won two ATP World Tour titles (Winston-Salem, Moscow) and reached two other finals (Sao Paulo, Estoril) and finished a year-end best No. 30 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Last year’s Sao Paulo runner-up is making his third straight tournament visit (4-2 record).

Ruud Newest #NextGenATP Star: The youngest player in the draw is 18-year-old Casper Ruud of Norway. Ruud earned entry into the draw as a special exempt after reaching his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Rio (l. to Carreno Busta after holding match point).  Ruud rose from No. 209 to a career-high of No. 133 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after his breakthrough week. He also moved from No. 16 to No. 3 in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan standings.

Spanish Success: In 2014, Delbonis became the first Argentine tournament winner since Guillermo Canas won in Costa do Sauipe in 2007. Then Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas won the title in 2015-16. Prior to 2014, Spaniards had won six straight titles in Sao Paulo from 2008-13 with Almagro winning three times:          

2013 – Rafael Nadal                                                                                              
2012 – Nicolas Almagro                                                                                        
2011 – Nicolas Almagro                                                                                            
2010 – Juan Carlos Ferrero                                                                                                          
2009 – Tommy Robredo                                                                                      
2008 – Nicolas Almagro

Doubles Draw: The top seeds are Rio champions Pablo Carreno Busta and Pablo Cuevas. The other seeds are: defending champions No. 2 Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos, No. 3 Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak and No. 4 Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner.

A LOOK BACK

Morelos Open (Morelos, Mexico): Third seed and #NextGenATP star Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan won his first ATP Challenger Tour title with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Nicolas Jarry of Chile. At 19 years and eight months, he is the youngest Challenger winner so far this year. Bublik is the third #NextGenATP winner in 2017, joining Korean Hyeon Chung (Maui) and American Noah Rubin (Launceston). He has jumped nearly 70 spots since the start of the season to a career-high No. 137 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Jarry was also seeking his first Challenger title, reaching his first Challenger final since Quito in September 2014. His run in Morelos pushes him back inside the Top 250 and he’s closing in on the Top 200 after returning from breaking his right wrist.

Trofio Faip Perrel (Bergamo, Italy): Former World No. 14 Jerzy Janowicz of Poland continued his comeback from injury with a 6-4, 6-4 win over seventh seed and #NextGenATP star Quentin Halys of France. The win gives Janowicz his sixth ATP Challenger Tour title and first since prevailing in Genoa last September. The win over Halys also snapped the French title streak in Bergamo, following victories by Benoit Paire in 2015 and Pierre-Hugues Herbert in 2016.

The 20 year old Halys finishes with his first Challenger final of the year. He was seeking his second Challenger title, with the maiden crown coming last April in Tallahassee.

Shimadzu Kyoto Challenger (Kyoto, Japan): Local favourite Yasutaka Uchiyama delighted the home crowd with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over sixth seed Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia to win his first Challenger title. This is the second straight year a Japanese player has won on home soil in Kyoto, with Yuichi Sugita prevailing last year. The 24-year-old Uchiyama was competing in his first Challenger final since Lexington in July 2015.

Kavcic drops to 0-2 in Challenger finals this year after finishing runner-up last month in Bangkok.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Janowicz: “This is just one more good step for me because I’m already thinking of being back in the Top 15. Now I’m going to fight next week in Wroclaw. I hope I’m going to stay healthy and be back as fast as possible.”

“The organisation here is really good. I’d say this was one of the best tournament directors I’ve ever had. It was nice to be here and the crowd is always unbelievable in Italy!”

A LOOK AHEAD

There are two Challengers on the schedule this week, with the $100,000 event in Wroclaw, Poland, taking top billing as it returns for the 13^th year. Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu is the top seed and Lukas Lacko of Slovakia is the second seed. Halys, the fourth seed, and Janowicz look to continue their form from Bergamo. Former Top 10 player Jurgen Melzer of Austria is also in the draw.

The $50,000 event in Yokohama, Japan, is back for the 12^th year. Local favourite Sugita is the top seed and Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland is the second seed. Korean #NextGenATP star Duckhee Lee is the third seed, while Uchiyama and Kavcic aim for another successful week in Japan.

View Draws & Watch Free Live Streams

ATP CHALLENGER TOUR ON TWITTER: The ATP Challenger Tour has launched a dedicated Twitter account for the latest news and information about players and events. Follow @ATPChallengerTour at twitter.com/ATPChallengerTour.

Dominic Thiem has found a home on the Latin American Golden Swing, surging to the title at the Rio Open presented by Claro on Sunday. Thiem fought past Pablo Carreno Busta 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 34 minutes to lift the trophy at the Jockey Club Brasileiro.

With Brazilian legend Gustavo Kuerten in attendance, the World No. 8 claimed his eighth ATP World Tour crown, second at the 500 level and third on the Golden Swing, having previously triumphed in Buenos Aires and Acapulco in 2016. He fired 25 winners, including 14 on his forehand wing and seven aces to prevail over Carreno Busta. Thiem also converted four of eight break chances in extending his FedEx ATP Head2Head edge to 5-1.

“I am feeling really great,” said Thiem. “This is the best feeling you can have, winning a title. It’s all you practise for. I played five very good matches, especially in the semis and final against amazing players.

“I did same thing last year, going from clay to hard in Acapulco and I did well. It’s a slower hard court with a high bounce, so it’s what I like. It’s not easy with the travel and time difference, but the confidence is high and I’m feeling great.”

 Watch Full Match Replays

With rain drops falling over Quadra Guga Kuerten, Carreno Busta took the early lead with a break for 3-2 as he looked to extend his strong run of form in Rio. A day removed from a thrilling comeback over teenager Casper Ruud to reach the final, battling back from a set and a break down and fighting off a match point, he was riding a wave of momentum.

But Thiem entered the final without dropping a set on the Brazilian clay, making a seemless transition from the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam. The trend would continue, as the second seed broke right back for 3-3 and eventually converted his third set point, breaking again for 7-5.

The lead would trade hands midway through the second set, as Thiem edged ahead with a drop shot winner for 4-2 and Carreno Busta drew level with a sublime drop shot of his own in the next game. Thiem was tested, but he would not be denied the title, breaking for the match as the Spaniard sent a forehand long.

Thiem takes $314,880 in prize money and 500 Emirates ATP Rankings points, extending his win streak over Carreno Busta to four straight at the tour-level. They met twice in 2016, with the Austrian winning in three sets in Buenos Aires and in four at the US Open.

Thiem is the fourth player to lift an ATP World Tour trophy this year without dropping a set, joining last week’s winners Ryan Harrison (Memphis) and Alexandr Dolgopolov (Buenos Aires), as well as Sunday’s Delray Beach Open champion Jack Sock.

Carreno Busta, meanwhile, was bidding for his third ATP World Tour title in his fifth final. He prevailed in the doubles final on Saturday with Pablo Cuevas, dethroning defending champions Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

“Obviously, I’m very happy after a week like this,” said Carreno Busta. “Winning the title in doubles and reaching the final in singles is great. Dominic is a fantastic player and is going to win many more titles in the coming years. I hope I can play more finals against him.

“Physically I felt great all week. I’m a little tired, but that’s normal after these couple of days. I have a few days to rest and now I’m looking forward to Sao Paulo.”

The 25 year old, who was looking to join Rafael Nadal (2014) and David Ferrer (2015) as Spanish champions in Rio de Janeiro, earns 300 Emirates ATP Rankings points and $154,370 in prize money. He is projected to rise one spot to a career-high World No. 23 on Monday.

It can be hard to recall now, after so many months of Andy Murray playing so well on the ATP World Tour, but the Scot did experience a down period during his career season of 2016.

The dip happened right about now, 12 months ago, after the Australian Open and before the European clay-court season began in April. Murray won only two ATP World Tour matches during the two-month span, losing in the third round of both the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open presented by Itau.

This year, Murray is playing the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships before heading into March Madness. He’s hoping the tournament helps him enjoy a better stretch than he experienced a year ago.

“I want to avoid that this year. I want to do much better over this period than I did last year,” Murray said during his pre-tournament press conference.

Forget tennis for a moment. The 29-year-old Murray was focused on something much more basic earlier this month: his health. Murray was diagnosed with shingles after returning from the Australian Open. He didn’t notice anything in Melbourne but saw a doctor upon coming home and had to rest for about two weeks.

“I just had to go easy for a little while,” he said. “But I’m fine now and have been training flat out for the last two and a half weeks really, so I feel good.”

It was a much different Australian Open than Murray had become accustomed to over the years. The five-time finalist fell in the fourth round to German Mischa Zverev, who served-and-volleyed his way to a career-best quarter-final finish in Melbourne.

Murray, however, said he’s gotten over the early defeat and has learned from the match. “I was disappointed obviously with the loss and I feel like I could have done some things a bit better,” he said. “I’m trying to get back to playing good tennis here and hopefully I can.”

Despite his earliest Melbourne exit since 2009, also fourth round, the Scot easily remained No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. He currently leads World No. 2 Novak Djokovic by more than 1,700 points. “I want to try and stay there. I’m motivated to try and do that,” Murray said.

Read More: Tsonga Makes It Back-To-Back In Marseille 

The Brit, who has never won the Dubai title, is the top seed in his sixth appearance at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament. He opens against 33-year-old Malek Jaziri of Tunisia.

Murray and Jaziri, No. 47 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, have never played each other. Jaziri is also making his sixth appearance at the event, with his best finish coming in 2014 when he reached the quarter-finals.

“I’m not looking far ahead. I know Malek fairly well,” Murray said. “I’ve seen him play. He’s very talented. He plays with a lot of slice backhands. He’s quite aggressive on his forehand… I think he quite likes the conditions here so I’m concentrating on that one.”

Who can stop Jo-Wilfried Tsonga?

The Frenchman won his ninth match in a row and celebrated his third Open 13 Marseille title on Sunday with a 6-4, 6-4 win against countrman Lucas Pouille. The 31-year-old Tsonga outplayed his younger compatriot, breaking the 23 year old twice to cruise in 69 minutes.

The title gives Tsonga 14 for his career and his second for 2017. He won the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam a week ago by defeating then-World No. 11 David Goffin. The win also caps one of Tsonga’s best months in recent memory. Before Rotterdam, he reached the Open Sud de France semi-finals before falling to #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev, who eventually won the ATP World Tour 250 title.

With the Marseille title, Tsonga also improves to 17-3 on the season. He claimed the Open 13 Marseille title in 2009 and 2013 as well.

Pouille was going for his second ATP World Tour crown after winning his maiden title at the Moselle Open in Metz last September. But he struggled at times with his serve, landing about 60 per cent of his first-serve offerings. He was broken to start the match and again at 3-3 in the second set.

Pouille couldn’t touch Tsonga’s serve, either. Tsonga won 87 per cent of his service points (40/46), dominating games with a 1-2 punch of serve and forehand. He never faced a break point.

Tsonga will receive 250 Emirates ATP Rankings Points and should return to the Top 10 at No. 7 when the new Emirates ATP Rankings are released on Monday. He’ll also receive €110,655 in prize money. Pouille will receive 150 Emirates ATP Rankings points and €58,250 in prize money.

Juan Martin del Potro believes his game is far from his top level, which is a bad sign for his opponents given his run at this week’s Delray Beach Open.

The 2011 champion held a set point to force his semi-final with top seed Milos Raonic to a deciding set before falling 6-3, 7-6(6) on Saturday. But del Potro said that despite the close scoreline, the essential shots in his game still aren’t at their best and will require more work on the practise court.

“I think my game can keep improving a lot. I played with less 50 per cent of my backhand tonight and Milos kept attacking that,” said del Potro. “If you’re not 100 per cent against the top guys, it’s difficult to win. I have to keep working hard to improve that.”

The Argentine was full of praise for Raonic and said the Canadian played better than him in the key moments of the match.

“I think the whole match was up and down and he took the opportunities to win,” said Raonic. “He was adapting so fast to my game and I couldn’t manage my backhands. I tried my best, but he was too good today.”

Despite the loss, del Potro said he was satisfied with playing four tough matches in his opening tournament of the season. Even more importantly, his body has withstood the rigours of competitive matches better than last year in Delray Beach, which was also his first tournament of the season. Del Potro plans to compete as scheduled next week at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.

“This was a good tournament for my first one of the season. I finished this tournament in good shape. When I played here last year, I pulled out of Acapulco,” said del Potro. “I know that if I’m healthy and able to play, my game will be improving every week.”

 Watch Full Match Replays