Carlos Alcaraz boosted his hopes of finishing ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone for a second consecutive year on Monday when he downed Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2 to reach his 12th semi-final of the season.

The Spaniard became the first player to earn 60 tour-level wins this season when he defeated Lorenzo Musetti in the second round and quickly moved to 61 with an aggressive display against Ruud.

The top seed recovered from falling 0-3 behind in the first set, hitting with too much power and intensity for Ruud, who was seeking his first win against Alcaraz in his fourth attempt.

With his win, Alcaraz set a last-four clash against Jannik Sinner or Grigor Dimitrov. The 20-year-old is currently 635 points behind first-placed Novak Djokovic in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin but can move to within 415 points with the title.

Alcaraz, who is seeking his seventh crown of the season this week, now holds a 12-1 record in quarter-finals in 2023. He struck 30 winners against Ruud and broke the seventh seed’s serve four times to advance after one hour and 45 minutes.

Ruud leaves Beijing 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 410 points behind eighth-placed Holger Rune, who is in the final qualification spot. The 24-year-old advanced to the title match at the Nitto ATP Finals in 2022.

Is this the week Sebastian Korda wins his first tour-level title of the season?

The American survived a major test at the Astana Open on Monday when he defeated #NextGenATP Serbian Hamad Medjedovic 6-7(8), 7-6(2), 7-6(3) to reach the final.

Korda was pushed by the wild card, who took big cuts at the ball to push the American from side to side. Korda remained strong on serve, though. He hit 18 aces and won 87 per cent (66/76) of his first-serve points to remain in contention, finding consistency in the third-set tie-break to advance after two hours and 49 minutes.

The 23-year-old, who lifted his only previous tour-level title in Parma in 2021, will meet Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the championship match on Tuesday.

By reaching the final at the ATP 250, Korda has matched his best result of the season. He also advanced to the title match in Adelaide in January, when he held championship point against Novak Djokovic before falling. Korda is up three spots to No. 25 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, matching his previous career-high.

Medjedovic was competing in his second tour-level semi-final after advancing to the last four in Gstaad. The 20-year-old is up to eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah following his run in Kazakhstan.

Mannarino continued his career-best season, defeating Sebastian Ofner 6-4, 6-2 to earn his 36th win of the year after 71 minutes. The Frenchman, who recorded a previous best 33 wins in 2017, is chasing his second title of 2023 this week, having triumphed in Newport.

The 35-year-old is up seven places to No. 27 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings following his victory.

Defending champion Daniil Medvedev will have to overcome a series of difficult tests if he is to retain his title at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, where Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Zverev have landed in his quarter.

The 27-year-old triumphed at the Chinese ATP Masters 1000 event when the tournament was last held in 2019. Returning this week, Medvedev will face Cristian Garin or a qualifier in the second round, with 14th seed Auger-Aliassime a potential fourth-round opponent.

Medvedev, who has captured four tour-level titles on hard courts this year, is seeded to meet sixth seed Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals. The World No. 3 leads the Italian 6-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Ben Shelton could face 2019 finalist Alexander Zverev in the third round in Sinner’s section.

At the top of the draw, Carlos Alcaraz will face Nuno Borges or Gregoire Barrere on debut in Shanghai. The top seed is seeded to play Karen Khachanov in the fourth round and could take on Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe in the quarter-finals.

The Spaniard will be looking for a deep run in Shanghai to boost his hopes of finishing ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone for a second consecutive year. Still alive in Beijing, the 20-year-old would arrive in Shanghai 315 points behind Novak Djokovic in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin if he wins the title in Beijing.

Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and sixth seed Andrey Rublev are also in Alcaraz’s half. Tsitsipas begins against a qualifier or Laslo Djere and could play Turin hopeful Cameron Norrie in the last 16. Rublev starts against Quentin Halys or Aslan Karatsev and is seeded to meet Tommy Paul in the fourth round.

American Paul is 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 665 points behind eighth-placed Holger Rune, who is in the bottom half and opens against Brandon Nakashima or Bernabe Zapata Miralles.

Casper Ruud is 10th in the Live Race To Turin and 410 points behind Rune. The Norwegian could play Alex de Minaur in the fourth round and Rune in the quarter-finals. De Minaur is 11th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 185 points behind Ruud.

Three-time champion Andy Murray begins against Roman Safiullin, while former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka starts against Dusan Lajovic. #NextGenATP Chinese star Shang Juncheng plays Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki.

Daniil Medvedev earned his 41st hard-court win of the season on Monday when he recovered from a mid-match dip to down Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 at the China Open.

The second seed, who has recorded the most hard-court wins on Tour in 2023, struggled to find his best level throughout the first two sets, misfiring from the baseline to give Frenchman Humbert a foothold. Medvedev upped his intensity in the third set, though, not committing an unforced error to advance after two hours and seven minutes.

“I’m kind of happy that I managed to raise my level in important moments, except a game in the second set,” Medvedev said. “It’s great that I managed to still find in this tough match these moments of consistency, which is enough to win. That’s what you have to do.

“I am happy to be in the semi-finals. When you come to the tournament, you always want to go as far as possible. Happy to still be here tomorrow. The further we go, the tougher the matches, the tougher the opponents. That’s normal.”

Medvedev has now advanced to the semi-finals at 10 of the 18 tour-level events he has played this year. He will aim to reach his eighth title match when he takes on Alexander Zverev or Nicolas Jarry.

Earlier this year, Medvedev captured hard-court titles in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami. The 27-year-old is chasing his second trophy on Chinese soil and his third in Asia overall at the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center, having triumphed in Tokyo in 2018 and at the Rolex Shanghai Masters in 2019. He is making his debut in Beijing, where he has also defeated Tommy Paul and Alex de Minaur.

After battling through a tough three-setter to open his China Open campaign, Jannik Sinner put his foot down to accelerate past Yoshihito Nishioka on Sunday and reach the quarter-finals in Beijing.

Sinner prevailed 6-2, 6-0 against the Japanese World No. 38 to reach his 12th tour-level quarter-final of the season. The Italian’s 67-minute triumph was in stark contrast to his first-round win against Daniel Evans, and he later acknowledged it had taken him time to settle after arriving in Beiing for his debut at the ATP 500 event.

“The first couple of days [in China] I was sick, and I tried somehow to get through the first round and I knew then I would have one day off,” said Sinner. “Every day is different. I feel physically much better, and I think when I have this shape of physicality, the way I play is a little bit easier.

“Today I played well. Maybe on serve I have to improve a little bit, the percentage, but I think all the rest was really good today.”

.@janniksin in full flight 🤩@ChinaOpen | #ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/wPZ3i5gXHZ

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 1, 2023

Sinner and Nishioka exchanged breaks of serve in the first two games of the match but the World No. 7 dominated from that moment on to improve his Lexus ATP Head2Head series lead against the Japanese to 2-0. Sinner won 11 straight games from 1-2 in the first set and powered 18 winners, including eight aces, in a display full of his trademark clean ballstriking.

“There were some key moments of this match that made my confidence grow,” said Sinner. “Playing this evening was a little bit like indoors. The ball was a little bit slower than during the day. When you play during the day it is quite tough, with the sun and everything. Today I think I handled the situation very well.”

Sinner’s 46th tour-level win of 2023 consolidated his position in fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He is chasing a second appearance on home soil at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, where he competed as an alternate in 2021. Next up for the 22-year-old Beijing is a last-eight clash with third seed Holger Rune or Grigor Dimitrov.

Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev moved past Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 7-5, 7-6(4) to reach the semi-finals at the China Open on Sunday.

The ATP Tour singles stars rallied from a break down in the first set before holding their nerves deep in the second set to advance after one hour and 40 minutes. They will next play Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski or Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski.

Khachanov and Rublev have tasted success together on Tour this year, capturing the ATP Masters 1000 crown in Madrid.

Pavic/Peers Advance In Astana
Mate Pavic and John Peers advanced to the Astana Open semi-finals on Sunday when they defeated Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn 7-6(5), 6-4 at the ATP 250 event.

Fourth seed Pavic and Peers, who are teaming for the first time this week, will meet Robin Haase and Botic van de Zandschulp in the last four after the Dutchmen beat Francisco Cabral and Rafael Matos 6-1, 6-4.

Carlos Alcaraz became the first player to earn 60 tour-level wins in 2023 on Sunday when he defeated Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals at the China Open in Beijing.

The top-seeded Spaniard overpowered Musetti with his explosive groundstrokes, striking 18 winners and breaking the Italian’s serve four times to improve to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against the 21-year-old.

“Today was a perfect match for me,” Alcaraz said. “You can improve and be better every day but I was proud of my tennis playing this level. I played high quality, great shots and a great return game. It was a great match and I enjoyed playing today. I enjoy China.”

With his 81-minute victory, Alcaraz improved to 16-1 at ATP 500 events, highlighted by title runs in Barcelona and at The Queen’s Club. The 20-year-old will look to earn his 17th win at this level when he takes on Casper Ruud in the last eight.

“A goal for me today was to start strong,” Alcaraz added. “Try to push him to the limit at the start. Trying to dominate the match, not make him feel comfortable. Move him and not let him hit his shots.”

Last Six Players To Earn 60+ Tour-Level Wins In A Season

Alcaraz began the Asian Swing behind World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, but could close that gap to 315 points by winning his first title since Wimbledon in Beijing. The Spaniard has earned a Tour-leading six trophies in 2023.

Seventh seed Ruud set a meeting with Alcaraz after edging past Tomas Martin Etcheverry 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(7) at the ATP 500. The Norwegian trailed 0/4 in the third-set tie-break before fighting back to prevail on his third match point after two hours and 59 minutes.

“It was not the best start. I was struggling a bit with the shade and the sun at the beginning,” Ruud said. “I got a good start in the second set. I broke him right away and that was what I needed to get the match going. Two really tight sets that went in my favour but I am really happy. It was a really tough battle.”

Ruud will need to perform strongly during the Asian Swing if he is to boost his Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes. The 24-year-old, who reached the title match at the year-end event in 2022, is currently 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Hamad Medjedovic captured the biggest win of his career Sunday at the Astana Open, where the #NextGenATP Serbian overcame fourth seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals.

A single break of World No. 29 Lehecka’s serve in each set was enough for Medjedovic to book his last-four spot at the ATP 250 in Kazakhstan. The 20-year-old, who also reached the semi-finals on clay in Gstaad in July, saved all four break points he faced en route to his 69-minute triumph.

“Honestly, it feels amazing,” said Medjedovic in his on-court interview. “It’s an amazing feeling to be in the semi-finals of Astana. It’s my second ATP 250 semi-final, but I think this one feels pretty special because I beat very good players and especially on indoor hard courts. I’m very happy with the win and let’s try to win some more matches.”

HUGE win! 🤌@MedjedovicHamad reaches his second ATP semi-final after getting the better of No. 4 seed lehecka 6-3, 6-4!@ktf_kz | #AstanaOpen pic.twitter.com/hhllFo11ay

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 1, 2023

Medjedovic has defeated countryman Laslo Djere, Alexander Shevchenko and Lehecka in Astana so far. His run has propelled him 16 spots to No. 104 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, and he is likely to crack the Top 100 for the first time if he can defeat fifth seed Sebastian Korda in Monday’s semi-finals.

The 20-year-old Medjedovic, who has enjoyed guidance and financial support from World No. 1 Novak Djokovic during his transition from juniors to the pros, is also on track to qualify for the season-ending Next Gen ATP Finals. He is eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Jeddah and will leapfrog Dominic Stricker and Luca Van Assche into sixth if he can reach the Astana final.

American Korda downed top seed Tallon Griekspoor 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to reach his 10th ATP Tour semi-final, and his fifth of 2023. The World No. 28 sent down 12 aces in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Griekspoor as he reached the last four on his event debut in Kazakhstan.

Like Medjedovic, Sebastian Ofner also reached his second ATP Tour semi-final on Sunday. The 27-year-old prevailed 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in an all-Austrian clash against Dominic Thiem. Ofner was on top for much of the match as he chased a first victory in four Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with Thiem, and he converted three of 15 break points he earned to seal a two-hour, 27-minute win.

With his hard-earned victory, Ofner is guaranteed to rise into the Top 50 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday. He is currently up nine spots to No. 49 in the Live Rankings.

After Jurij Rodionov also advanced to the quarter-finals, this week in Astana marked the first time three Austrians had reached the quarter-finals of the same ATP Tour event. Only Ofner remains in the draw in Kazakhstan, however, after Adrian Mannarino defeated Rodionov 6-1, 7-6(6) to advance to face Ofner on Monday.