Coming from a family with a motorsports background, Mark Lajal was likely set to follow the same path. But life had something else in the cards for the 20-year-old Estonian who won his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in June.

At a career-high No. 224 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Lajal spent his early years with his hands on handlebars before he ever picked up a racquet.

“I wasn’t really supposed to be a tennis player. I come from a family in motorsports,” Lajal told ATPTour.com. “My dad was a motocross racer and my grandpa was a rally driver. I come from a very sporting family, but a very extreme sporting family. When I was younger, from like three years old, I started racing motorcycles. I raced them until I was eight or nine years old.”

With a unique background detached from tennis, it begs the question: How did Lajal first start playing the sport in which he is now a professional?

“When I was six years old, my dad went on a road trip with his motorcycle… I was with my mom in the summer and my mom didn’t want to take me to motocross races because she didn’t like it, so she put me into tennis,” Lajal said. “So I started playing tennis on the side and I liked it obviously. When I was nine, I chose tennis over motocross and now I’m here.”

Lajal stated that he still has an interest in motorsports, most notably Formula One. His upbringing is not the only thing that sets Lajal’s story apart from others. What may also catch fans off guard is his distinct dreadlocks.

“I’ve had them for a very long time. I think now it’s been like 12, 13 years,” Lajal said. “It has kind of become a big part of me and my image. A lot of people know me just from my dreads. I enjoy it and I think it’s cool.

“The real reason why I did it was because my older sister she did them and I saw them and I was so fascinated. I was like, ‘Mom, I want to do it!’ She was like, ‘Do it, it’s your hair, whatever happens, happens’. So I did them and I loved them, so I kept them.”

Mark Lajal at the 2023 Little Rock Challenger.” />
^{Credit: Nelson Chenault}

Making a rapid rise on the ATP Challenger Tour, Lajal said he is inspired by fellow Estonians Anett Kontaveit, Kaia Kanepi and Jurgen Zopp, stating, “They have showed me everything is possible coming from a small tennis country.”

The Tallinn-native Lajal has competed in less than a dozen Challenger events, triumphing in June in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was competing in just his sixth outing at that level.

“It felt really good. It kind of gave me reassurance when I won it because it showed me that I have the level to beat some really good guys and get some good matches in,” Lajal said. “It gave me a lot of confidence. I was really happy after that win.”

Still early in his young career, Lajal has always dreamed big since he first began playing tennis.

“My mom remembers me telling her at age seven or eight, ‘I’m going to win the US Open!’” Lajal said. “When I was really young I had the passion and when I started playing tournaments, that’s when I wanted to be a professional tennis player.”

Mark Lajal claims his maiden ATP Challenger Tour trophy in Little Rock, Arkansas.” />
^{Mark Lajal wins the ATP Challenger Tour 75 event in Little Rock, Arkansas. Credit: Nelson Chenault}

Persistence paid off for Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday at the Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo.

The top seed held his nerve to down Nicolas Jarry 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 6-2 in Los Cabos and reach the semi-finals on his debut at the hard-court ATP 250. Tsitsipas had to hang tough as Jarry held the upper hand in the first half of the two-hour, 58-minute encounter, but a strong second-set tie-break display proved pivotal before the Greek dominated the decider.

“Sometimes you feel like those kinds of matches are very important for your continuation in a tournament,” said Tsitsipas. “You get to play at a high intensity and a very high level, and it kind of brings the best out of you. I hope to move forwards stronger from this point onwards, to learn from this match, and take away as much as I can.”

Jarry’s big serving had helped him defeat Tsitsipas in the pair’s previous Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting in June on the grass of Halle. The Chilean found good rhythm behind his delivery again on the Mexican Pacific coast, but he began to struggle physically in a deciding set in which Tsitsipas converted both break points he earned.

“He was serving big, and in important moments where I had the chance to break, he was always coming up with a big serve,” said Tsitsipas of the need to stay patient on return. “It was something that made it a bit difficult. Those moments that I had to convert, I was trying to get behind the ball and the ball was constantly on the line. There isn’t much you can do.”

Now 37-13 for the season, Tsitsipas rose above Andrey Rublev to fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as a result of his triumph over Jarry. The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion, chasing his first crown on outdoor hard courts this week in Mexico, will take on Borna Coric in Friday’s semi-finals as he seeks a third tour-level final of the season.

The fourth-seeded Coric defeated Ilya Ivashka 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the semi-finals on his Los Cabos debut. Friday’s clash with Tsitsipas will be Coric’s second tour-level semi-final of the season, after he reached the last four on the clay at the Mutua Madrid Open in May.

Alex de Minaur is still perfect, both this season in Mexico and in his Lexus ATP Head2Head against Tommy Paul.

On Thursday at the Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo, De Minaur earned a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win against the American to move within two victories of a second title on Mexican soil this season. It was a rematch of March’s Acapulco final, which the Aussie also won in three sets.

De Minaur is now 5-0 in the pair’s budding rivalry. All five of their meetings have come in the past 18 months, and the past three have gone three sets.

Now 8-0 in Mexico this year, De Minaur will next put his his winning streak on the line against Dominik Koepfer in Friday’s semi-finals.

Against Paul, the Aussie overcame a 1-3 deficit in the final set, winning the final five games to secure the victory. His speed and relentless defending frustrated Paul in the late stages, with the third seed overhitting as he struggled to break down his opponent.

After two hours, 25 minutes on the Los Cabos stadium court, Paul finished with 28 winners but was undone by his 17 unforced errors, many coming during De Minaur’s closing surge. The steady Aussie recorded 10 winners and 13 unforced errors but locked in from the baseline down the stretch.

Earlier on Thursday, the seventh-seeded Koepfer secured his second ATP Tour semi-final appearance with a 6-4, 7-5 win against American Aleksandar Kovacevic. The German was playing in his second consecutive tour-level quarter-final after reaching that stage in Atlanta last week (l. to J.J. Wolf).

Novak Djokovic has dominated the ATP Tour’s hard courts throughout his career, and the past 52 weeks are no exception for the 36-year-old.

Across a run that includes titles at the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals and the 2023 Australian Open, the Serbian has posted a tour-leading 91.9 per cent win rate (34-3) on the surface during that span. He also won hard-court titles in Tel Aviv and Astana last year as well as at the Adelaide 1 event to start the current season.

View the full hard-court leaderboard, courtesy of Infosys ATP Stats.

While he missed the North American hard-court swing last year, Djokovic is set to return for the ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati later this month — his first scheduled tour-level appearance since the Wimbledon final.

Djokovic lost the Wimbledon title match to Alcaraz, who claimed his maiden major title last September at the US Open. The Spanish World No. 1 is third on the 52-week hard-court leaderboard by winning percentage, with a 78.1 per cent mark (25-7) on the surface.

Daniil Medvedev is second on list by win rate (79.7%) but first by total wins with a 47-12 record. The 2021 US Open champ also leads the way with six hard-court titles in the period, highlighted by his triumph at the Miami ATP Masters 1000.

Felix Auger-Aliassime (42-17) and Taylor Fritz (41-16) are the only others to break the 40-wins mark, while Holger Rune (37-14) and Jannik Sinner (33-12) are among the top six in both win rate and total wins.

Note: All data are as of 31 July, 2023

The biggest match was saved for last on Thursday at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, and the wait will now go on just a bit longer due to rain at the ATP 500 event.

The blockbuster Round of 16 matchup between top seed Taylor Fritz and 15th seed Andy Murray, scheduled for last on Washington’s stadium court, will be pushed back as wet conditions have halted play in the United States capital. Prior to that showdown, home favourite and second seed Frances Tiafoe is set to take on Chinese qualifier Shang Juncheng in the evening opener.

Before the rain, three ATP Tour singles matches and two men’s doubles contests were completed. Fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov began Thursday’s play on the show court with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Emil Ruusuvuori, while J.J. Wolf was a 6-4, 7-6(5) winner against Michael Mmoh and Ugo Humbert secured a 6-0, 6-2 result against Yosuke Watanuki on John Harris Court.

The American duo of Mackenzie McDonald and Ben Shelton joined Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen as the two doubles winners on the day, with both teams advancing to the semi-finals.

Americans Mackenzie McDonald and Ben Shelton survived a thrilling battle Thursday to reach the semi-finals at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.

The wild cards defeated Juan Sebastian Cabal and Matthew Ebden 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 after dropping just six points behind their first serve. McDonald and Shelton fought off seven of eight break points faced and despite winning 64 total points to Cabal and Ebden’s 65, the American duo advanced to the last four, where they will meet third seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.

At 7/7 in the Match Tie-break, the Washington crowd was brought to their feet when McDonald and Shelton won an exciting rally. The Americans displayed great defence before the 20-year-old Shelton sealed the point with a volley that pegged Cabal. Shelton celebrated the dramatic point by sprinting back to the baseline, high-fiving a fan along the way.

Scenessss 🥵@BenShelton #MubadalaCitiDCOpen pic.twitter.com/m6Uyer9ypU

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 3, 2023

Cabal and Ebden were aiming to back up their opening-round upset against top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen downed Jamie Murray and Michael Venus 7-6(4), 4-6, 10-8 to also advance to the ATP 500 semi-finals.

Kitzbühel 
Third seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul ousted Guido Andreozzi and Guillermo Duran 7-6(5), 7-6(3) to book their semi-final ticket at the Generali Open.

Fourth seeds Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov cruised past Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn 6-3, 6-2. The Colombian-Kazakh pair will next meet Francisco Cabral and Rafael Matos, who beat Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 7-6(3), 7-6(5).

Several singles stars will join the world’s top doubles teams in a jam-packed field at the Western & Southern Open, where Novak Djokovic will partner countryman Nikola Cacic.

The doubles World No. 57 Cacic last teamed with Djokovic at the Davis Cup Finals and ATP Cup in 2021, tallying a 1-2 record. The ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati will mark Djokovic’s first doubles action since he partnered Vasek Pospisil in Adelaide to start this season.

Stefanos Tsitsipas will play with Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Cincinnati, where the Greek made the doubles semi-finals last year alongside Holger Rune. Hubert Hurkacz and Mate Pavic will aim for their second team title when they compete at the Western & Southern Open.

Wimbledon champions Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski and defending Cincinnati titlists Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will also be in action at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek, who have collected four tour-level titles this season including Roland Garros, are among the field. Nikola Mektic will partner John Peers.

Other teams include Daniel Evans and Andy Murray, Max Purcell and Andrey Rublev, Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev, and Australian Open champions Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler.

Former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem rallied from a set down for the second consecutive match to charge into the semi-finals of the Generali Open Thursday.

The hometown hero defeated Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and is now one win away from reaching his first final since the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals almost three years ago. Thiem dropped serve in the opening game but thereafter didn’t face a break point.

“It was another great, great night here. The first game was horrible but from then on it was really good against an opponent who is playing great tennis at the moment,” said Thiem, who last reached an ATP semi-final in Antwerp almost a year ago “It’s my first semi-final of the year and I couldn’t have chosen a better place.

“Everything is coming together here. The incredible support of the home crowd is something I can rely on every single match, which is such a huge advantage for me. I also have a lot of experience playing here. It’s my 13th or 14th time. I am super happy to be in the last four.”

Thiem is looking increasingly confident from the back court and was strong on serve, winning 79 per cent of first-serve points. But he will look to improve his break point conversion ratio moving forward after taking just two of 10 opportunities against Rinderknech.

Thiem lost nine of his first 10 matches in 2023, and came into this tournament No. 116 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He was 6-5 during the clay swing through Roland Garros but went winless during the grass swing, which included a valiant fifth-set tie-break loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round of Wimbledon.

Suffering a tear in his right wrist that forced him to miss nine months from June 2021-March 2022, Thiem is looking for his first title since claiming his lone major at the US Open in September 2020.

Rinderknech came into the tournament high on confidence, having won the Zug Challenger last week in Switzerland.

On Friday Thiem will meet Serbian Laslo Djere, who defeated Argentine Pedro Cachin 6-4, 6-2 to claim his third straight-sets win of the tournament. The fifth seed, who reached the final of the ATP 500 in Hamburg last week, improved to 26-18 on the season. He has already risen five spots this week to No. 33 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Top-seeded Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry came from a set down to defeat Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final meeting with countryman Sebastian Baez, who defeated Slovakian Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-3.

Third seed Tommy Paul needed eight match points to close out gallant Brazilian Felipe Meligeni Alves to reach the quarter-finals of the Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo in Los Cabos Wednesday.

Meligeni Alves, the nephew of former pro Fernando Meligeni, rallied from 0/40 in his final two service games of the second set, saving four match points the first time of asking and then another three to force a tie-break.

Paul was forced to fight off four set points in the tie-break before closing out a 7-5, 7-6(7) win in two hours and 12 minutes.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy as he played a great match on Monday and he played a really high level of tennis,” said Paul, an Australian Open semi-finalist this year. “I was sweating through my shoes so I was thinking that I really don’t want to lose this tie-break and change my shoes and do a full switch out. I was really trying to win that set.”

The 26-year-old American, who improved to 5-1 on Mexican soil this year, will next face the man he lost to in the Acapulco final earlier in the year, Australian Alex de Minaur.

“I think we’d rather play later in the tournament, but I’m up for it and I think it will be a really good match again,” Paul said.

Fifth seed De Minaur dropped just three games in a 6-2, 6-1 win over World No. 136 Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante.

Seventh seed, German Dominik Koepfer, enjoyed a strong 6-2, 6-2 win over Australian James Duckworth.

Top seed Taylor Fritz claimed his 17th win from 20 matches on American soil this season when he defeated practice partner Zachary Svajda 6-3, 6-3 in the feature night match at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C. Wednesday.

Fritz, who twice rallied from 0/40 down in the second set, will next face former World No. 1 Andy Murray.

Trying to work his way into contention to qualify for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, Fritz has the opportunity to move inside the cut in eighth position in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin with a title this week.

“Zach and I have trained together consistently for the past couple of years; I try to give him advice. He’s not someone you want to see on the other side of the court. I know what level he is capable of,” Fritz said.

Coming off his second title of the season last week in Atlanta, Fritz stitched up the first set against 20-year-old Svajda with love breaks in the third and eighth games. The 25-year-old dug himself out of a 0/40 hold in the fifth game of the second set and claimed the decisive break three games later.

Three factors underpinned Fritz’s victory: He won 29 of 34 points on his first serve, he clubbed 32 winners to Savjda’s nine and he saved all eight break points faced.

“I played all those points well,” Fritz said of the break points he faced in the second set. “A mix of good serving and some good shots I hit. It was one of those nights when I was playing a bit loser.

“It’s going to be a tough match against Andy, who is such an amazing competitor. The conditions are really, really slow so that will help him in the match a little bit.”

French wild card Gael Monfils used his dazzling court speed to thwart the variety in Alexander Bublik’s bag of tricks to claim a 6-3, 6-4 win.

“I knew I needed to be really fast and sharp on every ball,” Monfils said. “He can hit a lot of drop shots so I knew I had to be free with my feet. I am fast He might be able to hit two or three [I can’t get] but I know I will get most of them.”

The 36-year-old will next meet Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.