Jannik Sinner moved one step closer to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title Friday when he defeated Gael Monfils in the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers quarter-finals.

The 21-year-old survived a heavy-hitting contest to oust the Frenchman 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 after two hours and 22 minutes of exciting baseline rallies. Monfils and Sinner thrilled the crowd to 32 points consisting of nine shots or more, with the Italian firing 20 winners to advance to his fifth Masters 1000 semi-final.

“It was very tough,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “In the second set, I made a couple unforced errors but he raised his level. In the third set, I just tried to stick to my game plan, trying to play a little more free, which I’ve done so I’m very happy about the performance.”

The Italian, who let slip an early break lead in the second set, overcame Monfils’ 19 aces and won 61 per cent of points behind the 36-year-old’s second serve to earn victory at 12:13 a.m. Sinner will next meet 12th seed Tommy Paul, who upset World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz to kick off the evening session.

A deep run in Toronto has lifted Sinner to fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He is trying to qualify directly into the Nitto ATP Finals field for the first time, having replaced countryman Matteo Berrettini as an alternate mid-tournament in 2021.

A two-time finalist at Masters 1000 level, Sinner is aiming for his eighth tour-level title this week. He advanced to the last eight after defeating countryman Matteo Berrettini in his opening match, followed by Andy Murray giving Sinner a walkover Thursday due to an abdominal injury.

The World No. 8 improved to 4-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Monfils, who was playing in his first tour-level quarter-final since last year’s Australian Open.

Monfils earned wins this week against Christopher Eubanks, fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and Aleksandar Vukic despite playing in just his eighth tour-level event of the year due to injury.

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A first-time ATP Masters 1000 champion is guaranteed in Toronto, where Paul, Sinner, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Alex de Minaur are the four remaining.

Carlos Alcaraz will have little time to dwell on his surprise defeat to Tommy Paul in the Toronto quarter-finals Friday night. The 20-year-old Spaniard will immediately head to the Western & Southern Open, where his hold on the No. 1 Pepperstone ATP Ranking is under threat.

Novak Djokovic returns to American soil for the first time since 2021 and with no points to defend at the ATP Masters 1000 event the Serbian has the opportunity to reclaim the mantle he has held for 389 weeks throughout his career.

And Alcaraz doesn’t have an easy draw at the Lindner Family Tennis Centre: He is seeded to meet Paul for the second time in two weeks, this time in the third round.

“I realise that I didn’t play well, these matches,” the 20-year-old said of a sketchy first tournament back after his Wimbledon triumph. “So all I can do now is practise to be better. I have some weeks before the US Open. But now I have to be focussed on Cincinnati. It’s a Masters 1000. It’s a big tournament as well.

“Obviously, I take a lot of lessons from this tournament, coming to the next ones… I think I did well some things in this tournament, but probably everything can be better.”

After slipping to 1-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head against Paul, who also beat him in Canada this time last year, the reigning US Open champion had high praise for the American, who has moved to a career-high No. 12 in the Pepperstone Live ATP Rankings.

“He’s certainly a complete player. The matches that we have played has been really tough ones, last year in Miami and this one,” Alcaraz said. “He’s a really solid player. Has great talent, great shots. He’s really, really fast as well. So he’s one of the best players in the world right now. There’s no doubt about it.

“He’s really tough on every surface. I mean, he’s a mix of everything. It makes him really, really tough.”

Despite Friday’s defeat, Alcaraz still leads the ATP Tour with 49 match wins and six titles on the season. He also has a 940-point lead over Djokovic in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He is the only player to have qualified for this year’s Nitto ATP Finals, where he will make his debut after missing last year through injury.

Tommy Paul ended Carlos Alcaraz’s 14-match winning streak when he upset the World No. 1 in Friday’s quarter-finals at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.

The American struck the ball cleanly to down the top seed 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 and reach his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final. The 26-year-old, who defeated Alcaraz last year in Montreal, displayed all-court coverage and often looked for opportunities to move forward to earn his first win over a World No. 1.

“I played a really good match today. I really went after my shots,” Paul said in his on-court interview. “You can’t start any points on your heels against him or he’ll take advantage of that. So you really have to go after your shots early in the rally and I was feeling really good on the first-strike tennis. That was the difference today.”

The 12th seed won 21 of 23 net points and rushed Alcaraz with aggressive returning throughout the two-hour, 20-minute battle, in which the Spaniard committed 17 unforced forehand errors.

Despite being broken while serving for the opening set at 5-2, Paul stayed focussed to close the set in the ensuing game. Alcaraz grew frustrated with his unforced errors, while the World No. 14 showed smooth transition from defence to offence to reach the last four.

The Spaniard increased his level as he won 10 consecutive points from 2-3 in the second set, during which he struck a tweener past Paul that brought the Toronto crowd to their feet. But it was Paul who gained an advantage by earning a break in the sixth game of the final set and won 76 per cent of points behind his first serve in the decider. 

The one-time tour-level titlist improved to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Alcaraz, who slips to 49-5 on the season. Last year, Paul saved a match point to down Alcaraz in Montreal.

“It helps knowing that you can beat your opponent,” Paul said. “You never want to walk on the court and be like ‘I don’t know if I can beat this guy’. It’s the attitude you’ve got to have no matter who you are playing. I would say it helped a little bit.”

A semi-finalist at this year’s Australian Open, Paul will next meet seventh seed Jannik Sinner or Frenchman Gael Monfils. The New Jersey native is at a career-high No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Alcaraz, who has collected a season-leading six tour-level titles, suffered his first loss since Roland Garros. It was also his first quarter-final loss of 10 appearances in the last eight this year. He could meet Paul again next week in Cincinnati, where they are seeded to meet in the third round.

With Friday’s doubles action exclusively on the Grandstand at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, fans in Toronto’s second stadium were treated to a nail-biting day of quarter-final matches.

First up, seventh seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos upset fourth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 7-5, 6-7(6), 10-8. The Spanish-Argentine team saved both break points against them and won 85 per cent of their first serve points in the dramatic victory, with the pair recovering quickly after losing its first set of the week.

Seeking their eighth tour-level title as a team and their first of 2023, this year’s Wimbledon finalists will meet 2022 Roland Garros champs Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer in Saturday’s semis.

Arevalo/Rojer won a Match Tie-break of their own, edging eighth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-0, 6-7(4), 10-8 on Friday afternoon. Despite a dominant start and five breaks of serve, the El Salvadoran-Dutch pair needed to hold its nerve down the stretch to reach its first ATP Tour semi-final since Geneva in May. 

In the opposite half of the draw, third seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury continued their Toronto run with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 win against Max Purcell and Andrey Rublev, surviving 10 aces to advance. They will take on sixth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in the semis after the Germans won the lone straight-sets match of the day, 7-5, 6-3 against Hubert Hurkacz and Mate Pavic.

The Western & Southern Open draw was revealed on Friday, with top seeds Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic in the same field for the first time since their Wimbledon final epic. While the top two players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings can only meet in the title match at the Cincinnati ATP Masters 1000, there will be plenty of intrigue long before that in the opening round.

Among the many must-see first-round matchups, breakout American stars Ben Shelton and Christopher Eubanks will clash on home soil, 13th seed Cameron Norrie will meet Gael Monfils, and 16th seed Alexander Zverev will face Grigor Dimitrov.

Perhaps the biggest of the early blockbusters will see 12th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime bid to break out of his recent slump when he meets Matteo Berrettini. Auger-Aliassime defeated the Italian two years ago in Cincinnati, but that is his only win in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head Series, which Berrettini leads 4-1.

Both men will be eager to make up for early exits in Toronto, where Berrettini lost to countryman Jannik Sinner in the second round and Auger-Aliassime was upset by Aussie Max Purcell to bring his losing streak to four matches.

Other first-round showdowns in Cincinnati include Andy Murray vs. 11th seed Karen Khachanov, ninth seed Taylor Fritz vs. Jiri Lehecka, and Toronto semi-finalist Alex de Minaur vs. J.J. Wolf.

Defending champion Borna Coric will open against Sebastian Korda in another marquee matchup, with the 15th seed in line for a potential Cincy final rematch against fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round.

Another potential third-round showdown could see Zverev and third seed Daniil Medvedev renew their rivalry, with Medvedev leading their Lexus ATP Head2Head 9-6.

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz will open against John Isner or a qualifier, and the Spaniard is seeded to meet Tommy Paul in the third round and Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals.

Novak Djokovic will begin his campaign against Toronto semi-finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Tomas Martin Etcheverry, with Norrie and Sinner potentially beyond that.

Main-draw play at the 2023 Western & Southern Open will take place from 12-20 August.

Alex de Minaur showed his comeback qualities once again on Friday at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, where he upset World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev 7-6(7), 7-5 to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.

After fighting back from 1-5 in the first set in his previous match against Taylor Fritz, the Australian showed similar powers of recovery against Medvedev. Competing in his maiden Masters 1000 quarter-final, De Minaur rallied from 2-5 in the first set, saving three set points in the tie-break before clinching the opener. He then twice rallied from a break down in the second set to inflict just the fourth hard-court defeat of the season on Medvedev, who lifted the trophy in Toronto in 2021.

“I had to play some of my best tennis today,” De Minaur said. “It has been a great week for me so far. I played the right way today. I think having played him at the end of last year gave me the confidence that I had a chance. I just had to play the right way and I am extremely proud of the effort and to still be alive.

“I know every time I play Daniil it will be a chess match. We are both very good at adapting and playing different styles and it brings the best out of me. I have to be aggressive and take the chances I get. I think this style of tennis is my best style of tennis.”

The 24-year-old, who also defeated seed Cameron Norrie earlier this week, has now earned four Top 5 wins. He will continue the quest for his eighth tour-level title and the biggest of his career against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Saturday.

Earlier this season, De Minaur captured the crown in Acapulco, before he advanced to the title match in Los Cabos last week (l. to Stefanos Tsitsipas). The Australian’s latest run has lifted him to 11th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He is also up to No. 14 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, having reached a previous career-high No. 15 in 2021.

Medvedev holds a 22-4 record at ATP Masters 1000 events in 2023. The second seed triumphed in Miami and Rome earlier this year and was chasing his sixth title of the season. The 27-year-old struggled on serve against De Minaur, winning just 54 per cent (25/46) of points on his first delivery. De Minaur improved to 2-4 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Medvedev with his 31st win of the season.

Former NBA star Dirk Nowtizki has called tennis his “first love”, and the German is a frequent guest at both ATP Tour and WTA events. Ahead of his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Aug. 12, the Dallas Mavericks legend took some time to talk tennis.

“I watch tennis a lot,” Nowitzki told WTAtennis.com. “I love tennis. I grew up playing tennis, so I’ve followed the sport my entire life. Of course, I’m a huge Roger Federer guy, a Rafael Nadal fan. It’s tough to really pick one favourite.”

He may not be able to pick a favourite, but he had no issue singling out Carlos Alcaraz as his pick to be the dominant force in the sport going forward.

“Alcaraz I saw live just a couple of months ago in Indian Wells,” Nowitzki said. “Unbelievable. The touch, the talent, the physical nature, the speed, the athleticism. To me, he is like a complete package.

“The crazy thing is, he’s only 20. If he stays injury-free, obviously he’s going to be dominant for a long, long time.”

Alcaraz further impressed Nowitzki with his performance in winning his first Wimbledon title, when he beat Novak Djokovic to maintain the top spot in the Peppertone ATP Rankings.

“I watched the whole Wimbledon final a couple of weeks ago against Djoko, which was an amazing match.” Nowitzki said. “How tough this kid is mentally, already at that age, to pull that off against Djoko was incredible. He’s the next generation and he’ll dominate the sport of tennis for a long, long time.”

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina advanced to his second ATP Masters 1000 semi-final on Friday at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, where he dispatched Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-2 in Toronto.

The Spaniard earned his fifth Top 10 win, and first on hard courts, against Casper Ruud in the previous round and backed that up with an aggressive returning performance against McDonald. Davidovich Fokina won 68 per cent (19/28) of points on McDonald’s second serve, while he struck 22 winners, letting out a roar after sealing victory on his second match point.

“To beat the top players is giving me a lot of confidence,” Davidovich Fokina said. “I just want to step on court and play my best and enjoy every moment and every point. To get that battle that I want. He was playing amazing at the beginning and then made a few mistakes and I believed more in myself. It gave me a lot of power.

“The good routines and habits are [important]. “All the habits are off court the court. Obviously a lot of things on court, but lots off court.”

With his one-hour, 35-minute win, Davidovich Fokina reached his first semi-final of the season in his sixth quarter-final attempt. Up 14 spots to No. 23 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, he will meet second seed Daniil Medvedev or Australian Alex de Minaur on Saturday. Davidovich Fokina reached a previous career-high No. 24 in April this year.

The 24-year-old, who advanced to the championship match at the Masters 1000 event in Monte-Carlo last year, is aiming to capture his maiden tour-level title in Toronto.

McDonald defeated World No. 7 Andrey Rublev en route to his first Masters 1000 quarter-final. The American enjoyed a strong start in his second Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting against Davidovich Fokina, breaking in the second game of the match. However, he was unable to deal with the Spaniard’s power as the match went on, with Davidovich Fokina pouncing on short balls to reach his fifth tour-level semi-final.

Two weeks ago, Pablo Llamas Ruiz became the youngest Spaniard to win an ATP Challenger Tour title since an 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz triumphed in 2021. How did Llamas Ruiz learn of that statistic? From the World No. 1 himself.

“I had no idea until Carlitos sent me the [Instagram] link and congratulated me,” Llamas Ruiz said in Spanish to ATPTour.com. “I clicked on the link and thought, ‘Unbelievable’. It’s something I absolutely didn’t expect, and it’s given me even more enthusiasm to keep working.”

Llamas Ruiz, 20, was playing just his 10th Challenger event of the year in Segovia, where he saved three match points in the semi-finals before being crowned champion the next day. The #NextGenATP star’s rapid rise is only fueling his fire.

“It was something that I never expected, that I would win my first Challenger title on hard courts, it’s incredible,” Llamas Ruiz said. “I’m so, so happy to win the title. I want to keep winning, keep training. I need to think that it’s just one title because if I think, ‘Oh, I won a Challenger, I won’t work more’, that’s bad for you.”

As if he needed any more inspiration to continue his climb, the Spaniard can look to his friend and recent Wimbledon champion Alcaraz, who won four Challenger titles before ascending to the biggest stages of the sport.

“Seeing that just two years ago he was winning Challengers and now he’s the World No. 1 is really inspiring,” Llamas Ruiz said. “Everyone has their own path, but I know I can be there too, I just need to keep working. I believe I can achieve it, that I can compete against the best.”

Both aged 20, Alcaraz and Llamas Ruiz have fond memories together. In 2018, they clinched the junior Davis Cup in a decisive doubles rubber, lifting Spain past France 2-1 to win the trophy in Budapest. Llamas Ruiz, who prefers to be called, ‘Llamas’ because there are ‘a lot of Pablos’, recalled that he and Alcaraz would often do what teenage boys enjoy: joking, dancing and singing together.

“We were so, so happy on court. I remember I played with him and almost every point, we were laughing,” Llamas Ruiz said. “That’s an experience that I had with him and now he’s No. 1 of the world. It was incredible. I remember the point we won to win the junior Davis Cup, I finished with an ace and we were so, so happy.

“I would love to play with him again on the ATP Tour. I hope for that, I want that and I feel like he wants it too. So if I go up a little bit more, then I will try to play with him.”

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Before ‘Llamas’ ascends to the ATP Tour, he will continue to develop his diverse game on the ATP Challenger Tour. A simple guy at heart, the Spaniard has enjoyed keeping tabs with Alcaraz, who is also following Llamas Ruiz’s journey.

“Lately, I’ve been talking more with Carlitos. When I won the Challenger title, my friends asked me, ‘Has Carlitos congratulated you?’” Llamas Ruiz said. “It was quite surprising that he sent me the link, gave me encouragement, told me to keep working, and said he was really happy for me. It filled me with satisfaction, ‘The World No. 1 is saying these things to me!’

“It’s a joy to have that friendship with him. Sometimes when people achieve a lot of success and rise to the top, they forget what’s behind them. It’s really nice to see that Carlitos hasn’t forgotten that, he’s a great person.”

At a career-high No. 146 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Llamas Ruiz will next aim to qualify for his maiden Grand Slam main draw at the US Open, where countryman Alcaraz claimed his first major title last year.

Pablo Llamas Ruiz wins the Open Castilla y Leon in Segovia.” />
^{Pablo Llamas Ruiz wins the Open Castilla y Leon in Segovia. Credit: Alberto Simon}

-Reporting contributed by Guido Molteni