Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic clinched their fifth tour-level grass-court title as a team on Sunday when they moved past Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz at the BOSS OPEN in Stuttgart.

The second seeds produced a strong serving performance at the ATP 250 event, winning 86 per cent (31/36) of points behind their first delivery to defeat the Germans 7-6(2), 6-3.

The Croatians have now captured 16 tour-level trophies as a team and two this season, also clinching the crown in Auckland in January. Pavic, 29, also triumphed in Stuttgart in 2022 with Hubert Hurkacz, while it is Mektic’s first success at the tournament.

Home favourites Krawietz and Puetz were seeking their first title of the season together. Earlier this season, they also reached the final on home soil in Munich.

Despite playing his first tournament in 20 months, Kei Nishikori has produced a high level this week to reach the final at the ATP Challenger 75 event in Palmas del Mar, Puerto Rico.

The former World No. 4 defeated Brazilian Gustavo Heide 6-4, 6-2 Saturday to advance to the Caribbean Open championship match. Nishikori broke Heide’s serve at 4-5 in the opening set to gain an advantage on the 21-year-old, who was playing in his first Challenger semi-final.

Nishikori, 33, continued to absorb the qualifier’s heavy hitting, playing with consistency and depth to frustrate Heide and advance after one hour, 26 minutes. The Japanese star dropped just one point behind his first delivery in the second set.

The 12-time tour-level titlist will next meet American Michael Zheng in the final after the teenager moved past Kazakh Beibit Zhukayev 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) in a rain-disrupted semi-final.

This week marks Nishikori’s return to competition after extended time off due to injuries. After undergoing arthroscopic left hip surgery last year, Nishikori is playing his first event since the BNP Paribas Open in October 2021.

Should Nishikori go one step further to triumph at the hard-court event, it would be his first title at any level since he won the ATP 250 event in Brisbane in 2018.

Fans can live stream the Palmas del Mar final for free at Challenger TV. The match will start Saturday at 4pm ET/Sunday 5am Tokyo.

Zizou Bergs is aiming to defend his title this week at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Ilkley, but this time around the Belgian will not have to face his coach Ruben Bemelmans, whom he defeated en route to the ‘biggest title of his career’ one year ago.

The 24-year-old Bergs started working with former World No. 84 Bemelmans just three weeks before they were standing across the net from each other at the Ilkley Trophy last season. Ahead of the tournament, Bergs was enjoying dinner with his team when Bemelmans checked his phone and saw the Ilkley Challenger qualifying draw for the first time.

“He started laughing super hard and I was like, ‘Don’t say we play each other first round!’” Bergs recalled to ATPTour.com. “It’s actually quite funny. It was crazy, we looked at the draws, first round of qualies against each other. He was there as my coach but also as a player. We started working part-time around the time of Roland Garros.”

The next day, then-ranked No. 207 Bergs defeated Bemelmans 7-6(5), 6-4 at the grass-court event and later advanced to the main draw. He did not stop there.

Bergs went on a dream title run and saved a championship point to down Jack Sock in the final.

“After our match, Ruben stayed in Ilkley to coach me. Straight away, I won my biggest title,” Bergs said. “That was definitely a special moment.”

Bemelmans’ qualifying match against Bergs, which was his penultimate match as a pro player, is one that will be a story for them to tell for years to come.

“I remember my first match point I was like, ‘This could be the last point of Ruben Bemelmans!’” Bergs said. “Then the second match point again… Then it happened and I felt so bad that I won that match because his career was like over. But then after the match I said, ‘Are you fine?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, it was emotional, but I really had fun this match and I played well, so I’m very satisfied.’”

^{Zizou Bergs triumphs at the 2022 Ilkley Trophy. Credit: Lewis Storey/Getty Images for LTA}

In October, the 35-year-old Bemelmans received a qualifying wild card at the ATP 250 event in Antwerp, where he put a bow on his career in front of a home crowd. Bergs has continued his progress on the ATP Challenger Tour. In February, he reached a career-high No. 112 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and two months later, he captured his fifth Challenger title in Tallahassee, Florida.

Bergs will next begin his Ilkley Challenger title defence Sunday against fifth seed Jurij Rodionov.

Andy Murray continued his red-hot grass court form on Saturday when he advanced to the final at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Nottingham.

The former World No. 1 moved past Nuno Borges 6-3, 6-2 at the Rothesay Open to earn his ninth consecutive win on the surface. Last week, Murray became the oldest grass-court champion in Challenger history (since 1978) when he triumphed at the Lexus Surbiton Trophy.

The 36-year-old will chase his third Challenger Tour title of the year on Sunday when he meets Arthur Cazaux in the final. The #NextGenATP Frenchman defeated Dominik
Koepfer 7-5, 6-2 in Saturday’s other semi-final at the Challenger Tour 125 event.

In a dominant performance against Portugal’s Borges, Murray struck the ball cleanly on return, breaking four times to advance after 74 minutes. The Scot is up four spots to No. 40 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as he continues his quest to be seeded at Wimbledon next month.

Murray, who is yet to drop a set in Nottingham, has often found his best level on grass. He won Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016 and has clinched a record five Queen’s Club crowns (2009, 11, 13, 15, 16).

Tallon Griekspoor rode a wave of home support to the championship match Saturday at the Libema Open, where the Dutchman claimed an impressive 6-4, 7-5 semi-final win against Emil Ruusuvuori.

The sixth seed claimed a solitary break in each set to hold off the hard-hitting World No. 42 Ruusuvuori and reach his second ATP Tour final. Griekspoor broke the Finn’s serve in the opening game of the match and saved all four break points he faced from then on to wrap an 89-minute triumph and advance to play Jordan Thompson for the trophy at the grass-court ATP 250.

“Once again [it was an] unbelievable atmosphere in a packed stadium,” said Griekspoor in his on-court interview. “[There is] nothing better to play in front of. I started off well, got the break in the first game which is always nice. It took some pressure off my own games.

“I thought he picked up his game at the beginning of the second set. I tried to focus on my own games and tried to sneak the break at 5-5. A really good service game to end and once again really happy with my performance.”

Griekspoor’s victory ensured there would be a Dutchman in the ‘s-Hertogenbosch final for the second consecutive year. His countryman Tim van Rijthoven upset Daniil Medvedev to claim the title a year ago, and Griekspoor admitted that he has the opportunity to fulfil a long-held ambition when he steps on court to face Thompson on Sunday.

“Winning an ATP event at home is a dream,” said the World No. 38, who won his maiden ATP Tour title in Pune in January. “First you start dreaming about winning an ATP [event] and I got that one. I’m close to the next [dream]. Let’s try to go one more match and try to take the title at home.”

Thompson earlier booked his spot in the final by prevailing 7-6(5), 6-3 in an all-Australian clash with Rinky Hijikata. It was his fourth tour-level semi-final, all four of which have come on grass, and his experience showed as he held his nerve for a one-hour, 56-minute victory to end the 22-year-old Hijikata’s dream run.

Thompson saved the only break point he faced in what was the first all-Australian tour-level semi-final since Patrick Rafter defeated Lleyton Hewitt at the 2001 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. With his run to a second championship match in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (he also reached that stage in 2019), the 29-year-old Thompson has risen 27 spots to No. 76 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

The draw for the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle has delivered a host of intriguing first-round encounters, not least a second ATP Head2Head meeting between Felix Auger-Aliassime and Dominic Thiem.

Thiem defeated Auger-Aliassime in straight sets at the 2020 US Open three years ago and the Austrian wild card will hope for a repeat result when he competes on grass for the first time since 2021 at the ATP 500. Thiem and the fifth-seeded Auger-Aliassime, who reached the semi-finals at Halle’s OWL ARENA last year, are in the same quarter of the draw as second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who opens his campaign against Gregoire Barrere.

Fourth seed Jannik Sinner is also in the bottom half of the draw in Germany. The Italian will make his Halle debut against Richard Gasquet, with the winner set to take on whoever prevails in a big-hitting battle between Nick Kyrgios and Lorenzo Sonego.

Headlining the Halle field is Daniil Medvedev, who reached the championship match in 2022. The top seed looks to bounce back from early defeat in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last week in a first-round match against a qualifier. Should Medvedev reach the quarter-finals, he could face home favourite and two-time finalist Alexander Zverev, who takes on Roberto Bautista Agut in his opening match.

Hubert Hurkacz delivered one of the performances of the 2022 grass season to down Medvedev in last year’s final in Halle. The Pole defends his crown as the sixth seed, and he will hope to make a fast start against a qualifier. Andrey Rublev is a potential quarter-final opponent for Hurkacz: The third seed is chasing his first tour-level title on grass at the OWL Arena, where he faces a tough opening test against the fast-rising Chinese star Wu Yibing.