NCAA men’s singles champion Ethan Quinn is among 21 college players who will benefit from direct entry into ATP Challenger Tour main draw and qualifying fields as part of the new Accelerator Programme, a joint initiative between ATP and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).

The programme was developed to increase the development pathway for top players in the American Collegiate system. Following the NCAA championships last month at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona/Orlando in Florida, it was announced that 21 players would benefit from the Accelerator Programme.

Players ranked in the Top 20 of the ITA final singles rankings who have finished their education are granted up to eight Accelerator Spots at Challenger 50 and 75 tournaments, with opportunities split between main draw (for Top 10 ITA ranked players) and qualifying (11-20). Players who reach the quarter-finals or better of the individual NCAA Division I Tennis Championships also qualify for the Accelerator Programme if not already eligible via their ITA ranking. These opportunities are available from 1 July for a period of 12 months.

Players who continue their education and qualify for the programme will receive six opportunities over six months (July–December), enabling them to benefit from the programme during their college off-season and parts of their fall season.

Accelerator Programme Qualifiers

Casper Ruud knows how to hang tough at Roland Garros.

Repeatedly placed under pressure by Nicolas Jarry in the pair’s fourth-round clash Monday in Paris, the fourth seed battled to a 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-5 victory. Ruud saved 14 of 17 break points across three tightly contested sets to reach his third major quarter-final.

The Norwegian prevailed in a first-set tie-break, rallied from 1-4 to claim the second set and then 2-4 to clinch the third and seal a three-hour, 20-minute triumph. His rock-solid baseline display in blustery conditions proved decisive against the aggressive Jarry, who hit 56 winners to Ruud’s 30 in an engrossing clash. Yet the Chilean was unable to match his opponent’s consistency at key moments.

Clinical Casper 🫡@CasperRuud98 defeats Jarry in straight sets to advance into the quarter-finals 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-5!@rolandgarros | #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/n7Hfcj155O

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 5, 2023

“It was great for me. Three very, very tough sets,” said Ruud. “I think today I can thank my team for pushing me every day in practice because not every day is as tough as [this one]. But I do the work and I felt physically fine.

“I was ready for more if we had to play more, so it was a win not just for me but my team as well. We have done great work the last couple of years, and I’m happy to be back in the quarter-finals.”

Ruud, who reached the championship match at Roland Garros last year, has now won a Tour-leading 85 matches on clay since 2020. The 24-year-old will take on Holger Rune or Francisco Cerundolo in the last eight as he continues his bid for a maiden Grand Slam crown.

Jarry narrowly defeated Ruud in a three-set quarter-final in Geneva just 11 days ago, and there was once again little to choose between the two players for most of Monday’s encounter. Jarry’s booming serve and powerful groundstrokes ensured he was competitive throughout but Ruud’s high-class defensive skills frequently made the difference in longer exchanges.

Ruud was a point away from falling to a double-break deficit in the second set, but he saved break point at 1-4, 30/40 to hold. That was typical of the World No. 4’s display, as he raised his level to great effect to keep Jarry in his sights.

After completing his second-set comeback, Ruud repeated the feat in the third to frustrate Jarry. He won five of the final six games to clinch victory and improve his ATP Head2Head series record against the Chilean to 2-1.

“It’s difficult. His serve is great, he plays very aggressive,” said Ruud, when asked about the deep returning position he used to counter Jarry’s delivery. “I’m happy that I had enough court to work with today. This court is probably the biggest court on clay that we have, so for me who likes to return from the back, it’s good.

“It’s tough. It’s been windy this year. I think I managed to do well. I was down a break in both the second and the third [sets]… I was very happy I was able to neutralise his serve and win the most important points of the match.”

Despite his defeat, Jarry’s run in Paris was a continuation of the his resurgence in 2023. The Chilean began the year at No. 152 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings but lifted his second and third ATP Tour titles, respectively, in Santiago and Geneva to rise to a career-high No. 35 on the eve of Roland Garros. With his fourth-round appearance in the French capital, the 27-year-old has risen six spots to No. 29 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Lorenzo Musetti believes Carlos Alcaraz can “probably” win Roland Garros after the pair’s fourth-round clash on Sunday in Paris. The top seed eased to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

“[He] was serving really good. We knew that [he is] probably one of the best movers on the Tour,” Musetti said. “As we know, he really likes to drop [shot] and to turn with his forehand and that [shot] is really aggressive and heavy.

“I think today he showed that he probably can win this tournament.”

The Italian entered the match having swept through the first three rounds without losing a set. The 21-year-old had also won the pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head meeting in last year’s Hamburg final.

“I think we both grew a lot since [our] last meeting in Hamburg. Of course, he won a Grand Slam, so it’s something that I think you have inside,” Musetti said. “It’s sort of a massive amount of experience that you need even to go a step forward for the level and to set new goals, to set a new life. So even that, I think it helped him to grow.”

Alcaraz has now won 11 consecutive matches at majors. He claimed his maiden title at this level at last year’s US Open and has now mostly cruised through four rounds in Paris (he missed the Australian Open due to injury).

“I think we know that he is probably the best player in the world, and at the moment it’s really tough to beat him, especially on clay,” Musetti said. “I think he grew a lot since last meeting we had in Hamburg. Today I think I didn’t show my best tennis. But, of course, I don’t want to take any [excuses] on that.

“Carlos deserved to win and deserved to pass to the quarter-finals, so I’m happy for him and for the level that he showed today.”

Musetti explained that Alcaraz is a complete player — physically, mentally and technically. He specifically called out the 20-year-old’s serve.

“[He is] probably one of the toughest players to beat for sure at the moment,” Musetti said. “So he deserves to be No. 1 in the world.”

The four remaining quarter-final places will be claimed on Monday at Roland Garros, where 2022 finalist Casper Ruud and the in-form Holger Rune headline the action in the singles draw.

ATPTour.com previews the remaining fourth-round clashes as well as the key matchups in the doubles draw on the Day 9 schedule in Paris.

[4] Casper Ruud (NOR) vs. Nicolas Jarry (CHI)

Ruud has performed somewhere near his best in his Roland Garros run so far. Despite dropping sets to Giulio Zeppieri and Zhang Zhizhen, the Norwegian’s powerful forehand has enabled him to dictate play from the baseline in performances reminiscent of his run to the final in Paris a year ago.

Nicolas Jarry will not be daunted by taking on the Norwegian, however. The Chilean defeated Ruud in three sets in the Geneva quarter-finals just 10 days ago and went on to lift the trophy at the ATP 250. That was the 27-year-old’s second tour-level title on clay this year (he also triumphed at home in Santiago), and he is now into the fourth round at a major for the first time. Can Jarry maintain his momentum against the fourth seed?

[6] Holger Rune [DEN] vs. [24] Francisco Cerundolo (ARG)

Rune looks to keep his red-hot clay-court form going in his maiden ATP Head2Head meeting with fellow big-hitting baseliner Cerundolo. The Dane has made solid progress through the draw as he tries to back up his 2022 quarter-final run, dropping one set across his two matches. The 20-year-old is now 15-3 on clay and will hope his all-around ability proves too much for Cerundolo to handle on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

The Argentine is also a man in form, however. Prior to Roland Garros, he reached the quarter-finals in Rome and a championship match in Lyon, and the 24-year-old has dropped just two sets in Paris en route to the fourth round of a major for the first time. Rune’s ability to keep the ball away from Cerundolo’s hammer forehand could be decisive.

_{^{Argentine’s Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Martin Etcheverry are both playing for a quarter-final spot on Monday. Photo: Amélie Laurin/FFT.}}

[22] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs. [28] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)

Is Alexander Zverev starting to heat up on the Paris clay? The former World No. 2 faced a tough road back from the ankle injury he suffered in the 2022 semi-finals against Rafael Nadal. His comeback win in the third round against 12th seed Frances Tiafoe felt particularly significant for Zverev, who seems to be rediscovering the consistency required to prevail against the best the ATP Tour has to offer.

The 26-year-old Zverev holds a 3-1 ATP Head2Head advantage over Grigor Dimitrov heading into the pair’s fourth-round meeting in Paris. The former World No. 3 Dimitrov has only reached this stage once before at Roland Garros, but Zverev will be particularly wary of the Bulgarian’s quality coming forward to the net, which could represent a key tactic to knock the German off his rhythm.

[27] Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG)

For the second major in a row, Yoshihito Nishioka has reached the fourth round. The Japanese World No. 33 has recovered from disappointing previous results this year on the European clay with a career-best showing at the French major. His opponent on Monday, Tomas Martin Etcheverry, had not won a main-draw match at Roland Garros before this year: Who can handle the occasion and extend their personal-best run?

Doubles Action

The quarter-final action in the men’s doubles draw kicks off on Monday, when defending champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer take on Matwe Middelkoop and his partner, two-time Roland Garros winner Andreas Mies.

The winning team’s semi-final opponents will be 14th seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni or Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, who also face off on Monday. Both last-eight matchups take place on Court Simonne-Mathieu.

After a championship-match run in 2022, Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek are making their mark once again at Roland Garros.

The Croatian-American pairing moved to 8-1 as a team at the clay-court major on Sunday by defeating Francisco Cabral and Rafael Matos 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5 in the third round. Dodig and Krajicek let slip a 3-0 lead en route to losing the first set but clinched a late break of their opponents’ serve in both the second and third to wrap a two-hour, 59-minute triumph.

The fourth seeds will take on German duo Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in the quarter-finals in Paris, after the German duo moved past Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 6-4, 7-6(4). Krawietz is a two-time champion at Roland Garros, where he lifted the trophy in 2019 and 2020 alongside Andreas Mies, who was also a third-round winner. Mies and his partner Matwe Middelkoop upset fifth seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 6-4, 6-2 to book a clash against defending champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos were the other winning team in Paris on Sunday. The Spanish-Argentine pair ended the run of Marcelo Melo and John Peers with a 6-2, 6-3 win. Granollers and Zeballos are seven-time titlists as a team on the ATP Tour but are chasing their maiden major title this fortnight in the French capital.