Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski reached their first ATP Masters 1000 final as a team on Friday when they moved past Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-3, 7-5 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

The Monegasque-Polish tandem were dominant on serve throughout the 84-minute clash on centre court, winning 93 per cent (27/29) of their first-serve points and saving all three break points they faced to advance.

Nys and Zielinski are yet to drop a set in Rome, having also defeated third seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek. They will play for their first title of the season against Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski or Robin Haase and Botic van de Zandschulp.

Nys and Zielinski are currently fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings and could rise to top spot if they win the title. Earlier this season, they advanced to the Australian Open final, losing against Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler.

Is this the week Casper Ruud or Holger Rune win their first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 title?

The Norwegian and Dane will meet at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Saturday in the first Masters 1000 all-Scandinavian semi-final since Jonas Bjorkman defeated Thomas Enqvist in Paris in 1997.

Ruud arrived in Rome having had a modest season by his standards. The fourth seed lifted his 10th trophy in Estoril but struggled at Masters 1000 events, failing to advance beyond the third round in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo or Madrid. The 24-year-old has looked back to his best on the clay in Rome, though, where he has earned victories against Arthur Rinderknech, Alexander Bublik, Laslo Djere and Francisco Cerundolo to reach the semi-finals in the Italian capital for the third consecutive time.

“Tennis is a strange sport, as we all can tell. And I think I’ve really lived through it the last 12 months or so, some of my best moments of my career and some tougher losses in the past couple of months,” Ruud said following his quarter-final win. “But here we are back in Rome and I feel great. I know that I’ve had success in Italy before in my career, here [I made] two times [the] semi-finals, Turin last year was amazing for me… It’s something in the food maybe, I don’t know.”

Standing in his way from a second ATP Masters 1000 final (Miami 2022) is Rune, who stunned World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to advance to the last four on his debut in Rome. The 20-year-old has reached at least the semi-finals in three of his past six Masters 1000 events, highlighted by his title run in Paris last year.

A regular on the big stage now, the seventh seed has had a strong clay-court season again. Rune enjoyed a run to the final in Monte-Carlo, before he clinched his fourth tour-level title in Munich. Holding a 12-2 record on the surface this season, he will look to take confidence from his victory against Djokovic as he aims to earn his first win against Ruud.

“I stay humble of course. I have a lot to achieve,” said the Dane, who will rise to No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings if he reaches the final. “I think you should always be humble. I think I am, I hope so and I hope people see me this way. I’m a huge fighter on the court and I leave everything when I play my matches.”

Rune demonstrated his explosive game against Djokovic, hammering his groundstrokes with precision and power to outlast the Serbian. The 20-year-old, who has held serve in 42 of his 47 games in Rome, will look to impose his all-court game against Ruud, an opponent Rune has struggled against in the past.

The fourth seed leads the seventh seed 4-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, with all four matches coming on clay. Despite his impressive record, Ruud is aware of the threat Rune holds.

“He’s improved so much. I played him a couple times in 2021 and a couple of times in 2022, and his improvement is just really, really good,” Ruud said. “You can see that his confidence is good on court and [he] really deserves [to be] where he is at the moment.

“He has big goals for his career and is going through one goal by another so I’m just going to try to think about what I’ve done well against him before — I have a winning record against him. Tennis is always open, it’s never over until it’s over, and I’m just going to try to fight.”

With both chasing their second titles of the season, fireworks will be expected when they walk onto center court on Saturday.

View Ruud & Rune’s ATP Head2Head rivalry.

Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will renew their long-running rivalry when they meet for a place in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final on Saturday.

Medvedev and Tsitsipas arrived in Rome last week having had contrasting fortunes at the clay-court event. Medvedev had never won a match in three previous appearances in the Italian capital, while Tsitsipas held a 10-5 record, advancing to the championship match last year.

The third seed Medvedev has found his best level in the Italian capital this fortnight, though, defeating Alexander Zverev en route to his second ATP Masters 1000 clay-court semi-final (Monte-Carlo 2019). The 27-year-old has enjoyed a standout season, earning a Tour-leading 37 wins, with 18 coming at ATP Masters 1000 events. Medvedev, who is currently first in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, has captured five ATP Masters 1000 titles, more than semi-finalists Tsitsipas (2), Rune (1) and Ruud (0) combined.

The third seed has never clinched a tour-level crown on clay, though, and downplayed his chances of winning his fifth trophy of the season in Rome when asked by a journalist following his quarter-final win against German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann.

“I definitely don’t put myself as a favourite,” Medvedev said. “But I have been playing extremely well here, feeling extremely well. So if I manage to play this well in the semi-finals, I’m sure I’m going to give a hard time to my opponent. That’s what I want to do. Hopefully I can go even further and try to win two more matches.”

Medvedev leads Tsitsipas 7-4 in their ATP Head2Head series, with the pair locked at 1-1 on clay. Tsitsipas’ two ATP Masters 1000 triumphs both came on the clay in Monte-Carlo and the Greek looks in good shape to add to his tally this weekend in Rome. The 24-year-old, who has won three of his past four clashes against Medvedev, has not dropped a set en route to his 14th ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.

“He’s been playing well and I’m playing [well] also,” Tsitsipas said on court of his upcoming match against Medvedev. “I feel good on court, regardless if it’s a night session or a day session and I really hope to bring the best out of me against him. I feel like he’s playing better than the years before.”

Tsitsipas used a good mix of power and creativity in his 13th clay-court win of the season against Borna Coric, changing the spin on his shots and executing the drop shot effectively to pull the Croatian around. With Medvedev favouring a deep court position to soak up his opponent’s aggression, Tsitsipas could look to use similar tactics against the third seed to disrupt his rhythm on center court.

Seeking his first trophy of the season in Rome, the Greek will rise to third in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin if he reaches the final, surpassing Novak Djokovic. Medvedev currently leads the Race To Turin and will climb to No. 2 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings if he clinches the crown in Rome.

View Medvedev & Tsitsipas’ ATP Head2Head rivalry.

Stefanos Tsitsipas earned a commanding 6-3, 6-4 win over Borna Coric at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday evening to set a blockbuster semi-final against third seed Daniil Medvedev. 

“He’s been playing well and I’m playing [well] also,” Tsitsipas said on court of his upcoming match against Medvedev. “I feel good on court, regardless if it’s a night session or a day session and I really hope to bring the best out of me against him. I feel like he’s playing better than the years before.”

Tsitsipas is now 13-3 this clay-court season and he has earned all four of his victories at the Foro Italico in straight sets. The 2022 Rome finalist saved three of the four break points he faced against Coric to advance after one hour and 36 minutes.

Coric has long been a tough opponent for Tsitsipas. Entering Thursday’s clash, the Croatian had won three of their five ATP Head2Head meetings and one of Tsitsipas’ victories came by first-set retirement.

They met last year in the final of the Western & Southern Open, a match Coric won in straight sets. But Tsitsipas earned his ATP Masters 1000 revenge in Rome, where he was sharp throughout his triumph.

The Greek used a good mix of power and creativity, changing the spin on his shots and using his drop shot well. Coric missed a defensive backhand long to allow Tsitsipas to serve for the first set, which he did successfully.

The fifth seed appeared in full control when he hit a forehand passing shot to break in the second set, but he gave back his advantage in the next game.

Tsitsipas did not panic against a player who has rallied against him before. He earned his third service break of the match and then successfully served for his place in the semi-finals.

“This is clay-court tennis, things escalated quite quickly. And there was a turning point, but accompanied by my great shotmaking, at the very important moments, I was able to retrieve that and get back and hold,” Tsitsipas said. “[I played] a great service game in the very last game, serving excellently and just feeling the energy point by point.”

Medvedev leads Tsitsipas 7-4 in their ATP Head2Head series. However, the Greek has won three of their past four clashes, including a straight-sets victory two years ago in the Roland Garros quarter-finals.

The top two seeds at this week’s ATP Challenger Tour 175 event in Turin, Italy are safely into the semi-finals, including World No. 40 Sebastian Baez.

The 22-year-old Argentine, seeded first, overcame a second-set slump Thursday to move past Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 at the Piemonte Open Intesa Sanpaolo.

Rain forced the match to be halted for 50 minutes midway through a lengthy second game that featured seven deuce points. Throughout the two-hour, 27-minute contest, Baez displayed smooth court coverage and didn’t face a break point in the decider to defeat the 23-year-old.

The Buenos Aires native Baez and the Brazilian Seyboth Wild were competing in doubles together this week. The duo defeated Sander Arends and Petros Tsitsipas in the opening round, before giving a walkover Thursday to Andrey Golubev and Denys Molchanov.

Oh No No No No 🤪#ATPChallenger | @sebaabaez7 pic.twitter.com/218s6VRY4p

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) May 18, 2023

Baez has captured both of his ATP tour-level titles and all six of his Challenger Tour trophies on clay. Earlier this season, the Argentine claimed the ATP 250 event on the red dirt in Cordoba. Playing in his first Challenger since March 2022, Baez will next clash against Italian qualifier Federico Gaio, who ousted Andrea Collarini 6-4, 6-3 in the quarters.

Second seed Daniel Elahi Galan encountered an Italian for the second consecutive day, but the Colombian saw off wild card and #NextGenATP star Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-5 to reach the Turin Challenger semi-finals.

Galan was a semi-finalist at this month’s Challenger 175 event in Cagliari and finished runner-up last month at the Sarasota Challenger. The 26-year-old will next face the in-form German Dominik Koepfer, who defeated Edoardo Lavagno 6-3, 6-1 to advance Thursday.

Koepfer, 29, has competed in three Challenger finals this year, including his triumph at the Mexico City Challenger in April.

Bordeaux:
In front of a packed stadium in southern France, the 24-year-old Ugo Humbert downed three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-1 at the BNP Paribas Primrose.

Wawrinka was aiming to back up his vintage performance Wednesday, when he ousted former World No. 1 Andy Murray 6-3, 6-0, but the Frenchman Humbert delivered a strong serving performance and fended off six of seven break points faced to advance.

Humbert, who reached a career-high No. 25 in 2021, has won 20 of his past 23 Challenger-level matches, including his triumph at this month’s Cagliari Challenger. He will meet countryman Richard Gasquet in Friday’s semi-finals.

Gasquet booked his ticket to the last four by defeating Mikael Ymer 7-6(14), 6-3. In the opening set, the Swede Ymer was down 3-5, 0/40 before pushing the home favourite to a tie-break. But the Frenchman prevailed, converting his ninth set point, after saving four set points in a marathon tie-break.

^{Richard Gasquet celebrates a quarter-final win at the Challenger 175 event in Bordeaux, France. Credit: Jared Wickerham/ATP Tour}

The 36-year-old Gasquet leads Humbert 2-1 in their ATP Head2Head series. A three-time tour titlist, Humbert won their most recent encounter in straight sets at this year’s Australian Open, exactly 12 months after Gasquet beat him at Melbourne Park.

Top seed Jan-Lennard Struff cruised past Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-2 after winning 21 of 27 first-serve points. The 33-year-old German, who was a finalist at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid, will next meet Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry in a ball-bashing semi-final at the Challenger 175 event.

Etcheverry, 23, earned a commanding 6-3, 6-3 quarter-final victory against Spainard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The seventh seed Etcheverry will aim for the highest-ranked win of his career Friday, when he meets World No. 28 Struff.

Watch Match Of The Day: Ugo Humbert vs Richard Gasquet (Bordeaux, NB 4:00 p.m. local)

Rafael Nadal is determined to end his career on his own terms. The Spaniard reflected on his outlook Thursday after announcing his withdrawal from Roland Garros.

“I don’t like the word but I feel strong enough to say it:  I don’t think I deserve to end like this,” Nadal said in Spanish. “I’ve worked hard enough throughout my career for my end not to be in a press conference.”

Nadal explained that his plan is to take time off. Although he is unsure when he will return, the Spaniard added the 2024 season will “probably” be his last. 

“After that you never know what can happen,” Nadal said. “I’m going to try to make my last year not just a party, I’m going to try to compete at the highest level, give myself the option to try to compete and win tournaments on this clay tour. The reality is that we’ll have to wait for that.”

The 22-time major champion and former World No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings did not rush to his decision and instead listened to what his body told him.

“The first thing you do is not talk, you listen to yourself and you understand what is happening. You have to accept and go through a process of honesty with yourself,” Nadal said. “But decisions are not dramatic, everything has a beginning and an end, unfortunately. I am just one more of all these endings of all the people who have been able to stand out in any field of life.” 

The reason Nadal is taking time off now is so that he can give himself the best chance for a proper final run. 

“My idea is that this last effort is worth leaving everything so that the last year will be something special,” Nadal said. “My tennis and above all my body will tell me what will happen.”

When Nadal retires, he said it will be the end of a stage of his life he has “been very happy with”.

“From then on I will start another stage, which will be different. But it doesn’t have to be any less happy,” Nadal said. “I have to take things naturally. I have plans for the next few months that I haven’t made in the last 20 years.”

World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev was asked about the Nadal news after his quarter-final win in Rome. Medvedev said: “Rafa on clay in general, but especially in Roland Garros, is just unreal. I honestly don’t know how this is possible because me, I feel like I’m a good tennis player, but you can always have a bad day, or your opponent has a very good day. Like in Madrid, I felt like I was not playing that bad against [Aslan] Karatsev. But I lost, and after the match I was like, ‘He played well. Okay, that’s it.’

“Rafa didn’t have these matches in Roland Garros, except maybe the match with Soderling where Robin played the match of his life and managed to win. This is unbelievable. I think in tennis, at least for the moment, there no comparison.”