Alexander Bublik came out smiling from a topsy-turvy first-round match on Wednesday at the Mutua Madrid Open.

The opening set of the Kazakhstani’s 7-6(15), 6-7(4). 6-4 win against Daniel Elahi Galan was ended by the longest tie-break of the 2023 ATP Tour season so far. After 25 minutes and 32 points of tie-break play, Bublik finally moved ahead by converting his fifth set point.

Galan had already spurned seven set points of his own in the opening set, although the Colombian made amends in the second as he won another tie-break to level the match. Galan was unable to complete the job from 2-0 in the decider, however, as Bublik rallied to a remarkable two-hour, 50-minute triumph at the Caja Magica.

“When you don’t win a lot, it’s tough to finish matches, and I never felt it before because [for the past few seasons I made] 35-plus wins on the season,” Bublik told ATPTour.com. “[So far this year] I only have five, so finishing matches is not easy. I hope to get the momentum back, play better, and win more matches.”

Now 5-14 for 2023, Bublik will next take on sixth seed Holger Rune at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000 in the Spanish capital. Wednesday’s marathon tie-break may serve as inspiration for the 25-year-old against Rune, although the World No. 55 would rather try and avoid winning the hard way again.

“It’s very tough playing tennis when you are out of shape, out of rhythm,” said Bublik. “That’s why this thing happened. Last year, if I’d played the same match, it wouldn’t have happened.”

“I was a kid when [he was on Tour], but I saw some videos of him on YouTube.”

Hugo Gaston may be too young to have witnessed the charismatic Younes El Aynaoui in his ATP Tour prime, but the 22-year-old Frenchman is well aware of the legacy of the man who has joined his coaching team for the 2023 European clay-court season.

“He is a legend of Moroccan tennis, African tennis, and tennis in general, so it’s nice to have some advice from him,” Gaston told ATPTour.com on Wednesday at the Mutua Madrid Open when asked about working with the former World No. 14. “He knows tennis, for sure, he was at the top for 20 years. He’s a really good guy, a really good player and a really good coach. So I’m happy with him.”

Gaston and El Aynaoui joined forces at the beginning of April at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, where Gaston promptly secured his first tour-level win of 2023 against Jan-Lennard Struff. The World No. 106 believes that more time spent with the five-time ATP Tour titlist El Aynaoui can only boost his bid to rise back up the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

“The relationship is pretty good for the moment, we will continue until Roland Garros and then we will see, but there is no reason to stop,” said Gaston, who defeated countryman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday in Madrid to reach the second round. “We have a really good relationship. I feel good with him, I think he feels good with me as well, so it’s good and we can see what we can do.”

Gaston will hope to build on his opening win when he takes on 17th seed Borna Coric next at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event in the Spanish capital. The former World No. 58 can also look to some recent success on the ATP Challenger Tour for confidence: He holds an 8-3 record at that level this year, including a run to a championship match on clay in Vina del Mar, Chile.

“The Challenger Tour is really difficult now,” said Gaston, who competed at the 2021 Next Gen ATP Finals. “We can see that a lot of players that won a lot of matches on ATP Tour won a lot of matches on Challenger Tour too.

“It’s a different Tour but really difficult. In South American I played a lot of Challengers. I think that’s really helped me a lot. Now I’m really happy to win one match in Marrakech, one here [in Madrid], and I hope I can continue like that.”

Ten years on since Stan Wawrinka was a finalist at the Mutua Madrid Open, the Swiss is still competing at a high level in the Spanish capital.

On Wednesday, the 38-year-old downed World No. 39 Maxime Cressy 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(4), in opening-round action at the ATP Masters 1000 event. Three-time major champion Wawrinka, who is the oldest player in the Madrid draw, won 46 of 54 first-serve points and fired 19 aces to advance after two hours, 27 minutes.

“I’m super happy, I was expecting a really tough match,” Wawrinka said. “First time playing against him, he’s a tough player, putting a lot of pressure [on you], especially in fast conditions. It’s not easy to control the game, [not] a lot of rallies. I was staying calm and tried to be aggressive as I could on my serve. It’s great to win that battle.”

While Cressy stuck to his serve-and-volley tactics, Wawrinka stayed close to the baseline on first-serve returns and only retreated to handle the American’s hefty second delivery. The former World No. 3 Wawrinka remained steady from the baseline and displayed passing shots off both wings, ending with 41 winners to just 18 unforced errors.

Wawrinka will next meet Monte-Carlo champion Andrey Rublev for the first time since the 2020 Rolex Paris Masters. The Swiss leads their ATP Head2Head 2-1.

“It’s going to be a completely different matchup,” Wawrinka said. “Second round also, I have a match under my legs. I think I can play well, I’ve played him a few times already in my career. He’s in top form, it’s going to be a tough battle, but a great challenge for me. That’s the reason I keep playing, to play the top players and try to beat them.”

In other first-round action, Marrakech champion Roberto Carballes Baena ousted David Goffin 6-4, 6-4. The Spaniard will face two-time Madrid titlist Alexander Zverev in the second round. Alex Molcan, who was a semi-finalist last week in Banja Luka, cruised past Wu Yibing 6-2, 6-4.

Frenchmen Gregoire Barrere and Quentin Halys survived three-setters Monday. Barrere downed American wild card Emilio Nava 6-0, 5-7, 6-3 and Halys escaped Alexei Popyrin 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. 

The Zhuhai Championships will welcome the return of ATP Tour tennis to China for the first time in four years this September and today announced that former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev will spearhead the field.

The ATP Tour 250 event, which serves the Greater Bay Area in China comprising 11 major cities and a population of more than 71 million, has secured one of the world’s best players to headline the celebration. Medvedev will make his debut in Zhuhai in the tournament running between 20-26 September 2023.

The 2021 US Open champion has been in brilliant form this season, winning four titles so far including the Miami Open earlier this month. The 27-year-old has won a tour-level title in 19 different cities.

Medvedev is looking forward to demonstrating his brilliance at the Hengqin International Tennis Center, the state-of-the-art facility which hosts the Zhuhai Championships, this year.

“I’m really looking forward to coming back to China and playing at the Hengqin International Tennis Center,” Medvedev said. “I can’t wait to see the city and the stadium, both of which I have heard a lot of good things about. It will be great to play again in front of the Chinese fans again after three years away. “I’m looking forward to seeing you all in September.”

The inaugural edition of the ATP Tour 250 tournament in 2019 set a high standard for excellence on and off the court and proved particularly popular with players. An innovative tournament in a nation with a growing passion for tennis, the Zhuhai Championships was an outstanding addition to the international circuit.

The return of the event to the world stage in 2023 promises to set a new bar of merit given the quality of the tennis stars interested in competing in the Zhuhai Championships. Aside from Medvedev, Zhuhai Championships officials have engaged in fruitful discussions with grand slam champions and other top-ranked players about the ATP 250 tournament.

Announcements regarding further major signings for the second edition of the tournament are imminent. As a bonus for local and international fans attending the tournament, the scheduling will be even more consumer friendly and allow greater opportunities to watch matches. Fan-friendly time slots mean patrons attending the weekend sessions will see more singles players in action than in 2019, when the tournament was played from Monday to Sunday.

The move to schedule the semi-finals and championship match on Monday and Tuesday night gives patrons from the region the option to attend elite tennis after finishing work.

Further, the timing of those finals broadens the capacity for audiences watching from afar to view a historic event on the ATP Tour that confirms the return of tennis in China. In the first edition in 2019 claimed by Australian Alex de Minaur, the Zhuhai Championships identified itself as a tournament of quality.

Alison Lee, who is the ATP Executive Vice-President for the International Region, said she is delighted the Zhuhai Championships has returned to the tour calendar.

“It’s certainly exciting to be returning to China, and we begin the China swing with one of my favourite tournaments in Zhuhai,” she said. “I was fortunate to visit the Zhuhai event in 2019 and experience the city and its surrounding areas. We begin the China swing with one of my favourite events in Zhuhai. I was fortunate to visit the event in 2019 and experience the beautiful city.

“This year, we will see some amazing tennis featuring some of the world’s best players including Daniil Medvedev at the Hengqin Tennis Center. Good luck to everyone and we look forward to seeing you all in September.”

Peter Lv, the Executive Director and General Manager of Huafa Sports, said the Zhuhai Championships provided a great opportunity for the entirety of the Greater Bay Area.

“As the highest level ATP Tour event in the Canton-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, the 2023 Zhuhai Championships will definitely serve as a great benefit and gift for tennis fans after their three years of waiting,” he said. “As the promoter of the event, Huafa Sports has full confidence and a strong determination to present a high-quality and unique tournament which stands out among global ATP Tour events.”

FOLLOW THIS WEEK’S ACTION

📺 TV Schedule
🎾 Watch Live On Tennis TV
📱 Follow Live Scores On ATP WTA Live
📧 Sign Up For Newsletters

Zhuhai Championships tournament director Leon Sun said it was important fans in the Greater Bay Region had the chance to watch the best tennis players in action again.

“It’s great the Zhuhai Championships are back on the ATP Tour calendar this year,” he said. “We’ll certainly bring world-class tennis back again to Zhuhai and the Greater Bay Area and make sure all players and fans have the best possible experience here.”

For further media information, please contact: Peter Johnston via [email protected] or [email protected] 

Official Website: https://www.zhuhaichampionships.cn
Instagram: https://instagram.com/zhuhaichampionships
Twitter: https://twitter.com/zhuhaichampions
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZhuhaiChampionships

Maxime Cressy is one of the unique players on the ATP Tour. The American serves and volleys every point, for better or worse.

But the former college tennis player is eager to show that he is more than just a serving powerhouse. Cressy will hope to demonstrate that against former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka on Wednesday at the Mutua Madrid Open.

“I’m starting to change my return position. Last year, my return position [was] very close, even inside the baseline,” Cressy told ATPTour.com. “So now I’m going to make really big changes in my game with the vision of getting to my goals. I think now, the key for me is to be consistent and getting the balls in play as much as I can.

“I think being deeper off the court is going to be a very important detail for me to start getting into a lot of rallies.”

Cressy was clear that he is maintaining his aggressive mindset and will continue going to the net whenever possible — he writes ‘Instill Doubt’ on his racquet after all. But after plenty of analysis, he is taking a different approach to his overall strategy.

“[I am] sticking with my mindset to come to the net. But before that, I need to have a solid foundation on the baseline,” Cressy said. “And that’s what I’ve been working on [and] tirelessly analysed… I started against Felix [Auger-Aliassime in Dubai]. I think it was very competitive match on his service games. So I’m improving a lot. And I am going to keep improving and in an unlimited way. So I’m really looking forward to what’s coming.”

One might wonder why Cressy would sacrifice part of the unique trait that has helped him trouble so many stars. The No. 39 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings explained he is trying to find any improvement he can.

“[I am] actually starting to achieve an increasingly big level in my serve and [realised] that my ranking [has] still [been] the same for the last couple months, even though my serve is getting better and better. That’s the realisation that stuck with me,” Cressy said. “That one per cent change on the returns can get me plus five, plus 10 spots in the rankings instead of a one per cent change on the serve. That is not really getting me much improvement.”

The numbers back up Cressy’s line of thought. One year ago he won 88.8 per cent of his service games according to Infosys ATP Stats. So far in 2023 his success rate has been 89.6 per cent, the fourth-best percentage on Tour behind only Novak Djokovic, Matteo Berrettini and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Cressy has also seen gains behind his first serve, winning 81 per cent of those points this year, second on Tour trailing only Berrettini. In 2022 the American won 78.3 per cent of his first-serve points.

However, Cressy has won just nine per cent of his return games in 2023. It is not a statistic he is hiding from. That is why he is so keen to work on that side of his game.

“I knew it was coming. I knew I had to start having a growth mindset on the returns as well,” Cressy said. “And that’s what I’m doing and I think big things are coming from me.”

Cressy has long studied the best servers in the world — both past and present — on YouTube to try to apply certain traits from their games to his own. This year’s Montpellier finalist has been studying the returns of Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. He has also watched players like Roger Federer to see different approaches to the return.

“I think the main takeaway is to return in a way that I feel good on the serve,” Cressy said. “So I think having an aggressive mindset on the return is the way to go for sure.”

Felix Auger-Aliassime will compete on clay for the first time this season when he takes to court at the Mutua Madrid Open. The Canadian, currently No. 9 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, has not played since March due to a left knee injury and was urging on the side of caution when asked about his chances at the ATP Masters 1000 event in the Spanish capital.

“My ambitions are high but my expectations are low,” Auger-Aliassime said. “In a way I hope to do really well and I’m confident that I can do it but at the same time I’m going to really expect the worst a little bit or expect that everything’s going to be really tough. I think I’ll need my max focus and concentration from the first match.

”Every match is going to be tough, so if I can get through the early rounds and get some wins behind me, hopefully I’ll get far into the tournament and play well here.”

Auger-Aliassime, who last competed in Miami one month ago, has taken his injury setback as an opportunity to rest and recharge. While he enjoyed the period, he is excited to compete again, starting against Jason Kubler or Dusan Lajovic in his opening match.

“I’m feeling better and better as the days go by,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It was tricky. I’ve played a lot of tennis since the end of the last season. I think I am just kind of paying the price a little bit [in] the past couple of weeks. But it’s part of the Tour and part of the sport.

“But it’s been good, I’ve had time to stay at home a little bit, spend time away from the Tour and the stress of just playing matches all the time. It’s kind of just relaxed me mentally, but then also [I have] trained physically. I’ve had time, which is rare to go in the gym and work on other things, work on things on the court that I wanted to improve, while doing the rehab for my knee at the same time. I think it’s been an important period. Hopefully that pays off in the weeks to come.”

The four-time tour-level champion Auger-Aliassime holds a 12-7 record on the season, with his best result a run to the semi-finals in Doha. He is making his fourth appearance in Madrid, where he advanced to the quarter-finals last year.

Editor’s note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ game is always resplendent on clay courts, where the World No. 5 has forged some of the biggest achievements of his career. The slowest surface on Tour reveals the game of a special player who could well make the Mutua Madrid Open a turning point in his season.

The altitude of Madrid adds bite to a player who hits the ball aggressively and can end a point from anywhere on the playing surface. The carpet-like courts of the Spanish capital generate true bounces, making for bigger targets when a player goes for a winner, and the atmosphere of the Mediterranean city is reminiscent of the Greek’s home.

“Similarity in culture, similarity in a lot of things like food. Spain’s a very welcoming place and a very good destination for tennis,” Tsitsipas said. “I’ve always felt good playing here. “Greece hasn’t had the privilege of hosting any tennis tournaments yet. So Spain is the closest to Greece for me. That’s probably why I’ve played well here”.

In that context, Stefanos arrives in the Spanish capital having rediscovered his game, returning to the kind of form that took him to his second Grand Slam final at the Australian Open in January. With the Barcelona final still fresh in his mind, Tsitsipas is confidence personified when he sets foot in the Manolo Santana Stadium.

”It’s getting good. I’ve had a lot of matches now on clay,” Tsitsipas said. “I consider myself a candidate for this tournament in terms of having good results. The run I had in Barcelona brought me joy because after the Australian Open I didn’t go deep in tournaments. Now I’ve had a first glimpse of what it is to be strong again. Things are looking pretty bright”.

Of course, competing in Madrid means intruding in Carlos Alcaraz territory. The tournament’s defending champion, who boasts a 4-0 ATP Head2Head against the Greek, is something of a thorn in the side for Tsitsipas. Although they can only meet in the final in Madrid, it is an eventuality that Tsitsipas has in the back of his mind.

“It’s a long road to get to that point,” Tsitsipas said. “We have two weeks here. I have to practise to improve things, that’s the only way that I know to change something in the future. I don’t have any other solutions for beating a player who’s a big obstacle for me.

“Carlos is someone who works extremely hard, you can see his flexibility on the court, his speed is immense. He’s someone who has so much focus and a dedication to the sport that’s tough to find. In order to get there, I’d have to spend hours on the court practising, also hours in the gym working out and hours in my room analysing my past performances and trying to get better.”

Therefore, the possibility of reaching another final in Madrid is something of a personal challenge for Tsitsipas. One of the most respected players on the red stuff is approaching these two weeks in the Spanish capital with the mentality of a champion; looking in the mirror in search of improvement.

“I’d have to work extremely hard in every match that I play to get the result that I want. And that is a series of matches that I would have to do back-to-back in order to get to that potential final that I’m looking for,” Tsitsipas said. “A lot of players are in good shape right now, a lot of players are putting in the work. I’ve played a few matches in the last few weeks that give me a perspective of where my strong weapons are and how I can win points on clay.

”Of course, here we’re dealing with a little bit of altitude, which is a different scenario than Barcelona. I’m getting adjusted to that. It’s something that I’ve done pretty well in the past few years. I like the altitude, I think it’s good for my game. I see that as a small advantage.”

Tsitsipas arrives in Madrid fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He is making his fifth appearance at the clay-court event and will open against Dominic Thiem or Kyle Edmund.