Former World No. 1 Andy Murray reached his second tour-level quarter-final of the season Thursday, overcoming seventh seed Alexander Bublik 6-3, 7-6(4) at the BOSS OPEN in Stuttgart.

In windy conditions, the Scot, who is making his debut at the ATP 250 grass-court event, returned well and showed his fighting spirit, saving three set points in the second set as he rallied from 2-5 to eventually advance after one hour and 42 minutes.

“He is predictable in his unpredictability. You are prepared for some amazing shots and then maybe some loose games,” Murray said in his on-court interview. “Today he played some amazing stuff for five or six games in the second set and everything was coming off and I was getting a bit frustrated, but I kept fighting. Held a tough game at 2-5 and I thought I played well through to the finish.”

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Murray opted to miss most of the clay-court swing to focus on his grass preparations and it is a decision that is paying off so far. The 35-year-old found his rhythm at the Surbiton Trophy ATP Challenger Tour event last week, reaching the semi-finals and is yet to drop a set in his opening two matches in Stuttgart.

The win lifts Murray to No. 59 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. If the Scot can reach the semi-finals, he would move to the edge of the Top 50. The last time Murray was inside the Top 50 was in May 2018.

“It was quite tricky the conditions today, it was quite blustery,” Murray added. “I moved well on the courts well. The court is very dry, so it is nice to move on and hopefully into the weekend the conditions will be a bit calmer and I can play some better tennis.”

The 46-time tour-level titlist now leads Bublik 3-1 in their ATP Head2Head series and has improved to 112-23 on grass. Murray, who advanced to the final in Sydney on hard in January, will next play top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

In other action, Germany’s Oscar Otte continued to impress on home soil, upsetting fourth seed Denis Shapovalov 7-6(6), 7-6(4) to advance to his third tour-level quarter-final of the year.

The World No. 61 saved one set point on serve at 4-5, 30/40 in the first set, before he held his nerve in the second-set tie-break to advance after one hour and 40 minutes.

It is the second time the 28-year-old has defeated a Top 20 player this season after eliminating then-World No. 17 Reilly Opelka en route to the semi-finals in Munich. Otte will next face Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi.

In a match that resumed on Thursday, Italian Lorenzo Sonego edged Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(2), 7-6(4) to book a meeting with second seed Matteo Berrettini. Sonego now holds a 13-6 record on grass, having lifted his first ATP Tour title on the surface in Antalya in 2019.

The ATP has announced Phase One approval of ‘OneVision’, a long-term transformational Strategic Plan designed to take tennis to new heights from 2023.

With tennis boasting more than a billion global tennis fans, an emerging generation of superstar players and a content offering perfectly suited for the digital age, OneVision establishes robust foundations for future growth of the sport.

In development by ATP leadership since 2020, the ambitious plan introduces a groundbreaking set of reforms across the ATP Tour, reducing fragmentation, aligning interests between players and tournaments, and repositioning tennis within the increasingly competitive entertainment landscape. OneVision is made up of two independent phases and centres on three core principles: driving unity, enhancing the fan experience, and leveraging scalable growth opportunities in media, data, content and tech.

Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman, said: “Our sport has huge upside and stands on the cusp of a new era of growth. Fulfilling our potential requires us to be united, pursue new growth opportunities and focus on what matters most: the fans. OneVision gives us a game plan to do just that. Its launch represents a game-changing moment for the Tour and a huge collective effort across our sport. I’m incredibly excited for what’s to come.”

The approval of Phase One by the ATP Board marks a major milestone for the ATP Tour. It follows more than two years of extensive consultation with the ATP Board, Player and Tournament Councils and ATP’s Advisory Board of industry experts from media and tech. Coming into play from January 2023, it introduces major reforms and game-changing benefits.

For the first time in the history of the ATP Tour, audited tournament financials will provide full transparency to players on the economics of tournaments. In tandem, a groundbreaking 50/50 profit sharing formula will align the interests of players and tournaments in growing the game as partners in success.

Through the expansion of several ATP Masters 1000 events, the Tour will provide more premium action for fans across the season and more earning opportunities for players. Five additional top-tier tournaments will grow from eight-day (56 Draw) to 12-day (96 Draw) events over the coming seasons, in line with the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open presented by Itau:

– Mutua Madrid Open (from 2023)
– Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Rome, from 2023)
– Rolex Shanghai Masters (from 2023)
– National Bank Open presented by Rogers (Canada, from 2025)
– Western & Southern Open (Cincinnati, from 2025)

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This expansion is in turn set to deliver an immediate uplift at the Masters 1000 level, with prize money at the five expanded top tier events increasing by more than 35 per cent between 2022 and 2025. The year-end Bonus Pool is projected to almost double in the near term and will now be distributed to the Top 30 players (up from 12). Additionally, a brand-new element of profit sharing based on the financial performance of the tournaments, has the potential to provide further financial support to more than 140 players.

Also from 2023, new tournament category agreements for ATP Masters 1000 and ATP 500 tournaments will become effective to provide long-term stability to the Tour and to enable major investment into the sport, while elevating all event standards for players, media and fans.

Aggregation of tournament media rights into ATP Media, the sales, production and distribution arm of the ATP, and the recently formed Tennis Data Innovations, an entity fully dedicated to the professional exploitation of data, will enable the Tour to provide an enhanced integrated experience for fans worldwide. Importantly, this will open up major growth opportunities in media and data, two highly scalable revenue streams. Embracing the digital transformation will also shift the Tour away from over-reliance on ticketing, a concerted move seen across many other major sports.

Lastly, OneVision will usher in a new era of corporate governance and professional decision-making, through an expanded and restructured ATP Board composition, alongside new checks and balances to protect against conflicts of interest.

Development of Phase Two of OneVision is currently ongoing, with the vision of creating a unified governance structure and operating model across the wider sport, exploiting key synergies and delivering greater support for lower levels of tennis through incremental growth.

Phase Two development remains a collective effort across tennis’ bodies, the ATP, WTA, ITF, Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. Recent collaboration has yielded encouraging results including the announcement of a joint Netflix series, a collective response to the global pandemic, greater consistency and alignment across rules and format, as well as coordinated fundraising initiatives. Resounding endorsement by leading industry experts, in parallel with decision-making challenges on complex issues due to the current fragmentation, have further highlighted the major opportunity that lies in bringing the wider sport together.

Explore The Details & Benefits Of OneVision

Wednesday was a day of celebration for 33 students as they celebrated their graduation from the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar alongside Spanish legend Rafael Nadal.

The 36-year-old, who captured a historic 14th Roland Garros title last week, presided over the ceremony. The World No. 4 gave a motivating speech to the students, while he praised their families and teachers for the support they had offered over the years.

“I know that the fashion now is immediacy and that patience is not a greatly valued virtue,” Nadal said. “When we want something, all we have to do is pick up our mobiles and make a purchase, read an article or get the information we need.

“But today I would like to remind you that the greatest goals in life are not achieved from one day to the next. They are achieved by fighting, struggling and learning when you fall down. I’m convinced that all of you will be great professionals and good people, which is the most important thing.

“But I can also tell you, through experience, that along the way you will have unexpected moments and disappointments that will make you question everything. In those moments, you must rely on your family, your loved ones and the people you trust, who will remind you what your dreams and goals were so that you can dream of them again.”

NBA star Ricky Rubio also spoke at the ceremony. The students attended the academy’s school, the American International School of Mallorca, and are the sixth cohort to graduate.

Rubio encouraged the young students to work hard and succeed in the face of adversity, joining previous year’s guests including Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova in sharing words of wisdom.

Jenson Brooksby made a confident start to his second-round match with Hugo Gaston at the Libema Open, but persistent rain prevented any matches from being completed Wednesday in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

After both players dropped their opening service games, eighth seed Brooksby broke Gaston again in the sixth game to take charge of the first set before the rain arrived. The American leads Gaston 4-2 and 30/0 on his own serve in the pair’s maiden ATP Head2Head meeting, with play scheduled to resume on Thursday at 10 a.m. local time.

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No other play was possible Wednesday due to the inclement weather in The Netherlands, where Daniil Medvedev is the top seed at the grass-court event. The World No. 2 is now scheduled to make his tournament debut Thursday against James Duckworth or Gilles Simon, with second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime also set to start his campaign against home favourite Tallon Griekspoor.

From a nerve-wracking victory to quarter-final disappointment, Petros Tsitsipas and Stefanos Tsitsipas went through a rollercoaster of emotions at the BOSS OPEN in Stuttgart on Wednesday.

The Greek brothers led their first-round match against Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan 7-6(3), 5-5 when rain curtailed play at the ATP 250 event on Tuesday evening. Despite losing the second-set tie-break upon resumption on Wednesday, the wild cards held their nerve to clinch a 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 10-8 victory and advance in Germany.

Later in the day they returned to take on third seeds Hubert Hurkacz and Mate Pavic in the quarter-finals. Once again a Match Tie-break was required to separate the teams, but this time it did not go the way of Petros and his older brother Stefanos as Hurkacz and Pavic ran out 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-5 winners.

Hurkacz and Pavic are partnering for the first time in Stuttgart but both have enjoyed ATP Masters 1000 success this season. Hurkacz lifted the Miami Open presented by Itau trophy with John Isner, while Pavic clinched his fifth title at that level at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome alongside regular partner Nikola Mektic.

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In the other quarter-final completed Wednesday, Fabrice Martin and Andreas Mies clinched a pair of tie-breaks to overcome the show-stopping pair of Alexander Bublik and Nick Kyrgios. The fourth seeds ran out 7-6(5), 7-6(4) winners to book their semi-final spot.

A pair of first-round matches rounded out the doubles action as rain again interrupted proceedings in south-west Germany. Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi upset second seeds John Peers and Filip Polasek 7-6(2), 6-4, while all-French duo Benjamin Bonzi and Arthur Rinderknech clinched a 7-6(6), 6-7(8), 10-8 win against Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar.