Tennis News

Scouting Report: Defending champ Baez joined by Draper, Mannarino in Winston-Salem

The North American hard-court swing continues this week at the Winston-Salem Open, where Sebastian Baez will be the top seed for his title defence. The Argentine will face stiff competition from the likes of 22-year-old Briton Jack Draper and 2022 champion Adrian Mannarino.

ATPTour.com looks at five things to watch in Winston-Salem.

1) Defending champ Baez: The 23-year-old Argentine won his first tour-level title on hard courts last year in Winston-Salem, winning four three-setters on his run. Baez has backed that up with clay trophies in Rio de Janeiro and Santiago this year, with five of his six ATP Tour crowns coming on that surface. He will bid to improve upon his 4-6 hard-court record this season after a second-round exit at the Cincinnati ATP Masters 1000.

Baez will be joined in Winston-Salem by fellow Argentines Francisco Cerundolo, Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Mariano Navone and Federico Coria, with Cerundolo receiving a wild card into the singles draw.

2) Draper finding footing: Draper played three consecutive events on three different surfaces across Wimbledon, the Paris Olympics and Montreal. As he began adjusting to the North American hard courts, he teamed with Jannik Sinner to form a fan-favourite doubles duo in Montreal, picking up two wins. His focus narrowed to singles in Cincinnati, where he won a third-set tie-break against Jaume Munar before coming from behind to upset Stefanos Tsitsipas. He then beat Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach the quarters and is still alive in Ohio.

3) Former champ Mannarino: After rising to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 17 at the start of 2024, Mannarino has struggled to an 8-22 record this season. The 36-year-old Frenchman will hope memories of his 2022 title run in Winston-Salem — when he won 11 consecutive sets — can spark a resurgence of form. 

4) Michelsen, Opelka carry home hopes: Alex Michelsen, a #NextGenATP star at 19, thrilled home fans in Cincinnati by giving Jannik Sinner all he could handle in a tight second-round defeat that will leave him eager to return to the match court. The No. 57 in the PIF ATP Rankings will be the top-ranked American in the draw, where Reilly Opelka was given a late wild card as he continues his injury comeback.

5) Lammons/Withrow defend doubles crown: Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow are back after winning their fourth tour-level doubles title as a team last year in Winston-Salem. The pair has doubled its trophy tally since then, most recently triumphing in back-to-back weeks on home soil in Atlanta and Washington. Other title challengers include Neal Skupski and Michael Venus, Austin Krajicek and Jean-Julien Rojer, and Nikola Mektic and Wesley Koolhof.

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Alcaraz issues apology after Cincinnati outburst

Carlos Alcaraz has issued a public apology for his rare show of frustration during his opening-round loss at the Cincinnati Open Friday.

The World No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings broke his racquet after repeatedly smashing it into the court early in the third set of his surprise loss to French veteran Gael Monfils.

The 21-year-old took to social media on Saturday to reflect on his behaviour.

“I apologise because my attitude yesterday was not correct and it is something that should not be done on the track,” Alcaraz wrote on X. “I am human, I had a lot of nerves inside and sometimes it is very difficult to control yourself when your heart rate is so high. I will work so that it does not happen again. Time to think about NYC!”

Pido perdón porque mi actitud de ayer no fue correcta y es algo que no debería hacerse dentro de una pista. Soy humano, tenía acumulación de nervios dentro y a veces es muy complicado controlarse cuando estás con las pulsaciones tan altas. Trabajaré para que no vuelva a… pic.twitter.com/YR0dRJhTxX

— Carlos Alcaraz (@carlosalcaraz) August 17, 2024

Alcaraz is 38-8 on the season, having won three titles including majors at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The Spaniard will next head to New York, where he competes at the US Open. He is looking for a big result to boost his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals (10-17 November) in Turin.

Alcaraz leads Monfils 2-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

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Draper earns controversial win while Alcaraz plays 'worst match'

Jack Draper beats Felix Auger-Aliassime in controversial circumstances at the Cincinnati Open as Carlos Alcaraz smashes his racquet during a defeat by Gael Monfils.

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Tiafoe converts sixth match point, survives late-night scare

Frances Tiafoe survived a late-night scare from Jiri Lehecka at the Cincinnati Open, where the American prevailed 6-4, 6-7(10), 7-6(5) after converting his sixth match point on Friday.

The home favourite let slip three match points in the second-set tie-break and then held a 5-2 lead in the final set. But Lehecka, who was competing this week for the first time since retiring in the Madrid semi-finals due to a back injury, won three consecutive games and eventually forced a deciding-set tie-break.

Tiafoe, who trailed by a mini-break at 2/4 in the third-set tie-break, let out a sigh of relief after clinching the match and wrote, ‘Whatever it takes’ on the camera lens. He advanced to the quarter-finals after two hours, 52 minutes.

The 26-year-old found an advantage in forehand-to-forehand rallies to remain the more consistent from the baseline. Tiafoe committed 34 unforced errors to Lehecka’s 59, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The three-time tour-level titlist overcame the Czech’s 24 aces and will next meet another big server, Hubert Hurkacz, in the last eight.

Lehecka, 22, was aiming to build upon his second-round upset against fourth seed Daniil Medvedev.

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Draper, Michelsen & Borges could be smart Winston-Salem Predictor Picks

After back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati, the ATP Tour moves to Winston-Salem next week for an ATP 250 event.

Plenty of stars will try to secure important PIF ATP Rankings points, including defending champion Sebastian Baez, second seed Jack Draper and third-seeded wild card Francisco Cerundolo.

Make Your Picks Now!

Jack Draper — replacing 20 points
The 22-year-old has enjoyed the best season of his career, earning his first ATP Tour title in Stuttgart. If the British lefty lifts another trophy in Winston-Salem, he will claim plenty of net points given he will be replacing a 20-point entry in his rankings breakdown.

Draper is in form after upsetting Stefanos Tsitsipas in Cincinnati and has long been a dangerous foe on hard courts. His big serve and aggressive game have proven tough for many players to overcome. He is the second seed in Winston-Salem, where his brother, Ben Draper, played a season of college tennis.

Alex Michelsen — replacing 25 points
The Cincinnati draw shows that the #NextGenATP American lost in the second round of the main draw. But Michelsen put up a tough fight against Jannik Sinner and also battled through qualifying, proving his form is in good shape.

The two-time Newport finalist continues to climb the PIF ATP Rankings and has another chance to make a move during Winston-Salem, where he will chase his first title. The 19-year-old will also be confident on the back of his run to the Washington quarter-finals, where he pushed eventual finalist Flavio Cobolli to a final-set tie-break.

Nuno Borges replacing 20 points
The Portuguese standout won his first tour-level title earlier this year in Bastad on clay. However, he is plenty comfortable on hard courts. A fourth-round finisher at this year’s Australian Open, Borges played college tennis — on hard courts — at Mississippi State University.

Borges is the eighth seed in Winston-Salem and will play James Duckworth or Thiago Seyboth Wild in his opening match.

Bonus Ball — Alex Michelsen
Michelsen is the 11th seed and has never claimed an ATP Tour title. But why not back the teen now for a big run? The American has proven he enjoys quicker surfaces, where he is able to maximise his serve and use his all-court game to work his way into his opponent’s service games.

With plenty of room to add net points in Winston-Salem, doubling up that number could mean a big week for your PIF ATP Rankings Predictor team.

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Dodig & Murray advance in Cincy, McDonald & Michelsen save 2 MPs

Playing under pressure was Friday’s doubles theme at the Cincinnati Open, where Jamie Murray and Ivan Dodig dispatched fifth-seeded Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in a tight 7-5, 7-6(4) contest while three other matches went to a Match Tie-break.

Murray and Dodig are into the last eight and will next face Arthur Fils and Nicolas Jarry.

American wild cards Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelsen became the first team to reach the semi-finals after they saved two match points to upset the 2022 titlists Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 6-3, 5-7, 11-9. The third seeds held two consecutive match points on serve at 9/7 in the Match Tie-break before McDonald and Michelsen tallied four consecutive points.

Top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, who won Montreal last week, defeated Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 6-7(3), 6-4, 10-6. Seventh seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten, fifth in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Race To Turin, survived Wesley Koolhof and Mate Pavic 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 10-5.

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An Oscar-winning epic starring Mel Gibson

Braveheart tells the story of fiery rebel William Wallace’s rebellion against Edward I

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Rune denies Monfils' double duty attempt, Draper survives Felix

Holger Rune held his nerve in a topsy-turvy third set Friday to pull away from Gael Monfils 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and advance to the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals. The 15th seed is the first Danish man to reach the last eight in the tournament’s Open Era history.

“It took some patience for sure,” said Rune. “I wasn’t totally on top of the first set. He was serving big, had to get used to the conditions a little bit. He came from an incredible win earlier, so obviously he was very confident. I had to find my rhythm.”

Monfils came flying out of the blocks, building upon his momentum from upsetting second seed Carlos Alcaraz in their rain-hindered match earlier in the day. Rune then gained an advantage by looking for early opportunities to move forward, converting 25 of his 33 net points across the two-hour, 14-minute match.

“I changed a little bit of tactics from the beginning of the second set and I tried to stay on that throughout the whole match, and it seemed to work,” said Rune.

Next level net play @CincyTennis 🎾

1️⃣9️⃣ Volley #WinningPlays by @holgerrune2003 with 1️⃣2️⃣of those coming the crucial 3rd set vs Monfils #WinningPlays:
✅ Highlight a specific winning tactic
✅ Recognise that the “key” shot is not always the winner or the last shot in the… pic.twitter.com/xAdzg0qxgW

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) August 17, 2024

In the 21-year-old’s opening service game of the final set, he trailed 0/40, but eventually held after nearly nine minutes, deflating the Frenchman’s hopes of becoming the tournament’s oldest quarter-finalist. He then broke Monfils to love and rarely looked back.

Rune, aiming for his second ATP Masters 1000 trophy, saved seven of the eight break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to win his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Monfils.

As the match wore on, the 37-year-old Monfils appeared to fade physically, but not without flashes of his shotmaking ability to the roars of a packed Center Court crowd.

Watch Rune, Monfils’ Point Of The Year Contender:

Into his third ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season (Indian Wells, Monte-Carlo), Rune will next meet Jack Draper. Rune, No. 16 in the PIF ATP Rankings, boasts a 32-16 season record.

Draper advanced to his second ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final and first in two years (2022 Montreal) with a hard-fought 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Felix Auger-Aliassime. The lefty, who upset Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round after the Greek served for the match, won his third consecutive three-setter.

Draper applied constant pressure on the Canadian’s serve throughout the two-hour, 37-minute battle. The 22-year-old played 33 less points on his serve and fended off the lone break point he faced.

The match ended in unusual circumstances on a disputed Draper low volley, which was ruled good but replays showed the ball caught the bottom of Draper’s frame and ricocheted off the court before falling over the net.

Fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz also advanced in three sets. The Pole marched past the in-form Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 after converting three of his 10 break chances. Hurkacz will face Frances Tiafoe ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final. The American survived Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-7(10), 7-6(5).

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Alcaraz: 'Impossible to get any good from this match'

Carlos Alcaraz has no shortage of memorable accolades this season, from winning two majors, an ATP Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells and a silver medal at the Paris Olympics. But the Spaniard wants to have no memory of any kind of his second-round loss against Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Open.

“It’s kind of really difficult to find some good stuff from this match. So I want to forget it, and try to move on to New York,” Alcaraz said in his post-match press conference. “I’ll go to New York and I’ll try to practise well, to get used to those courts. And I will forget this match, because I think it is impossible to get any good things about this match.”

The 21-year-old, who was competing in his first hard-court tournament since Miami in March, held championship point last year in Cincinnati before Novak Djokovic roared back to claim the title in what is largely considered one of the greatest ATP Masters 1000 finals.

Playing his first match in Cincinnati since that near-four hour epic, with hopes of going one step further than last year’s runner-up finish, Alcaraz was instead stunned by the 37-year-old Monfils 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. The 15-time tour-level titlist spoke candidly in assessing his level.

“I felt like it was the worst match that I ever played in my career,” Alcaraz said. “[I] couldn’t play. Honestly, I’ve been practising really well here in this tournament. The previous days, I was feeling great, hitting the ball clear, moving well. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how I felt like this, but I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t be better. So this match, it was impossible to win.”

Alcaraz grew atypically frustrated when Monfils consolidated his break lead early in the deciding set. The second seed smashed his racquet on the hard court four times, breaking it in several places.

“I felt sometimes that I wanted to break the racquet. It never happened before, because I could control myself in those situations, in those feelings,” Alcaraz said. “Most of the time I could control myself and it could go better in the matches or in the situation that I’ve been feeling before.

“Today, I couldn’t control myself, because, as I said, I was feeling that I was not playing any kind of tennis. I think some players, a lot of players, during their careers and during some certain moments, they can’t control themselves. And it was one of the moments for me.”

Alcaraz and Monfils began their match Thursday evening, but were forced off court due to rain with the World No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings leading 6-3, 6-6(1/3). Trailing by a mini-break in the second-set tie-break when the match resumed Friday, Alcaraz was hopeful to find a better level.

“I just [tried] not to think about the match last night. I just want to recover as best as I can, to have a good rest and be ready for today’s match,” Alcaraz said. “Yesterday, I didn’t play well as well. I think yesterday the longest rally was five balls. So I couldn’t get feelings yesterday. So I just thought that, ‘Well, have some rest, and tomorrow it’s gonna be another day. I’m probably going to feel better.’ But it didn’t happen.”

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Shifting to Shelton: How a kind word and a headband won over young Gabe

Has Ben Shelton found his newest and biggest fan?

When the 21-year-old American walked onto court to face Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Thursday at the Cincinnati Open, he received the majority of support at his home event.

However, there was one young boy, Gabriel Green, who was cheering loudly for Etcheverry and could not hide his disappointment at the Argentine’s three-set defeat. After the match, Shelton found Gabriel in the crowd at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, where he chatted with the youngster before giving him his headband.

Ben’s newest fan likes his headband VERY MUCH👌@BenShelton #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/OKdqcVqEjf

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 16, 2024

A day later and Gabriel was courtside again, but this time wearing Shelton’s headband and loudly supporting the 12th seed, who defeated Fabian Marozsan to reach the quarter-finals on Friday.

“He was going at me yesterday,” Shelton said when asked about Gabriel, who was born in Mexico and is coached by an Argentine. “I was playing his guy Etcheverry. I heard him the whole match and after the match he looked pretty upset and I went up to him and said, ‘I have a lot of respect for your cheering because when I was a little kid and watching my dad’s teams college matches, that was me’.

“I think that is where the love from the game starts. So it is really cool to see things like that from kids at such a young age. I went over and gave him a headband and I gained a fan yesterday, so maybe we will see him out here one day.”

Shelton will play third seed Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals and will hope to see Gabriel courtside once again.

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