#NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov has accomplished plenty in his young career. But entering his match Saturday against Yuichi Sugita at the Intrum Stockholm Open, he had never reached an ATP Tour final.

The 20-year-old carried an 0-7 record in tour-level semi-finals into his clash with the Japanese lucky loser, and his frustration showed after misfiring from the baseline in the early going to trail by a break. But Shapovalov recovered well, defeating Sugita 7-5, 6-2 to make his breakthrough in Sweden.

“It feels amazing. Kind of a tough beginning. I think he played really well at the beginning,” Shapovalov said. “I was a little bit nervous, so I’m really happy to turn the match around.”

It was a long time coming for Shapovalov, who has climbed as high as No. 20 in the ATP Rankings and earned two victories against Top 10 opponents. He made three of his previous semi-finals at ATP Masters 1000 events.

“I’ve played a lot of semis it feels like, so it’s really exciting to be into my first final. I’ve had some bad luck, some tough matches in the semis,” Shapovalov said. “But on the other side making the semi-finals is a good sign, so I knew sooner or later the win was going to come, so I’ve stayed pretty patient.”

Once Shapovalov recovered the early break he let slip, the Canadian began to play much more measured tennis, using his aggression, but being more patient to avoid giving Sugita free points via unforced errors. The Japanese player was unable to find the energy to battle back after needing more than three hours on Friday evening to defeat Janko Tipsarevic in the quarter-finals.

Shapovalov will face Serbian Filip Krajinovic, who is also pursuing his first ATP Tour crown, for the title. Krajinovic arrived in Stockholm on a three-match losing streak, but the World No. 60 has reversed his fortunes in a major way. Krajinovic rallied past fifth seed Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the championship match of the Intrum Stockholm Open.

“I don’t know him much. Obviously I’ve seen him play here and there, but he looks like he’s got a pretty big serve. He likes to go for his shots, pretty similar to me. I think it’s going to be an exciting match,” Shapovalov said. “To be honest, I’m just happy to be through to my first final. The rest, I just get to enjoy. Obviously I’d love to win the match and win my first title, but if not, it’s a big step to make the final this week, so I’m really happy with where I stand.”

Krajinovic has a career-high 27 tour-level wins this year, including a trip to his second ATP Tour final in Budapest, where he was a qualifier. Almost two years ago, he enjoyed a stunning run to the championship match of the Rolex Paris Masters, an ATP Masters 1000 event, where he fell to Jack Sock with the trophy on the line.

“Thanks guys for coming to watch this match, it means a lot to me,” Krajinovic told the crowd. “Playing in the Stockholm final, it’s a dream come true.”

It looked in the early going like he would not get a chance to lift his maiden trophy, with Carreno Busta going up an immediate break. Even after Krajinovic recouped that break, Carreno Busta got it back at the end of the set when the Serbian hit an ill-advised drop shot to allow the Spaniard to rush the net.

But from the second set on, Krajinovic began to increasingly get the first strike in rallies and run Carreno Busta around the court. He won 47 per cent of his return points and broke serve five times in the match to triumph after two hours and nine minutes, earning himself a chance to battle for all the Stockholm glory.

“For sure I will give my best. It’s my third ATP final,” Krajinovic said. “I hope tomorrow it’s going to be my first [trophy], but I know it’s going to be very difficult.”

Did You Know?
With a first-time ATP Tour champion guaranteed on Sunday, it will mark the 15th first-time titlist this season. That is the most first-time winners in a season since 1999, when there were 16

Roger Federer was once a ball boy at the Swiss Indoors Basel, where he hoped of one day joining the players he assisted like 1994 champion Wayne Ferreira. The Swiss has certainly made those dreams come true, and this coming week he will chase a 10th title at his home ATP 500 event.

Federer will begin his tournament against a qualifier, before potentially facing Moldovan Radu Albot or Serbian Dusan Lajovic, neither of whom he has lost to. The 38-year-old defeated Albot in three sets in Miami this year in their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, and he beat Lajovic at Wimbledon in 2017 and 2018.

Depending on how the results play out, there could be a blockbuster quarter-final pitting Federer against countryman Stan Wawrinka, the seventh seed, who begins his run against Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas. Federer leads their rivalry 23-3, including a straight-sets victory in the 2011 Basel semi-finals. But Wawrinka is gaining momentum, reaching the championship match in Antwerp for his first final since Rotterdam in February.

Federer has been at home in more ways than one in Basel, winning 20 consecutive matches at the event and reaching the final in his past 12 appearances. The last time he lost to a player ranked outside the Top 10 in Basel was in 2003, when he fell to World No. 47 Ivan Ljubicic, who is now his coach.

The second seed is reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev, who is trying to gain crucial points in the ATP Race To London. The German, currently in seventh place in the Race, is fresh off a trip to the Rolex Shanghai Masters final, his best result at an ATP Masters 1000 this year. Zverev will play American Taylor Fritz in the first round. Although the 11-time ATP Tour champion has won both of their previous matches, Fritz pushed him to five sets at Wimbledon last year.

Zverev could face another challenge in the second round if recent Zhuhai champion Alex de Minaur gets by a qualifier. If they clash, the Aussie will try to earn his first win against Zverev on his fifth attempt. Zverev made the semi-finals in Basel last year, losing to Marius Copil, who received a wild card into this year’s main draw.

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Stefanos Tsitsipas, who guaranteed his London debut with a strong run in Shanghai, is the third seed. The reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion will play Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas for the second time — having defeated him in Barcelona last year — and for the first time on a hard court. The Greek star, who made the quarter-finals in Basel last year, has fifth seed Fabio Fognini in his quarter.

The Italian is making a late push to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in singles for the first time. Fognini, who opens against a qualifier, is in 11th position in the Race, trailing eighth-placed Matteo Berrettini by 290 points.

One of the blockbuster matches of the first round pits two former Top 10 players against each other. Sixth seed David Goffin will play former World No. 3 Marin Cilic. Goffin had an opportunity in Antwerp to climb into the Top 8 in the Race, but he fell to #NextGenATP Frenchman Ugo Humbert. Goffin is currently in 10th place, 90 points clear of Fognini.

Directly in front of him in the Race is Roberto Bautista Agut, who hopes to make his debut at The O2. The fourth seed in Basel, Bautista Agut opens against 2018 finalist Copil. The Spaniard is just 40 points behind Berrettini, who is competing in Vienna.

On Friday, Dominic Thiem and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had a great time on the Erste Campus roof overlooking the Vienna skyline, enjoying plenty of laughs as they played some mini tennis. Little did they know that on Saturday, they would be drawn against one another in the first round of the Erste Bank Open.

World No. 5 Thiem has never advanced past the quarter-finals at his home ATP 500 event held in Austria. And if the 26-year-old hopes to make an even deeper run in Vienna, he’ll have to get past the 2011 champion in Tsonga, who also made the championship match in 2016-17.

Tsonga leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0, with their most recent meeting coming at the 2016 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. At the 2013 Erste Bank Open, Tsonga needed a third-set tie-break to defeat Thiem, who was then only 20.

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For whomever emerges victorious, a difficult path lays ahead. The winner will play three-time ATP 500 winner Nikoloz Basilashvili or former World No. 7 Fernando Verdasco in the second round. Also in that loaded section is eighth seed Borna Coric — who was at his career-high ATP Ranking of No. 12 less than two months ago — and in-form #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

Big-hitting Karen Khachanov is the second seed, and he will face a tricky test in his opener against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz. Hurkacz defeated Gael Monfils — the fourth seed in Vienna — in Shanghai and then pushed Stefanos Tsitsipas to a final-set tie-break.

Monfils, who is in their half of the draw, will play wild card Dennis Novak in the first round before potentially facing #NextGenATP Italian Jannik Sinner, who opens against a qualifier. The 18-year-old enjoyed the best week of his young career in Antwerp, where he reached his first ATP Tour semi-final. And now he will try to make another run, but this time at an ATP 500 event, where he received a wild card.

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Matteo Berrettini, the US Open and Shanghai semi-finalist, leads the second quarter as the third seed. But the blockbuster of his quarter comes with a first-round matchup between sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and two-time Next Gen ATP Finals competitor Andrey Rublev. Rublev won the pair’s only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head clash last year in Umag, triumphing in a three-set battle.

Former World No. 3 Milos Raonic and 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung will also meet in the first round in what will be the first clash between them. Raonic has not competed since the Laver Cup, and this will be his second event since the Coupe Rogers in August.

In the battle between youth and experience, Stan Wawrinka recovered from a slow start to move past Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-2 at the European Open on Saturday.

The 34-year-old, who trailed 0-2 in the first set, won 81 per cent of first-serve points (21/26) to record his 30th tour-level win of the season after 65 minutes. Wawrinka is aiming to lift his first ATP Tour title since the 2017 Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open. The World No. 18 reached the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament final in February, falling to Gael Monfils in three sets.

“I am super happy,” said Wawrinka. “I didn’t play since the US Open, so to be in a final here after a month [away] is great for me. The most important [part] is the way I am playing, the way I am moving and the way I am feeling on the court. It has been great.”

Wawrinka will face former World No. 1 Andy Murray or #NextGenATP Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the championship match. The Swiss trails Murray 8-11 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but defeated Humbert in their only previous encounter at last year’s US Open.

Sinner broke through in the opening game of the match, rushing Wawrinka in a series of forehand duels to extract crucial errors. But the Swiss responded emphatically, winning five straight games from 0-2 down to take control of the match. The three-time Grand Slam champion began to find his best level on his backhand, focussing his attack on Sinner’s backhand wing to take control of baseline rallies. Wawrinka claimed the first set after 34 minutes with a powerful serve up the T.

The Swiss carried his momentum through to the second set, stepping up the court to take time away from his opponent. Wawrinka fired a series of groundstroke winners, including a ripped forehand return on break point, to earn a 4-1 advantage. The 16-time tour-level titlist converted his first match point, holding serve to love as Sinner fired long with a backhand return.

This is Wawrinka’s first straight-sets victory of the week. The former World No. 3 survived a final-set tie-break in his opening match against Feliciano Lopez and needed three sets to overcome Gilles Simon in the quarter-finals.

“Today was the best match of the week,” said Wawrinka. “I was feeling really good [and] confident with my game. I am happy to be in the final.”

Sinner’s impressive run in Belgium comes to an end. The 18-year-old was the youngest man to reach an ATP Tour semi-final since Borna Coric (17) advanced to the 2014 Swiss Indoors Basel semi-finals. Sinner was bidding to become the youngest ATP Tour finalist since Kei Nishikori (18) at the 2008 Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com.

The Italian dropped just one set en route to the semi-finals in Antwerp. Sinner recorded straight-sets wins against Kamil Majchrzak and top seed Gael Monfils, before a three-set victory against Frances Tiafoe in the last eight.

“I won a good match against Monfils and then I played a tough one against Tiafoe,” said Sinner. “I felt confident today. I started well in the beginning and then after I was not serving so well… He played better today and I wish him luck for the final.”

Did You Know?
All four semi-finalists in Antwerp are making their debut appearance at the tournament this year.

Alexander Volkov, who reached the 1993 US Open semi-finals and was a mentor/coach to future champion Marat Safin, has passed away aged 52.

The biggest win of the Russian’s career came in September 1990, when Volkov, five months away from lifting his first ATP Tour trophy in Milan, became the first man to beat a top seed in the US Open first round since 1971.

The left-handed World No. 52 broke the 21-match winning streak of World No. 1 Stefan Edberg, the Wimbledon champion, 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-2 to follow in the footsteps of Jan Kodes, who’d beaten John Newcombe in the first round 19 years earlier.

It was the high-point of 17 Top 10 career victories for Volkov, who had originally planned to return to Berlin for a club tournament at the end of the week. Volkov would later advance to the 1992 US Open quarter-finals and 1993 semi-finals, where he lost to Pete Sampras both times.

The son of an engineer started playing tennis as a right-hander at the age of 10, but five years later suffered an accident when he fell down a steep bank and broke his shoulder. Sidelined for six months, another accident soon forced Volkov to consider switching sports to ice hockey or football.

Volkov eventually returned to the Kaliningrad Tennis Club, at the request of a friend, and started to play left-handed – initially with two hands on his grip – and worked hard to develop a powerful serve. Aged 19, he reached the then-USSR National Championships final and turned pro in 1988, soon becoming a threat on all surfaces. He was coached for several years by Valeri Chklyar.

Volkov made his senior debut at Philadelphia in February 1987, and five months later reached the Wimbledon fourth round — the first Russian player since Alex Metreveli in 1975. It was one of four Last 16 appearances at the All England Club (also 1990, 1991 and 1994). Volkov led eventual champion Michael Stich 5-3, 30/15 in the final set of their 1991 clash.

He ended his playing career in 1997, having attained a career-high No. 14 in the ATP Rankings on 23 August 1993. He finished in the year-end Top 25 over five consecutive seasons (1990-1994), competed at the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games, and also helped Russia to the 1994 Davis Cup final (l. to Sweden).

In retirement, he joined Safin’s team, helping the future World No. 1 to titles at the 2000 US Open and the 2005 US Open, before they ended their partnership in 2007.

Volkov won his third and final ATP Tour singles title at the VTB Kremlin Cup in 1994 (d. Chuck Adams). Today, in a ceremony at the ATP 250 tournament in Moscow, all former champions were due to be honoured, including Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Safin, who will also receive International Tennis Hall of Fame rings. They will now remember their fun-loving friend.

Alexander Vladimirovich Volkov, tennis player and coach, born 3 March 1967, died 19 October 2019.

For all of Janko Tipsarevic’s technical abilities, the Serbian’s greatest asset was on full display on Friday at the Intrum Stockholm Open: his heart

Tipsarevic saved a staggering nine match points, most of them with clean winners, before Japanese Yuichi Sugita prevailed in their dramatic 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(4) quarter-final. The 35-year-old refused to go away quietly, literally bringing Sugita to his knees with his tenacity in the final stages of the match. 

Although every ATP Tour player’s dream is to end their career with a title, a match that more closely resembled a street fight was an almost equally fitting finish for Tipsarevic.

”If I were to choose one of the ways to finish my career, it would be like this, leaving everything on the court,” Tipsarevic said in his on-court interview after the match. “I will remember this moment for the rest of my life.”

Tipsarevic, who will officially retire after next month’s Davis Cup Finals in Madrid, received a standing ovation from those in attendance. A video tribute then played on Centre Court that highlighted the greatest moments of his career.

”Dealing with different emotions is what I will miss the most. Those butterflies in your stomach before and after the match, there’s nothing like it,” Tipsarevic said in the video. “I enjoy seeing the world. You really have a tremendous ability to see different cultures, meet different people. This way of living, if you really devote yourself 100 per cent to it, makes you mentally tough.”

The Serbian was visibly moved by the presentation and thanked those in attendance for their support. He also vowed to not be a stranger to tennis and said he intends to maintain the relationships he’s built during his 17-year ATP Tour career.

“I see you’re trying to make me cry now. It is [working],” Tipsarevic joked. “I feel happy, proud, sad. There’s a tremendous amount of mixed emotions happening right now… Even though I’m incredibly sad right now, I’m excited for the next chapter of my life.

“The ATP [Tour] is a tremendous part of my life and a huge part of my future. I see myself staying connected to this beautiful sport.” 

Sugita cruised through the opening set, but Tipsarevic remained patient and waited for his turn to strike. At 4-4 in the second set, the Serbian broke serve with a forehand winner and let out a roar of delight. He then comfortably held in the next game to force a decider.

Both players traded comfortable service holds for most of the final set, but the last few games of the match were anything but that. Tipsarevic saved four match points on his serve at 4-5 with aggressive baseline play, bringing the crowd to their feet when a forehand winner completed a Houdini act to even the score.

But the Serbian wasn’t done. He saved four more match points at 5-6 with three forehand winners and a smash. A ninth match point came and went as Sugita pushed a backhand long. With the Japanese struggling to bend his knees as cramps began to take over his left leg, Tipsarevic forced a tie-break with yet another forehand winner.

An impossible comeback suddenly looked realistic when Tipsarevic took a 2/0 lead in the tie-break, but Sugita bravely responded by going on a five-point run. A forehand into the net from Tipsarevic set up two more match points for Sugita and the Japanese finally converted, reacting with a mix of exhaustion and delight after a backhand unforced error from the Serbian wrapped up the match after three hours and 10 minutes.

”This is one of the most emotional matches for me,” said Sugita, who will now face #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the semi-finals. “I just tried my best.”

Andy Murray’s comeback keeps getting better and better, reaching his first singles semi-final since returning in Cincinnati on Friday at the European Open. But less than two months ago, the Scot was not the most confident.

He lost his third-round match at an ATP Challenger Tour event held in Mallorca the same week of the first round of the US Open, and was concerned about where his level — on the court and with his body — stood.

“Those couple of weeks after that obviously I put some work in, but I felt like I was quite far from this level. Spoke to my team quite a lot about that and I was a bit down after I lost in the Challenger because I felt like I could have done better there and was probably expecting myself to do a little bit better,” Murray said. “Physically I was really tired after the matches there.”

The Scot, who underwent hip surgery after the Australian Open, has slowly rounded into form since. Murray earned the first tour-level singles win of his return in Zhuhai, made the quarter-finals in Beijing, and has now won three matches this week in Antwerp.

“It’s just difficult [in] tennis, because you don’t get the opportunity to just come in and play one set like you might in other sports and build up your fitness by playing a little bit longer each time,” Murray said. “You need to get it through playing matches and maybe at that stage I just wasn’t quite ready physically for long matches. But now obviously my body’s getting a little bit more used to it and coping fairly well.”

If Murray is to capture his first title in nearly three years, he will have to win four matches in four days. He is halfway there after defeating Pablo Cuevas on Thursday and Marius Copil on Friday. On Saturday, he will face fifth seed Guido Pella or #NextGenATP Frenchman Ugo Humbert.

“That will be the first time I’ve played three days in a row of singles,” Murray said. “Although the match was long tonight, physically it wasn’t that draining because there were quite a lot of quick points, on his service games especially.”

The good news for Murray is that the more he is playing, the more he is winning. And now it’s a matter of continuing to build back towards his best.

“Things obviously are going in the right direction and I feel like I’m hitting the ball better from the back of the court,” Murray said. “I just need to improve the serving, and if I do that then I’ll give myself a lot of chances in matches.”

Home favourite Dominic Thiem and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga kicked off this year’s Erste Bank Open in style on Friday, enjoying a friendly hit on the Erste Campus roof as they took in the Vienna skyline.

Thiem, the top seed in Vienna, looks for his fifth ATP Tour title of the year. He won his maiden ATP Tour crown on home soil this August in Kitzbühel (d. Ramos-Vinolas). The Austrian will play his first-round match on Tuesday night.

“It’s always nice to watch Vienna from the [roof]. I’m always surprised at what a wonderful city it is. I don’t have many chances to be up somewhere and check out a beautiful city,” Thiem said. “[The preparations] are going good. I already had some great practises on Center Court and it’s very nice to be back on this special court.”

Tsonga looks to build on his past success in Vienna. The Frenchman prevailed in 2011 (d. Del Potro) and finished runner-up in 2016-2017 (l. to Murray and Pouille). Tsonga has excelled indoors this season by lifting ATP Tour crowns in Montpelllier (d. Herbert) and Metz (d. Bedene).

“It’s good to spend time with Dominic and the view is beautiful,” Tsonga said. “I’ve always been treated the best way here. I’ve won here before and have very good memories not only on the court, but outside of the court as well.”

Russian Karen Khachanov, Italian Matteo Berrettini and Frenchman Gael Monfils round out the top four top seeds at the ATP 500 event.

The last time former World No. 1 Andy Murray faced Marius Copil, in Washington, D.C. last year, the Scot needed more than three hours in a match that went past 3 am. Murray even broke into tears — partially from the emotions of the moment, but also from the hip pain he was still dealing with.

More than a year and a hip surgery later, the Scot had another complicated match against the Romanian on Friday in Antwerp. And while it wasn’t easy, as Murray was broken while serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set, he battled past Copil 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-4 to reach the last four of the European Open, his first semi-final since returning to the singles court in Cincinnati.

“I haven’t played loads of matches the past few years, so when you get to the end of the match, it’s always difficult to serve it out. I played a bad game at 5-3 in the second set and after that I think he gained a lot of confidence,” Murray said on court. “He served extremely well. He was being a lot more aggressive at the end of the second set and in the third, but thankfully I managed to get the break right at the end. It was a tough one to get through.”

Murray appeared to be in some of the best form he has shown since his return, fending off Copil’s booming serve and doing well to make the Romanian hit tough volleys as he consistently charged the net. But the Scot had to overcome a second-set slip to triumph after two hours and 36 minutes.

At 5-3 in the second set, Murray’s serve began to fail him. And he relinquished his break with a double fault, beginning to show his frustration. Copil capitalised, playing aggressively and putting pressure on the 45-time tour-level champion by rushing the net at every opportunity. In the first set-and-a-half, more points were contested from the baseline, where Murray was in control.

In the tie-break, Murray gained a 5/2 advantage and later had a match point on the Romanian’s serve. But Copil hit a booming serve and then followed it up with an inside-out forehand winner. Two points later, Murray shoveled a backhand off his back foot into the net to allow Copil into a decider.

Entering the match, Copil had pushed elite competition before. Last year in Basel, he earned both of his Top 10 wins, defeating Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev en route to the final before falling to Roger Federer. So it was not the World No. 92’s first time under the spotlight — not even close.

But Murray served far better in the third set, losing only five service points. He did not face a break point in the decider, and at 4-4 he threw in a surprising drop shot that caught Copil off balance, following it into net to secure the break. He hit his ninth ace on match point to move on, overcoming the Romanian’s 20 aces.

If Murray is to win his first ATP Tour title since 2017 Dubai, he will need to win four matches in four days. Including his second-round triumph over Pablo Cuevas, Murray has played three hours and 59 minutes over the past two days.

“I feel okay just now. It’s more how you feel the following day. The good thing about the indoor matches is that the points are fairly short, so it doesn’t take as much out of you as on some of the slower courts outside,” Murray said. “But I feel okay, hopefully I pull up well tomorrow.”

Murray will now face Ugo Humbert for a place in Sunday’s final after the #NextGenATP Frenchman rallied to defeat fifth-seeded Argentine Guido Pella 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Humbert broke serve at 4-4 in the deciding set before clinching victory after two hours and 25 minutes. The win puts the 21-year-old into his third ATP Tour semi-final of the year.

Humbert looks to qualify for a maiden appearance at the Next Gen ATP Finals, held from 5-9 November in Milan. He is currently in eighth place in the ATP Race to Milan with 778 points, but will receive an additional 90 points for reaching the semi-finals in Antwerp. Should the Frenchman defeat Murray, he’ll grab another 60 points and move past Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (893 points) to take seventh place.