Five years ago, Attila Balazs retired from tennis. Now, the 30-year-old Hungarian is into his first ATP Tour final at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag.

The qualifier continued his dream week on Saturday by ousting third-seeded Serbian Laslo Djere 6-2, 6-4. There were understandable nerves from Balazs and he failed to convert a match point when trying to serve out the semi-final at 5-2, but the Hungarian made good on his second attempt to prevail in one hour and 39 minutes.

Balazs’ only other ATP Tour semi-final came seven years ago in Bucharest. Currently No. 207 in the ATP Rankings, he is guaranteed to break his career-high standing of No. 153 when the new standings are released on Monday.

Awaiting Balazs in the final will be fourth-seeded Serbian Dusan Lajovic or Italian qualifier Salvatore Caruso.

Alexander Zverev will face a familiar opponent in his opening match at next week’s Hamburg European Open.

The World No. 5 will meet Nicolas Jarry of Chile, for the third time on clay this season, with a place in the second round on the line. In their previous two FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters, Zverev and Jarry went all the way to final-set tie-breaks with the winning player saving match points on each occasion.

At the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in April, Jarry saved one match point to defeat a Top 3 player in the ATP Rankings for the first time. One month later, in the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open final, Zverev withstood two championship points before claiming his 11th ATP Tour trophy.

The Hamburg-born star, who owns a 4-4 record at the ATP 500 tournament, is aiming to earn his first victory at his hometown event since reaching the semi-finals in 2014 at No. 285 in the ATP Rankings. If he overcomes Jarry, who will meet Juan Ignacio Londero in the Swedish Open final on Sunday, Zverev will face Argentina Open champion Marco Cecchinato or Swedish Open semi-finalist Albert Ramos-Vinolas for a spot in the quarter-finals. Zverev shares the top quarter of the draw with sixth seed Laslo Djere.

Defending champion and fourth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, who could meet Zverev in the semi-finals, begins his title defence against a qualifier. The fourth seed is joined in the third quarter of the draw by fifth seed Benoit Paire, Båstad finalist Londero and Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag semi-finalist Salvatore Caruso, who meets Dusan Lajovic for a place in the championship match.

Top seed Dominic Thiem will open his campaign against Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay. Thiem owns a 4-2 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against the World No. 46, including wins in Buenos Aires and Roland Garros this year. Two-time ATP Tour titlist Cristian Garin also features in the top quarter of the draw. The Chilean will meet Andrey Rublev in the first round.

The second quarter of the draw is headlined by Fabio Fognini of Italy. The third seed, who lifted his maiden ATP Masters 1000 trophy at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April, owns a 14-6 record at the clay-court event, highlighted by his title run in 2013 (d. Delbonis). Fognini could meet two-time winner Leonardo Mayer in the second round. Mayer faces German wild card Rudolf Molleker in the first round. Seventh seed Jan-Lennard Struff joins Fognini as a fellow seed in this section.

Nicolas Jarry advanced to his third ATP Tour championship match on Saturday, beating Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-2 in 64 minutes at the Swedish Open.

The 23-year-old, who is yet to drop a set in Båstad, saved three of four break points to improve to 18-15 at tour-level this season. In May, Jarry also reached the championship match in Geneva without dropping a set. The Chilean held two championship points against World No. 5 Alexander Zverev, before falling in a final-set tie-break.

Jarry is aiming join his grandfather, Jaime Fillol Sr., as a tour-level titlist. Fillol Sr. lifted six tour-level trophies and reached a career-high No. 14 in the ATP Rankings in 1974.

Jarry will meet Cordoba champion Juan Ignacio Londero for the title. The Argentine overcame 2016 titlist Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-4 to reach his second ATP Tour final of the season. En route to the Cordoba trophy in February, Londero claimed victory in his only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head clash against Jarry.

Londero is making his second straight appearance in Båstad, after a first-round loss to Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland last year. The sixth seed has survived two three-set matches this week, including a quarter-final victory against last year’s runner-up Richard Gasquet.

Alexander Bublik advanced to his first ATP Tour semi-final on Friday, recovering from a slow start to defeat home favourite Tennys Sandgren at the Hall of Fame Open 0-6, 6-3, 6-0. But one thing you won’t find him doing in Newport, Rhode Island, is checking out how high he’ll climb in the ATP Rankings because of his efforts, and how high he can soar if he continues his career-best run.

“This was my problem when I was a kid. I was counting the points. Even if I didn’t win the match, before the match I started counting points, how much I’d earn,” Bublik told ATPTour.com. “This was my problem. I deleted all the apps, the live scoring, live rankings. Especially when there’s a deadline week and I needed to make something and I’d be like ‘Yes, I need to do it,’ I’d choke 0 and 1.”

In September 2017, the Kazakh broke into the Top 100 for the first time, spending four weeks there. But early in 2018, at the BNP Paribas Open, Bublik broke his ankle during qualifying, halting his momentum and forcing him to miss nearly two months of competition.

Bublik dropped to as low as World No. 253 last November. But ever since, the 22-year-old has been on the ascent. And even though he won’t be looking into it, the six-time ATP Challenger Tour champion is projected to crack the Top 75 for the first time on Monday regardless of what happens the rest of the week.

“I entered two years ago for the first time, then I fell down. I have the level to play the guys here,” Bublik said. “This year I entered in April and I’ve stayed, so I hope to stay here a while. Maybe for all my career, hopefully.”

Bublik’s first big splash came in 2016, when as a 19-year-old he qualified in Moscow and advanced to the quarter-finals. He then accomplished the same feat at the same event the following year.

“When I was a kid I got in mental troubles a lot because I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to win this match. I want to win this tournament’,” Bublik said. “Then last year when I broke my ankle is when I realised it’s fine. If I make money on the ATP Challenger Tour it’s not good, so I’ve got to work hard to make it here, to make more and more, so that’s why I’m working hard every day trying to succeed.”

If you haven’t seen Bublik play, his talent is apparent. Just this week, in the second round, he hit a forward-facing tweener lob for a winner against Viktor Troicki, which landed him a spot on ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays. In Friday’s quarter-final against Tennys Sandgren, Bublik hit four aces in a row at 4-0 in third set, punctuating the game with an underarm ace.

“I entertain myself first. That’s the most important thing for me,” Bublik said.

The World No. 83 has no problem being himself, on and off the court. In fact, it’s one of several tattoos on his right arm.

“Always be a leader, not a follower,” one of the tattoos reads. “You just have to be your own leader, make your own decisions,” Bublik said about the quote.

Another one reads, “You won’t break me, you’ll just make me stronger.” That is a song lyric from ‘Stronger Than I Was,’ a song by Eminem.

Bublik also has a bird because he travels a lot as a tennis player, a nod to his flying. He has a map that shows where he is from: Gatchina, Russia. Bublik has a tennis ball in the grip of a skeleton’s hand, his parents’ birthdates and a phrase from a Russian book that he had translated into Italian.

Part of Bublik’s maturation has also included him not putting as much pressure on himself as he once did. The Kazakh knows that he will not always bring his best tennis to the court every day, specifically pointing out that most days will be an average day. He’s just going out there, doing his best, and hoping the results will follow.

“At the end of the day it’s about hitting the yellow ball, making money, making wins,” Bublik said.

“I’m not playing my best tennis now, but I’m winning,” Bublik said.

Bublik will hope to emerge victorious again in Newport on Saturday against Spaniard Marcel Granollers with a spot in his first ATP Tour final on the line.

Leander Paes made his Hall of Fame Open debut in 1995. Everyone in the singles and doubles draws that year has long since retired, but nearly 30 years after turning pro, the Indian is still creating memorable moments.

Paes and Kiwi Marcus Daniell saved three match points on Friday to reach the doubles semi-finals in Newport over Robert Lindstedt and Matthew Ebden. At age 46, he’s the oldest ATP Tour semi-finalist since John McEnroe (age 47) at 2006 San Jose. But Paes prefers not to talk about age. With his volleys and reflexes around the net as youthful as ever, it’s easy to understand why.

“These are the nights that I live for,” said Paes. “The hard work, playing when you have a fever, being in the gym when you don’t want really want to be there… Most people see us travelling to lovely places and being on show courts, but the hard yards are what allow me to still compete at this level. The experience is still there, the legs are still there, the knowledge and strokes are there. It’s about finding the right doubles partners and I’ll have success.

“Being a student of life and the game, I used to try to learn from the older players. Now, I try to learn from the younger ones!”

Twenty-one years after winning his lone ATP Tour singles title in Newport, Paes’ passion for the game burns just as brightly. He’ll pump himself up after great shots and even throw in a chest bump or two with his partner. Paes is aware that he’s closer to end of his career than the beginning, but his remaining years on the ATP Tour are far from a mere nostalgia moment.

He’s already reached four ATP doubles semi-finals this season and continues to break records. Two months ago at Roland Garros (w/Paire), he became the oldest man in the Open Era to win a match at the second Grand Slam of the year.

Paes’ tireless commitment to improving has even sparked significant changes to his training in recent years.

“I have to work three times as hard now as I did 10 or 15 years ago. That’s just age, but I love the work,” he explained. “When I was younger, I’d waste a lot of energy practising for five or six hours a day. My training is very specific now, focusing on improving specific areas of my game, focusing on my diet and recovery. The knowledge we have nowadays in tennis on fitness, health and recovery is why the margins of winning and losing are so slim.” 

With 766 match victories, Paes is sixth on the all-time doubles match win list. He’s just one of six players to pick up 750 tour-level doubles match wins, which he achieved in April 2018.

DOUBLES MATCH WINS LEADERS (Since 1973)

His versatility has also produced staggering numbers. Paes has partnered with more than 100 players throughout his career and won ATP Tour doubles titles with 14 of them. He’s also won every Grand Slam doubles title with a different partner, racking up eight men’s doubles titles and 10 mixed doubles titles in his career.

The hunt for more big titles is a big part of what keeps Paes going. As long as he feels that he can remain competitive, his name will continue to appear in draws across the globe. But with nothing left to prove in his career, his motivation for playing is much more simple.

“I’d love to win another Grand Slam. I have 18 Grand Slams, but 20 sounds better than 18,” he joked. “But I’m playing for a lot of passion now. I really love my life and travelling the world. When I was younger, I was playing to put bread and butter on the table. I still am, but now I’m playing because I get a lot of happiness out of playing tennis.

“Every morning, I put on [tennis clothes] and have fun. Whether it’s an ATP Challenger Tour event or a Grand Slam, to me, tennis is tennis. It’s a beautiful sport to bring happiness to a lot of people.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was first published on 7 July 2019. Humbert is now through to the semi-finals at the Hall of Fame Open in Newport and is seeded fourth at the event. He also cracked the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday. Humbert will face top seed John Isner as he seeks his first ATP Tour final.

Ugo Humbert reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, his best result at a Grand Slam, after high-profile victories over Gael Monfils and Felix Auger-Aliassime. The rising #NextGenATP player, who plays top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic on Monday, is guaranteed to surpass his career-high ATP Ranking of No. 61 when the newest standings are released. 

Read Humbert Upsets Auger-Aliassime

ATPTour.com takes a look at five things to know about the 21-year-old Frenchman. 

1. He’s Soared Up The ATP Rankings
Twelve months ago, Humbert was ranked No. 290 and playing an ITF Pro Circuit event in France. Since then, he’s won four ATP Challenger Tour titles and finished runner-up in three others.

His success hasn’t been limited to Challengers, though. Humbert defeated Borna Coric en route to his maiden ATP Tour semi-final this February on home soil in Marseille.

2. Humbert Joins Rare Company This Fortnight
Prior to this season, Humbert had never played a professional match on grass. But with his grass-court run, he became the 43rd man in the Open Era to make the Round of 16 in their Wimbledon debut. Only five other players have accomplished this in the past 10 years.

Men To Reach #Wimbledon R16 On Debut In Past 10 Years

3. He Also Hits The Right Notes Off The Court
Music has been an essential part of Humbert’s life since the age of five. Playing piano has provided an outlet for the Frenchman to disconnect off the court that has ultimately benefitted his tennis.

“I love music and I play piano and guitar. It is a big part of my life,” said Humbert. “When I am at the [French Tennis] Federation, they have a piano there for me. It helps me to focus and relax, even on the court. It is important to have something like this outside of tennis.”

More On The Championships
* Nadal Talks Big 3 Grand Slam Success
* 21 Years Later, Federer’s Hunger Remains
* Kukushkin: By Any Means

4. He’s In Contention To Qualify For Milan
Humbert looks to make his debut this year at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. He currently sits at ninth place in the ATP Race to Milan, but will move into one of the seven qualifying positions if he can beat Djokovic. A loss on Monday will put him in eighth place.

5. Humbert Backs Himself Against Djokovic
Some players might be content with their best Grand Slam result and the opportunity to play Djokovic. But with his strong results this season, Humbert believes he has the game to dethrone the defending champion.

“I would like to play my game, and yes, I have the chance,”said Humbert. “If not, I’m not coming on the court.”

Swiss superstar Roger Federer turns 38 in less than three weeks. But he is still the No. 3 player in the ATP Rankings, and his 38 wins in 2019 lead the ATP Tour. The eight-time Wimbledon champion was within one point of claiming his 21st Grand Slam title at The Championships, falling just short against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

For International Tennis Hall of Fame President Stan Smith, one thing in Federer’s game today stands out, even after lifting 102 tour-level titles.

“One of the keys I think for him is his balance. He stays in good balance when he hits the ball and so it prevents him from being injured and it also makes him consistent and also enables him to recover much better after he hits a wide shot, for instance,” Smith said. “He’s in such good balance, he doesn’t have to take an extra couple of steps to recover his balance. He hits the ball on balance even when he’s moving hard to get back into the point. That’s one of the reasons he’s been so effective.”

The Swiss is not the only one, though. Smith points to the other members of the Big Three — World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Rafael Nadal — as strong movers, which has helped them maintain their spots atop the sport despite being the three oldest players in the Top 10.

“Djokovic is like a rubber man. He’s got unbelievable flexibility. I think part of it is genetics and part of it is he works at it. He works at his flexibility. Jimmy Connors had tremendous flexibility in the upper body, kind of contorting,” Smith said. “Even Rafa is able to get in some very tough positions and be able to recover back into the court. Flexibility is quite important. Some of it is genetic and some of it is really, really working on it and that also helps prevent injury as well as gives players more power. They’re able to be flexible like that.”

Read Newport QF Report 

Before Smith returned to Newport, Rhode Island for Saturday’s International Tennis Hall of Fame induction ceremony, he was at Wimbledon, where he was delighted with the level of play at The Championships, specifically pointing to the blockbuster semi-final in which Federer defeated Nadal and the championship match.

“It was great tennis. The Federer and Nadal match was unbelievable tennis, really high quality tennis all the way through. Nadal could play on the grass. He has won the tournament and he’s certainly not a pushover on the grass,” Smith said. “Federer played at a very high level to win that match.

“I thought Federer played really, really well the whole match [in the final] and Djokovic sort of went up and down, especially in the second set. He just sort of went away for a while and in the fourth set he wasn’t as sharp. But he was sharp in the three tie-breaks and that made the difference with him winning all three of them.”

The Big Three shows no signs of slowing down, either. Although Smith mentioned elite players such as Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and Jimmy Connors to reference players who have enjoyed success at an older age, he also acknowledged that the game has changed since then.

“There are different eras of players — players used to play fairly long. Then you went through an era where they stopped, 35 would be the max. Now, you’ve got Federer taking it to the next level and it’s more difficult now because there’s so much competition out there,” Smith said. “There are very few easy matches and so you’re playing tough matches all the time and you’re playing on these slower surfaces. We used to just play on grass at the US Open, the Australian Open and Wimbledon and then the tournaments in between like Newport, between Wimbledon and the US Open, were on grass. So you weren’t playing points that were quite as long and I don’t think it was quite as hard on the body.

“But for the players today, it’s really tough on the body and to be able to hang in there… is quite impressive.”

Federer, Nadal and Djokovic each holds plenty of records. And one thing that may also be helping them stay near the top is that they are still striving for more.

“Federer’s done so well, he doesn’t need to play, and Djokovic doesn’t need to play and neither does Nadal. It depends upon how much they really want to compete, want to play and travel,” Smith said.

Fourth-seeded Serbian Dusan Lajovic moved closer to his first ATP Tour title on Friday at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag, advancing to the semi-finals over Slovenian Aljaz Bedene 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

Lajovic squandered a 5-3 lead in the opening set, but regrouped to break Bedene four more times and prevailed in two hours and 33 minutes. The 29-year-old achieved his maiden ATP Tour final this April at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (l. to Fognini) and recorded his career-high ATP Ranking of No. 23 that same month.

Next up for the fourth seed is Italian qualifier Salvatore Caruso, who moved into his first ATP Tour semi-final with a 6-4, 6-0 over Argentine Facundo Bagnis. Caruso only had one ATP Tour victory to his name two months ago, but came through qualifying to reach the third round at Roland Garros before his latest run in Umag. The 26-year-old is projected to crack the Top 100 in the ATP Rankings if he can reach the final.

Fellow Serbian and third seed Laslo Djere continued his excellent year on clay by battling past eighth-seeded Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3. A determined Djere saved six points in the second set before Mayer finally evened the score with a backhand winner on his seventh opportunity. But the Serbian remained calm and scored the lone break of the deciding set to advance in two hours and 40 minutes.

Djere improved to 2-0 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Mayer and is still on track for his second ATP Tour title of the season. He won his maiden crown this February in Rio de Janeiro (d. Auger-Aliassime).

He’ll now play Hungarian Attila Balazs for a place in the final. The 30-year-old qualifier continued his dream week by outlasting Italian Stefano Travaglia 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 for his first ATP Tour semi-final in seven years. Balazs, currently No. 207 in the ATP Rankings, reached two ATP Challenger Tour finals last month in Prostejov and Bratislava.

Marach/Melzer March Into Doubles Final

Top seeds Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer advanced to the doubles final with a 7-6(5) 7-5 victory over fourth-seeded Argentines Mayer and Andres Molteni. The Austrian duo will face second seeds Robin Haase and Philipp Oswald, who defeated third seeds Denys Molchanov and Igor Zelenay 7-5, 1-6, 10-8.

#NextGenATP Frenchman Ugo Humbert kept up his outstanding grass-court form on Friday at the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, advancing to the semi-finals over Belarusian Ilya Ivashka 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Humbert, seeded fourth, raced through the final four games of the match to prevail in two hours and 26 minutes. The 20-year-old defeated fellow #NextGenATP player Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach the fourth round earlier this month at Wimbledon, marking his best result at a Grand Slam. Humbert, who recorded his maiden ATP Tour semi-final this February on home soil in Marseille, cracked the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings this week.

Next up for the Frenchman is top-seeded American John Isner, who hammered 24 aces to defeat Australian Matthew Edben 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. The match was a repeat of their 2017 final, which Isner also prevailed in. The American now leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 5-1 and has won all three of their grass-court matches. Isner is seeking his fourth title in Newport (2011-2012, 2017).

Marcel Granollers continued his Newport success with a convincing 6-3, 6-0 win in his rain-delayed match with German Mischa Zverev. The Spaniard took the first set before showers halted play on Thursday, but he returned with a vengeance and dropped just eight points in the second set. Granollers is through to his first ATP Tour semi-final since this event last year.

He’ll now play seventh seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, who scored his first ATP Tour semi-final by surviving a wild 0-6, 6-3, 6-0 battle with American Tennys Sandgren. After losing 10 of the last 12 points in the opening set, Bublik dropped only five points in the final set.

The 22-year-old Bublik has primarily competed on the ATP Challenger Tour and picked up four Challenger titles in the past year. He’s guaranteed to surpass his career-high ATP Ranking of No. 82 on Monday.

From Novak Djokovic’s celebrations, Juan Martin del Potro continuing his recovery from knee surgery and Kei Nishikori praising the rising stars of the game, the world’s top players have been busy on and off the court. ATPTour.com looks at the best player social media posts from the past week.

Days after clinching his fifth Wimbledon title, World No. 1 Djokovic enjoyed a low-key party to celebrate the birthday of one of his brothers, Djordje Djokovic.

Happy Birthday to my little brother Djordje. Last night we celebrated. Very proud of you. Love you ? pic.twitter.com/llFcGnbsBw

— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) July 18, 2019

Del Potro underwent surgery last month to repair a fractured right kneecap, but shared some positive news on his recovery.

Una nueva etapa en la recuperación. Chau muletas ???‍♂

A new stage in my recovery. Goodbye crutches! pic.twitter.com/CBFswGkePE

— Juan M. del Potro (@delpotrojuan) July 13, 2019

Nishikori was delighted at the success of 16-year-old Japanese junior Shintaro Mochizuki, who won the boys’ singles title at Wimbledon. Both players train at the IMG Academy in Florida and have shared the court for hitting sessions.

Huge congrats to @ShintaroMOCHIZU! Such an amazing tournament ????????????????. Amazing to see the continued success of Mr. Morita’s vision! https://t.co/isXtIMuTK4

— Kei Nishikori (@keinishikori) July 14, 2019

Stefanos Tsitsipas enjoyed a night out in Greece with WTA player Maria Sakkari and professional pole vaulter Emmanuel Karalis.

3 ? lovers ❤️
W/ @StefTsitsipas @mariasakkari pic.twitter.com/8A70h78vzv

— Emmanuel Karalis (@FlyManoloFly) July 16, 2019

Karen Khachanov showed impeccable fashion sense in the latest issue of GQ China.

GQ China ?? July issue!!✌??
?Simon Lipman (LGA Management)@GQMagazine pic.twitter.com/kUGDZCiLj6

— Karen Khachanov (@karenkhachanov) July 16, 2019

Daniil Medvedev had good reason to smile after cracking the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings this week.

Top 10 @ATP_Tour!!! ?? pic.twitter.com/7Z7tuPc2zt

— Daniil Medvedev (@DaniilMedwed) July 16, 2019

Roberto Bautista Agut’s bachelor party was delayed by his maiden Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon, but the Spaniard finally got to relax with the boys.

Noche ibicenca y amigos?? pic.twitter.com/vfYFusvua5

— Roberto BautistaAgut (@BautistaAgut) July 16, 2019

It seems like everyone has been having fun with FaceApp, but Boris Becker posted our personal favourite.

Grandpa BB pic.twitter.com/26acpMOACO

— Boris Becker (@TheBorisBecker) July 18, 2019