GB's Klugman, 15, one win from Wimbledon main draw
Watch as 15-year-old Briton Hannah Klugman beats Linda Fruhvirtova in three sets in Wimbledon qualifying to move just one win away from the main draw.
Watch as 15-year-old Briton Hannah Klugman beats Linda Fruhvirtova in three sets in Wimbledon qualifying to move just one win away from the main draw.
Watch highlights as Emma Raducanu beats a top-10 opponent for the first time in her career and saves a match point as she defeats Jessica Pegula 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals at Eastbourne.
It was an all-French affair at Wimbledon qualifying Wednesday when 20-year-olds Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Luca Van Assche moved one step closer to the main draw.
Mpetshi Perricard downed countryman Antoine Escoffier 7-6(5), 6-2 after hammering 20 aces in the second round of qualifying while Van Assche survived a three-setter, overcoming Australian Li Tu 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(10-7) to advance.
The top seed Mpetshi Perricard is at a career-high No. 59 in this week’s PIF ATP Rankings, but on the May 20th Wimbledon main draw cutoff, the 6’8″ player was World No. 117. That week, Mpetshi Perricard went on a dream run, triumphing at his home tournament in Lyon to capture his maiden ATP Tour title.
Mpetshi Perricard next aims for his main draw debut at the grass-court major when he faces countryman Maxime Janvier in the third round. Van Assche meets former World No. 10 and fellow Frenchman Lucas Pouille.
[ATP APP]Another pair of former Top 10 players, Richard Gasquet and David Goffin, advanced Wednesday. Gasquet raced past Alexis Galarneau 6-1, 6-0 in just 49 minutes while the Belgian Goffin beat Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-6(4), 6-4.
American Maxime Cressy dropped just five points behind his first serve to oust Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante 7-6(9), 6-3 and 2022 quarter-finalist Cristian Garin defeated Tomas Barrios Vera 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Kazakh Beibit Zhukayev ousted last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hamad Medjedovic 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-4.
Second seed Hugo Grenier was a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 winner against Croatian Dino Prizmic, who took a set off Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open as a qualifer. Third seed Zizou Bergs, fourth seed James Duckworth and fifth seed Lloyd Harris also reached the qualifying third round.
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#NextGenATP Shang Juncheng became the second Chinese male to reach a tour-level quarter-final on grass Wednesday at the Rothesay International.
The 19-year-old defeated Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 after saving four of the five break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Shang, who advanced through Eastbourne qualifying, overcame a nervy start, dropping serve in the opening game before finding greater consistency and using his tricky lefty game to advance.
“I don’t think I changed much,” Shang said of his comeback. “Emil is a very complete player. He can do anything on the court very solid. I just thought, ‘If he plays better than me, this is it, I’m just going to keep playing my tennis’. It ended up working really well. Let’s go step by step. After today’s match, good recovery. I’ve played a couple days in a row.”
[ATP APP]Following his win, Shang moved one spot to third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. The teen is aiming for his maiden trip to the 20-and-under Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, which runs from 18-22 December in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Shang is into his second tour-level quarter-final of this season (Hong Kong). He joins China’s highest-ranked male Zhang Zhizhen as the only players from their country to reach the last eight at a grass-court ATP Tour event.
Shang will next face a first-time Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with two-time former champion Taylor Fritz, who produced a serving masterclass to defeat Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-6(4), 6-3. The top-seeded American fired 15 aces, put 81 per cent of first serves into play and dropped just five points in 11 service games.
“In the first set it gets tight and it can go either way when you get to a ‘breaker, but I really didn’t see any opportunities where I could have gotten a break; he was serving well… I just had to get through the tie-breaker, take care of my serve and wait for my chances,” Fritz said.
“Both years I won here (2019, 2022) I came into the tournament not having won matches, not having played well. I know no matter what I can come here and start feeling good. It gives me a lot of confidence. Winning two matches last week was my best result at Queen’s, but I wasn’t super happy with the last match I played, so I still want to play better.”
Also in Eastbourne, fellow qualifiers Yoshihito Nishioka and Max Purcell advanced to the quarter-finals. The Japanese lefty rallied past Marcos Giron 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-2 and Purcell beat Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 6-4. Miomir Kecmanovic cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Sebastian Baez and lucky loser Aleksandar Vukic defeated two-time quarter-finalist Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-4.
Home hope Billy Harris ousted countryman Charles Broom 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to reach his second consecutive quarter-final after last week’s surprise run at The Queen’s Club. Italian Flavio Cobolli was a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner against British lucky loser Giles Hussey.
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Watch the best shots as British number one Katie Boulter beats former champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-4 7-5 to progress to the Eastbourne quarter-finals.
Czech teen Jakub Mensik advanced to his second tour-level quarter-final Wednesday when he defeated Fabio Fognini at the Mallorca Championships presented by Waterdrop.
One day after becoming the youngest match winner in tournament history by ousting defending champion Christopher Eubanks, the 18-year-old Mensik earned a second consecutive three-set victory, downing Fognini 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
“Crazy match from the beginning,” said Mensik, World No. 85 in the PIF ATP Rankings. “The first 40 minutes, we played three games. I don’t know what happened, I didn’t experience this before. I’m really happy that I kept playing after the first set that I was 4-1 up and still lost. I’m really happy that I came back. Tough match. Fabio played really well. Difficult from the beginning.”
[ATP APP]In blustery conditions, Mensik struck 11 aces and won 80 per cent of his first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He earned a decisive break at 5-5 in the decider and booked his quarter-final ticket after two hours, 40 minutes.
Mensik, who missed Roland Garros due to injury, strengthened his claim on second in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. He is aiming for his maiden trip to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, which runs from 18-22 December in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The teen’s previous quarter-final appearance came in Doha, where he became the youngest finalist in tournament history.
Mensik will next face fourth seed Alejandro Tabilo, who earlier ousted Alexander Shevchenko 6-3, 6-2. It will be their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.
Fognini, 37, was playing his 800th tour-level match. The Italian holds a 420-380 career match record.
Top seed Ben Shelton closed the day with a 6-4, 6-0 victory against Australian Rinky Hijikata, the American’s first grass win of the season and third overall on the surface.
The 21-year-old rushed Hijikata with his weight of shot and saved all six break points he faced. Shelton was aggressive on return, winning 67 per cent of his second-serve return points.
“It was a really fun match today. I’m happy to be back in Mallorca. I love playing here,” Shelton said. “I had a really tough first match here last year, losing 7-6 in the third [to eventual champion Christopher Eubanks], so I’m really happy to get my first win here. I’m really pleased with how I played today. I’m getting used to [grass] day by day.”
Shelton, who won the 2022 NCAA singles title while at the University of Florida, will next meet another former collegiate champion in British qualifier Paul Jubb.
Jubb, 2019 NCAA singles titlist, raced past Australian Adam Walton 6-0, 6-3 to reach his first tour-level quarter-final. The 24-year-old was 0-4 in ATP Tour matches entering this week and will next look for the biggest win of his career against the World No. 14.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]The ATP today announced record social and digital audience growth across ATP athletes, tournaments and Tour, driven by the increasing global popularity of the sport, current generation of established and next-generation stars, and world-class tournaments.
Over the past 12 months, ATP athletes’ social media audiences have risen 10 per cent to 168 million globally, while ATP tournaments have increased their social media fan followings by 16 per cent, now totalling 8.8 million. During the same period, the ATP Tour’s social media reach across all official ATP Tour social media platforms has enjoyed record growth, increasing by 48 per cent to 2.9 billion, video views growing by 159 per cent, total social media audience growing seven per cent to 9.7 million followers, and website video views up 15 per cent.
“The incredible growth in popularity of ATP athletes and tournaments over the past year is reflected in the strong increases in social media audiences and engagement across our members and Tour,” said Andrew Walker, Senior Vice President, Brand & Marketing at the ATP Tour. “Our athletes in particular are increasingly a part of wider cultural conversations, bringing new fans to ATP tennis, and our marketing and social strategies are designed to foster and drive a more inclusive approach to fandom.”
[ATP APP]Seventeen ATP athletes now boast more than one million followers on social media, and over the past 12 months ATP athletes have generated over 3.8 billion impressions on their social media channels. During that same period, ATP athletes have added more than 15 million new fans to their social media accounts. The increases follow the establishment of a dedicated ATP Athlete Marketing department in 2023, created to offer tailored digital content services to players, aiding in the growth of athlete brands and audiences.
ATP Masters 1000, ATP 500 and ATP 250 tournaments have collectively generated significant social media growth over the past 12 months, with social media views up 233 per cent to 787 million, social media impressions up 145 per cent to 1.5 billion and social media engagements up 133 per cent to 46 million. ATP Masters 1000 events alone have generated a 252 per cent increase in social media views, reaching 545 million. Impressions have grown by 175 per cent, totalling 1.1 billion, while engagements have risen by 163 per cent to 34 million.
The increases in ATP Tour official social media channel reach follow the implementation of a new digital and content strategy grounded in a wider distribution of content through collaborations and cross-posting, a focus on Instagram and TikTok expansion and greater cultural and trend based content, and broader collaboration with other athletes, events, sports leagues, and teams such as Real Madrid, the NBA and F1 to develop newsworthy content. Additionally, the ATP Tour social strategy has prioritised short vertical video, highlights and compelling off court personality driven content to drive interest in the sport’s biggest stars, working in close collaboration with ATP Media. Such content has increased the overall official ATP Tour average engagement rate by 23 per cent year on year and total social engagements by 87 per cent to 139 million.
Additionally, total minutes viewed for the past 12 months on ATPTour.com increased 20 per cent, pageviews increased 13 per cent, and users were up seven per cent.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]With Wimbledon starting on Monday and the draw on Friday, BBC Sport looks at five unseeded male players that could cause shocks.
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is launching a multimillion dollar museum transformation project on the historic property in Newport, Rhode Island.
The renovations, which were announced Tuesday, will provide fans with a more interactive and modern experience that preserves and promotes the sport’s history. The Hall of Fame will also introduce new features and physical spaces to celebrate legends and support the sport’s growth.
This will be the first museum renovation the Hall of Fame has undertaken since 2015; work includes:
Beginning with the Class of 2025 Induction, all Hall of Famers past-and-future will receive a cast racquet as a symbol of receiving the ultimate honour in tennis. Racquets will be on display in the new Hall of Famers’ Gallery. Further, as the Hall of Fame works to preserve tennis history as it happens, these renovations will enable a wider variety of recent acquisitions from current stars and Hall of Famers to be on display simultaneously.
The ITHF announced in a press conference that Advent, a Nashville-based experiential design firm, was selected to lead the renovations, after a highly competitive nationwide RFP process.
“We are very honoured to accomplish this for the Hall of Fame,” said Dan Faber, CEO of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. “We want to preserve what’s already out there with the incredible history of tennis but to prepare for global eyes to be a part of this in Newport. It’s perfect timing with this era of who is going to be inducted over the next five years or so in tennis.”
The press conference was held in the USTA Wing of the ITHF Museum with Faber, Patrick McEnroe, ITHF President; and Julianna Barbieri, ITHF SVP of Content & Partnerships joined by project principals from Advent, Reese Stevens, Director of Conceptual Design and Mindy Ward, Director of Client Success.
“It’s a privilege to be entrusted with a story like this,” Stevens said. “It has been great for Advent to be included in this and we still have a ways to go but very much looking forward to the grand reopening in May 2025.”
Renovations will begin in November, with the museum closed to the public until planned reopening in May 2025. The renovation is being funded by a portion of the Tennis Forever Capital Campaign, which began in 2018.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Britain’s Amarni Banks fought back to beat former world number 10 Kristina Mladenovic and reach the second round of Wimbledon qualifying.