For the third year in a row, the First Lady of Romania, Carmen Iohannis, attended Kids Day at the Sibiu Open, a €43,000 tournament on the ATP Challenger Tour. Also joining the First Lady at the special event were two-time champion Adrian Ungur and former World No. 5 Tommy Robredo.

“I’m here to enjoy this wonderful tournament along with the kids,” Iohannis said. “As far as I know, there are some important players attending Sibiu Open and that means that the quality of the tournament is constantly growing.”

With Sibiu being the only Challenger in Romania and largest men’s tournament in country, it was destined to be a extraordinary day. Over 300 kids showed up and several national television stations were there to broadcast how the day unfolded with the First Lady in attendance.

“It was lovely to have the First Lady here. I invited her to play,” Robredo said. “It’s good to have her supporting the tournament and hopefully she liked it. Maybe she will come on the court and play next time.”

With a passion for the sport, Iohannis has been an advocate for the game for years as it teaches and encourages kids to live out a healthy and active lifestyle.

“I’m still training in tennis, for fun, it’s one of my favourite sports,” Iohannis added. “And because I also want to send a signal to everyone that sport is very important, especially for our kids, the future of every country in the world.”

Third seed Fabio Fognini ended Russian involvement on Thursday at the St. Petersburg Open when the Italian knocked out 2004 champion Mikhail Youzhny, competing at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the 16th year (34-14 match record).

Fognini, the 2012 runner-up, came close to breaking at 4-4 in the second set, but Youzhny regrouped before falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in almost two hours. Fognini now faces Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, who advanced to the quarter-finals for the second time (also 2012) when his German opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber withdrew due to illness before their match. Kohlschreiber must wait another week in his bid to win at least 30 matches (29-17 in 2017) for the 11th straight year.

Top seed Roberto Bautista Agut opened his campaign by beating Brazil’s Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 in one hour and 40 minutes. The Spaniard, who lost just four points in the deciding set, also beat Dutra Silva at the Aircel Chennai Open in January. A semi-finalist at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the past two years, Bautista Agut now faces seventh-seeded Serbian Viktor Troicki in Friday’s quarter-finals. Troicki edged Argentina’s Guido Pella 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 27 minutes.

Eighth-seeded German Jan-Lennard Struff won seven of the first eight games in a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Brazil’s Thomas Fabbiano. He awaits the winner of second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, making his tournament debut, or Joao Sousa, who compete during the night session. Tsonga, 32, is playing in Russia for the first time since 2010, when he lost to Troicki in the VTB Kremlin Cup second round.

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As they battle to secure their place in Milan at the end of the year, with fewer than 50 days to go, the #NextGenATP stars have been lighting it up on the ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour with an array of hot shots.

ATPWorldTour.com has chosen the best five and now it’s up to you, the fans, to decide which is the best hot shot from a #NextGenATP player in the third quarter of the season.

Click through to watch the Top 5 and cast your vote!

Tickets to the Next Gen ATP Finals are on sale now. Get Yours!

Follow the Next Gen ATP Finals on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

ATP and ATP Media today announced that Amazon Prime Video is now an official streaming partner of the ATP World Tour. The new deal covers the worldwide distribution of the Next Gen ATP Finals through Amazon Prime Video.

Starting in 2017, Amazon will have worldwide OTT rights (excluding China), and the full exclusive rights in the U.S., to distribute the Next Gen ATP Finals, outside of ATP’s OTT channel, Tennis TV. This new event, held in partnership with the Italian Tennis Federation and the Italian National Olympic Committee, takes place from 7-11 November in Milan and will showcase the very best men’s tennis players aged 21-and-Under, as well as introducing many new innovations to the game.

The deal, which expires at the end of 2018, includes a commitment from Amazon to show all Next Gen ATP Finals matches produced by ATP Media. ATP has also produced three documentaries that will air on Amazon Prime Video. The documentaries take fans behind the scenes, tracking many of the #NextGenATP players as they battle to make the cut for the inaugural event later this year. As well as giving fans unique access, the documentaries also feature exclusive interviews with some of today’s top players, who offer their insights into the future stars of the sport.

This deal will provide an international reach for this new and innovative tournament providing a global audience for the tennis stars of the future.

Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman & President, said: “Innovation is at the heart of everything we’re doing with the Next Gen ATP Finals, and the way in which we present and broadcast the event is central to that. Our agreement with Amazon will give this year’s inaugural tournament in Milan an international reach in a digital space that is only becoming increasingly important in the world of sport & entertainment.”

“We know live sports attracts a passionate fan base, many of whom are Prime members,” said Greg Hart, Vice President of Amazon Video. “We are thrilled ATP has awarded distribution rights to Amazon, showing their commitment to streaming live sports.”

Stuart Watts, COO ATP Media, added: “The synergies between a global brand such as Amazon and the future of our sport being showcased at the Next Gen ATP Finals are clear for all to see. This is an exciting deal that will not only bring great coverage for the Next Gen ATP Finals but will also offer a huge boost to the global reach of tennis.”

Damir Dzumhur and qualifier Liam Broady both booked their places in the St. Petersburg Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Dzumhur, last month’s Winston-Salem Open finalist, had his serve broken three times, but managed to get the better of Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 7-6(4) in one hour and 38 minutes. Dzumhur, currently at a career-high World No. 55, is 24-7 at all levels since 19 June.

British qualifier Liam Broady saved a break point at 4-4 in the second set, before winning eight straight games to overcome Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the Antalya Open runner-up, 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 to advance to an ATP World Tour quarter-finals for the first time.

Earlier in the day, two #NextGenATP players, Croatia’s Borna Coric and Daniil Medvedev of Russia, both made first-round exits but not without putting up a fight. Coric is currently in fifth position in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan for one of eight spots at the Next Gen ATP Finals from 7-11 November, while Medvedev is in seventh.

World No. 56 Coric, who won his first ATP World Tour title at the Grand Prix Hassan II in April (d. Kohlschreiber), lost to eighth-seed German Jan-Lennard Struff 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 43 minutes. World No. 62 Medvedev, a runner-up at the Aircel Chennai Open in January (l. to Bautista Agut), recovered from a 2-5 deficit in the second set against Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano before losing 7-6(4), 7-5 in one hour and 33 minutes.

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Veteran Frenchman Nicolas Mahut continued his push to break back into the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings with a 6-1, 7-6(4) first-round win over German shotmaker Dustin Brown at the Moselle Open in Metz, France, Wednesday.

The current World No. 107 slipped out of the Top 100 for the first time in more than two years in July but put himself back within range by winning five matches at the US Open to come through qualifying to reach the third round for the second consecutive year.

Mahut first played the Moselle Open in 2003. He is a two-time semi-finalist at the event (2013, 07) and has reached the quarter-finals the past two years. To reach the quarters again, he must beat lucky loser Kenny De Schepper, who claimed a main-draw slot when top seed Pablo Carreno Busta withdrew. (Mahut lost to the Spaniard in the third round at Flushing Meadows earlier this month.)

The 35-year-old has won one title in each of the past two seasons (both in ‘s-Hertogenbosch). His four career titles (and six finals appearances) have all come on grass.