Expectations are high when a young prospect makes Junior Grand Slam finals. Those expectations are only amplified when said prospect is from a nation with as rich a tennis history as Great Britain.

For Liam Broady, a run to the second round at Wimbledon in 2015 catapulted him to a career-best No. 158 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. It came after reaching his first ATP Challenger Tour final in the preceding November where he had fallen to James Duckworth in Charlottesville.

Progress since his been jittery at best and the 23 year old Stockport native is the first to admit it. But a first Challenger final in three years in Aptos, California, on Sunday, went a long way to restoring belief that a revitalised focus was reaping rewards.

Broady went down in straight sets to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik in the final. It was an impressive run, though, having won through qualifying to get there.

“I’ve always believed that I’m capable of competing and living with these guys. It’s telling me my work’s paying off and I’m back,” Broady told USTA Pro Circuit broadcaster Mike Cation. “I’ve been here before. I was probably overwhelmed the first time around but I feel comfortable with these guys and … it’s just showing people what I can do.”

Broady strung together seven straight match wins for the loss of just one set en route to the decider. Better still, the surprise run shot his Emirates ATP Ranking up 80 spots to No. 256, which meant he could avoid having to play Futures events and coming through Challengers qualifying.

“I was actually going to play a $25,000 [Futures event] in Illinois this week. Dave said ‘Do you want to play qualies in Aptos because it’s looking so strong or do you want to play a 25 in Illinois?’,” Broady said. “I said ‘Dave, look, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to carry on playing tennis if I go to a Futures in Illinois on my own when I know Aptos is going on because it’s one of the best tournaments that I play’ so he said ‘OK, I trust you to go play it’. I think the tennis gods responded and gave me a final out of this.”

The Brit admitted to frustrations as he made the transition from juniors to the professional ranks. His ranking was not rising anywhere near the rate he wanted it to, or as fast as the British public expected it to given his standout results, which took him as high as No. 2 in the junior world rankings.

“I’ve always felt pressured to get there as quick as I can, especially seeing my peers getting there so fast and kids younger than me now like Zverev, Kyrgios even Shapovalov,” Broady said. “I was playing Shapovalov a couple of months ago on the Challengers and it put such pressure on me not seeing my ranking going up as quick as those guys.

“But one of the big things for me over the last year or so is learning everyone’s path is different. Everybody gets to where they want to get to at different times. You can’t rush that. I think that’s one of the things that’s kind of matured in me.” 

A lone deciding-set tie-break each week is proving all Alexander Zverev needs to find form and send him on his way to a title-winning run. Such has been the German’s fate over the past fortnight, he’d be forgiven for looking at ease should he find himself in a similar situation at the Western and Southern Open this week.

The #NextGenATP star and Race to Milan leader is coming off back-to-back titles on North American hard courts, at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. and last week’s Coupe Rogers in Montreal. In Washington, D.C., Zverev narrowly eked out a deciding-set tie-break triumph over Australian Jordan Thompson before he reeled off four straight matches to clinch the title.

Then, last week in Montreal he saved three match points and closed out Richard Gasquet in his opening match before again sweeping through his final four matches. Victory over Roger Federer in the final landed him a second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title for the season.

“I feel well on court. I feel very confident,” Zverev said. “Obviously, feeling good about my game as well. I won both first rounds in Washington and Montreal 7-6 in the third and then after that I haven’t lost a set the whole tournament.

 Watch Live On TennisTV

 Watch Full Match Replays

“I think winning those kinds of matches helps as well. I really hope I don’t face 7-6 in the first round here again even though it’s kind of a good-luck charm. Would be nice to have a two-setter, maybe.

“Tennis is such a close game. You play the best players in the world and win those kinds of matches and it gives you a lot of confidence for the next few rounds.”

It has been a marked improvement from the 20 year old as he stands at a career-best No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and third behind only Federer and Rafael Nadal in the Emirates ATP Race to London. Since bringing former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero into the coaching fray in mid-July it has brought immediate success, although the improvements have been in the works for much longer.

“I think physically I’ve improved a lot, that’s probably been my biggest improvement,” Zverev said of his development in the past year. “The serve’s improved, my returns have improved, but all small things. In general my game has become faster.”

View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchups for Day 4 of the Western & Southern Open and vote for who you think will win!
Nadal vs. Gasquet | Dimitrov vs. Lopez | Zverev vs. Tiafoe

View Wednesday Schedule

Top seed and 2013 champion Rafael Nadal, No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev and No. 7 seed Grigor Dimitrov are in second-round action on Wednesday at the Western & Southern Open. In addition, there are three other seeds trying to reach the third round: No. 11 Pablo Carreno Busta, No. 15 Sam Querrey and No. 16 Gilles Muller.

Nadal brings a 14-0 head-to-head record against Richard Gasquet in the final match on Center Court. Nadal, who has a 20-10 record in Cincinnati, will return to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings next Monday for the first time since July 6, 2014. This will be the fourth different time that the 31-year-old Spaniard has ranked No. 1 in his career. Nadal will hold the record for the longest gap between debut at No. 1 and most recent date at No. 1. 

FIRST AND LAST DAY AS NO. 1

Player              Debut at No. 1             Most Recent Date at No. 1       Time in Between
Rafael Nadal   Aug. 18, 2008              Aug. 21, 2017                          9 years, 3 days
Jimmy Connors July 29, 1974               July 3, 1983                             8 years, 339 days
Roger Federer  Feb. 2, 2004                Nov. 4, 2012                            8 years, 276 days
Andre Agassi   April 10, 1995              Sept. 7, 2003                           8 years, 150 days
Pete Sampras  April 12, 1993              Nov. 19, 2000                          7 years, 221 days

Also on Center Court, #NextGenATP stars Zverev and Frances Tiafoe meet for the third time (Zverev leads 2-0). Zverev, who became the first player to qualify for the ATP Next Gen Finals, is on a 10-match winning streak after capturing his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title of the season in Montreal on Sunday (d. Federer). The 20-year-old German has won a personal-best five titles in 2017 and is co-leader on the ATP World Tour (w/Federer). Tiafoe, who is No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan, is looking for the biggest win of his career, having lost his only other match against a Top 10 player to Federer in Miami.

Play begins on Center Court with Dimitrov and Feliciano Lopez squaring off for the fifth time (tied 2-2). Two of their previous meetings were decided in a third-set tiebreak, including in this same round at the 2016 Western & Southern Open. The Bulgarian prevailed in that match 57 63 76. Lopez won the last meeting in the semi-finals at London/Queen’s Club in June. Dimitrov advanced to the semi-finals here last year and Lopez is making his 15^th consecutive appearance in Cincinnati (QF in 2015).

WEDNESDAY BY THE NUMBERS

26 singles players
6 seeds
5 Americans
4 lucky losers
3 qualifiers
2 wild cards
1 former and future World No. 1

#NextGenATP American Jared Donaldson can count a second Top 20 opponent as his victim in as many weeks after seeing off Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut at the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday. The 20 year old defeated the No. 12 seed 7-6(5), 6-3 to reach the second round for the third straight year.

Ranked No. 60  in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Donaldson was coming off an impressive run to the third round at the Coupe Rogers, where he’d beaten Frenchmen, World No. 18 Lucas Pouille and Benoit Paire, back to back. The Spaniard, too, had a solid week in Montreal where he saved a match point against Gael Monfils en route to the quarter-finals, where he went down to Roger Federer.

“I feel that I’ve been playing really solid tennis. I feel as though a lot of my matches have kind of hinged on my first-serve percentage,” Donaldson said. “I feel that when I get it up above 50 per cent, sometimes 60 per cent, I think the cut off is 50, but I think if I can continue to keep getting it into the high 50s, 60s, maybe even 70s, then I’m going to be really tough to beat.

“I feel like I’m returning really well, playing pretty good defence. But I think a lot of it starts with my serve. If I serve really well I think it’s tough to beat me because I can play offence so easily and I can also return pretty well.”

Wild card Donaldson sent down 11 aces and saved four of six break points against the World No. 14. He will next face India’s lucky loser Ramkumar Ramanathan, who ground out a 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4 result over American qualifier Christopher Eubanks on Monday.

 Watch Live On TennisTV

 Watch Full Match Replays

#NextGenATP Russian Karen Khachanov avenged a defeat on U.S. hard courts to Diego Schwartzman from earlier this season. The 21 year old had lost his opening round at the Miami Open to the Argentine but turned the tables to level the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head on Tuesday with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 result.

Schwartzman was coming off a career-best ATP World Tour Masters 1000 run in Montreal last week, where he saved four match points to upset third seed Dominic Thiem en route to the quarter-finals. Khachanov’s six aces helped him on his way to a second meeting with Italian lucky loser Thomas Fabbiano.

#NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric didn’t fare so well. The 20 year old fell to Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 7-6(5) with the Georgian to next meet U.S. lucky loser Christian Harrison.

Mikhail Youzhny made a memorable ATP World Tour Masters 1000 debut in 2001 at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, where he reached the Round of 16 as a teenager. Now 35, the former World No. 8 continues to compete at the elite level, with more than 100 Masters 1000 tournament appearances to his name. 

One of his best runs came at the Western & Southern Open in 2005, when he defeated future Top 10 players Tomas Berdych and Gael Monfils before testing World No. 5 Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals. He reflects on that match and more.

You’ve reached six quarter-finals at this level. Do you have a special Masters 1000 memory?
When I reach a semi-final, then I’ll let you know. (laughs) 

Is there a match that stands out?
Yeah, it was 2005 against Andy Roddick in Cincinnati. It was an evening session, I think. It was a pretty tough match. He beat me in three sets. In Hamburg [in the 2004 quarter-finals], I played against Ivan Ljubicic in the Masters. That was also a long time ago. It was really cold on-court, like usual in Hamburg. (laughs)

What is the greatest match you’ve seen at a Masters 1000 tournament?
So many matches. In that past few years I’ve started to watch more matches. I cannot say just one because there were so many great ones like Djokovic/Murray, Federer/Nadal. There’s so many great matches it’s really tough to pick one. 

What makes the Masters 1000s special?
It’s one of the biggest tournaments by the ATP, and one of the greatest tournaments by the ATP, and you see how many [people] come to watch… From the first day of the qualies, a lot of crowds, a lot of press is here. People like the tennis. [Fans] are waiting for the tournament, players are waiting for the tournament. This is what’s so special about Masters 1000 tournaments… You can feel it’s a really great tournament, they build new stadiums, they build new facilities, everybody is happy. And every year more and more people come to the events. This is the atmosphere of a Masters 1000. 

What is your favourite Masters 1000 tournament & why?
That’s a tough question because now many Masters 1000 tournaments have improved. One of them is Indian Wells. I remember how it was a long time ago and now it’s a great tournament, maybe one of the best. I also like Shanghai as well, their organisation. I think almost all the 1000s are pretty good, I can’t say just one of them.