Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz boosted their Nitto ATP Finals qualification chances on Tuesday at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships, where they both earned first-round wins.

Australian De Minaur came through a hard-fought battle against British lefty Jack Draper, advancing 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(1) in three hours and four minutes.

De Minaur rallied from a break down in the second set and broke qualifier Draper’s serve when the 21-year-old was trying to close out the match at 5-4 in the third set. The World No. 13 locked in from the baseline and started to pull the tiring Draper from corner to corner to improve to 13-4 in opening-round matches this year.

“I think whenever someone is struggling at the end it makes it much harder to finish off,” De Minaur said. “Because you can’t focus on what you want to and you just try to make him play as many balls as possible and then he was just playing free. I think this match was won on attitude and fitness. Happy to get the win and still be alive.”

De Minaur, who now leads Draper 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, is 13th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin on 2,515 points. He is 595 points behind eighth-placed Holger Rune, who occupies the final qualification spot.

Chasing his second title of the season, De Minaur will need a deep run in Tokyo to further increase his chances of making his debut at the prestigious year-end event. The fourth seed will next face Diego Schwartzman after the Argentine earned his 250th tour-level win.

Schwartzman produced a rock-solid display to down countryman Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 21 minutes, backing up his run to the fourth-round in Shanghai last week.

Diego Schwartzman” style=”width: 100%;” />
_{^{Photo Credit: ATP Tour}}
Top seed Fritz followed De Minaur onto court and moved past Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-3 in the latest chapter of the pair’s long-running Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry.

The American is the defending champion at the ATP 500 hard-court event and made a quick start to his title defence, firing 13 aces in a strong serving performance to advance after one hour and 21 minutes. Fritz now leads Norrie 7-6, with all 13 meetings coming on hard courts.

“It was really close to lose the first set. I was thinking it was going to be a three setter,” Fritz said. “I was lucky to get the break back in the first and then I felt my level picked up and I started playing a lot more smoothly.”

Fritz is four places above De Minaur in ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 145 points behind Rune. The 25-year-old, who reached the semi-finals on debut in Turin last year, is one of five players to earn more than 50 wins this year, with his victory against Norrie his 52nd.

Fritz will next meet Japanese wild card Shintaro Mochizuki or Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

In other action, Cristian Garin beat Japan wild card Sho Shimabukuro 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, while Alexei Popyrin upset Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-2.

Twenty-year-old Mark Lajal will not soon forget what he accomplished on Monday in Antwerp. The #NextGenATP Estonian earned his first ATP Tour win with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Jaume Munar at the European Open.

The wild card had never played in qualifying or the main draw at an ATP Tour event, but he showed few nerves in Antwerp. The Estonian won 85 per cent of his first-serve points and saved the two break points he faced to advance after 69 minutes.

“This is my first time playing in an ATP, any ATP and main draw, so obviously I was really ready for it,” Lajal said in his on-court interview. “I wanted to do well and that for sure gave me the extra motivation.”

Lajal became the first Estonian to win an ATP Tour match since Jurgen Zopp reached the Gstaad semi-finals in 2018. The No. 229 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings is the only player from his country in the Top 500.

Lajal owns a 19-17 record on the ATP Challenger Tour this year, including a run to the Little Rock title in June. It will not get easier for the 20-year-old, who will next play fellow #NextGenATP star Arthur Fils, the fourth seed.

Into the next round 💪

Hugo Gaston defeats Arthur Rinderknech in straight sets to advance in Antwerp!@EuroTennisOpen | #EuropeanOpen pic.twitter.com/dxoxbzsqMD

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 16, 2023

In other action, two Frenchmen also advanced to the second round. Hugo Gaston eliminated countryman Arthur Rinderknech and Gregoire Barrere ousted Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-1, 7-6(5).

Gaston will next challenge second seed Jan-Lennard Struff and Barrere will try to hold off the big serving and tricky game of third seed Alexander Bublik.

Dino Prizmic might only be 18, but he showed Monday he is ready to compete against some of the best players in the world.

The #NextGenATP star defeated sixth seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 7-5 to reach the second round of the BNP Paribas Nordic Open. It was the Croatian’s third tour-level victory.

“I’m very happy about my performance today,” Prizmic said in his on-court interview. “I just want to say thanks to everyone who came here and supported this match because it means a lot to players. Thanks to everyone.”

WHAT A WIN ⚡️

Dino Prizmic earns the biggest win of his career after defeating Jiri Lehecka 6-3 7-5 in Stockholm! 👏#StockholmOpen

pic.twitter.com/GlLJWcHzCe

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 16, 2023

Prizmic successfully neutralised one of the most powerful baseliners on the ATP Tour, winning 41 per cent of his return points and breaking the Czech’s serve three times. He will next face former Top 10 player Roberto Bautista Agut or home favourite Elias Ymer.

“I will try just to play my best tennis and try to enjoy every match,” Prizmic said. “I don’t want to give to myself big pressure. I just want to play my best tennis and enjoy every moment.”

Italian Lorenzo Sonego won a tight battle against Serbian Dusan Lajovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 after two hours and 19 minutes. The 28-year-old now leads Lajovic 3-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and has won three consecutive meetings against the 33-year-old. It was their first clash since 2020.

Did You Know?
Prizmic is 18th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah. The Croatian can move into contention for a place at the Next Gen ATP Finals with a deep run in Stockholm.

When packing his bags to travel on the ATP Tour, Cameron Norrie includes items for both fashion and function. The Briton recently invited ATP Uncovered into his hotel room, where he shared the ins and outs of his travel habits.

Norrie does not go anywhere without the Red Hot Chili Peppers shirt his coach, Facundo Lugones, gifted him. “I think I’ve taken it every week with me for the last year and a half,” he said.

Among the more practical items Norrie travels with are journals and a recovery boot, which help keep his mind and his body right, respectively.

When it comes to chill time, Norrie stays stylish in sunglasses, which he can pair with some personalised flip-flops. A gift from the Rio de Janeiro ATP 500 tournament, where he was champion in February, has become a footwear staple.

“They have my ugly face on them,” Norrie joked. But his constant use of the flip-flops has created one unflattering issue, as he explains in the video below.

Flavio Cobolli was an alternate at the Next Gen ATP Finals in 2021 but never took to court at the 21-and-under event. Two years on and the Italian boosted his chances of making his debut in Jeddah following his run to the title at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Lisbon earlier this month.

The 21-year-old is up two spots to ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah after backing up his title triumph in Portugal with a quarter-final appearance at a Challenger event in Malaga last week.

Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah

American Zachary Svajda has also strengthened his hopes after soaring 12 spots to 13th following a standout month. The 20-year-old has won three of the past four Challengers that he has played in, with his latest victory coming in Fairfield, California. Svajda is aiming to compete at the Next Gen ATP Finals for the first time.

Italian Luca Nardi, who will play at the ATP 250 in Antwerp this week, has jumped two places to 12th. The 20-year-old defeated fellow Next Gen ATP Finals hopeful Dominic Stricker en route to the semi-finals at a Challenger Tour event in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The Next Gen ATP Finals will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 28 November – 2 December.

With four weeks until the Nitto ATP Finals, the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin continued to heat up at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

Italian Jannik Sinner qualified after winning his second-round match in China, while Hubert Hurkacz and Andrey Rublev boosted their chances. ATPTour.com looks at the key movers as of Monday, 16 October.

11th (2,775 points) – Hubert Hurkacz
The Pole has jumped six spots to 11th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin after winning his second ATP Masters 1000 crown and first of the season in Shanghai. The 26-year-old saved one championship point in the final against Rublev before converting on his fourth opportunity to improve to 7-1 in tour-level finals. Hurkacz is 335 points behind Holger Rune, who currently occupies the final qualification spot in eighth. Hurkacz competed at the Nitto ATP Finals in 2021, falling in the round-robin stage.

Fifth (4,275 points) – Andrey Rublev
Rublev has consolidated his fifth-placed position in the Live Race To Turin after collecting 600 points by reaching his sixth final of the season. The 25-year-old is chasing a fourth consecutive appearance at the prestigious year-end event, with his best result a semi-final run in 2022.

Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Sinner have all qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals.

Felix Auger-Aliassime earned a confidence-boosting win on debut at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships on Monday when he downed Australian Aleksandar Vukic 7-6(3), 6-7(2), 6-2.

The Canadian entered the matching having earned just two wins in his past 11 outings, but he stepped up when needed in the deciding set against Vukic to advance to the second round in Shanghai.

“It is a big relief,” Auger-Aliassime said. “There have been tough times lately where I was wondering what to do. I have to keep on training and believing and hope my level will come back. I am happy to get the victory today. It is a positive.”

The World No. 17 won 80 per cent (8/10) of points on Vuckic’s second serve in the third set and converted all three of his break-point opportunities in the decider to set a second-round meeting against Sebastian Ofner after the Austrian defeated Christopher O’Connell 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-5.

In other action, Jordan Thompson dealt a blow to Alexander Zverev’s Nitto ATP Finals hopes. The Australian overcame the German 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the second round at the ATP 500 hard-court event.

“He is a quality player,” Thompson said. “You can see what he has done in his career and I have not done nearly as much as him. But when I get on a court with those guys I believe I can win. If you don’t believe you can win you may as well not be there. I enjoyed the challenge.”

World No. 60 Thompson has now earned two Top 10 wins this year, also defeating then-World No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas in Indian Wells. He will next meet Ben Shelton or Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel.

Zverev is seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 450 points ahead of ninth-placed Taylor Fritz. The Top 8 players qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held in Turin from 12-19 November. Zverev, who has won two titles this season, has triumphed at the prestigious year-end event twice.

Argentine Mariano Navone and American Zachary Svajda continued their standout seasons this past week on the ATP Challenger Tour. The 22-year-old Navone won his fourth Challenger title of the season while Svajda, 20, secured back-to-back titles in California.

Navone won on home soil at the Challenger de Buenos Aires, where he rallied past top seed Federico Coria 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Now at a career-high No. 146 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Navone joins Thiago Seyboth Wild atop the season leaderboard as the only players with four ATP Challenger Tour trophies.

“I feel very good. I’m very happy to win this title here. I won three matches in three sets so I’m very happy and tired,” said Navone. “I’m a guy who needs support and it’s fun to see me shouting, ‘Vamos!’ with the crowd and today was very special to win on Mother’s Day in Argentina. I enjoyed the tournament and the crowd. This is the most special Navone, Svajda Earn Challenger Titles To Continue Career-Best Seasons.”

This year also marks the third straight season with an Argentine winning at least four ATP Challenger Tour titles (Pedro Cachin won four in 2022, Sebastian Baez earned six in 2021.)

“Total surprise,” Navone said. “The fourth is the most important for me because it’s the tournament I hoped [to win] all year. I prepared with great intensity for two weeks for this tournament.”

Navone’s countryman Francisco Comesana enjoyed a quarter-final run in Buenos Aires to become the first player to win 40 Challenger matches this year. The 23-year-old, who has captured two Challenger titles this season, is at a career-high No. 117.

Svajda is enjoying a career-best season, including two consecutive titles in his home state California. After winning the Tiburon Challenger last week, Svajda was crowned champion at the Taube – Grossman Pro Tennis Tournament, where he defeated 18-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy 6-4, 6-1 to earn his fourth career ATP Challenger Tour title.

“It’s so important to keep going. I feel like last year I would do well, have a good tournament and then the next couple weeks I would be tired or not fully there mentally,” Svajda told commentator Mike Cation. “I just feel more mature right now, stronger, and mentally better. Backing up [the title in Tiburon] means a lot to me.”

At 13th in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Jeddah, Svajda has a chance to make a late-season push to earn his maiden qualification into the Next Gen ATP Finals, which showcases the world’s best 21-and-under players. Svajda has won 16 of his past 17 Challenger-level matches and is just the second #NextGenATP player with three titles at that level in 2023, alongside Hamad Medjedovic.

This year marks the third straight season an American aged 20-and-under has won three Challenger titles. Ben Shelton did so last year and Jenson Brooksby conquered the feat in 2021. Svajda triumphed in Cary, North Carolina last month before winning in Tiburon and Fairfield the past two weeks.

“I knew my hard work was going to pay off somewhere and I didn’t know when,” said Svajda, who is at a career-high No. 139. “It feels nice and I want to keep it going. It feels awesome but I’m not satisfied with this. I’ll celebrate some but this is important to keep backing up weeks and keep getting on a good run.”

In Fairfield doubles action, Evan King and Reese Stalder claimed their fifth doubles crown of the season, joining Hendrik Jebens and Constantin Frantzen as the only teams with five Challenger titles in 2023. The Germans Jebens and Frantzen have won a season-leading six team titles.

Two former college stars also claimed ATP Challenger Tour titles Sunday. American Aleksandar Kovacevic, who graduated from the University of Illinois in 2021, did not drop a set all week en route to winning the Shenzhen Longhua Open, where he downed Portugal’s Nuno Borges 7-6(4), 7-6(5) in the final.

Aleksandar Kovacevic wins the Challenger 100 event in Shenzhen, China.” />
^{Aleksandar Kovacevic wins the Challenger 100 event in Shenzhen, China. Credit: Shenzhen Longhua Open}
Kovacevic captured his maiden Challenger crown in January in Cleveland, Ohio and the ensuing month returned to the winners’ circle in Waco, Texas. Following his triumph in China, Kovacevic climbed 34 spots to No. 112, just 11 spots shy of tying his career high, which he reached in April.

Former University of Kentucky standout Gabriel Diallo earned his second ATP Challenger Tour trophy and first of this season at the Peugeot Slovak Open. The 22-year-old defeated Belgian Joris De Loore 6-0, 7-5 to become the youngest Canadian to win two Challenger titles since his fellow Montreal native Felix Auger-Aliassime (2018).

“I’m pretty happy that I got the job done, it wasn’t easy,” said Diallo, who is at a career-high No. 130. “He had chances in the second set but I’m happy that I stayed calm to get my first title of the year. It’s an individual sport but we also have so many people in the background, so I’m really happy for my team as well.”

Gabriel Diallo wins the Challenger 125 event in Bratislava, Slovakia.” />
^{Gabriel Diallo wins the Challenger 125 event in Bratislava, Slovakia. Credit: Peugeot Slovak Open}
A pivotal moment for Diallo came in the second round, when he survived top seed and former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem in a third-set tie-break to keep his title hopes alive. Diallo stayed steady to become the 15th different former collegiate player to win a Challenger title 2023, tying the single-season record previously set in 2022.

Frenchman Ugo Blanchet earned his maiden Challenger title in Malaga, Spain, where he advanced through qualifying and won seven matches across eight days to triumph. The 24-year-old did not drop a set all week and overcame Italian Mattia Bellucci 6-4, 6-4 in the Malaga Open final.

Players from France have combined for a record-breaking 25 ATP Challenger Tour trophies this year, with Blanchet becoming the 17th different champion from his country this season. Blanchet is at a career-high World No. 209.

Ugo Blanchet wins the Challenger 125 event in Malaga, Spain.” />
^{Ugo Blanchet wins the Challenger 125 event in Malaga, Spain. Credit: Julio Salcedo}

Holger Rune is currently eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as he tries to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. But this week with three tournaments — the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships, the BNP Paribas Nordic Open and the European Open — being played, the battle for a spot at the season finale could drastically change.

Rune is currently 145 points ahead of ninth-placed Taylor Fritz. The Dane will focus on what he can control in Stockholm, where he is the top seed and defending champions. The 20-year-old would add 250 points to his total with a title.

“Definitely one of the goals is to be able to get into Turin, the Finals, at the end of the year,” Rune told the media at the China Open in Beijing. He later added: “I’m going to try to focus on what I do instead of what everybody else is doing.”

Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin Standings

From sixth through 18th place in the Live Race, 12 of the 13 players are in action this week. The only exception is 16th-placed Grigor Dimitrov, who made the Shanghai semi-finals.

Every player from ninth through 15th place is competing in Tokyo, where the champion will add 500 points to his tally. If Fritz wins the title, he will leapfrog Rune in the Live Race no matter how the Dane performs in Stockholm.

Fifth-placed Andrey Rublev, who is not in action this week, built a 660-point advantage over sixth-placed Stefanos Tsitsipas by advancing to the Shanghai final. Tsitsipas can claw closer to Rublev and further secure his standing with a deep run at the European Open in Antwerp, where he is the top seed.

Seventh seed Alexander Zverev, a two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion, is playing in Tokyo. The German is 305 points ahead of Rune and could extend his advantage this week. He is trying to qualify for the season finale one year after suffering a severe ankle injury at Roland Garros, which kept him out for the rest of the season.

“It’s good to be back in the Top 10. It’s good to be back in contention for Turin as well,” Zverev told ATP Media. “If I continue playing the way I was playing the past few months I think I have great chances.

“Coming back from an injury like that where I was out for seven months, where I didn’t know what my level would be coming back, being in contention for Turin and making Turin, that would be a great achievement.”