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Scouting Report: Fan favourites Rublev, Shelton, Tiafoe headline Washington field

  • Posted: Jul 27, 2024

The hard courts of the Mubadala Citi DC Open will host the lone ATP Tour event of the week in Washington. The ATP 500 field includes top seed Andrey Rublev and a host of American stars, led by Ben Shelton and local hero Frances Tiafoe.

ATPTour.com breaks down five key storylines at the American event.

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FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN WASHINGTON
1) Rublev On A Roll?: After breaking a four-match losing streak in Umag, Rublev put together a strong week to reach the semi-finals on the European clay. It will be a quick turnaround to the American hard courts, but Rublev will be full of confidence after earning his way back into the win column.

 

2) Shelton Leads American Charge: The popular 21-year-old will be the top-ranked American in Washington. Having rose to U.S. No. 1 behind his Houston title in April, Shelton is now the American No. 3 at World No. 14. After a first-round loss to #NextGenATP Chinese star Shang Juncheng last year in Washington, he will be seeking his first wins at the event. (Shang also beat Shelton last week in Atlanta.)

3) The Wait For A Home Champ: It has been 17 years since an American lifted the Washington title, with Andy Roddick beating John Isner in the 2007 final. But a host of candidates could soon snap that streak, including Sebastian Korda, Frances Tiafoe, Alex Michelsen and Reilly Opelka. Tiafoe is a fan favourite all around the world, but especially in D.C., as a native of nearby Hyattsville, Maryland.

4) Khachanov, Mannarino Seek Turnarounds: At No. 22 and No. 32 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Karen Khachanov and Adrian Mannarino have both struggled to find their best tennis in recent months. Khachanov won the Doha title in February, his sixth tour-level crown, but has not recorded multiple wins at the same event since Rome. Mannarino is 8-18 this season and enters Atlanta on six-match losing streak. Both players will be seeded in Washington, fuelling hopes they can live up to that billing and snap out of their slumps.

5) Heliovaara/Patten Lead Doubles Draw: Finland’s Harri Heliovaara and Great Britain’s Henry Patten are among the top doubles contenders in Washington, along with Aussies Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson, as well as Jamie Murray and Michael Venus. Heliovaara and Patten face a tough opening matchup against Shelton and Croatia’s Ivan Dodig, the No. 20 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings.

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First-time partners & last-minute sign in, Erler/Mies win Kitzbühel crown

  • Posted: Jul 27, 2024

Home favourite Alexander Erler and German Andreas Mies enjoyed a perfect week as first-time partners at the Generali Open. But it was far from easy.

The Austrian-German duo needed a Match Tie-break in all four of its matches, including a second-round win against top seeds Jamie Murray and Adam Pavlasek. On Saturday, the sixth seeds earned a final 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 victory against fifth seeds Constantin Frantzen and Hendrik Jebens to win the clay ATP 250.

“It was like a coincidence [we played together],” Mies said. “I was supposed to play with Yannick Hanfmann here and ‘Alex’ with Lucas [Miedler]. He got injured unfortunately in Hamburg. So we decided last minute to play and to sign in. To win the title here is unbelievable. Great atmosphere, great feeling. It was a pleasure to play together for the first time. We are super happy to win the title here. It’s been two years for me since the last time I won a title. I’m super happy with the team effort.”

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The home favourite Erler has three times won the Kitzbühel title (2021 and 2023 with Lucas Miedler). This week marks Mies’ first tour-level crown since 2022 Munich.

“It was an amazing crowd the whole week. We are very happy to win,” Erler said. “We were focussed all the time, I think it was a really good match.”

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Djokovic, Alcaraz dominate in Olympic openers

  • Posted: Jul 27, 2024

Serbian Novak Djokovic and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz made fast starts Saturday at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Djokovic raced to a 6-0, 6-1 victory against Australian Matthew Ebden, needing just 53 minutes to reach the second round. The 37-year-old, who is the top seed in Paris, won 63 per cent of his return points and struck 24 winners in front of a packed crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

A 24-time major champion who has spent 428 weeks as World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Djokovic could next play longtime rival Rafael Nadal in a blockbuster second-round clash. Nadal faces Marton Fucsovics in the first round. The 98-time tour-level titlist Djokovic leads Nadal 30-29 in their Lexus ATP Head2Headseries. Djokovic is 5-0 against Fucsovics.

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The Belgrade native is making his fifth Olympics appearance, with his best result being a bronze medal in Beijing in 2008.

Second seed Alcaraz defeated Lebanon’s Hady Habib 6-3, 6-1 in the first round. Making his Olympics debut this fortnight, the 21-year-old looks to add to his standout young career, having won 15 tour-level trophies, by becoming the second player to win the Roland Garros men’s singles title and the Olympic men’s singles gold medal in the same year (Rafael Nadal, 2008). The World No. 3 also won in Indian Wells and at Wimbledon this year.

Up next for Alcaraz is Cameron Norrie or Tallon Griekspoor. The Murcia native will return to court later Saturday as he partners Nadal in doubles (Not before 7 p.m. local time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time).

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Berrettini banks back-to-back titles in Kitzbühel

  • Posted: Jul 27, 2024

Matteo Berrettini captured his second consecutive title Saturday at the Generali Open, where he defeated Frenchman Hugo Gaston 7-5, 6-3 in the final. The Italian, who last week lifted the Gstaad trophy, has not dropped a set in his past 10 matches.

The 28-year-old made the best use of high-altitude conditions in Kitzbühel, relying on his booming serve and heavy hitting to overpower Gaston after one hour, 21 minutes.

“I’m just so happy and so tired,” said a relieved Berrettini in his on-court interview. “It’s been a crazy two weeks, playing I think some of my best level of tennis.”

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Now a 10-time tour-level titlist, Berrettini struck eight aces and won 80 per cent (33/41) of his first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Berrettini earned a crucial break at 5-5 in the opener before gaining a one-set advantage behind his own delivery and racing to a double-break lead in the second. Despite dropping serve when serving for the match at 5-2, Berrettini quickly recovered to capture the clay ATP 250. 

“I was happy that I had the double break. In tennis, you never know. A little bit of tension, he played a great game,” Berrettini said. “I was focussed, I kept doing what I was doing well, hitting the ball well, hitting the ball aggressive in important moments.”

Following his third title of the season, Berrettini is up 10 spots to No. 40 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. He is one of three players to win a trio of titles this season, alongside countryman Jannik Sinner (4) and Carlos Alcaraz (3). Berrettini boasts a 21-5 season record. 

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Benjamin Hassan: One time 'hobby player' to Olympic athlete

  • Posted: Jul 27, 2024

Of the 40 countries represented at Paris 2024 Olympics men’s tennis event, Lebanon is the only one with no prior representation in the field.

But last month, Benjamin Hassan was notified that he would have the honour of becoming one of the first tennis players to represent Lebanon in the Olympics, alongside countryman Hady Habib, whom faces four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz in the first round.

The 29-year-old Hassan is among the field of 64 singles players via a ‘University Place’, which awards one spot, in both men’s and women’s, to nations that are under-represented in the Olympic Games. He will also partner Habib in doubles.

“When I first heard it, I couldn’t believe it. It was unbelievable for me because it was very spontaneous,” Hassan told ATPTour.com. “I heard before that they have some spots for players, but I wasn’t sure what kind of rule it was or if I could use that. I asked my Federation if they can check and they told me, ‘Look Benjamin, we are very late. Probably not going to work out.’

“I thought, ‘Okay, there’s no chance, but at least I tried.’ I think a few days before the Stuttgart [ATP 250] tournament, I got the information. I was really happy.”

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To understand how Hassan has reached this point takes revisiting his past. Hassan’s father, Zaki, fled the Lebanon War in the early 1980s and emigrated to Germany, where he later met his wife, Fadia, who also is from Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon.

Though Benjamin was born and raised in Germany, he also holds Lebanese citizenship. He has proudly represented Lebanon in Davis Cup action since 2018.

“Lebanon is a very beautiful country. Very small. You have the mountains where you can ski, you have the beach, you can do it all in one day, a two hour drive. You have perfect nightlife, amazing food. I enjoy it every time I go there,” said Hassan, who faces Christopher Eubanks in the opening round of the Olympics.

One of 10 Lebanese athletes in the Paris Olympic Games, Hassan developed a passion for tennis alongside his father, a former Davis Cup player from the Middle Eastern country. Despite Hassan’s early dreams of a professional tennis career, he faced challenges as a teenager, finding it difficult to dedicate himself fully to the sport.

“I think from 13 to 22, it was not in my mind anymore. I was studying in Germany, I really didn’t have it in my mind. I was a hobby player who played once a week just for fun,” Hassan said. “When I was a teenager, I was not interested in becoming a professional tennis player. It just didn’t catch me. I don’t know what it was, but I was really not into it.

“I was playing for fun with friends. I didn’t practise, didn’t do fitness, this kind of stuff. For that amount of practice, I was still really good, but far away from competing in professional tennis. Then I came back at 22.”

The one-time ‘hobby player’ can now officially call himself an Olympian. One month removed from hitting his career-high No. 143 in the PIF ATP Rankings, the three-time ATP Challenger Tour finalist credits that minor-league-esque level as a key stepping stone to where he is today.

“End of 2017, 2018, I started with Futures. I played very well from the beginning, two finals, won a title. And I had the ranking around 400, 500. I wanted to go directly to Challengers. It took me a lot of years to adapt to that level because the level was so good. I had tough matches there,” Hassan said.

“I just remember struggling for a long time because the level was too good for me, even though I won Futures. You can see so many good guys in the Top 100 now who played a lot of Challengers and are still playing Challengers. The level is not that far from what we see on television.”

This month’s trip to Paris will already be memorable for Hassan, who hopes his parents and some of his four siblings can make the trip from Germany. And should a chance come to train with one of the sport’s superstars, it would only add to this exclusive trip of a lifetime.

“I’ve never in my career practised with the big names like Alcaraz, Nadal, Djokovic, Zverev,” said Hassan. “I’ve seen them a lot at tournaments, but I’ve never practised with them. I would like to this time.”

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With ice cream looming, #NextGenATP Shang beats rain & Purcell in Atlanta

  • Posted: Jul 27, 2024

During the second rain delay of Shang Juncheng’s Atlanta Open quarter-final against Max Purcell Friday evening, the #NextGenATP star was not stressing over where Purcell would serve when play resumed. Something else was on the 19-year-old’s mind: ice cream!

“We try to keep a fun environment, but keeping myself focused. We talked about eating ice cream after the tournament,” Shang said during his on-court interview, cracking a laugh. “There’s a shop right over there. After the tournament if I do really good, and I feel good, I might go so maybe see you guys there!”

Shang is performing plenty well this week to earn it. The teen defeated Purcell 7-6(3), 6-4 despite two rain delays to reach the second ATP Tour semi-final of his budding career. Earlier this season, he made the last four in Hong Kong.

The Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF contender led 5/2 in the first-set tie-break when play was suspended due to rain. The weather struck again at 4-4, deuce in the second set.

Purcell had breezed through his service games for most of the second set. But upon resumption, Shang attacked his opponent’s forehand to earn the pivotal break and then held before rain could wreak any more havoc.

“I think [there were] tough conditions. It rained twice and especially the first time in the tie-break was crucial and I think I kept my mind together, played really good tennis,” Shang said. “Max has been playing good on the grass lately. [It was] just a super good match and happy to be through.”

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Shang, who ousted top seed Ben Shelton Thursday, will next play Jordan Thompson, who earned a historic victory earlier Friday.

The fourth seed eliminated the fifth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 in three hours and three minutes, making their Atlanta Open quarter-final the longest match in tournament history.

“I feel like I’ve played the longest match in tournament history. It was brutally hot. There wasn’t much cloud cover today,” Thompson said. “So if you’re playing at two o’clock, middle of the day, not much cloud cover, it was pretty, pretty tough.”

Davidovich Fokina saved 12 of the 14 break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats, but his toughness under pressure was not enough. Thompson was persistent to reach his fourth ATP Tour semi-final of the season.

Entering the year, the Australian had reached four tour-level semi-finals. He has doubled his count in 2024 and is now two wins from claiming his second title of the year (Los Cabos).

“Jerry is just a really, really good player, left-hander, young fella, and he’s coming up,” Thompson said. “He feels like he’s got nothing to lose, and he’s playing that way.”

Did You Know?
If Shang defeats Thompson in the semi-finals, he will climb to second in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah.

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