Halep to stay 'patient' after another comeback loss
Former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep loses on her latest WTA Tour comeback, having won just once since returning from a doping ban in March.
Former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep loses on her latest WTA Tour comeback, having won just once since returning from a doping ban in March.
In the wake of Jack Draper claiming the biggest title of his career, BBC Sport analyses his transformation over the past 12 months.
At the 2005 Rolex Paris Masters, unseeded Tomas Berdych became the lowest-ranked champion in tournament history by beating Ivan Ljubicic in a five-set final. The Czech, No. 50 in the PIF ATP Rankings at the time, started a 21st-century trend of surprise champions at the ATP Masters 1000 in the French capital, with trophy runs for unseeded stars like David Nalbandian, Karen Khachanov and Holger Rune — plus the 16th-seeded Jack Sock — following Berdych’s triumph.
Since 2005, only one man has won multiple titles at the prestigious Paris event: Novak Djokovic, who claimed the first of his seven in 2009. Roger Federer (2011) and Andy Murray (2016) have also reigned at a tournament that has crowned superstars and rising stars as champions in equal measure. With the Serbian out of this year’s event and Federer and Murray now retired, the stage could be ripe for another dark horse to finish first.
Ahead of the latest edition of the Paris tournament, ATPTour.com looks back at the unexpected titlists who could inspire a new surprise champion in 2024.
[ATP APP]Tomas Bedych, 2005
A 20-year-old Berdych won his one and only ATP Masters 1000 title with a five-set victory against Ljubicic in the 2005 final on indoor carpet. The Czech beat five seeded players en route to the title, including Guillermo Coria, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Gaston Gaudio and countryman Radek Stepanek, before his 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4 triumph against Ljubicic.
Berdych had previously beaten Federer at the 2004 Olympics, but even he was shocked by his success in Paris, where he remains the lowest-ranked champ in tournament history.
“If someone told me I was going to win the tournament, I would have called him crazy,” Berdych said at the time.
The Paris title was the second of Berdych’s 13 tour-level titles. He reached 19 additional finals, including three at the ATP Masters 1000 level and one at Wimbledon in 2020. The former World No. 4 retired in 2019 and has since gone on to coach Jiri Lehecka, though the pair split in September.
Tomas Berdych and Ivan Ljubicic are joined by 2004 Paris champ Marat Safin during the 2005 trophy ceremony. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.
David Nalbandian, 2007
As the Rolex Paris Masters returned to indoor hard courts in 2007, Nalbandian ushered in the new era with a shock title run that saw him knock out both Federer and Rafael Nadal. The Argentine took out top seed Federer 6-4, 7-6(3) in the third round and later stunned Nadal 6-4, 6-0 in the final, also beating Carlos Moya, David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet along the way.
The title was part of a late-season surge for Nalbandian, who won the ATP Masters Cup (now the Nitto ATP Finals) in 2005 but dropped outside of the Top 20 during the 2007 campaign. He won 12 of his last 13 matches that year to end on a high with ATP Masters 1000 trophies in Madrid and Paris. In Madrid, he beat Nadal, Djokovic and Federer in succession to win the title.
Jack Sock, 2017
Sock’s surprise Paris title in 2017 was doubly significant: In addition to the title, the result earned him a place at that year’s Nitto ATP Finals, where he reached the semi-finals.
The American battled back from a set down in three of his five Paris victories, winning two tie-breaks to edge Kyle Edmund in his opening match and later battling back against Fernando Verdasco and Filip Krajinovic. A 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 victory against Serbian qualifier Krajinovic earned Sock his lone ATP Masters 1000 title.
“Crazy things can happen,” Sock, then 25, said of his run. “That’s sports, and that’s why we play.”
Sock became the first American to claim a Masters 1000 title since Andy Roddick won Miami in 2010; it was not until Taylor Fritz’s 2022 Indian Wells title that another player from the United States would break through at that level. Sock’s triumph also affected Big Four lore, as it meant that — for the first time since 2004 — more than three Masters 1000 titles were won by players outside that elite group.
Jack Sock celebrates at the 2017 Rolex Paris Masters. Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images.
Karen Khachanov, 2018
After saving two match points and surviving a 10/8 third-set tie-break against John Isner in the third round, Khachanov made quick work of fourth seed Alexander Zverev and sixth seed Dominic Thiem to reach his first — and to date, only — ATP Masters 1000 final.
The difficulty level would only increase at the last hurdle, with Novak Djokovic across the net chasing his fifth Paris title. Against a fourth consecutive Top 10 opponent, a 22-year-old Khachanov produced a big-hitting display to claim a 7-5, 6-4 victory.
“It means the world to me,” said Khachanov, who would rise to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 8 the following year. “I couldn’t be happier to finish the season like this.”
The result has stood up as the biggest of his career, alongside his 2021 Olympic semi-final victory that earned him a silver medal. Now 28, Khachanov has also reached the semi-finals at the US Open (2022) and Australian Open (2023).
Holger Rune, 2022
A fearless 19-year-old Rune saved three match points on the way to his first ATP Masters 1000 crown in Paris, but that was not the most eye-catching statistic from his breakthrough week. After saving those match points in his opening win against Stan Wawrinka, Rune rattled off five consecutive Top 10 wins to complete his shock run. The Dane beat Hubert Hurkacz, Andrey Rublev, Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime without dropping a set before meeting defending champ Djokovic in the final.
From a set down, Rune showed nerves of steel to attack the Serbian in the clutch moments of a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory. In the match’s final game, he saved six break points as he dug deep to claim the biggest title of his career in dramatic fashion.
“It was the most stressful game of my life,” he said of the marathon game. “My heart was almost in my brain. I was already starting to think about the tie-break. I’m very proud I could finish it.”
On the heels of those five Top 10 wins, Rune earned himself a place in that elite group as he left Paris at No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings. The Dane finished the 2022 season by reaching four straight finals and claiming three titles. Buoyed by that success, he climbed to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 4 in 2023.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]With the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin edging to a close, the battle to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals took further shape in Basel and Vienna, where Turin hopefuls Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev, Alex de Minaur, Grigor Dimitrov and Tommy Paul competed.
With two weeks to go until the Nitto ATP Finals, ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin as of Monday, 28 October.
[ATP APP]Alex de Minaur – Ninth (3,555 points)
The Aussie remains one place outside the Turin qualification cutoff but closed the gap on eighth-placed Andrey Rublev (3,720 points) after reaching the semi-finals in Vienna. De Minaur collected 200 points in the process. The 25-year-old, who has struggled with a hip injury since Wimbledon, beat Jan-Lennard Struff, Flavio Cobolli and #NextGenATP Czech Jakub Mensik in Austria. De Minaur is aiming to make his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals, held from 10-17 November.
View PIF ATP Live Race To Turin
Andrey Rublev – Eighth (3,720 points)
Rublev added another 100 precious points to his total by advancing to the quarter-finals in Basel. The 27-year-old, who has won two ATP Tour titles in 2024, is aiming to compete at the year-end event for the fifth consecutive season. Rublev will compete at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Paris this week.
Grigor Dimitrov – 10th (3,150 points)
Dimitrov has climbed one spot in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin after reaching the second round in Vienna. The 33-year-old is 570 points behind Rublev and will need a deep run in Paris to keep his qualification hopes alive. Last year, Dimitrov advanced to the title match at the final ATP Masters 1000 event of the season.
Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev have already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Former Top 5 stars Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori will be in action at the same ATP Challenger Tour event this week.
Wawrinka, the three-time major champion and Nishikori, the former No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will compete in the Slovak Open 2024. The ATP Challenger 125 tournament is being held in Bratislava.
Wawrinka, who also played ATP Challenger Tour events in Aix-en-Provence and Bordeaux earlier in the season, will begin his tournament against Maximilian Marterer.
Nishikori, who reached the quarter-finals in Como and Genoa in the past two months, will play third seed Marton Fucsovics in the first round.
Other players to watch include #NextGenATP star Joao Fonseca and fourth seed Jacob Fearnley, who owns a 23-1 ATP Challenger Tour record this season.
[ATP APP]There is plenty of Challenger action around the world this week, with events in Seoul, Sydney, Charlottesville, Guayaquil and Brazzaville, which is in Congo. The country makes its debut on the ATP Challenger Tour this week, becoming the 94th country/territory (and No. 10 in Africa) to host a tournament in Challenger history.
Hyeon Chung, who won the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, plays his first ATP Challenger Tour event of 2024 at the SISLEY Seoul Open.
You can watch all the action on Challenger TV, with live streams and full match replays.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]The final ATP Masters 1000 of the season, the Rolex Paris Masters, begins Monday with a full slate of action. Among the stars who will play are top-ranked Frenchman Ugo Humbert, 10th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and 11th seed Tommy Paul.
View the full Monday order of play below to see who is competing, on which court, and when they are scheduled.
[ATP APP]ORDER OF PLAY – MONDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2024
COURT CENTRAL start 11 a.m.
Tomas Machac (CZE) vs [WC] Arthur Rinderknech (FRA)
[Q] Quentin Halys (FRA) vs Francisco Cerundolo (ARG)
[15] Ugo Humbert (FRA) vs Brandon Nakashima (USA)
Not Before 7 p.m.
[10] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs [LL] Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP)
Not Before 8:30 p.m.
[WC] Adrian Mannarino (FRA) vs [11] Tommy Paul (USA)
COURT 1 start 11 a.m.
Jordan Thompson (AUS) vs Pedro Martinez (ESP)
Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG) vs Zhizhen Zhang (CHN)
Sebastian Baez (ARG) vs [Q] Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP)
Not Before 3:30 p.m.
[Q] Fabio Fognini (ITA) vs Alexander Bublik (KAZ)
Nicolas Jarry (CHI) vs [Q] Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)
Hugo Nys (MON) / Jan Zielinski (POL) vs Nathaniel Lammons (USA) / Jackson Withrow (USA)
COURT 2 start 11 a.m.
Luciano Darderi (ITA) vs Tallon Griekspoor (NED)
[PR] Marin Cilic (CRO) / Ivan Dodig (CRO) vs Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) / Andres Molteni (ARG)
Not Before 1:30 p.m.
[Q] Juncheng Shang (CHN) vs [Q] Marcos Giron (USA)
Not Before 4:00 p.m.
[WC] Sadio Doumbia (FRA) / Fabein Reboul (FRA) vs Taylor Fritz (USA) / Ben Shelton (USA)
Marcelo Melo (BRA) / Alexander Zverev (GER) vs Austin Krajicek (USA) / Rajeev Ram (USA)
Not Before 7 p.m.
Nuno Borges (POR) vs Alejandro Tabilo (CHI)
Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals. This week’s Rolex Paris Masters will play a critical role in deciding who will join them.
Taylor Fritz is in pole position to return to the season finale, to be played from 10-17 November, for the second time. In 2022, the American reached the semi-finals in Turin.
The fifth-placed Fritz has 4,290 points and can guarantee his place at the year-end championships by making the quarter-finals at the season’s final ATP Masters 1000 event. There are also other scenarios in which he would qualify earlier in the tournament based on the performance of players below him in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.
PIF ATP Live Race To Turin (entering Paris)
| Player | Points |
| 5) Taylor Fritz | 4,290 |
| 6) Novak Djokovic | 3,910 |
| 7) Casper Ruud | 3,845 |
| 8) Andrey Rublev | 3,720 |
| 9) Alex de Minaur | 3,555 |
| 10) Grigor Dimitrov | 3,150 |
| 11) Tommy Paul | 3,135 |
| 12) Stefanos Tsitsipas | 2,975 |
Sixth-placed Novak Djokovic is not competing in Paris. Since the Serbian is 380 points behind the American, Fritz is guaranteed to finish the regular season ahead of him in the Live Race.
Only 290 points separate seventh-placed Casper Ruud (3,845 points) and ninth-placed Alex de Minaur (3,555 points). Ruud (2) and Rublev (4) have made multiple Nitto ATP Finals appearances in the past, while De Minaur is trying to make his tournament debut.
“I’m looking over my shoulder because there are a lot of guys that can do really well here and even next week also counts,” Ruud said. “So there will still be a few more days or weeks of kind of nervous sleeping and thinking about it. But it’s okay.
“I’m in the position where if I do well it looks like I might be able to qualify, especially if I do well this week. So I’m just going to think about myself, not going to think about things I can’t control in terms of what other players do. But it’s getting tense. It’s becoming a really, really interesting Race and a close Race. A lot of things can still happen this week.”
[ATP APP]Tenth-placed Grigor Dimitrov, the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion, 11th-placed Tommy Paul and 12th-placed Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2019 season finale winner, need deep runs in Paris to keep alive their dreams of qualifying.
Three potential Rolex Paris Masters third-round matches are Fritz facing De Minaur, Ruud taking on Paul and Rublev playing Tsitsipas. Each would be critical in not only the tournament, but also the Live Race.
The Belgrade Open and the Moselle Open, two ATP 250 events the week after Paris, also count towards the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and qualification for the Nitto ATP Finals.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Jack Draper wins the biggest title of his career at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna as the British number one’s breakout season reaches even greater heights.
Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler gave the fans in Vienna something to cheer about on Sunday when they clinched their second title at the Erste Bank Open.
The Austrians, who triumphed at the indoor hard-court ATP 500 in 2022, rallied to defeat Neal Skupski and Michael Venus 4-6, 6-3, 10-1. With the one-hour, 25-minute victory, the duo improved to eight consecutive wins after lifting the trophy in Antwerp last week.
“The crowd went crazy today. With 10,000 people, it was an unbelievable atmosphere and we’re really happy with how the match ended,” said Miedler. “Now it’s time to celebrate. We managed to serve well [in the Match Tie-break], connect on the returns. It’s amazing to play a 10-1 tie-break against them.”
[ATP APP]Erler and Miedler led by a break in the opening set, but lost four consecutive games to fall behind in the championship match. Undeterred, they clawed their way back in a well-fought second set, during which they produced some scintillating tennis on return to shift the momentum in their favour in the Match Tie-break.
Buoyed by the home support at a sold-out Wiener Stadthalle, Erler and Miedler finished with a flourish to seal their eighth ATP Tour title as a team, winning 12 of the final 13 points.
With their run to the championship match in Vienna, Skupski and Venus are up to 13th in the PIF ATP Doubles Teams Rankings. Their impressive season is underpinned by back-to-back title runs on the British grass in Eastbourne and London.
Murray/Peers seal Basel crown
Qualifiers Jamie Murray and John Peers capped off a strong week by winning their first title together this year at the Swiss Indoors Basel.
The British-Australian duo produced a clinical performance in the championship match to upset top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic 6-3, 7-5.
Qualifiers ➡️ Champions 🏆@jamie_murray & @johnwpeers complete their dream week at the #SwissIndoorsBasel by defeating top seeds Koolhof/Mektic 6-3 7-5! pic.twitter.com/23KQZ5L9nV
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 27, 2024
“It was a crazy week for us,” said Murray, who saved three match points in their opening qualifying match. “We managed to battle through today, it was a really tough match. There were a lot of opportunities for both teams to break serve. Everyone was returning good and putting a lot of pressure on the server and we managed to hang tough at the end.
“It was a battle and we’re super excited to win and have a strong finish to what has been a tough year.”
Murray and Peers first teamed in 2013, amassing six ATP Tour titles together over the course of three years. After an eight-year spell with different partners, they rejoined forces in August this year.
“We’ve kept building and working hard ever since we got back together in America,” added Peers. “I think it’s a reward for all the hard work we’ve put in. We’ve been great with each other, combing well like we never left.”
With the defeat, Koolhof and Mektic remain in fifth place in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, 368 points ahead of eighth-placed Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten. They won the Nitto ATP Finals in 2020 and are still in strong contention to return to Turin in Koolhof’s final season as a professional.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard completed a perfect week of sizzling serving on Sunday to upset Ben Shelton and lift the trophy at the Swiss Indoors Basel.
The No. 50 in the PIF ATP Rankings prevailed 6-4, 7-6(4) against the sixth-seeded Shelton to become the lowest-ranked champion since Basel became a tour-level event in 1975. The 6’8” Frenchman hit 22 aces in the championship match to clinch his maiden ATP 500 crown without dropping serve all week.
“It’s amazing to win a tournament like that, a 500, for the first time for me,” said Mpetshi Perricard, who arrived in Basel having lost eight of his previous nine matches. “I just can be happy with myself, with what I did today and the past five days. It’s amazing to win here… [Before this] it was a tough month for me, but it’s always good when the victories are there.”
✨ The Age of Mpetshi Perricard ✨@MpetshiG‘s meteoric rise continues as he claims his maiden ATP 500 title, defeating Shelton 6-4 7-6(4) in Basel!#SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/ojVsjRNvDG
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 27, 2024
Mpetshi Perricard’s championship-match clash with Shelton seemed destined to be serve-dominated from the outset. Both players stepped on court for their second Lexus ATP Head2Head encounter having not dropped serve en route to the final. That pattern was soon snapped, however, when the Frenchman took advantage of an uncharacteristically slow start from Shelton to break the lefty’s serve in the third game of the match.
Shelton was unable to create an opportunity to work his way back into the set, as Mpetshi Perricard’s relentless barrage of serving ensured that one break was all he needed to clinch the opener. Even so, Shelton produced some real moments of magic, most notably a stunning blocked forehand return winner against a 236 km/h delivery out wide.
Shelton was ultimately unable to carve out a single break point in the match, according to Infosys ATP Stats, and the pressure finally told again in the second-set tie-break. The American mishit a simple forehand volley wide at 4/4, the only mini break of the tie-break, and from there Mpetshi Perricard promptly fired two aces to seal an 87-minute win.
“On this surface, of course my serve is a good weapon for me, but I try to be aggressive from the baseline and put some pressure on the opponent,” reflected Mpetshi Perricard. “I’m very happy [because it was] a big part of my game this week.”
After lifting his second ATP Tour trophy, and his first ATP 500, Mpetshi Perricard ensured he will on Monday rise to a career-high World No. 31. The 21-year-old, who lifted an ATP 250 crown in Lyon earlier this year, has made the biggest jump into the Top 50 of the PIF ATP Rankings this year after beginning 2024 as the World No. 205.
“My goal was to win a 250 or a 500, but to win both is amazing,” said the Frenchman, when asked about his rapid rise. “Of course, I’m focused on what I can improve in my game, a lot of things in training. The work paid [off], and I’m really happy.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]