Novak Djokovic is the fifth player to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, joining Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud. The Serbian will pursue a record-tying sixth title at the season finale from 13-20 November at the Pala Alpitour in Turin.

Djokovic claimed his spot in Turin under the Grand Slam champion provision, which awards entry to a current-year major winner who finishes between 8th and 20th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. After lifting the Astana trophy on Sunday, the 35-year-old moved to 10th in the Race and is now guaranteed to be within the Top 20 on 7 November after the Rolex Paris Masters.

The Serbian qualified for the year-end championships for the 15th time, tied for fourth-most qualifications in event history with Andre Agassi. Only Roger Federer (18), Nadal and Jimmy Connors (16 each) have more. Djokovic will attempt to tie Federer’s record of six Nitto ATP Finals titles in November. Djokovic (2008, ’12-’15), Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras own five trophies each at the season finale.

After losing his first championship match of 2022 on home soil in Belgrade, Djokovic found his footing in Rome, where he claimed a record-extending 38th ATP Masters 1000 title. Despite losing a tight four-setter to Nadal in the Roland Garros quarter-finals, Djokovic bounced back by capturing his seventh Wimbledon trophy and with it, his 21st Grand Slam victory.

Djokovic has also played some of his best tennis during the indoor hard-court swing, capturing his 89th and 90th tour-level crowns in Tel Aviv and Astana, respectively. This is the fifth consecutive year and 12th overall in which Djokovic has captured both a Grand Slam title and ATP Masters 1000 crown. He has lifted four trophies this season, the 14th time he has accomplished the feat.

Djokovic will take a 41-17 Nitto ATP Finals record into the season finale. The Serbian has advanced out of the round-robin stage 10 times, including in eight of his past nine appearances.

Novak Djokovic, playing a pure, pristine brand of tennis on Sunday, defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 to win the third edition of the Astana Open.

It was the ninth consecutive match victory for the fourth seed, who won the title a week ago in Tel Aviv. This was the 90th tour-level title for the 35-year-old and it required only 75 minutes.

For the third-seeded Greek Tsitsipas, it was the ninth time he played in an ATP 500 final – and the ninth time he came up empty. Djokovic now leads their ATP Head2Head series 8-2 and has won the past seven.

As a result of the win, the Serbian star secures himself a Top 20 spot in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race to Turin after the 2022 Rolex Paris Masters, meaning the reigning Wimbledon champion qualifies for the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals as a current-year Grand Slam winner. It was the 90th career tour-level title for Djokovic and the fourth of 2022.

When the on-court interviewer observed that Djokovic probably never dreamed of 90 ATP Tour titles, Djokovic shook his head.

“I dared to dream, actually,” he corrected. “I always hoped that I would be going to have a great career. Obviously, didn’t know the amount of finals I was going to play, the amount of tournaments I was going to win, but my intention was always to reach the highest heights in our sport.”

Tsitsipas will return to the Top 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday and the 24-year-old Greek still leads all ATP Tour players with 53 match wins.

Djokovic began the match with an extraordinary level of play, winning the first game at love in a little over one minute. With Tsitsipas serving at 3-4, the 21-time major champion turned up the heat. Employing the drop shot that undid Daniil Medvedev in a semi-final tie-break, Djokovic went on to create the only break point of the first set. After Tsitsipas over-hit a forehand, Djokovic served it out, finishing a flourish – and ace outside.

Djokovic scored another break in the fifth game of the second set when a frustrated Tsitsipas attempted a drop shot that fell into the net. Later, Djokovic converted his third match point with a backhand winner into an open court.

“I’m just very grateful and blessed to be able to play this well at this stage of my life,” Djokovic said. “You know, 35 is not 25. But I think the experience, probably, in these kinds of matches and big occasions helps as well to approach mentally in the right way.”

Did nearly three months away from tennis following his win at Wimbledon make Djokovic hungrier for success?

“Well, it did,” Djokovic said. “I could not ask for a better re-start of the season. I’m super-pumped and motivated to end the season as well as I have done these past couple of weeks.”

For the match, Djokovic won 87 per cent (33/38) of his first-serve points. He did not face a break point, hitting15 winners and committing only seven unforced errors. Tsitsipas, meanwhile, consistently struggled to land his forehand.

This was the 10th all Top-10 final of the year and second at an ATP 500 event after World No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Tsitsipas at the 2022 Rotterdam final.

Immediately following seven days in hotel quarantine in Seoul, Taylor Fritz completed a perfect five-day stretch in Tokyo on Sunday to claim his third title of a career-defining year.

With a 7-6(3), 7-6(2) victory against countryman Frances Tiafoe in the final at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, the third seed became the 10th different American singles champion at the ATP 500 event and the first since Pete Sampras in 1996. Fritz will make his Top 10 debut at No. 8 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday, and has moved up three spots to seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin this week.

“[It’s] crazy, I don’t even think it’s set in just how fast the last four or five days have been,” said Fritz after the match. “It’s so crazy, and I couldn’t have written it any better. It’s exactly what I needed for the Race, for my ranking, to kind of put me in a good position for the end of the year, so it’s amazing.”

Tiafoe carried a streak of 13 straight singles tie-break wins into the title match, but Fritz dominated both on Sunday with big serving and aggressive hitting. He did not drop a point on serve in either tie-break, both times converting on early leads.

“Both tie-breaks, I don’t think I missed a first serve, which is a huge key, coming up with it in the big moments,” said Fritz, who won 78 per cent of points behind his first delivery and 75 per cent on second serve. “I felt extremely calm and I felt like I had a lot of clarity in making decisions on the court. For playing such a big match in a final, that’s huge to not be nervous and feel very calm and locked in.”

The third seed held the upper hand for much of the match, creating eight break chances compared to three for Tiafoe. A trade of breaks in the third and fourth games made for an eventful start, but the drama peaked in final three games of the opening set.

Tiafoe’s 4-5 service game began a run of three games with a break point. Facing a set point at 30/40, he outlasted Fritz in a lengthy rally before firing two big serves to hold. After a brilliant Tiafoe volley brought up his own break chance, Fritz used a drop shot to escape before battling through two deuces to edge back in front.

Fritz nearly converted on his second set point, with his opponent again down 30/40, but the fourth seed defended well, deep in his backhand corner, to turn the point around.

In the tie-break, Fritz claimed an early mini-break by punishing a short Tiafoe slice, then sealed the set with a booming forehand winner.

In set two, Tiafoe saved two break points both 1-1 and 2-2 and then escaped 30/30 in his next two service games. Fritz, who did not face a break point in the set, scored an immediate mini-break in the second tie-break and soon held a 6/1 advantage, with Tiafoe growing frustrated by untimely errors.

Tiafoe unleashed one last big forehand to save one match point but sent a forehand long on the second as Fritz clinched victory, adding to his previous 2022 titles in Indian Wells and Eastbourne.

“He just played well. He played the big points well, played really aggressive,” Tiafoe said of his opponent. “I wasn’t as aggressive as I was the last couple of matches. He played really aggressive, didn’t really miss when it mattered. He just played the bigger points a little better than I did today. It was a tight match and I didn’t play the breakers well enough. Pretty simple.”

Both players entered the final at career highs in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, and both will break new ground on Monday. Fritz is set to become the first American to crack the Top 10 since Jack Sock in 2017, while Tiafoe will rise two spots to a new high of No. 17.

With the win, Fritz improved to 5-1 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series and has now won each of their past five matchups, including three this season (Australian Open, Montreal, Tokyo).

The all-American singles final was the first in Tokyo since 1996, when Sampras defeated Richey Reneberg, and the eighth overall at the event. The ’96 championship match completed a run of four consecutive all-U.S. finals in Tokyo and five consecutive American champions (Sampras three times, Jim Courier twice).

This year’s Tokyo final was also the fifth all-American tour-level final of 2022, the most since five in 2002.

After claiming the title in his fourth Tokyo appearance, Fritz joins the entirety of the Big Four — Roger Federer (2006), Rafael Nadal (2010), Andy Murray (2011) and Novak Djokovic (2019) — among Tokyo’s honour roll of champions.

“I came here confident that I could win a round or two and then see how it goes,” Fritz said of his post-quarantine expectations, having entered Tokyo on Wednesday, the day of his opening match. “I felt like if I could get through my first two matches, then I would probably be playing good enough tennis. So I think that was the real question mark, was those first two matches. But I honestly had a lot of confidence that I was going to win those.

“It’s really crazy that I went from being in quarantine, having to fly here, and then winning the tournament. It’s definitely something that I didn’t expect.”

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic captured their fifth tour-level title of the season on Sunday at the Astana Open, downing Frenchmen Adrian Mannarino and Fabrice Martin 6-4, 6-2.

The second seeds, who dropped just one set en route to the final, were in control throughout the 66-minute clash in Kazakhstan, firing nine aces and saving all three break points they faced to earn their 46th tour-level win of the season.

“We are very happy. We played a great match today,” Mektic said. “After the grass-court season, this is our first title and we are very happy and confident and motivated for the end of the season. It is a very strong tournament and we are very happy and proud we came out on top.”

“They started off pretty good serving and hit a couple of return winners,” Pavic said. “We saved a break point and from that moment on I would say that we were the much better team on the court.”

Following their title, Mektic and Pavic have boosted their hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 13-20 November in Turin. The Croatians reached the semi-finals at the end-of-year event last season and are currently fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Rankings.

The pair has now lifted trophies on all three surfaces this year after triumphing on the hard courts at the ATP 500 event in Astana. In May they won consecutive clay-court titles in Rome and Geneva, before they tasted success on grass at The Queen’s Club and Eastbourne.

The 34-year-old Mannarino was competing in his first tour-level doubles final, while Martin was aiming to lift his eighth trophy at this level but first since 2021 when he triumphed in Antwerp with Nicholas Mahut.

Mackenzie McDonald and Marcelo Melo completed a dream debut week as a pair by claiming the Tokyo doubles title on Sunday. The American-Brazilian duo won its second Match Tie-break of the week to defeat third seeds Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez 6-4, 3-6, 10-4 at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.

“It was a long time since I played here in Tokyo,” said Melo, who won the 2015 title in his last appearance at the ATP 500 event, alongside Raven Klaasen. “I always wanted to come back. I’m very happy to get another title here in Tokyo.”

“First doubles title for me,” added McDonald, “so it’s pretty special to do it here in Japan.”

Each of the first two sets were decided by a single, early break. The teams switched ends for the first time in the Match Tie-break knotted at 3/3, before McDonald and Melo won four straight points to take command. Melo dominated at the net to spark the crucial run, with McDonald adding an exclamation point with a return winner for 7/3.

After two big serves from the Brazilian brought up a host of match points, before the pair clinched the title in style. Melo was able to fashion a lob from a defensive reflex volley, and he then put the next ball way to secure the title.

“It was a very tough match,” said Melo, who reached out to McDonald to form the new partnership. “[Matos and Vega Hernandez] are playing very good. They just won a title last week [in Sofia], they’ve played together. I think it was important for me and Mackie to play the same way as we were playing since the beginning, focus on what we have to do.

“Today was tricky. A Match Tie-break, you never know what can happen. But we played very good. Mackie helped a lot, he played very good, as well. We are very happy. It’s not easy to play for the first time.”

McDonald, 27, earned his first ATP Tour title in singles or doubles with the victory. He was appearing in his first doubles final, having also competed in the Washington, D.C. singles final in 2021.

“I haven’t played a lot of doubles with doubles guys, so it’s actually really nice playing with him,” he said of the partnership with Melo. “His serve is good, he wants to play ‘I’ formation, he cleans up at the net… He kind of complements where I don’t fill all the holes. It worked out pretty well with that. It’s nice playing with a guy that can win points and put the ball away.”

Melo, 39, clinched his 36th tour-level doubles title — and first since 2020 — in his 70th final. In addition to his 2015 Tokyo title with Klaasen, he also reached the 2014 final with Ivan Dodig.

Following the match, he discussed his love for Japan: “I feel very good here mainly because of the Japanese people,” he said. “They are very respectful, they are very nice. You go in the streets. you see everybody respects each other. The food of course is amazing. I love sushi, I love the food.”

Matos and Vega Hernandez were seeking back-to-back titles after their trophy run in Sofia last week. They have won four titles on the season, with their other victories coming in Marrakech (their team debut), Mallorca and Bastad.

Prior to this week’s Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, Frances Tiafoe was asked about his goals for the rest of the 2022 season.

“Maybe more titles. I’ve not won a title in a long time,” responded the American, whose sole ATP Tour crown came in Delray Beach in 2018. “I’ve been close, but if I’ve won a title by the end of the year, if I can sneak one…”

On Saturday, a hard-fought semi-final victory against Soonwoo Kwon in Tokyo moved Tiafoe within one win of fulfilling that goal, perhaps sooner than he imagined. Friend and countryman Taylor Fritz awaits in Sunday’s final, but Tiafoe will be feeling confident after recently notching what he sees as career-defining wins at the US Open (where he beat Rafael Nadal en route to the semi-finals) and the Laver Cup (where he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to clinch the trophy for Team World).

“I think those wins are massive,” Tiafoe recently told ATPTour.com. “I’m playing some of the best tennis of my career so far right now, for sure, and I think I needed it. I’ve been on the brink for a while now, steadily getting my ranking back up and playing much better, so it feels nice for the rewards to be paying off now, but yeah, it comes with the territory and I’m ready for it.”

Coming into the US Open in late August, Tiafoe could look back on a solid yet inconsistent first eight months of his 2022 season, with a final in Estoril and a fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon among the highlights. He found a new level at Flushing Meadows, however, downing Nadal and Andrey Rublev to reach his maiden Grand Slam semi-final where eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz needed five sets to halt the American’s charge.

Tiafoe’s run was one of the stories of the fortnight in New York and with it came some unexpected attention. Following the Nadal win, Tiafoe was tweeted by LeBron James (“CONGRATS Young King!!!” wrote the NBA legend) while Michelle Obama was waiting to greet him shortly after the Alcaraz match. Tiafoe could hardly avoid noticing the rise in his profile in his homeland, but the 24-year-old found it surprisingly easy to stay focused on his tennis.

“Definitely I was in new territory during that tournament, but I was just so in the moment,” said Tiafoe. “Obviously, everything happened so fast, a lot of different distractions, I was just being me. I was just enjoying my tennis out there. I was just having fun, I didn’t really get too lost in that; I just kept the main thing [as] the main thing.”

CONGRATS Young King!!! You earned it! @FTiafoe 🙏🏾✊🏾🤎👑 https://t.co/QQ0Jn7Lotp

— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 5, 2022

At the Laver Cup in London two weeks ago, Tiafoe brought his best to the big stage once again, completing a stunning comeback win against Stefanos Tsitsipas in a Match Tie-break to earn the decisive points that sealed Team World’s first victory at the event in five attempts.

“Clinching the Laver Cup was amazing,” said Tiafoe. “I have to say hats off to all those guys. [Alex] De Minaur, Felix [Auger-Aliassime], Jack Sock, [Diego] Schwartzman, Fritz. I mean these guys, they all played their part… Then it was me who got to end it. The tactics from the side were unbelievable… [The guys] said, ‘You’re able to turn that around.’ It was special. Especially against that guy who is an incredible player.”

On the first day of competition in London, Tiafoe had teamed with Jack Sock to take on Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in doubles. It was the last match of Federer’s storied career, but Tiafoe was not afraid to spoil the party at the O2 as the American duo secured a thrilling victory.

“I mean obviously they’re great players,” said Tiafoe of Federer and Nadal. “It was tough. We weren’t supposed to get that done, but for us to go and get that done was huge and I’m happy we did.”

On Sunday, Tiafoe or Fritz will become the first American champion at the ATP 500 event in Tokyo since Pete Sampras in 1996. Although they are often rivals on the court, Tiafoe acknowledged that a positive energy among the ATP Tour’s American contingent has helped him discover extra belief when it comes to taking on the world’s best.

“It’s so good that we’re all having great times and playing the best tennis of our lives,” said Tiafoe. “I think we’re all bigging up each other, guys doing well.

“I’d seen Fritz beat Rafa in Indian Wells in the final. The time I played [Nadal], I was like ‘OK cool, I can do this’. You know, you start believing it. Tommy Paul is having the best season of his life, playing great. Reilly [Opelka]’s playing great, although he got hurt. The guys are playing some great tennis.

“We all grew up together so it’s all good blood and to be playing Under 12s together and then to be playing in the Laver Cup team together, it’s crazy. But we’ve got so much more to give to the game, so I’m super excited.”

With just over six weeks left of the 2022 season, Tiafoe is determined to make the most of his strong form. Even if he checks winning a title off his list of goals with victory in Tokyo on Sunday, he has his eyes set on finishing the year as high as he can in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

“Short-term, if I can end the year in the Top 16, so I would be a Top 16 seed for the Aussie Open, that would be cool,” said the American, who would rise to a career-high No. 15 on Monday should he lift the trophy in Japan. “I would have had a great year.

“Then, honestly, [next year] it’s the Masters series and the Slams. Next year, I’m going to really try to be attacking those. I’m expecting myself to be well, well prepped for them. Every Slam, and all the Masters.”

Before all that, of course, Tiafoe must prepare for his fifth tour-level final in Tokyo. Regardless of the result against Fritz, however, the American believes the signs are good for him moving forward.

“I’m getting in a really good rhythm,” he said after defeating Kwon on Saturday. “I feel good, I feel really confident. [It’s the] best time in my career right now on and off court. I’m having fun, meeting people I wouldn’t usually meet. I’m just enjoying life right now.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas has been an agent of change at the Astana Open.

In 12 previous matches against Andrey Rublev, going back eight years all the way to juniors, the winner of the first set always won the match. And when Rublev took the opening set of their semi-final encounter on Saturday, it looked for all the world that it would happen again.

And then, with Rublev serving at 4-5 in the second set, the 24-year-old Greek scored a break of serve to level the match. He did it again in the eighth game of the third set and went on to a riveting 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 comeback victory.

He’ll have to again rewrite history in Sunday’s final against Novak Djokovic, for the Serbian star has won seven of nine previous matches against Tsitsipas – including the past six.

Djokovic scored a strange victory over Daniil Medvedev in what had been an epic semi-final. After losing a second-set tie-break, Medvedev abruptly retired with a thigh injury. That left Djokovic “shocked” and disappointed for both Medvedev and the crowd.

And there’s another narrative to change for Tsitsipas. He’s into his ninth final at an ATP 500 event – and he’s 0-8.

“It’s unfortunate, honestly, that I haven’t been able to win those eight,” Tsitsipas told reporters. “I was very close, at least in two or three of them. I wouldn’t say that I’ve choked in any of them. It was just bad luck so far that I haven’t been able to get a victory in one of them.”

Tsitsipas has a lot going for him. The win over Rublev was his 53rd of the year – leading all players on the ATP Tour, one ahead of World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. He was steady against Rublev, striking eight aces and zero double faults, while saving five of six break points.

“In the end, especially when things got tough,” Tsitsipas said, “my concentration level spiked up, I was completely living in the moment and playing every single point individually. It helped me slow down time, helped me anticipate better.”

Tsitsipas didn’t know the identity of his opponent in the final when he held his post-match press conference, but acknowledged that Djokovic and Medvedev played a similar baseline game.

“My movement would be important,” he said of either potential finals matchup. “I feel like my baseline game can be competitive against those guys. They cover the court pretty well. I have the option also of coming to the net. A consistent serve is the key.”

The lopsided head-to-head record is slightly misleading; three of their past four matches have gone the distance. Djokovic was a five-set winner in the Roland Garros semi-finals two years ago. In 2021, he won 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome and prevailed in a memorable five-setter in the Roland Garros final.

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Djokovic believes it might come down to who serves better.

“Happy with the way, generally, I have been serving,” he said in his post-match press conference. “In today’s tennis, on the highest level, you need a big serve. You need to try to get at least some free points on any surface.

“I’ll be playing against another big server, Tsitsipas. I know another battle is expecting me, and I am hoping I can deliver the best possible game.”

Tsitsipas, despite that spotty record in 500-level finals said he was “pumped” to be in another one.

“Every single opportunity I try to put the best of myself out there,” Tsitsipas said. “I don’t think there’s a reason to feel any sort of pressure. Or any sort of tightness in those circumstances because the finals showcase the best of the tournament during that week.”

Longtime friends and recent Laver Cup teammates, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe will renew their ATP Tour rivalry in Sunday’s Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships final in Tokyo.

The 24-year-olds have matured together as professionals after first crossing paths on the junior circuit, with lofty expectations thrust onto both as hopes for the future of American men’s tennis. But both finalists have thrived this season by blocking out the noise and focussing inwards instead.

For Tiafoe, pressure has led to diamonds of late on the court, with the American winning 13 consecutive singles tie-breaks, including one in the Tokyo second round. Similarly, the weight of expectation does not weigh him down.

“As far as expectations that I have, so to speak, right now… I don’t really feel that way. I just want to win,” he said in a Tokyo press conference. “I don’t really care about what other people think I should be doing because I had recent success. I’ve been on Tour for seven or eight years now, and none of that really moves me.

“I want to win for me. I’m not trying to achieve anybody else’s goals or [caring] what they think of me. I’m just trying to be the best I can be and enjoy this. It’s been great. The US Open, Laver Cup, to be here now. I’m just having fun with it. I’m confident and I’m just enjoying life, so I’m going to keep doing that.”

Fritz made remarkably similar comments after his semi-final victory against Denis Shapovalov, a win which ensured he will make his debut in the Top 10 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings this coming Monday.

“Now with all the pressure coming in from media, American tennis, all this stuff, I don’t really care any more,” Fritz said. “I feel like I stopped caring a long time ago.

“I think when I was 18 and I kind of was the first one to have some really good results and do well when I was super young, I think that back then it maybe got to me a little bit because I was so young and it just all came out of nowhere. I’ve learned now to just not really care.

“I think all the pressure that I always feel is pressure that I put on myself, because I expect a lot from myself and I expect to do really well… I think it’s good that I do that because it motivates me and it drives me.”

The Americans’ parallel careers have yielded a respectful rivalry on the court. Fritz leads their ATP Head2Head series 4-1, with wins in their last four meetings. But he was quick to point out the close nature of those contests, with three requiring deciding sets and Tiafoe surrendering a 4-0 lead in the final set of their most recent matchup, two months ago in Montreal.

“It’s always very tight when we play each other. We’ve been really close friends for a long time and it’s one of those things where we’re really close friends but we’re also rivals, as well. I feel like there’s been this ongoing rivalry between us since we were probably 16 or 17 years old.

“It’ll be fun. There’s always tension when we play. It’s going to be a good match.”

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Tiafoe was the first of the two to book his final place, courtesy of a 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 win against Soonwoo Kwon. He made no secret of his rooting interest in Saturday’s second semi.

“Playing Taylor would be great,” he said. “We just won the Laver Cup together, so we’re obviously — even before that — very good friends. But the bond gets even tighter, doing something that’s never happened in tennis.

“I love that guy. I’m happy to see what he’s been able to do, with him having COVID and all that in Korea… It goes to show what a competitor he is, That’s what would make it so tough. He’s a great competitor, he serves well, he has a huge forehand, and he’s confident and getting better, too. I hope I end up playing him. I think it will be good.

“Let the best man win.”

Tiafoe is seeking his second ATP Tour title (2018 Delray Beach) in his fifth final, including a run to the Estoril title match in May. Fritz will bid for his fourth tour-level crown and his third of 2022 following triumphs in Indian Wells and Eastbourne.

The all-American final will be the first in Tokyo since Pete Sampras defeated Richey Reneberg in 1996, in what was the fourth straight all-U.S. final at the event. By winning his third Tokyo title, Sampras completed a five-year run of American champions that also included two triumphs for Jim Courier.

The winner of Sunday’s marquee matchup will also join the entirety of the Big Four — Roger Federer (2006), Rafael Nadal (2010), Andy Murray (2011) and Novak Djokovic (2019) — among Tokyo’s honour roll of champions.

Daniil Medvedev admitted that he was not willing to take any risks after he was forced to retire from his semi-final match against Novak Djokovic on Saturday at the Astana Open.

With the scores level at 4-6, 7-6(6), the second seed walked to the net and brought an end to proceedings after he pulled a muscle in his leg during the dramatic second-set tie-break.

“It’s the second time in my life I retired like this with a pulled muscle,” Medvedev explained later. “So here, on the second point of the tie-break, I felt a little bit [of a] strange pop in my adductor. I first thought maybe it is cramp and after the point I was like, `No, probably not a cramp.’

“And during the tie-break, I felt I can play like five, 10 more points but that’s it. If I play one more set, you can do it, but you can probably miss half a year instead of one month.”

Medvedev was aiming to win his second tour-level title of the season this week at the ATP 500 event in Astana after triumphing in Los Cabos in July. The 26-year-old had not dropped a set en route to the semi-final clash against Djokovic and looked strong against the Serbian in their 11th ATP Head2Head meeting before he was forced to retire.

“I actually have no idea what is fair,” Medvedev said when discussing his decision to retire. “If I won, I would not play the final. I was like, ‘OK, I just try to hit some shots’. If I manage to win, well I cannot do anything, I will retire. If I lose, congrats to Novak, he’s still in great shape. Good luck to him in the final.”

Djokovic will seek his 90th tour-level title when he faces Stefanos Tsitsipas in the championship match in Astana on Sunday.

Stefanos Tsitsipas enjoyed his time hitting lightly with Carlos Alcaraz at a tennis court built outdoors at the Baiterek monument in Astana earlier in the week.

Indoors at the Astana Open, Tsitsipas’ extended stay means the Greek has now surpassed Alcaraz’s win tally and goes atop the ATP Tour with 53 victories in 2022 after beating Andrey Rublev 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The third seed said he would like to match his idol, Roger Federer, and get to 80 or 90 wins in one of his future seasons.

And while it won’t happen this campaign, Tsitsipas is bound to be jubilant after his unprecedented — in terms of their head-to-head — comeback against the fifth seed. The pair had met 12 times going back to their junior days and the winner of the first set won every single match.

It all changed at the National Tennis Center, with Tsitsipas hanging tough as his opponent grew increasingly frustrated.

If Rublev produced several highlight-reel forehand returns and forehands in general, Tsitsipas excelled with his all-court game and was more solid at the conclusion.

Strokes, tactics and technique were only part of the equation, however.

“I think the heart was very decisive in the end, especially when things got tough,” said Tsitsipas. “My concentration level spiked up. I was completely living in the moment and playing every single point.

“I think I reached the biggest point of zoning in the last few games of the third set and that helped me slow down time, helped me anticipate a bit better.”

Last year’s Roland Garros finalist saved the first two break points of the decider at 2-2.
He took control by breaking for 5-3, and was untroubled in serving out the semi-final.
Rublev flung his racket to the ground in the final game after his forehand went into the net for 30-0.

Tsitsipas has captured the Nitto ATP Finals title and a pair of ATP Masters 1000 titles, so call it a statistical anomaly that he hasn’t yet claimed a 500 level tournament, going 0-8 in those finals.

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To land that first 500 crown, he will have to beat Novak Djokovic, who has a winning record against the Greek.

“It’s been unfortunate,” said Tsitsipas. “I’ve been unable to win those eight. I was very close at least in two or three of them.”

He is right. Three went to third sets, including against Rafael Nadal on clay in Barcelona last year when Tsitsipas even held a match point.

“I wouldn’t say I have choked in any of them. I’d say it’s just bad luck that I haven’t been able to get a victory in one of them.

“Overall, I’m pumped to be playing in those finals, every single chance I get I try to put my best out there. I don’t think there’s a reason to feel any pressure or tightness in those situations because finals showcase the best of the tournament during that week, and it’s an extra reason to go out there and play my best.”

No matter the result on Sunday, Tsitsipas said he will leave Astana impressed with the new 500 event.

“It’s a great event,” said Tsitsipas. “I think they have done a great job of putting things together and making this very convenient for all us players.”