Carlos Alcaraz moved to within two wins of capturing his sixth tour-level title of the season Friday when he overcame Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-4 at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

The 19-year-old Spaniard looked in control throughout the one-hour, 38-minute clash at the ATP 500 event, opening his shoulders to hit through his countryman on the indoor courts. Alcaraz overpowered Carreno Busta during the backhand exchanges and showed good touch around the net to efficiently win points and triumph.

“It is difficult to play against a friend like Pablo,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “Every day we go and have dinner, lunch, together. Every week and we train together, so it is difficult to play against him. I also support him and want him to win every match. On court, there are no friends. You have to be focused and go for the match and that is what I did.”

The World No. 1 Alcaraz now leads Carreno Busta 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, having defeated him in the Barcelona final in April. Alcaraz, who defeated Jack Draper and Botic van de Zandschulp earlier this week, will next play Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semi-finals on Saturday.

“It is going to be a really tough match,” Alcaraz said looking ahead to his match against Auger-Aliassime. “He is playing really well. He has had great victories this year. I will have to be really focused. I will try to show my best tennis against him.”

The Spaniard is now 4-2 since his US Open triumph last month – which earned him his debut atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings – and 55-11 on the season overall. Through to his ninth semi-final of the year, Alcaraz is looking to add to his Tour-leading five titles in 2022, which includes ATP Masters 1000 crowns in Miami and Madrid.

If he can overcome Auger-Aliassime and reach his eighth final of the season, he will move ahead of Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has advanced to seven championship matches this year. The Greek could also reach the final in Vienna this week, though.

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In the bottom half of the draw, Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut moved past Swiss home hope Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 7-6(5) in two hours and 10 minutes.

The 34-year-old had lost at the quarter-final stage in his three previous appearances in Basel but produced a consistent baseline performance against Wawrinka to ensure he would not fall at the same stage this year.

Bautista Agut will next play Holger Rune after the #NextGenATP Dane defeated Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 7-6(0), 6-2 in 82 minutes.

Rune, who will compete at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan next month, has now won 12 of his past 13 matches. The 19-year-old defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to triumph in Stockholm last week.

Daniil Medvedev’s defiant defence shut down the high-powered challenge of Jannik Sinner on Friday at the Erste Bank Open, where the 26-year-old secured a clinical 6-4, 6-2 quarter-final triumph.

Medvedev’s persistence proved decisive in an engrossing 91-minute encounter in Austria. Sinner threw a barrage of heavy groundstrokes at his opponent but was unable to regularly hit through the top seed. Medvedev did not face a break point in the match and converted three of six break points of his own as he improved his ATP Head2Head series record against the Italian to 4-0.

“Jannik is a top player, and he can pose problems to anybody basically,” said Medvedev after the match. “The last two Grand Slams, he played five sets with the [eventual] winner, so Jannik is a top player and I’m really happy today with my performance.

“I served amazingly well, I almost didn’t do any unforced errors, I was solid behind the baseline. Everything was working well today and I’m really happy about it.”

From downtown 🤯@DaniilMedwed with a return from wayyyy back!#ErsteBankOpen pic.twitter.com/BpidvBBnvy

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 28, 2022

With the win, Medvedev improved to 32-10 on hard courts in 2022. Medvedev, who can seal his spot at November’s Nitto ATP Finals by lifting the trophy in Vienna, was pleased to have backed up his semi-final run in Astana three weeks ago by reaching the same stage in the Austrian capital for the first time.

“In general the way I played today against Jannik is the same as in Astana,” said the top seed. “I’m really happy, I have been looking for this level for a long, long time. It’s the level where I can win the biggest tournaments on Tour and I hope I can bring it to two more matches.”

The only man in the singles draw yet to drop serve this week in Vienna, Medvedev will next meet Grigor Dimitrov as he chases his second tour-level title of the season. The Bulgarian earlier held off Marcos Giron for a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 quarter-final victory.

Medvedev leads Dimitrov 3-2 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series, but the Bulgarian won the last meeting between the two in Indian Wells in 2021.

“Grigor is the same [as Sinner], he is a top player, he can beat anybody,” said Medvedev. “He was a Top Three player, making semis of Slams. Maybe more up and down this year, but when he is up he is amazing, so I just have to play my best tennis from my side and that’s how I can have the chance to win.”

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In the bottom half of the draw, Borna Coric held his nerve in a deciding-set tie-break for the second consecutive day in Vienna as he prevailed 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(5) against Hubert Hurkacz in a thrilling quarter-final clash.

Barely 24 hours after he rallied to a stunning second-round win against second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, Coric withstood a huge serving performance from Hurkacz (that included 28 aces) to reach the semi-finals for the first time on his fourth appearance in Vienna. The Croatian saved all four break points he faced in his two-hour, 53-minute triumph.

“I don’t know [how I won], to be honest,” said Coric after the match. “He was serving absolute bombs, I’ve never seen that in my life. I was just hanging in there, focusing on my serve and trying to stay positive, because that’s the only thing that I could do, and then hope that in the tie-break I could make some returns.”

Cincinnati champion Coric will take on Denis Shapovalov, a 6-3, 6-3 winner against Daniel Evans, in the semi-finals as he aims to reach his second tour-level final of 2022.

Hurkacz’s defeat represents a blow to the Pole’s hopes of qualifying for November’s Nitto ATP Finals. The 25-year-old is in ninth position in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as he heads to next week’s Rolex Paris Masters, where he will likely require a deep run to have a chance of sealing a spot at the season finale for the second time.

Felix Auger-Aliassime extended his winning streak to 11 matches on Friday when he moved past Alexander Bublik 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

In a dominant display, the Canadian fired 28 winners and committed just four unforced errors to advance after 73 minutes. Auger-Aliassime now leads the 25-year-old Bublik 2-1 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series and will next play top seed Carlos Alcaraz or fifth seed Pablo Carreno Busta.

“It was a good match. It is so important for me to stay disciplined and focus on my serve,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I haven’t been broken in the whole tournament and today was a good effort on staying focused on my serve. I was able to seize a few opportunities. The first break was important. To take that pressure off myself from the beginning. It is the best way to start the match.

“In the past two months, I have been training much better and very locked in and focused on what I need to do and I am trying to put it on display.”

With his 51st victory of the season, the 22-year-old has strengthened his Nitto ATP Finals qualification chances. Auger-Aliassime currently sits seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin with 3,315 points as he holds onto what is currently the final qualifying position.

He is 405 points clear of eighth-placed Taylor Fritz as he seeks to make his debut at the season finale in Turin. If the Canadian wins his fourth tour-level title of the season in Basel, he will move above Andrey Rublev and into sixth.

Auger-Aliassime arrived at the ATP 500 event off the back of consecutive tour-level crowns in Florence and Antwerp. The third seed has continued his imperious form in Switzerland, where he has also defeated Marc-Andrea Huesler and Miomir Kecmanovic.

Stan Wawrinka faced down an inspired comeback from Brandon Nakashima on Thursday at the Swiss Indoors Basel, where the home favourite held firm to seal a thrilling 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 second-round win.

Wawrinka appeared set for a straightforward victory in his first tour-level meeting with Nakashima when he served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. #NextGenATP American Nakashima had other ideas, raising his level with some high-octane baseline hitting to force a decider, but Wawrinka kept his cool to convert the only break point of the third set and clinch an engrossing two-hour, 12-minute win.

“He battled, of course,” said Wawrinka after the match. “He was playing well, it was a really intense match. He’s a great player and it was tough, the first time playing against each other… I had the chance to close the match at 6-4, 5-4, I couldn’t really find my first serve and he played really well.

“He was aggressive. So it was not easy to come back in the third, but really I am happy with the way I fought again, the way I came back.”

Thursday’s win backed up Wawrinka’s opening-round triumph against second seed Casper Ruud. The former World No. 3 was delighted to seal another victory in front of his home fans and reach the quarter-finals in Basel for the sixth time in 15 appearances.

“I am playing much better than in the past few months and at home the feeling is always special,” said Wawrinka. “It has been many years that I have been [coming back] to Basel. It was not always easy to play here, I’ve not always played my best tennis and not always found it easy to deliver for the fans.

“Tonight and two nights ago, I think I [played] great and I had amazing support, so it’s really great to be here.”

Wawrinka’s quarter-final opponent will be Roberto Bautista Agut, who prevailed 6-3, 6-2 against former World No. 1 Andy Murray. Wawrinka and Bautista Agut share a 1-1 ATP Head2Head series record, with Friday’s clash in Basel set to be their first meeting since 2019.

In the final match of the day in Basel, #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune continued his hot streak of form with a 6-4, 6-2 second-round triumph against Ugo Humbert. The 19-year-old converted three from five break points to register his seventh consecutive tour-level win. The Munich and Stockholm champion will meet Arthur Rinderknech in the quarter-finals as he continues his bid for his third ATP Tour title of the season.

Borna Coric earned his third straight victory against Stefanos Tsitsipas with a Thursday comeback at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. Down a set and a break, Coric recovered to claim a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) win and advance to the quarter-finals.

The Croatian famously saved six match points to stun the Greek at the 2020 US Open, and while he was never that close to defeat at the ATP 500, he did have his back to the wall when Tsitsipas led by a set and 2-0. After breaking straight back, Coric fought off a break point at 2-3, which sparked a run of 15 straight points on serve that carried into the final set.

Both players fought through deuce to hold early in the decider, with another trade of breaks exchanged midway through the set. From 3-3, there would be no further break points, Coric ultimately taking the tie-break behind a single mini-break.

Coric improved to 3-1 in his ATP Head2Head against Tsitsipas, with the Greek’s only win coming via an early retirement in Rome 2018. The resurgent Croatian is now 13-3 since the start of Cincinnati, where he beat Tsitsipas 7-6(0), 6-2 in the final. Through to his fourth quarter-final of the season and his second of the month (Tokyo), he will meet fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz on Friday.

Jannik Sinner also advanced to the Vienna quarter-finals on Thursday night with a 7-5, 6-3 win against Francisco Cerundolo. The Italian has not dropped a set this week and lost just five games against Cristian Garin on Wednesday in the first round.

The sixth seed will now seek his first win against Daniil Medvedev in the pair’s fourth meeting, their first since a thriller in the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals which was decided by a 10-8 third-set tie-break.

The world’s best players will unite to compete side by side at the United Cup, a stunning new team event set to launch the global tennis season in 2023.

The United Cup, an ATP-WTA event presented in partnership with Tennis Australia, will showcase equality at the highest level of the sport, with mixed teams from 18 countries competing across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney over 11 days, from Thursday 29 December to Sunday 8 January 2023.

The power and passion of team competition will come to life as the players unite to represent their countries with national pride and USD $15 million in prize money on the line. In a world first for a mixed team event, 500 Pepperstone ATP Rankings and WTA rankings points are also up for grabs.

The first 12 countries will qualify via the six highest-ranked No. 1 players that enter, on both the ATP Tour and Hologic WTA Tour. The remaining six countries will qualify according to the best combined ranking of their respective No. 1 men’s and women’s players. Teams will feature three to four players from each Tour.

Each city will host two groups of three countries, competing in a round-robin format, with ties comprising two ATP and two WTA singles matches, and one mixed doubles match. Each City Final winner will advance to the United Cup Final Four in Sydney (6-8 January), with the next best performing team from the group stages completing the quartet.

Former World No. 1 Andy Murray said that the new event would leverage tennis’ inherent advantage over other sports. “I love to see the men and women competing together. It’s something I’m very excited about,” he said. “We’re the only global sport where men and women compete at the same venues, which is something very special about our sport and something to be celebrated. Big events like this will help.

“I’m sure all the players will be very passionate about competing for their countries and the men and women will work together to support each other.”

Former Australian tennis player and current commentator Casey Dellacqua said, “It’s an exciting opportunity for our sport. It’s the first time we’ll bring the men’s and women’s tours together for a global team event offering huge prize money and big rankings points. It’s wonderful innovation for the game of tennis and it will be a blockbuster start to the summer of tennis.”

The draw will take place Thursday 10 November. Tickets for the United Cup go on sale on Friday 11 November. Brisbane (Pat Rafter Arena), Perth (RAC Arena) and Sydney (Ken Rosewall Arena) will host the group stage from Thursday 29 December to Wednesday 4 January 2023.

Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman: “The United Cup marks a major step forward for the game of tennis. Most importantly, it will create incredible new experiences for our fans. We’re excited to see the best men’s and women’s players competing together, with ranking points on the line, to launch the season like never before.”

Steve Simon, WTA Chairman and CEO: “The United Cup is an important and strategic collaboration between the WTA, the ATP and Tennis Australia that reflects a continued commitment in elevating our sport. This exciting singles and mixed doubles team event will bring together emerging stars and established athletes from both Tours to compete on the same stage, giving players and fans a unique experience in which the final outcome may be determined with women and men competing together.”

Craig Tiley, Tennis Australia CEO: “The United Cup presents a unique opportunity to unite both the men’s and women’s tour in a brand-new way that has never been seen before. We have the opportunity here in Australia to leverage tennis’ unique position to allow the world’s top men and women to compete side by side and represent their country at the highest level. We couldn’t be more delighted to see how this event unfolds in January.”

2023 ATP Tour Calendar Updates
In parallel, the ATP has today announced the relocation of the Sofia ATP 250 tournament license. From 2023, the event will be staged in Australia in Week 1 of the season alongside United Cup, providing additional playing opportunities in the swing ahead of the Australian Open. In addition, the Belgrade ATP 250 tournament scheduled for April 2023 will relocate to Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina). View the 2023 calendar

For more information on United Cup, please visit www.UnitedCup.com and follow @UnitedCupTennis on social media.

The field for the 2022 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals is now set. Dominic Stricker will join Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune, Jack Draper, Brandon Nakashima, Jiri Lehecka, Chun-Hsin Tseng and Francesco Passaro in Milan from 8-12 November.

The 20-year-old lefty is the first Swiss player to qualify for the 21-and-under season finale in event history (since 2017).

Stricker has excelled against top competition this season, earning a 7-5 record against players inside the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He has won two ATP Challenger Tour titles this year, triumphing on hard courts in Columbus, Ohio in January before lifting the trophy in July on clay in Zug, Switzerland.

Three of the players in the field — Musetti, Rune and Nakashima — will be competing in the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals for the second time. The trio played at the Allianz Cloud last year, with Nakashima advancing to the semi-finals.

With Musetti and Passaro in the field, two Italians will compete in the same edition of the event for the first time. The home favourites will try to join Jannik Sinner as Italian champions at the 21-and-under season finale.

Felix Auger-Aliassime has been in blistering form this month, but he hit new heights on Thursday at the Swiss Indoors Basel. Seeking his third ATP Tour title in as many weeks, the Canadian advanced to the quarter-finals with a stunning performance against Miomir Kecmanovic, wrapping up a 6-1, 6-0 victory in 49 minutes.

“It’s tough to play better than that, from my part,” Auger-Alassime said in his on-court interview. “For sure the best match I’ve played in my whole life — not my career, since I’m a little kid! It’s a nice feeling. It was a treat to play this level, to play this way in front of you,” he told the Swiss crowd.

In a flawless second set, he dropped just seven points and was a perfect 11-for-11 behind his first serve. Showcasing his athleticism and first-strike tennis, the third seed finished with 21 winners and 10 aces on the match.

Auger-Aliassime currently sits seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as he clings onto what is currently the final qualifying position. He is 315 points clear of Taylor Fritz in eighth place as he seeks his Nitto ATP Finals debut at age 22, but cannot add points this week unless he reaches the semi-finals or better.

Now on a 10-match winning streak that began with title runs in Florence and Antwerp, Auger-Aliassime became the third player to earn 50 wins this season (Tsitsipas 57, Alcaraz 54) with his latest victory. His 2022 record stands at 50-24 with three titles, the first ATP Tour trophies of his career.

The Canadian will next meet Alexander Bublik, a 6-3, 6-3 winner against Albert Ramos-Vinolas earlier on Thursday. Should he advance to the semis, he will face a Spaniard: either World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz or fifth seed Pablo Carreno Busta.