With his back against the wall Wednesday, Cameron Norrie found a way to reach the quarter-finals at the Stockholm Open.

The second seed trailed Aslan Karatsev 2-4 in the third set but rallied to advance 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-4 at the ATP 250 event. Norrie will next play #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune after the 19-year-old defeated Cristian Garin 7-6(2), 6-1. The 27-year-old Norrie is aiming to win his third tour-level title of the season in Sweden after triumphing in Delray Beach and Lyon.

“It was a tough match,” Norrie said. “Every time Aslan was down he raised his level and he really stole that first set from me. I had a couple of set points and I didn’t execute as well as I could have done in the tie-break. I stayed solid and I was a bit frustrated in the third set but I managed to claw it back. I feel good and fresh.”

In a dramatic match, Norrie recovered from squandering a set point in the first set as he played consistently and patiently from the baseline in the second and third sets to turn the clash around and advance after three hours and two minutes.

The Briton, who is 47-23 on the season, is currently 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin on 2400 points. He will need a strong end to the season if he is to close the gap on seventh-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime (3065 points) and qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 13-20 November.

Denis Shapovalov also advanced, moving past Swiss qualifier Antoine Bellier 6-4, 7-5 in 83 minutes. The Canadian, who reached the semi-finals in Tokyo earlier this month, will next meet Alex de Minaur or J.J. Wolf.

Daniel Evans wasted little time reaching the quarter-finals at the European Open on Wednesday when he cruised past Frenchman Constant Lestienne 6-2, 6-1 in Antwerp.

The fifth seed looked in control throughout the 75-minute match, winning 82 per cent (18/22) of his first-serve points and breaking five times to earn his 27th tour-level win of the season.

The Briton now leads Lestienne 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, after winning their previous meeting in San Diego in September. Evans, who is currently No. 24 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, will next face second-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime or Frenchman Manuel Guinard. Guinard defeated countryman Geoffrey Blancaneaux 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

The 32-year-old is making his second appearance at the ATP 250 event, having reached the semi-finals in 2020. Earlier this season, Evans enjoyed runs to the last four in Sydney, San Diego and an ATP Masters 1000 event in Montreal.

Former singles World No. 19 Xavier Malisse retired in 2013 after winning three ATP Tour singles titles in a 16-year career. The Belgian also won nine doubles titles and reached a career-high of No. 25 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings.

The 42-year-old returned to the ATP Tour last year at the European Open in Antwerp, reaching the semi-finals alongside Lloyd Harris. Malisse is again competing at the ATP 250 event in his home nation this season, this time with Diego Schwartzman.

Malisse and Schwartzman made a strong start Tuesday with a 7-6(4), 7-5 win against Raven Klaasen and Marcelo Melo in the opening round. After taking a tight opening set that did not include a break of serve, Malisse and Schwartzman won the final four games of the match to storm through the finish line from 3-5 in the second set, saving four set points as part of the late surge.

They will next face Tallon Griekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp, who scored a 6-2, 7-5 upset against top-seeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Third seeds Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies also advanced on Tuesday in Antwerp, with the Germans defeating Austrians Lucas Miedler and Alexander Erler 5-7, 7-6(4), 10-6. The British team of Daniel Evans and Jonny O’Mara moved past Serbian twin brothers Ivan Sabanov and Matej Sabanov 6-3, 6-2.

Roland Garros Champs Survive In Stockholm
Only two doubles matches were contested on Tuesday at the Stockholm Open, with Roland Garros champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer surviving a Match Tie-break to open their campaign with a win. The top seeds edged Hans Hach Verdugo and Robert Galloway 6-2, 6-7(4), 10-5 and did not face a break point in the match,

Also advancing were Maxime Cressy and Albano Olivetti, who earned a 6-2, 6-3 win against Pavel Kotov and Alexander Shevchenko.

Upsets In Naples
Two seeded teams were eliminated on Tuesday at the Tennis Napoli Cup. The French duo of Adrian Mannarino and Fabrice Martin downed second-seeded Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-4, while Tomislav Brkic and Gonzalo Escobar edged fourth seeds Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez 4-6, 6-1, 10-4.

Entering this week at a career high of No. 30 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Miomir Kecmanovic lived up to his lofty ranking with a dominant start at the Tennis Napoli Cup on Tuesday.

The fifth seed dominated Italian wild card Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 6-2 as he continued his strong hard-court form this season. Kecmanovic claimed victory in just under an hour, breaking on four of his five chances while not facing a break point on his own serve. He has earned a personal-best 35 wins on the year, including two semi-final runs.

Seeking a second straight ATP Tour quarter-final after he saved six match points to defeat Daniel Evans and reach that stage in Tokyo, Kecmanovic will next face the winner of the first-round matchup between #NextGenATP Italian Luca Nardi and France’s Corentin Moutet.

The two other seeded players in action on Tuesday were both dismissed. Portugal’s Nuno Borges downed seventh seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-5, 7-6(5), while Argentina’s Pedro Cachin was a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 winner against eighth seed Adrian Mannarino.

Borges will face Daniel Elahi Galan in the second round following the Colombian’s 6-4, 6-4 win against Bernabe Zapata Miralles. With a win, Borges would reach his first tour-level quarter-final and move inside the Top 90 for the first time.

Cachin, who began the week at a career-high of World No. 57, has moved up another three places this week to No. 54 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. The 27-year-old could break into the Top 40 by winning his first ATP Tour title this week.

Also advancing on Tuesday was Japan’s Taro Daniel, who claimed a 6-3, 6-3 win against Pedro Martinez.

#NextGenATP Swiss Dominic Stricker boosted his Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals chances on Tuesday when he dispatched Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-2, 6-4 in Antwerp.

The 20-year-old came through qualifying at the European Open and backed up that success with a strong performance against van de Zandschulp. Stricker saved all four break points he faced and hit 19 winners to reach the second round after 88 minutes. He will next face Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

With his victory, Stricker has climbed above Matteo Arnaldi and into 10th place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Milan. The lefty is currently on 422 points, 23 ahead of the Italian in 11th. With two weeks of the Race to go, 10th place is the expected cut off to qualify for the 21-and-under event.

Stricker will be aiming to have a deep run on debut at the ATP 250 event as he looks to qualify for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals for the first time. The 21-and-under event will be held at the Allianz Cloud in Milan from 8-12 November.

FOLLOW THIS WEEK’S ACTION

📺 TV Schedule
🎾 Watch Live On Tennis TV
📱 Follow Live Scores On ATP WTA Live
📧 Sign Up For Newsletters

In other action, Spaniard Jaume Munar clawed past Dutch qualifier Tim van Rijthoven 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4) in two hours and 51 minutes. It was Munar’s first tour-level indoor hard-court victory since he beat Jiri Vesely in Astana last September.

The 25-year-old will next take on Yoshihito Nishioka after the eighth seed defeated French qualifier Luca Van Assche 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(1). Nishioka has now won six of his past seven matches dating back to his Seoul trophy run earlier this month.

Frenchman Constant Lestienne also advanced, defeating Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong 6-3, 6-4.

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic are the fourth doubles team to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, which will be played at the Pala Alpitour in Turin from 13-20 November.

The Croatians, who have won five titles together this year, will compete in the year-end championships together for the second consecutive season.

Buy Tickets Now

Mektic and Pavic claimed their first crown of 2022 in May, when they lifted their fourth ATP Masters 1000 trophy as a team in Rome, before earning another clay-court victory in Geneva and grass-court titles at Queen’s Club and Eastbourne. Last week, they captured glory on the indoor hard courts of Astana.

The Croatians also advanced to the final at Wimbledon, where they fell just short of retaining their crown in a fifth-set tie-break. The pair also reached championship matches in Dubai and Belgrade earlier in the year.

Mektic and Pavic made the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals last year, losing to Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who have also qualified for this year’s season finale. Mektic, who won the Nitto ATP Finals in 2020 with Wesley Koolhof, will make his fourth appearance in the season finale. Pavic will compete in the year-end championships for the fifth time.

In addition to Mektic/Pavic and Ram/Salisbury, Wesley Koolhof/Neal Skupski and Marcelo Arevalo/Jean-Julien Rojer have also secured their spots in Turin. 

Did You Know?
Mektic and Pavic finished as the year-end No. 1 duo in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Teams Rankings last season. That was their first year competing as a team.

Holger Rune continued his strong indoor season with a fast start at the Stockholm Open on Monday. Making his debut at the ATP 250 in Sweden, the #NextGenATP Dane scored a 7-5, 6-2 win against Thiago Monteiro.

The seventh seed did not face a break point in the match and won five of six games to take command from 4-5 in the opening set. He secured his third break late in the second set before serving out the match to love, finishing with a 86 per cent (31/35) win rate on first serve.

Fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Milan, Rune could pass Lorenzo Musetti for third place with a deep run in Stockholm — though the Italian is competing in Naples this week. Both men have secured qualification for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals.

After reaching the Metz quarter-finals and the Sofia final, Rune will seek a third straight indoor quarter-final when he takes on Cristian Garin in the second round. Garin also advanced on Monday with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Aussie Jason Kubler.

Aslan Karatsev set up a second-round showdown with second seed Cameron Norrie by easing past Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-2 to close the day’s play on Stockholm’s centre court.

In the lone three-setter of the day, Maxime Cressy edged Ilya Ivashka 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. The American will next face top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in what will be the Greek’s opening match.

Italian Mattia Bellucci and Australian Li Tu will never forget this week on the ATP Challenger Tour.

Bellucci, 21, advanced through qualifying and dropped just one set en route to claiming the Saint-Tropez Challenger while Tu triumphed at the Seoul Challenger and dedicated the victory to his mother, who recently passed away. Bellucci and Tu were among five champions on the Challenger Tour this week.

On the hard courts nestled in southern France, #NextGenATP star Bellucci defeated countryman Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-3 to capture the Saint-Tropez Open.

“It was an amazing week,” Bellucci said. “I started on Monday, I played every day, seven days, seven matches and with each match, I felt better and better.

“Today, I stayed focussed as much as possible on every point, on every ball. I’m super happy because I won my first Challenger and the first time is always special. When I arrived here, I couldn’t have imagined that I would win the tournament.”

Bellucci is the seventh #NextGenATP Italian champion this season. The lefty joins Arnaldi, Flavio Cobolli, Francesco Maestrelli, Lorenzo Musetti, Luca Nardi, and Francesco Passaro. The title at the Challenger 100 event lifts Bellucci to a career-high 186 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Arnaldi, 21, strengthens his hopes of qualifying for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals following his runner-up finish in France. The Sanremo native climbs to 11th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Milan.

At the FILA Seoul Open Challenger, Aussie qualifier Tu capped off an emotional week by defeating Wu Yibing 7-6(5), 6-4 to earn his first Challenger title.

Tu, 26, returned to professional tennis in February 2021 after a six-year hiatus. During his time away from pro tennis, he earned his college degree and coached junior players. Now making a sudden impact on the Challenger Tour, the Adelaide native rises to a career-high 190 following the title in Seoul, which he dedicated to his mother.

The winning moment for 🇦🇺 @LiTuTennis 💪#ATPChallenger | @TennisAustralia pic.twitter.com/BykrR3mj59

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) October 16, 2022

“My mom passed away three weeks ago and tomorrow is her birthday,” Tu said during the trophy presentation. “So this is for her.”

Wu, who boasts a 23-4 match record at the Challenger level this season, climbs to a career-high No. 115. The 23-year-old has won three Challenger titles this year and now looks to become the first Chinese man to break through the Top 100. His countryman, Zhang Zhizhen, who is a four-time Challenger finalist this season, is the highest-ranked Chinese player (No. 109).

In Ismaning, Germany, top seed Quentin Halys ended home favourite Max Hans Rehberg’s dream week in the final. Halys fired 24 aces in the championship match, claiming a 7-6(6), 6-3 victory to win the Wolffkran Open by Tannenhof.

“I was playing really great during the whole week,” Halys said. “I was serving amazing, I’m super happy about my performance. In the final, we had chances to break each other, I was lucky to get a break in the second. It was very tough.”

Frenchman Quentin Halys lifts the trophy at the Ismaning Challenger. Credit: Juergen Hasenkopf

The Frenchman boasts a Challenger season-leading 43 match wins. Halys joins Constant Lestienne, Nardi, and Wu as three-time Challenger champions this year. Only Pedro Cachin and Jack Draper have captured four Challenger titles this season.

Players from France have combined for a season-leading (tied w/ Argentina) 19 Challenger titles. Both nations are one title shy of tying the Challenger Tour record for most titles won by a single country (20), which Argentina has collected three times (2021, 2016, 2007) and France has claimed once (2005).

Rehberg, 18, was given a wild card and upset second seed Tomas Machac and third seed Vasek Pospisil en route to his first Challenger final.

American Michael Mmoh, who didn’t drop a set all week, took down college standout Gabriel Diallo 6-3, 6-2 in the final at the Taube-Haase Pro Tennis Championship in Fairfield, California.

Mmoh has won 12 of his past 13 matches, including claiming the title this past month at the Cary Challenger. The American believes his success has come after a newfound mindset.

“The toughest loss for me this year was at the US Open [qualifying],” Mmoh said. “I was up 6-2, 5-2 against Gilles Simon and ended up losing that. That was a heartbreaker, it really crushed me. I really took time to say, ‘What can I do outside of tennis?’ I tried to challenge myself after that horrific loss.

“I started reading books, started talking to psychologists, broadening my horizons. I was challenging myself to get better. Whenever you have some of those losses, you look at yourself in the mirror and say, ‘There’s a reason that happened, how can I fix it?’”

The 24-year-old, who boasts seven Challenger titles (all on home soil), rises to No. 110 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and sets his sights on surpassing his career-high mark 96, which he reached in October 2018.

Diallo, who is a senior at the University of Kentucky, climbs to a career-high 250 following his runner-up finish in California. The 21-year-old claimed his first Challenger title at the Granby Challenger in August.

Italian Marco Cecchinato, seeded third, was crowned champion at the Challenger Dove Men+Care Rio de Janeiro after he rallied from a set down to defeat German Yannick Hanfmann 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

Italian Marco Cecchinato celebrates his second Challenger title this season. Credit: Luiz Candido

Cecchinato has won 10 of his past 11 matches, including triumphing at the Lisbon Challenger this past month. The 30-year-old is a three-time Tour titlist (Budapest, Umag, Buenos Aires). Following the title on the Brazilian clay, Cecchinato launches back into the Top 100.

In 2019, the Italian reached a career-high 16 shortly after winning the ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires. Cecchinato reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2018, when he defeated Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals before falling to Dominic Thiem. As the-then World No. 72, Cecchinato became the lowest-ranked Roland Garros semi-finalist since Andrei Medvedev (No. 100) in 1999.