Andy Murray will compete at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati after moving into the main draw on Saturday.

The former World No. 1 was due to compete in qualifying, but has now taken the unused special exempt spot, which opened up following Jack Draper’s defeat in Montreal on Friday. The Scot will face Swiss star Stan Wawrinka in a popcorn first-round match in Cincinnati.

Murray has a strong record in Ohio, having triumphed at the hard-court ATP Masters 1000 event in 2008 and 2011, before he advanced to the final in 2016. He joins a stacked field in Cincinnati, featuring World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.

Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski will aim to capture a Tour-leading sixth title of the season and strengthen their lead in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Teams Rankings when they compete at the Western & Southern Open next week.

However, their task won’t be easy in Cincinnati, with the third seeds facing a series of potential testing assignments in a stacked top half. The Dutch-British tandem could face singles star Carlos Alcaraz and Pablo Carreno Busta in their opening match, if the Spaniards can overcome Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Carreno Busta won the doubles title with Alex de Minaur in 2020.

Koolhof and Skupski are on a collision course to meet Roland Garros finalists Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in the quarter-finals, while they could face Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the semi-finals.

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The top seeds, who have six tour-level trophies together, including two ATP Masters 1000 titles, could play Australian Open champs Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios in a popcorn second-round clash. Kokkinakis and Kyrgios will open against Simone Bolelli and Fabo Fognini.

Eighth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah are also in the top half and they face a difficult first-round encounter against 2017 winners Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares.

Reigning champions Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos are in the bottom half and will open against singles stars Grigor Dimitrov and Andrey Rublev or Daniel Evans and John Peers.

The second seeds are seeded to meet Roland Garros victors Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer in the semi-finals, with the fourth seeds potentially playing Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the quarter-finals.

#NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune and World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas are teaming, while former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka will join forces with Pole Lukasz Kubot.

It took a 20-ace barrage for eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland to bring white-hot Aussie Nick Kyrgios’ streak to an end, 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-1, on Friday at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers. Beginning with his run to the Wimbledon final, Kyrgios had won 15 of his past 16 matches, including nine straight and the title tilt in Washington.

But the extended match play may have caught up to the 27-year-old in IGA Stadium against Hurkacz, who also got the best of him during a trophy surge earlier this summer in Halle. (Asked if he had a better read on Kyrgios than his ATP counterparts, Hurkacz smiled, “Probably not.”)

The Montreal draw blew wide open for Hurkacz, with five of the top eight seeds, including World No. 1 and defending champ Daniil Medvedev, gone before the quarter-finals. However, the 23-year-old Pole isn’t at all surprised by the shakeup.

“The level is so close now between the guys ranked from Top 10 to Top 40, so it maybe looks on paper like some of the guys are below, but the level is really incredible,” said the 25-year-old, through to an ATP Masters 1000 semi-final for the fourth time. “Every single match is fifty-fifty.”

Hurkacz’s semi-final opponent is the highest seed still standing, Casper Ruud of Norway, who is up to No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and poised to reach a career-high No. 4 should he win Saturday.

Ruud, who played the role of spoiler against hometown favourite Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals, claimed a four-set affair against Hurkacz in their only previous encounter en route to the Roland Garros final in June, 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Ruud is getting more comfortable on tennis’ biggest stages by the day. This is already his third Masters 1000 semi-final of the year.

“Sometimes it’s a bit of coincidence and the draw, the players you like to play or not. But this is a very good result for me,” said the 23-year-old, who already owns three titles on the year (Buenos Aires, Geneva, Gstaad). “I didn’t think it was too likely to happen being that it was my first hard-court tournament back. But I’ve been playing great since the first point of the first match until the last point today, so I’m very happy with the level that I’m able to put out.” 

Both players have had success on hard courts at the ATP Masters 1000 level. Ruud played his way into the Miami Open final in April, while Hurkacz won the same event in 2021 (def. Jannik Sinner, 7-6(4), 6-4).

“It’s going to be a tough one. Hubert is always dangerous, a good player on any surface — especially on hard courts,” said Ruud. “He knows what it takes to win a Masters 1000 event. He’s back in a semi-final, and he’s looking sharp, looking strong.”

Hurkacz leads the four semi-finalists in the INSIGHTS: In Attack metric, playing 24.4 per cent of his shots in attack this week. But Ruud paces the pack in Steal rate, winning 40.6 per cent of points from defence. (Learn more about INSIGHTS.)

You might have pegged three-time Slam champ Andy Murray or 2021 Indian Wells titlist Cameron Norrie, not 39th-ranked Daniel Evans, to be the last Brit standing in Montreal, but it’s the 32-year-old veteran who is into his second ATP Masters 1000 semi-final after a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 reversal-of-fortunes against American Tommy Paul.

Evans, who’ll face Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta for the first time, is clearly relishing the opportunity before him. He’s well aware of what’s at stake.

“Listen, anybody who tells you they don’t think about the position in the tournament they are, they’re lying. You take care of business, but it’s always in the back of your head what part of the tournament you’re in,” he said. “It’s what you play tennis for. It’s why I’m out here fighting, trying each day with the practice, with the fitness.”

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Carreno Busta, a 7-6(4), 6-1 winner over Great Britain’s Jack Draper in the quarters, is into his third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final — all three coming on hard courts.

“It’s very important for my confidence, for myself,” said Carreno Busta, who hasn’t dropped a set all week. “I’m playing very solid. I know tomorrow I have the opportunity to be in the final. I need to be 100 per cent again. I need to recover as much as I can. Evans is having an incredible week also, so we’ll see. But I have another opportunity to be in a final.” 

Daniel Evans was being played off the court by a red-hot Tommy Paul in the pair’s Montreal quarter-final on Friday evening. But the workmanlike Briton kept the faith in his steady game to advance to his second career ATP Masters 1000 semi-final with a hard-fought 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

“The crowd, that’s what they buy their tickets for. That’s live sport,” Evans said in his post-match press conference. “You never know what’s going to happen. It was an amazing match, amazing atmosphere. I played on the court before. In the day it was amazing, but at night, there’s something about playing sport at night, it’s extra special.”

After Paul filled up the highlight reel with his pace and powerful ground game early on, Evans capitalised on the slightest of openings in sets two and three to win both by a single break. The 32-year-old secured an early lead in the deciding set, then crucially escaped 15/40 to move within one game of victory at 5-3.

Evans saw a match point go begging in spectacular fashion on return and absorbed one last Paul backhand pass on serve before completing the turnaround by expertly backing up strong serving in the clutch.

“I just didn’t think he could carry that on,” Evans said of his opponent’s blistering start. “If he did, I had to walk off and shake his hand.”

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In his 4-3 service game in the final set, Evans rode his luck as Paul clipped the tape on a mid-court forehand — the sort of ball he feasted on for much of the two-hour, 17-minute contest. The World No. 39 took matters into his own hands the rest of the way as he powered to the key hold.

Evans saved six of eight break points in the match as he withstood 41 winners from Paul, who stunned second seed Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday. The American moved up three places to No. 31 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings by reaching the quarter-finals, setting himself up to reach a new career-high.

With wins against fifth seed Andrey Rublev and 10th seed Taylor Fritz in the previous two rounds, Evans is through to his second Masters 1000 semi-final in as many years. He upset then-World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to reach that stage at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in 2021 and also reached back-to-back Masters 1000s doubles finals with countryman Neal Skupski last season (Miami, Monte Carlo).

With victory in his first ATP Head2Head meeting with Paul, Evans improved his 2022 record to 19-17 and sealed progress to a second tour-level semi-final of the year (Sydney). He has moved up 16 places to No. 23 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings this week and also occupies 23rd place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

As he turned the tide in the second set against the American, Evans excelled at winning points from attacking positions, as illustrated by INSIGHTS: Conversion statistics from TennisViz. His 70 per cent conversion rate on such points exceeded the ATP Tour average of 66 per cent.

Figure 1: Daniel Evans won 70 per cent of points played in attack in the second set, surpassing the ATP Tour average.

An all-British semi-final could be on the cards, with #NextGenATP star Jack Draper set to take on Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta to close the Montreal evening session.

“Hopefully those boys have a great match,” Evans said. “Jack’s an amazing talent. He’s going to be around. You’re going to see him here [at the top of the game for] 10 years easy. It’s a great moment for him. I hope he goes out there, enjoys it, whatever happens.

“Carreno [Busta] is a great player, experienced pro. Underestimated a lot. He’s a very tough opponent.”

Daniil Medvedev is two Western & Southern Open wins away from securing his status as World No. 1 through the US Open, but a dangerous group of players could stand in his way in Cincinnati, Friday’s draw revealed.

The top seed will open against either Maxime Cressy or Botic van de Zandschulp before a potential third-round meeting against one of 16th seed Grigor Dimitrov, Denis Shapovalov, Tommy Paul or Jenson Brooksby. Should Medvedev reach the quarter-finals, he could get a chance to avenge his Montreal loss to Nick Kyrgios, who meets Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the opening round and could see 11th seed Taylor Fritz following that.

Rafael Nadal, set for his first competitive action since an abdominal tear forced him to pull out of Wimbledon, could pass Medvedev at the top of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings if he wins the Cincinnati title and his rival fails to reach the quarter-finals. Seeded second, the Spaniard will face Borna Coric — who entered the draw with a protected ranking — or a qualifier in his first match.

Seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime is also lurking in Nadal’s bottom quarter. The Canadian will open play against the winner of one of the standout first-round matchups between Alexander Bublik and Alex de Minaur.

Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud share the draw’s third quarter, while Stefanos Tsitsipas and Hubert Hurkacz landed in the second section. Returning finalist Andrey Rublev is seeded sixth and will hope to emerge from Medvedev’s top quarter.

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In addition to Bublik vs. De Minaur, other notable first-round contests include Dimitrov vs. Shapovalov, ninth Cameron Norrie vs. Holger Rune, 12th seed Matteo Berrettini vs. Frances Tiafoe and Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Miomir Kecmanovic.

Main-draw action begins Sunday at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

Third seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski rallied from a set down to defeat Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in Montreal Friday and consolidated their lead in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings. The duo avenged its Hamburg loss to Glasspool and Heliovaara to advance to the semi-finals at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers.

The five-time champions in 2022 (Melbourne, Adelaide 2, Doha, Madrid, and ‘s-Hertogenbosch) are looking for their second ATP Masters 1000 title of the season.

Also advancing to the semi-finals were two-time Roland Garros champions, Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, who took down Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar 6-2, 7-5. The Germans will clash against Koolhof and Skupski, a rematch of the Barcelona final, which Krawietz and Mies won in a deciding match tie-break.

Krawietz and Mies are chasing their third title of the season, but their first since the clay season, when they won back-to-back trophies in Barcelona and Munich.

Should Krawietz and Mies win their first ATP Masters 1000 title this weekend, they will climb to seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.

One day after playing what he called one of the best matches of his career, Felix Auger-Aliassime’s Montreal campaign came to a disappointing end in Friday’s quarter-finals. Playing in the city of his birth, the Canadian was swept off Court Central 6-1, 6-2 by fourth seed Casper Ruud.

“It’s super disappointing to lose any tournament like this, and especially here,” Auger-Aliassime said in his post-match press conference, giving full credit to his opponent. “This is a tournament we don’t play every year, so it’s always special for me to play here,” he later added.

It was the World No. 9’s first quarter-final appearance at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, which alternates between Toronto and Montreal each season. Auger-Aliassime had thrilled his home fans this week with victories against Yoshihito Nishioka and ninth seed Cameron Norrie, but came undone against Ruud at the ATP Masters 1000.

“I’ve been thinking since the match ended what happened,” he said. “I think I have to see. Maybe my expectations were a bit too high from yesterday [a 6-3, 6-4 win against Norrie] and I was trying to repeat that instead of just living with what I had, just fighting with all the tools that I had today, fighting with my opponent today.”

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The 22-year-old kept his belief after the one-sided opening set, but said “it really felt like the worst possible outcome” after dropping serve twice to fall behind 0-3 in the second.

“At that point it gets really tough,” he explained. “I try my best, but he was also getting more and more comfortable and confident, so then things get much more difficult.”

Using the difficult defeat as a learning experience, he now turns his attention to Cincinnati and the US Open.

Despite the defeat, Auger-Aliassime has moved up one place this week to seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, with his biggest points haul this season coming from his maiden title in Rotterdam. He will still have plenty of chances to add to that trophy count this year and beyond.

“The important thing for me is to understand what happened and try to act on it after I try to move on. I’m not someone who falls into emotions or doubts or wonders,” he said. “Tennis is a sport, many things happen: sometimes good things, sometimes not as good.

“The important thing is to keep going. Even when you win it’s important to see what you can improve. I’ve been doing that for my whole career, so this is not new. In a few hours from now, once I will have digested this loss, I will try to look at the future.”

As the sun set on a brutally humid evening in Atlanta late last month, a young American star was rising in front of Tour-veteran John Isner’s eyes: 19-year-old Ben Shelton. The 6’ 10” six-time tournament champion and former World No. 8 toiled for two hours, 24 minutes before eking out a 7-6(8), 4-6, 7-6(3) victory, that left a strong impression on the elder statesman of American tennis.

“He’s an incredible talent. I watched him play a-year-and-a-half ago in college and saw how athletic and talented he is,” Isner said. “I’m going to be a big fan of his in the future… Truthfully, I don’t see myself beating him anytime in the future. I hope I don’t have to play him again.”

Two weeks before his Tour-level debut, Shelton made his first ATP Challenger Tour final in Rome, Georgia, but fell short against China’s then-highest-ranked player, Wu Yibing.

The teenager has been building upon his NCAA singles title in May, reaching four semi-finals of the five Challenger Tour events in which he has competed. A week after completing his sophomore season at the University of Florida, the lefty reached the last four at the Challenger Tour event in Little Rock, Arkansas (just the second of his career).

“When I went to Little Rock, I started to believe more in myself and my abilities, that I could hang with the guys that are ranked 150 in the world or 250 in the world and that gave me a little confidence.”

His current semi-final run in Chicago (he plays Dutchman Gijs Brouwer Saturday) includes a quarter-final victory over former World No. 43 Jordan Thompson and will bring Shelton to a career-high mark inside the Top 250 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday.

“(The Challenger Tour) gives you an opportunity to see tennis from guys who are playing at a Top 100 level. It’s a lot of different types of competition and it sets you up for playing on the ATP Tour. It’s a really good stepping stone and the level isn’t that far off from ATP.”

Coached by his father, Bryan Shelton, a former World No. 55 and current head coach of the University of Florida men’s tennis team, Ben credits his dad for much of his collegiate and pro success. Growing up in a tennis family can lead to immense pressure and high expectations, but for the Sheltons, it’s been an exciting journey.

“It’s been a lot of fun. It’s become a really good situation where (my dad) doesn’t even have to tell me things and I know what he’s thinking or he knows what I’m thinking. He’s really helped me work on developing my game and not worry about quick success, but being in it for the long run,” the teen said.

The former Florida High School Athletic Association singles champion resided in Atlanta until he was 10, at which time the family moved to Gainesville, Florida, so it was fitting that his first Tour-level win came this past month in Georgia’s capital, where he took out Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-2, 7-5.

Known for his blistering serve, athleticism, and firepower, the college standout is getting ready for the two biggest tournaments of his life after being awarded wild cards to the ATP Masters 100 event in Cincinnati and the US Open.

Shelton played in the US Open qualifying last year, where he was ousted by eventual quarter-finalist, Botic Van de Zandschulp.

“I’m really excited, I was fortunate enough to play the qualifying last year and that was a great experience to get my feet wet. I’m glad the USTA has been able to help me out and I’m grateful they gave me a wild card.”