Jack Draper will be the first Briton to compete in the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals. The lefty on Wednesday qualified for the 21-and-under season finale, which will be played in Milan from 8-12 November.

The 20-year-old entered the season with two tour-level wins, but has tallied a 16-9 tour-level record in 2022 to establish himself as a star on the ATP Tour. Draper joins Lorenzo Musetti and Holger Rune in the Milan field. BUY TICKETS NOW

The Briton was the No. 265 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings at the start of the year. He has climbed as high as World No. 46, a bigger jump than anyone else in the Top 50.

Draper won four ATP Challenger Tour titles early in the year and never relinquished his momentum. The lefty served his way to his first ATP Tour semi-final in front of his home fans in Eastbourne before bursting through at the ATP Masters 1000-level in August in Montreal, where he made the quarter-finals as a qualifier.

During his run in Canada, Draper stunned World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 20-year-old continued his ascent at the US Open, where he made the third round with an upset of Felix Auger-Aliassime.

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.