A hard-court ATP 500 double-header lights up the ATP Tour this week as Astana and Tokyo play host to some of the world’s finest players.

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz headlines the field at the Astana Open, where Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic are also competing in a stacked field at the indoor event in Kazakhstan.

Casper Ruud is the top seed outdoors at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, where the World No. 2 seeks his first hard-court title of the season and the first ATP 500 trophy of his career. Nick Kyrgios is also in action in Japan, where the Australian is trying to add to his 2016 victory at the tournament.

ATPTour.com looks ahead at five things to watch at each event.

View Draws: Astana | Tokyo

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN ASTANA
1) World No. 1 Alcaraz Returns: Alcaraz is set to compete in his first ATP Tour event since becoming the youngest World No. 1 in the history of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings with his triumph at the US Open in September.

The 19-year-old will face Sunday’s Sofia finalist Holger Rune on tournament debut in Kazakhstan as the Spaniard chases his third ATP 500 crown of the season following. Earlier this year Alcaraz triumphed on clay in Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona.

2) Medvedev Pursuing Indoor Groove: Second seed Medvedev is also taking to the hard courts of Astana for the first time this week. The 26-year-old is currently fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as he seeks to qualify for November’s season-ending Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year.

Despite falling to Stan Wawrinka in his first indoor match in 2022 in Metz 10 days ago, Medvedev can look to the fact that he has won six of his 14 tour-level titles on indoor hard courts for confidence as he prepares to take on Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the first round in Astana.

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3) Dialled-In Djokovic: Djokovic made a strong start to his indoor hard-court season in Tel Aviv this week, with the Serbian set to take on Marin Cilic in Sunday’s final in Israel. Djokovic will then head to Astana, where he will be the fourth seed on tournament debut as he chases his first ATP 500 crown since his 2020 triumph in Dubai.

4) Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin: With Alcaraz and third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, a host of top names arrive in Astana seeking to bolster their chances of reaching the season-ending showpiece, to be held in Turin from 13-20 November.

Andrey Rublev (sixth) and Felix Auger-Aliassime (seventh) both currently occupy qualification spots, while Hubert Hurkacz (ninth) could overtake both with a title run in Kazakhstan depending on their results. All three are making their Astana debuts this week.

5) Can Top Seeds Puetz/Venus Boost Turin Hopes?: Dubai champions Tim Puetz and Michael Venus seek their second ATP 500 crown of 2022 in Astana, where a strong run will also boost their Nitto ATP Finals hopes.

The German-Kiwi pairing are currently eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings. Their rivals in Kazakhstan this week include second seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic (fourth in the Doubles Teams Race), and Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (fifth in the Doubles Teams Race). Santiago Gonzalez, who triumphed in Astana in 2021 alongside Andres Molteni, plays with Lukasz Kubot.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN TOKYO
1) Ruud Headlines Field: Top seed Ruud arrives in Tokyo chasing his maiden ATP 500 crown. The Norwegian has excelled on hard courts in 2022, reaching finals on the surface in Miami in March and at the US Open in September. The 23-year-old will hope to maintain that form when his bid for his fourth ATP Tour title of the season begins against Jaume Munar.

2) Fritz & Tiafoe Lead American Charge: This week in Tokyo could be crucial for Taylor Fritz’s hopes of joining Ruud in qualifying for November’s Nitto ATP Finals. The 23-year-old is 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, but has not won a match in three previous main-draw appearances in the Japanese capital.

Fritz’s countryman, Frances Tiafoe, is seeded fourth in Tokyo, where he returns to action for the first time since he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to clinch the Laver Cup for Team World in London a week ago. Brandon Nakashima, Mackenzie McDonald and Steve Johnson are the other contenders looking to become the first American to triumph in Tokyo since Pete Sampras in 1996.

3) Former Champ Kyrgios: Kyrgios lifted his maiden ATP 500 crown in Tokyo in 2016 and the show-stopping Australian is seeded fifth for his first appearance at the event in four years. The 27-year-old has been in red-hot form in recent months and holds a 35-10 record for the season, which includes a title run in Washington and his maiden Grand Slam final appearance at Wimbledon.

4) Home Hope Nishioka: Yoshihito Nishioka could not have asked for a better lead-in to his home tournament. The top-ranked Japanese player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings downed Denis Shapovalov to lift his second ATP Tour title in Seoul on Sunday. Nishioka takes on Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round as he attempts to become the first home winner in Tokyo since Kei Nishikori won the event for the second time in 2014.

5) ‘Special Ks’ Top Seeds: Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis will begin their campaign for their third tour-level doubles title of the season against the home pairing of Nishioka and Kaichi Uchida in Tokyo. The Australians are currently seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings as they seek to reach the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.

Among Kokkinakis and Kyrgios’ rivals in Tokyo this week are Wimbledon champions Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell, while two-time champion and home favourite Ben McLachlan, who won in 2017 (w/Uchiyama) and 2018 (w/Struff), partners Andre Goransson.

The Astana Open is an ATP 500 event played indoors at the National Tennis Center, but two of its top stars were hitting outdoors on Sunday.

For one day only, though.

Daniil Medvedev and Felix Auger-Aliassime, the second and eighth seeds, respectively, exchanged leisurely strokes as part of a pre-tournament activity at the city’s famous Baiterek observation tower.

Looking on was the president of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, Bulat Utemuratov, and he would have been pleased with the feedback from both players.

“They set up a full-size tennis court in the heart of the city so it’s a great effort from them to make everything nice,” said Auger-Aliassime, who posted victories over new World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic in back-to-back weeks in September. “And I think it shows how much they have [had] attention to detail.

“From the first moment we got here as players, they’ve been really meticulous with every detail of the tournament. I’m glad we’re here and I’m glad we had the chance to play on this court.”

Medvedev, last year’s US Open champion, recalled that he played an ATP Challenger Tour event in Astana six years ago. Back then he was ranked No. 174 and made the quarter-finals, defeated by Denis Istomin.

“I have to say I love Kazakhstan,” said Medvedev. “It’s really close to my culture. I can speak my language here. I’m always happy to come back here, and as Felix said, the tournament is doing a really great job.”

Auger-Aliassime, who did not compete in Astana when it hosted an ATP 250 the previous two seasons, was also impressed with the capital.

“Not too far from Europe but also Asia, so I think we have a bit of mix of cultures, and it’s a beautiful city,” the Canadian said.

Visitors to Astana often flock to the Baiterek, which Lonely Planet partially describes as “a white latticed tower crowned by a large glass orb. This embodies a Kazakh legend in which the mythical bird Samruk lays a golden egg containing the secrets of human desires and happiness in a tall poplar tree, beyond human reach.”

It stretches 97 metres above the ground.

Who will be flying highest on the court this week remains to be seen.

Medvedev begins against Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Auger-Aliassime meets another Spaniard, Roberto Bautista Agut. Alcaraz and Djokovic are part of the impressive field, too.

Medvedev and Auger-Aliassime have battled in the past in the latter stages of the Australian Open and US Open, Medvedev winning on both occasions.

They could duel again in the quarterfinals this week, with the stakes higher than on Sunday at the Baiterek.

Yoshihito Nishioka produced a stunning counter-punching display against Denis Shapovalov at the Eugene Korea Open Tennis Championships on Sunday to claim his second ATP Tour title in style at the ATP 250 event in Seoul.

The 26-year-old Japanese downed the fourth seed 6-4, 7-6(5) with a performance full of blistering shotmaking from deep. Despite Shapovalov finding improved rhythm behind his serve and powerful forehand as the match wore on, Nishioka’s movement and stoic defence proved key as he rallied from a 1-3 deficit in the second set before staying solid in the tie-break to secure a one-hour, 55-minute victory.

“This week was amazing for me,” said Nishioka after the match. “I played very well on the court, my mentality and attitude. I just focused on the play, which was very important I think. A couple of matches it was very close, but I played very well, tried to figure out how to beat the opponent, and every match I fought. I needed to play like this in all the matches [so that] I had a chance to beat each of the players.”

A pivotal hold from 0/40 in the seventh game of the match was an early demonstration of the sort of resilience that had taken Nishioka past Daniel Evans and Casper Ruud en route to the final in Seoul. The Japanese appeared to garner confidence from that recovery as his lightning movement around the court made it difficult for Shapovalov to hit through him. After Nishioka carved out his first set point at 5-4, 30/40, the Canadian netted a relatively straightforward forehand volley for Nishioka to move ahead.

Shapovalov responded well to that disappointment, firing a series of blazing forehand winners to lead 3-1 in the second, but Nishioka once again used his defensive abilities to engineer an impressive comeback and force a tie-break. The unseeded Japanese was the more solid player from then on, ultimately sealing victory despite only hitting 14 winners to Shapovalov’s 38.

“I think my returning was great today,” said Nishioka, who now leads Shapovalov 2-0 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series. “I know he has a big serve and a big forehand, but I didn’t need to worry about that if it was too good. I just focused on playing many balls and putting pressure on him, and if I had chances to just go for it. But first of all, just make a lot of balls, and hit a lot to his backhand, and try to move him.”

Nishioka lifted his maiden ATP Tour title in Shenzhen in 2018 and was appearing in his second championship match of 2022 at that level after reaching the Washington final in August, a run that included wins against Alex de Minaur, Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev. His triumph in Seoul lifts the 26-year-old 15 spots to No. 41 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

“First and foremost, congrats to Yoshi. I mean you’re playing incredible this year. You’re super annoying to play,” joked Shapovalov when addressing Nishioka at the trophy presentation ceremony. “it was super frustrating for me, I tried to find a way and I think I did everything I could, so congrats, and to your coach as well, you guys deserve it.”

Holger Rune advanced to his second ATP Tour final of 2022 on Saturday at the Sofia Open after his fellow #NextGenATP star Jannik Sinner retired from the pair’s semi-final clash due to an ankle injury.

Rune was leading 5-7, 6-4, 5-2 in a hard-hitting encounter against Sinner at the ATP 250 event in Bulgaria when the top seed was forced to stop. The Italian, who was chasing his third consecutive title in Sofia, had twisted his ankle in a heavy fall when Rune led 3-2, 0/15 in the third set.

“It’s obviously never the way you want to win and it was such a great match,” said Rune in his on-court interview. “It’s the worst possible way it could end and I just want to wish Jannik all the best. He’s an amazing player and what he has shown this year has been unbelievable. I wish him a speedy recovery.”

Before the stoppage, Rune had fought hard to turn the match around, rallying after dropping the opening set to take charge of his maiden tour-level clash against the Italian.

“I think it was a great match up until the end, and I think I was obviously feeling a little bit tired after yesterday, but I really pushed hard and ran for everything,” said Rune. “So I’m happy with the way I fought and happy with my level.”

Having lifted his maiden ATP Tour title on the clay in Munich in April, Rune will next face the unseeded Swiss Marc-Andrea Huesler as he pushes for his second tour-level crown. The 19-year-old Rune is more than aware of the weapons that Huesler possesses, having fallen to the World No. 95 in straight sets in the pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head meeting in Bastad in July.

“He’s been playing amazing and serving so well, especially here he is getting a lot of free points on the serve,” said Rune, who confirmed his qualification for November’s Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals with his quarter-final win against Ilya Ivashka in Sofia on Friday. “So it’s going to be another tough match and I really have to be there on my returns and serve at the same time, so it’s going to be an interesting match for sure.”

Huesler had earlier engineered a stunning comeback in a crucial tie-break for the second consecutive day to upset fourth seed Lorenzo Musetti 7-6(5), 7-5 and reach his maiden ATP Tour final at the indoor hard-court event.

The Swiss lefty reeled off six points in a row from 1/5 to claim the first-set tie-break against Musetti and produced plenty of high-powered serving and decisive volleying en route to a 96-minute semi-final victory. The 26-year-old had saved two match points in the second-set tie-break against Kamil Majchrzak in Friday’s quarter-finals.

“For sure,” said Huesler, when asked if it was one of the biggest moments of his career. “I mean I’ve never been in the final before of an ATP event. I’m obviously a bit speechless. I can’t quite believe that I’m able to win today and make it to the finals, but I played a really great match today and I’m just really happy.”

Despite Huesler firing only 24 winners to Musetti’s 29 in the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting, the Swiss was clinical at key moments to notch his ninth tour-level win of the season.

“In those moments, it is not looking good,” said Huesler of his 1/5 deficit in the first-set tie-break. “You just try to play point-by-point. Everyone knows that in tennis it is never over until the last point is played. Obviously if he keeps his level high there, I’m probably going to lose that set, but then again you just try to stay in. I played a couple of good points at 5/5, went for my shots, and then it can go fast.

“On the whole I feel really good here. I feel like we were both serving really, really well, not many rallies, and then it’s hard once you get the rally, to actually be in it, but I’m very happy with the way I handled it today.”

Huesler’s exploits this week in Sofia have lifted him 21 spots to No. 74 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Novak Djokovic maintained his perfect week at the Tel Aviv Watergen Open in style on Saturday, when the top-seeded Serbian produced a high-class semi-final showing to see off Roman Safiullin 6-1, 7-6(3) and reach his fourth tour-level final of 2022.

A near-flawless first-set performance saw Djokovic drop just three points behind serve as he stamped his authority early in his maiden ATP Head2Head meeting with the World No. 104. Safiullin raised his level in the second set, finding his range with his powerful groundstrokes to break Djokovic as the top seed served for the match at 5-4, but Djokovic showed trademark composure in the tie-break to complete his third straight-sets victory of the week in Israel in 95 minutes.

“I think it was a very competitive match, especially in the second set,” said Djokovic. “I must say I was quite emotional on the court today in the second set, there was a lot of tension, and that was also due to his aggressive style of tennis. Big serves, and when he has time, he’s so solid from the forehand and backhand corner.

“I knew that I had to stay very strong, and that he was definitely going to raise his level in the second set, which happened. I was serving for the match and played a couple of loose points, but credit to him for fighting back. It was an enjoyable evening on the court for sure.”

Djokovic’s win takes him to his first tour-level hard-court final since his triumph at the 2021 Rolex Paris Masters last November. The 35-year-old will now take on second seed Marin Cilic or Constant Lestienne in Sunday’s championship match as he chases his third tour-level crown of the year.

More to follow…

Go Soeda began to close the curtains on his 20-year career on Saturday at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. The 38-year-old played his final ATP Tour match in the Tokyo qualifying draw before bowing out in front of his home fans at the Ariake Colosseum.

He will close out his career at the All Japan Tennis Championships later this month.

“I feel no limits,” Soeda said, reflecting on his time as a professional. “20 years, I had no big injuries. I had a big target to reach the Top 100, and I [achieved] that… I’m just happy.”

A native of nearby Kanagawa, Soeda competed in Tokyo 15 times, including 13 main-draw appearances. At his home tournament, he squared off against the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and countryman Kei Nishikori, calling his 2019 matchup with Djokovic his “biggest memory” and “one of the big days in my life”.

“It means a lot,” he said of finishing his ATP Tour career in Japan at the long-running ATP 500 event. “I want to show my tennis to my family, my sponsors, the fans. It’s good to finish here, especially on the ATP Tour — in Japan there is only one event, so it’s a special feeling.”

Soeda turned pro in 2003 and broke into the Top 50 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2012, reaching a career-high of World No. 47. The Japanese recorded 56 tour-level singles wins in his career and claimed 18 ATP Challenger Tour singles titles in 31 finals.

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With a 409-242 record in Challengers, Soeda has recorded the third-most singles wins and claimed fifth-most singles titles in the competition’s history.

“So many tournaments, so many matches,” he said of those records, smiling. “I’m proud.”

While Soeda’s playing career is reaching its end, he will remain involved in the sport as the new captain of the Japanese Davis Cup team. He was a member of the 2014 Japanese team which reached the quarter-finals, but holds ambitions to better that result in his new role.

“My team is high-level, so we have to go to the final stage. That is my target, also our target, the biggest goal,” he said.

Discussing the 2014 team, he added: “I think that team is the best team in my life. but we can do more. We can go even farther, semi-finals… We have a chance to win the tournament.”

Mikhail Kukushkin admits it has been a tough year for him on court but, as he prepares to compete at next week’s Astana Open, the home favourite is excited to be playing on the same courts that played such a vital role in him cracking the Top 40 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings just three years ago.

The 34-year-old isn’t intent on joining the recent list of tennis retirees anytime soon. The Kazakh is keen for his newborn son — a huge bright spot off court — to watch him compete up close in the future.

Saturday’s draw at the loaded Astana Open in Kazakhstan revealed that the Astana resident would face third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas at the National Tennis Center. Grand Slam winners Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka are among two of his fellow wild cards.

“I had to wait until Friday evening to receive a wildcard because obviously there were so many requests from famous players to receive one,” a relaxed Kukushkin, winless in four matches against the Greek, said prior to the draw. “Lucky in the end I was able to get one. There was a chance I would play qualifying, which was still fine for me, but main draw is better.”

Main-draw victories at the highest level have proven difficult for the power-baseliner this season. The lone one came at the Miami Open presented by Itau in March after he made it through qualifying at the ATP Masters 1000 event. He then took time off when his son, Teikhon, was born in May, and has also dealt with shoulder and hip injuries.

Kukushkin dropped outside the Top 200 in July, having been inside the Top 100 for an eight-year spell between the end of 2013 and early 2021, with the exception of about three months. The goal for the rest of 2022 is to “finish well”, before he looks forward to pre-season training.

“I’m still motivated to find my old version,” said Kukushkin, an ATP title winner in St. Petersburg in 2010 who has also reached the second week at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon. “I don’t want to finish tennis being 500th in the world. I still believe I can play at a good level, so I want to come back to that. I’m going to work hard on this. Let’s see how long it takes.

“One, two, three years I can play, I don’t know. I’m motivated and also want my son to see his daddy playing on the big stage.”

Kazakhstan has grown in prominence on tennis’ world stage, something Kukushkin noted. Elena Rybakina, the current World No. 25 on the WTA Tour, won Wimbledon in July. Kukushkin relocated to Kazakhstan in 2008, and has represented his nation 50 times across 14 years in the Davis Cup, winning 29 of those encounters.

Kazakhstan first hosted an ATP event in 2020 in Astana — Kukushkin overturned a set and break deficit to defeat Benoit Paire and make the quarterfinals — and this year upgraded from a 250 to 500.

“In 2008 when I moved [here], nobody knew about Kazakhstan, nobody knew about tennis in Kazakhstan, and slowly the federation made a big step forward,” said Kukushkin. “We played good in Davis Cup, so the people slowly started to hear the name of Kazakhstan and that there are good players in Kazakhstan.

“Slowly we were all improving the situation here. It’s the third year of the tournament but all the players, all the ATP staff, all the coaches, all the fans know the tournament here is great. The facilities are great and organized.”

In retrospect, it’s ironic, but in a spectacular span of nine days last month Felix Auger-Aliassime – in back-to-back team events – produced the finest-quality results of his individual career.

On 16 September in Valencia, Spain, the 22-year-old Canadian overcame a rabidly partisan crowd and the World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz with a breathtaking comeback 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2 in Davis Cup play. Auger-Aliassime, who saved each of the seven break points he faced in a nearly three-hour match, followed up his defeat of the reigning US Open champion with a doubles victory that sent Canada into the November quarter-finals opposite Germany. Auger-Aliassime and Vasek Pospisil defeated Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martinez in three sets.

Then at the Laver Cup in London, with his Team World trailing Team Europe on the final day, Auger-Aliassime teamed with Jack Sock to defeat Andy Murray and Matteo Berrettini in doubles. He followed that up, stunning Novak Djokovic 6-3, 7-6 (3) in singles to give Team World a lead they never relinquished in winning the Cup for the first time.

And now, at the Astana Open where main-draw play begins Monday, Auger-Aliassime will attempt to translate that terrific team success into something more personal. He’s the eighth seed and faces Roberto Bautista Agut in a first-round match.

“Yeah, the last two weeks have been good,” he said before the tournament began. “Those team competitions I’ve been able to deliver good matches and raise my level when I needed to, when my team was counting on me.

“It would bring a lot of confidence to anybody to be able to win these matches when you need to. So, hopefully, I can bring that level going forward at the end of the season.”

Because Auger-Aliassime has always been mature beyond his years it’s sometimes easy to forget that, along with Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner of Italy, he’s one of only three players born this century among the Pepperstone ATP Rankings’ Top 25.

The Canadian has always had a healthy respect for tennis history but at the Laver Cup he was fortunate to experience it firsthand as 20-time major champion Roger Federer played his final match, doubles, with Rafael Nadal.

“I think they really did an amazing job of creating a great night of tennis – the speeches, the videos, the singing with the families,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It made it a very emotional night. When you see grown guys tearing up, like kids, without control it just proves how much tennis meant to him, how much he’s going to miss it.”

Auger-Aliassime and his fellow Team World players, reflecting on the powerful effect that Federer had on their early careers, had time to reflect on the debt they owed him.

“It was sad in a way to see him go but, on the other hand, it was a celebration of his career,” Auger-Aliassime said. “How much he’s impacted the world of sports and just to thank him in the end for everything he did. It’s good to know that he’ll be around. I’m really looking forward to his next chapter.”

Auger-Aliassime’s next chapter, based on those recent results, could be intriguing, too. He’s currently seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin and is attempting to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. One thing in the back of his mind is replicating the searing run he had in February when he reached back-to-back finals in Rotterdam and Marseille.

He took the title in Rotterdam, beating Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie and Andrey Rublev on the way to the final, where he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas. In France, he fell to Rublev in the final.

“I was playing a really good, attacking tennis – really controlled aggression,” Auger-Aliassime said. “When I’m able to do that, and serve well, stay in the rallies, and feeling good physically, I feel like, yeah, I’m one of the most competitive players out there. I can really beat anybody.”

Consistency, however, is his new goal.

“I have trouble in trying to keep up that level and that’s something I’m trying, month by month, year by year, to get better at,” he said. “But I trust with the work and reflecting what I can do better every time, I have no doubt where there’s going to come a point where I can bring that level every time I’m on the court.”