Tennis News

Gasquet becomes third-oldest Challenger champion in history

A trio of veteran players lifted trophies on the ATP Challenger Tour this past week, including Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who became the third-oldest champion at that level. Fellow tour-veteran Damir Dzumhur claimed a season-leading fifth Challenger title while Roberto Carballes Baena won in Seville for the third consecutive year.

Gasquet, 38, triumphed on home soil at the Cassis Open Provence by Cabesto, where he rallied past Austrian Jurij Rodionov 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the final. Due to rain, the championship match was forced to finish Monday with Gasquet leading 3-2, 40/0 in the final set. The former World No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings wasted no time upon resumption to earn his 10th Challenger title and first since 2017.

“I’m very proud. Winning a tournament is always special,” Gasquet said. “I came after a bad US Open, so I tried my best to survive the first two rounds and then I started to play well. It feels great to win another tournament. It gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.”

Oldest champions on the ATP Challenger Tour since 1978

Dzumhur strengthened his claim as the ATP Challenger Tour’s season leader in singles trophies (five) by successfully defending his title at the Istanbul Challenger TED Open. The 32-year-old, who returned to the Top 100 in August for the first time since 2020, downed Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-2 in the title match.

The Istanbul Challenger is the longest-running hard-court tournament on the ATP Challenger Tour. In its 37 years of existence, only two players have successfully repeated as champion: Malek Jaziri (2016-17) and Dzumhur. The Bosnian is just the second player since 2021 to win five Challenger titles in a season. Mariano Navone also lifted five trophies last year.

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/09/09/13/45/istanbulch-2024.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Damir Dzumhur and Hamad Medjedovic compete in front of a full crowd in Istanbul.” />
^{Damir Dzumhur (far end) and Hamad Medjedovic compete in front of a full crowd Sunday. Credit: Istanbul Challenger TED Open}

Home favourite Carballes Baena became the first player in 10 years to three-peat at a Challenger tournament. The 31-year-old dropped just one set en route to the LXI Copa Sevilla crown and cruised past third seed Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 7-5 in the final.

The Spaniard is just the seventh player to win three consecutive years at one Challenger event. Andreas Haider-Maurer last accomplished the feat by triumphing in Brasov, Romania from 2012-14. Carballes Baena is the second to record a hat-trick in Seville, joining Daniel Gimeno-Traver (2011-13).

In other Challenger action, Francesco Passaro survived a marathon week to be crowned champion at the AON Open Challenger, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary. The 23-year-old Italian gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about as he saved two match points in the opening round and another pair in the quarter-finals. Passaro overcame Spaniard Jaume Munar 7-5, 6-3 in the final.

^{Francesco Passaro wins the 20th anniversary edition of the Genoa Challenger. Credit: AON Open Challenger}

Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro collected his third Challenger title by winning the Road to the Rolex Shanghai Masters. The 27-year-old was dominant all week, racing past Yu Hsiou Hsu 6-4, 6-4 in the final, during which Shimabukuro dropped just two points behind his first serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

“I’m very happy, first Challenger title this year,” Shimabukuro said. “My first time in Shanghai, my first time playing a Challenger in China. I enjoyed it and I will keep going.”

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/09/09/13/52/shimabukuro-shanghaich-2024.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Sho Shimabukuro triumphs at the Shanghai Challenger.” />
^{Sho Shimabukuro in action at the Shanghai Challenger. Credit: Road to the Rolex Shanghai Masters}

Jan Choinski, who fell to Seville champion Carballes Baena in a five-set US Open first-round clash, also returned to the winners’ circle at the NO Open powered by EVN. The 28-year-old beat Lukas Neumayer 6-4, 6-1 in the final. Choinski is a three-time Challenger champion, having won a title each season since 2022.

Following his title run, Choinski is up 100 places to No. 176 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 👏

Choinski is the champion in Tulln after a straight sets victory over Neumayer!#ATPChallenger | @the_LTA pic.twitter.com/8e6cqyqU5R

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) September 8, 2024

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Watch GB in Davis Cup action on BBC

BBC will show live coverage of Great Britain in the Davis Cup Finals group stage in Manchester in September.

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PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah Update: Mensik, Michelsen, Shang in control after US Open

Wins at the US Open for Alex Michelsen, Shang Juncheng and Jakub Mensik have enhanced the trio’s chances of qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, which takes place from 18-22 December.

The 19-year-old Shang earned wins against Alexander Bublik and Roberto Carballes Baena to reach the third round at a major for the second time. The Chinese lefty, who advanced to the last 32 in Melbourne in January, pushed former finalist Casper Ruud to five sets in the third round but ultimately fell short.

Shang, who is third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, will next head to Asia, where he will compete on home soil at the ATP 250 event in Chengdu.

PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah

Czech Jakub Mensik advanced to the third round at Flushing Meadows in 2023 and was back at it in 2024. The 19-year-old, currently fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, held three match points against Nuno Borges in the third round but ultimately fell just short of reaching the fourth round at a Slam for the first time.

While Shang and Mensik are aiming to make their debuts in Jeddah, second-placed Michelsen is trying to return for the second time.

The 20-year-old American backed up final runs on home soil in Newport and Winston-Salem by earning a match win in New York. Michelsen beat Eliot Spizzirri in the first round but then ran into eventual champion Jannik Sinner.

Lower down the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, eighth-placed Henrique Rocha and 10th-placed Coleman Wong reached the semi-finals at ATP Challenger Tour events in Cassis, France and Shanghai, respectively.

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Relaxed Murray surprised he does not miss playing

Andy Murray reveals retirement has been “the complete opposite” to his expectations and that he is not missing tennis like he thought he would.

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Watch: Sinner beats Fritz to lift US Open title

Watch the moment world number one Jannik Sinner beats Taylor Fritz in straight sets to win the US Open and secure a second Grand Slam title of the year.

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Cahill on Sinner: 'He's got a champion mindset'

Renowned coach Darren Cahill has helped Jannik Sinner surge to new heights since joining the team in July 2022.

The 23-year-old won his first major title under Cahill’s guidance at the Australian Open in January and then rose to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time in June. On Sunday afternoon in New York, Sinner bookended his standout major season by capturing the title at the US Open.

Following Sinner’s victory, Cahill spoke to ESPN about the Italian’s journey and elite mindset during his US Open run.

“He was ready today,” Cahill told ESPN. “There was a difference between Australia and here. I think in Australia when you’re going for your first, those nerves, it was the first major final that he’d ever been in. There were more nerves. And maybe even some more expectations as well because he had beaten Medvedev a few times. And to get over that hump and that hurdle. I think it gives you incredible confidence that no matter what, you are going to be able to handle situations.

“This morning he practised well. This morning we were talking to Andre Agassi in the locker room. He was talking about his game, and his mentality, and his composure also in the big moments. Even when he was tested in that third set, I still felt like he felt like he could get back into it and turn it around which he was able to do. So, he’s got this champion mindset that I think a lot of players don’t have. Certain players do have it for sure. But I believe he was born with it and he loves those situations and those moments.”

Australian Cahill has enjoyed a standout coaching career. The former No. 22 in the PIF ATP Rankings helped guide Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and WTA star Simona Halep to World No. 1 and joined Sinner’s team two years ago in an aim to add some experience to an-already well-oiled team.

Sinner has worked with countryman Simone Vagnozzi since the start of 2022 and Cahill was quick to praise Vagnozzi when he was asked about Sinner’s performance against Taylor Fritz.

“I think that Simone Vagnozzi has done an amazing job over the past couple of years, working on errors of his game, both transition from defence… and to get some power on those in the corners,” Cahill told ESPN. “But also getting back and taking the point over and transitioning into offence as well. Simone has been an amazing coach. He’s done a great job the past two and a half, three years. And it’s been an absolute honour to work with him and see how he’s been able to evolve Jannik’s game.”

Sinner leaves New York holding a 55-5 record on the season and has a commanding 2,885-point advantage over second-placed Alexander Zverev in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, which acts as a barometer for ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF.

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Fritz boosts Turin qualification hopes after US Open run, Mover of Week

With just two months to go until the Nitto ATP Finals, the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin is starting to heat up. Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev have already qualified for the prestigious year-end event, but behind them there are a host of stars aiming to finish in the Top 8 and qualify for Turin.

ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin as of Monday, 9 September following the US Open.

Taylor Fritz – Fifth (3,890 points), +5
Fritz has climbed five spots to fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin after he became the first American man to reach a major final since Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in 2009. The 26-year-old, who defeated Alexander Zverev, Casper Ruud and Frances Tiafoe before losing to Sinner in the final, is aiming to make his second appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals. He reached the semi-finals in 2022.

View The PIF ATP Live Race To Turin

Alex de Minaur – Eighth (3,305 points)
The Australian remains in strong contention to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time after he advanced to the quarter-finals at a major for the third time this season at Flushing Meadows. De Minaur has won tour-level titles in Acapulco and ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2024.

Grigor Dimitrov – 10th (2,835 points), +3
The 33-year-old is back in the Top 10 in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin after he enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals at the US Open. The Bulgarian is aiming to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time since he won the title in 2017. Dimitrov is currently 470 points behind eighth-placed De Minaur, who occupies the final qualification spot.

Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev have already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, scheduled to take place from 10-17 November.

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Sinner savours US Open win after 'difficult' build-up

Jannik Sinner says it “means so much” to win the US Open after a “very difficult” few months in the build-up to the Grand Slam.

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Fritz says Grand Slam final run is ‘repeatable’

Fresh from the experience of his first Grand Slam final, Taylor Fritz is confident that it won’t be his last.

Despite his failed quest to become the United States’ first Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick triumphed at Flushing Meadows in 2003, the Californian believes that he is capable of similar deep runs in the future.

“It is a great feeling to have gotten to this point, knowing that I’m playing well, but I’m playing very within myself, and I feel like it’s repeatable,” he shared.

Fritz fell to World No. 1 Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 after a strong run to his first major final, that included wins over Top 10 stars Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud.

“I think the biggest thing is that I played solid this week, but I played very within myself. I don’t think I at any point, was, like, wow, I’m playing incredible, or I’m playing out of my mind,” he said.

“I know that there’s still a lot of room for improvement. And something I’ve said throughout my entire career, whether it’s when I won my first ATP point or I won my first challenger or I made my first round of 16 or whatever it is, I’ve always said once I do something once, I just feel a lot more confident in being able to do it again.”

Fritz was quick to praise Sinner, who now leads the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series 2-1. Sinner dominated the match, leaving Fritz no opportunity to stage a comeback.

“He’s the best player in the world right now. My plan A is not working. The plan B that I fall back on would normally be just like bringing everything in, being a little bit safer, grinding it out,” he said.

“That works, along with my serve, against a lot of other players, but against him, I tried to kind of bring it down, not be as aggressive, and he’s just gonna bully me a little bit too much.”

He also acknowledged that Sinner was a significantly improved player since they first played each other in the round of 16 at Indian Wells in 2021. “I could find myself in a lot of return games just off of his first serve. I felt like I could get myself in points off of his first serve every time. Then it was much easier to hurt him from the ground, as well. So he’s much faster, a lot better out of the corners. His serve is really good now.”

Fritz said that he wasn’t overwhelmed by playing in a Grand Slam final, claiming that he was more nervous for the all-American semi-final with Frances Tiafoe on Friday night.

“I was very, nervous going into the semi-final. I didn’t feel anywhere near as nervous going into this match as I did in the semis,” Fritz said.

“So I thought emotionally, it’s obviously the US Open final, I want to win it, it’s a really big moment. But I felt like emotionally I was going to be okay, because I knew it wasn’t going to be as bad as it was before my semi-final match, and I found a way to get through that.”

The 26-year-old beat No. 8 Casper Ruud and No. 4 Alexander Zverev on his way to the final. He was happy with his best run at a major but also showed his disappointment and bittersweet feelings after the loss.

“There’s obviously a lot of positives, and when I get some time to cool down, then I’ll be happy about the fact that I made it to the finals and stuff like that.

“But right now I’m pretty disappointed in how a lot of things on the court (went), how I played, how I hit certain shots. It sucks. I’m pretty upset with how I played. I feel like I almost let a lot of people down.”

Fritz will now focus on representing Team World at the Laver Cup in Berlin from 20-22 September. He has a 44-17 win/loss record for the season. He also jumped to fifth place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin as he looks to return to the Nitto ATP Finals for the second time.

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Jannik Sinner: 'The work never stops'

Jannik Sinner on Sunday became the first player since Guillermo Vilas in 1977 to win his first two Grand Slam titles in the same season. But this year’s Australian Open and US Open champion has no intention of slowing down.

The No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings is keen to continue pushing forward.

“For sure winning the first Grand Slam of the year gives you confidence, it gives you good feelings. But in the other way, you always have to work. It never stops,” Sinner said. “It’s like you always keep going and keep going. Until now I didn’t have so much time off to say, ‘Okay, you have done a great job’.

“It’s big thanks also to my team, because we always try some new work, some new things out, tactically. How can you play better against certain opponents? How do you work on such shots? Whatever you feel better or not, I was a lot in the gym, because I knew physically I still had to improve and I still have to improve a lot.”

A lot of hard work has gone into Sinner’s ascent in 2024. Before he lifted two major trophies, he spent countless hours in the gym and on the practice court refining his game.

“This is all part of sacrifices you make for an eventual future. So we will keep working,” Sinner said. “In my mind, I know that I’m not perfect and I will never be perfect, but we always try to evolve in my game. Then after my career I can say, ‘Okay, I’ve done everything possible to be at 100 per cent’.”

The 23-year-old Sinner and 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz swept this year’s major championships and are now a combined 6-0 in Slam finals. It is the first season since 2002 in which a member of the ‘Big Three’ — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer — did not triumph at a Grand Slam event. Federer retired in 2022 and Nadal only played seven events this year.

“It’s something new, but it’s also nice to see. Nice to see new champions. Nice to see new rivalries. I always have players and I will always have players who are going to make me a better player, because there are going to be times where they beat me. Then you have to try to find a way how to win against certain players,” Sinner said. “Today we saw that not everything was perfect. I could have served slightly better, but this makes me realise that the work never stops.

“It’s always a continued work, which, in the end of the day, if you want to be a better player you always have to work, and you have to have these daily routines, accept difficult times on court.”

This victory at Flushing Meadows is also different for Sinner compared to his win at Melbourne Park. Entering the season’s first Slam, Sinner had made just one major semi-final. In New York, he was the top seed and World No. 1.

“I believe that you can’t really compare them, because it’s different circumstances, different times of the year,” Sinner said. “I believe that in Melbourne was a kind of a relief, because in my mind, it was like I was working for it, and you never know if you can win one Grand Slam or not. But when you win one, you know that you can do it potentially.”

In the touching moment of the day, Sinner dedicated his title to his aunt, whom the Italian said is struggling with her health.

“My aunt, she’s a very important person, because when my parents, they were working every day and all day, so sometimes when I had to go to ski races, I went with her,” Sinner said. “She always helped me in summertime when my parents were working and I had some days off or free days. When you are young, you don’t go to practice every day. So I hung around a lot with her, and she’s a very important person in my life.”

Sinner lost just two sets in the tournament and throughout the fortnight showed why he is the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings and in great position to earn ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours.

“I feel like I have grown match by match and that my confidence level went higher and higher at some point,” Sinner said. “It was different because I had maybe a bit more pressure this time than in Australia. I’m happy how I handled this one. I’m just excited to have this trophy with me.”

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