Local Italians around the Piazza San Carlo in Turin received an unforgettable surprise on Friday morning.
The singles competitors at the Nitto ATP Finals — Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Matteo Berrettini, Hubert Hurkacz and Casper Ruud — walked by to take their official group photo near the Piazza ahead of the season finale.
“Tennis has been booming on the men’s side in Italy, with Matteo, [Fabio] Fognini and [Jannik] Sinner in the past couple of years,” Djokovic said. “There is a good vibe in the city and everyone looks forward to supporting the tournament, and Matteo in particular. Everyone here wants to finish off the year in the best possible way.”
The stars said in unison “Takeover Torino!” as they departed the player hotel for the Piazza. It did not take long for locals to realise who was passing by.
Several players had fans shout their names en route, and one man even told Djokovic, “I need a coach for my next tournament!”, eliciting a laugh from the World No. 1.
Djokovic, who will chase a record-tying sixth Nitto ATP Finals title from 14-21 November at the Pala Alpitour, told Hurkacz and Tsitsipas during their walk that he competed in Turin when he was 15.
Asked for advice he would give Hurkacz — who was wearing a tan turtleneck sweater with a dark-coloured blazer over it — on his tournament debut, the Serbian quickly said he might need advice from the Pole.
“He already is setting a trend here with his fashion statement today!” Djokovic said.
With dozens of fans snapping pictures and taking videos on their phones, the eight players walked up and down a path to capture the photo, before returning to the hotel to get transport to the venue for media day.
There’s no question that Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic are being seen as the team to beat at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, where they are pursuing their 10th title of 2021.
After a stellar season including winning Wimbledon, the Tokyo Olympics and three ATP Masters 1000 titles, the Croatian pairing have already secured the year-end No. 1 FedEx ATP Ranking – a first for Mektic: “Considering [the] season we had, I was really hoping we could crown it somehow with this achievement, so I’m very, very happy.”
Pavic has been part of year-end World No. 1 pairings twice before, with Oliver Marach and Bruno Soares, but he’s never known a start to the season like the one he had with Mektic. The duo won 56 of their first 61 matches in 2021.
“It definitely was not easy,” Pavic acknowledged. “At one point I think we had, I read somewhere, a 17-1 record in the super tie-breaks, so obviously a lot of those matches that we won were tough matches. We won it in super tie-breaks and that’s just a few points, a few balls here and there…
“I think the biggest thing was just to get to know each other on the court a little bit, because we never really played together an official match. We were lucky enough to win the first two tournaments, had a lot of matches even before Australia, so from the beginning we found a chemistry on the court and we played well and that was the thing.”
The chemistry that Mektic and Pavic found at the start of 2021 proved enduring. Over the following eight months, the nine ATP Tour-level titles they claimed spanned hard courts, clay and grass. They became the first all-Croatian pairing to win Wimbledon, then went on to become Olympic gold medallists in Tokyo. Both men came into this partnership as proven elite players, but not even they could have expected so much success so fast.
“To be honest I was hoping we can be the best,” Mektic admitted. “I knew we were going to be good, no reason not to [expect that], but I was hoping we could be the best.
“Of course, it’s tough to expect nine titles especially three Masters Series, Grand Slam, Olympics. Those are unbelievable titles, unbelievable results, it’s tough to expect something like this. But I was confident that we could be the best team in the world.”
Now Mektic and Pavic will end 2021 as the top doubles pairing in the world, no matter what happens at the Nitto ATP Finals. That doesn’t mean the Croatian duo aren’t still hungry for success at the year-end championships, which would be a first for them as a team. “Well, I’ve never won it, he did last year [with Wesley Koolhof],” Pavic said. “I would love to lift the trophy here obviously.”
With such an elite field in Turin, Mektic and Pavic aren’t taking anything for granted. “I don’t consider ourselves favourites compared to everybody else. Everyone who’s here is really, really good,” Mektic said.
“I think everybody knows here that they have a chance to go all the way, so I don’t think anybody’s super-pumped to beat us [more] than anybody else. So we’re going to look for our chances same as everybody else and we’re going to try to be the best every day.”
World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas is hoping to take an extra step in his career next year, after a successful 2021 campaign.
Speaking ahead of the Nitto ATP Finals, the Greek star admitted, “The year has been really good. I started the year with the intention to eat better, sleep better and put my body in a better schedule. It was all for my tennis.
“I have achieved a lot of goals to pursue a better career this year and I’m happy where that led, but I have also had my downs this year. Things became too much, a lot of travelling and the pandemic influenced a few decisions.
“Overall, I am happy where I stand and I want to take an extra step and aim even higher next year. That will require new fresh goals, and also [my attempts] to becoming more professional. Working to find where the one per cent lies, or the five per cent, where I can benefit from it. I will of course have my team to help me get to that five per cent that I’m looking for.”
In 2021, Tsitsipas won his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (d. Rublev) in April and also contested his first major championship final at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic) in June.
Drawn in the Green Group, alongside World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud, the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion is recovering from a shoulder injury that hindered him at last week’s Rolex Paris Masters.
“In Paris, the pain was unbearable,” said Tsitsipas. “I had to quit during the match. It was very painful for me to let the crowd down, but I had to for my wellbeing. The last couple of days I have been practising with a little bit of pain, but I have less than five or six days ago when I started again. I am doing everything possible to recover from it.”
Tsitsipas plays Rublev in his first round-robin match on Monday night at the Pala Alpitour in Turin.
Two of the hottest young stars on the ATP Tour will look to cap breakout seasons in the perfect manner when they clash in Saturday’s title match of the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals. Heading into their first ATP Head2Head meeting, other than age, little separates top seed Carlos Alcaraz and second seed Sebastian Korda, who both take unbeaten 4-0 records into the decider.
“The final is going to be really, really tough,” Alcaraz said after defeating Argentine Sebastian Baez in Fridays’ semi-finals. “Sebastian is playing great tennis and I am really excited to play against him for the first time. It would be amazing to win the title, but I am going to be facing a really good opponent, so we will see.”
How To Watch The Final (9pm CET/3pm ET)
Spain’s Alcaraz is looking to become the second consecutive 18-year-old (Jannik Sinner) to capture the 21-and-under event. Like his rival, 21-year-old Korda is chasing his second title of the season. Alcaraz had just one tour-level win coming into 2021; Korda had just three. Today, both players are chasing the 32nd win of their respective breakout seasons.
Win number 32 would match Alcaraz’s current career-high FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 32, which has him as the highest-ranked player by age since former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt was No. 31 more than two decades ago in August 1999.
In earning his 30th win of the season in group play against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Alcaraz became the youngest player to notch 30 wins in a season since an 18-year-old Rafael Nadal went 30-17 in 2004. If he wins the title, Alcaraz will match Andrei Medvedev, 18, with 32 wins in 1992.
But Alcaraz is sure to not be thinking about milestones. His focus will be singular: beating World No. 39 Korda, who is pumped up for the challenge.
Speaking before Alcaraz had taken the court for the late semi-final, former junior World No. 1 Korda said that he hoped to get the chance to end his season with a showdown against the man with whom he could be about to forge a decade-long rivalry.
“I hope it’s Carlos. I’ve never practised with him, I’ve never played him in a match; it will be really exciting,” Korda said. “Hopefully we can have a lot of battles in the next coming years; he’s playing some incredible tennis, really aggressive player and really strong mentally, so, yeah, it will be a new challenge and I’m really looking forward to it if it happens.”
Note: The Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals does not count as an official tour-level title in a player’s record.
Robert Lindstedt won 23 tour-level doubles titles over an illustrious 23-year career. On Thursday, Lindstedt and countryman Andre Goransson lost in the quarter-finals of the Stockholm Open to mark the end of the Swedish star’s ATP Tour career.
An emotional Lindstedt was joined during the retirement ceremony by fellow Swedes Thomas Enqvist, Jonas Bjorkman, Robin Soderling and Simon Aspelin.
“It’s amazing. I don’t know if I’m going through some sort of shock or something, but it’s a big part of my life and some of these guys are my best friends,” Lindstedt said during a special ceremony on Friday. “It was really nice that the tournament and the ATP did something nice for me and it means a lot to me. I’m going to always remember that.”
The fans will always remember Lindstedt, too. Not only did the former No. 3 player in the FedEx ATP Doubles Rankings earn impressive achievements on the court, but he also endeared himself to fans with his quick wit and competitive spirit.
“Something that I am actually proud of is how I’ve managed to deal with setbacks, all the injuries I’ve had and that I’ve managed to find the energy to do rehab and just accepting that this is the situation,” Lindstedt said. “Every time I’ve gotten an injury, I’ve alway come back and kept winning. Not as much as I want, but just the fact that as my fitness coach Ali Ghelem tells me, he says I have most grit than most guys he’s ever worked with.”
Lindstedt still performed well late in his career, claiming his final title in 2019 aged 42. Some of his greatest accomplishments include lifting the Australian Open trophy in 2014 and helping lead Sweden to the World Team Cup title in 2008. But he also had some near misses, including losses in three consecutive Wimbledon finals alongside Horia Tecau from 2010-2012.
“I’m forever going to miss it, but it also hurts in the end when you lose more that you feel like you should. You feel like you deserve to win more than you are, which obviously, there’s no such thing as deserving in sports,” Lindstedt said. “There comes a time when all of these factors come into a decision and for me it’s been pretty clear that after this year, I’m done.”
The 44-year-old still hopes to play Davis Cup at the end of the year for his country, but this was his final ATP Tour event.
“It’s both a natural process and the body eventually giving up on you. There comes a time when you just can’t take the pain anymore,” Lindstedt said. “There just comes a time when you weight your options and you feel like, ‘Yeah, I don’t really have this in me’.
“Looking back at my career, I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished. I went a different way obviously than most guys, but it was the only way I knew how to.”
Hubert Hurkacz did not expect to be at the Nitto ATP Finals at the start of 2021, but nearly 11 months later he has made history.
Hurkacz is just the second Polish singles player to reach the season finale, joining Wojtek Fibak. The 24-year-old has been soaking it all in since arriving in Turin this week.
“It’s emotional. It’s super cool to be here. I’m very excited to play in the Finals,” Hurkacz said. “It’s such a small group of people playing here and so much fun. That atmosphere is going to be amazing with the Italian fans.”
At the beginning of the season, Hurkacz was outside the Top 30 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. But winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Miami Open presented by Itau changed everything for the Pole.
“The beginning of the year, probably not. I didn’t think about it. Then later in the year after winning the Miami title, obviously that put me higher in the Race and then suddenly you think yeah, you might have a chance to qualify,” Hurkacz said. “Probably since then maybe I was thinking a little bit I would have a chance.”
Photo Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for ATP Hurkacz was the last player to earn his place at the Pala Alpitour, but he is now in alongside the likes of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and defending champion Daniil Medvedev. It is a special moment for Polish tennis, since Iga Swiatek is competing in the WTA Finals this week.
“I think it’s amazing. Iga has been playing pretty amazing tennis,” Hurkacz said. “She won a Grand Slam, so that’s so special for the whole country and for tennis in our country. Now that we both have qualified this year for the Finals, it’s great. It’s going to grow the sport in Poland and it’s just something really, really amazing.”
The seventh seed mentioned that the court is “quite fast” and that the balls are “also quite fast”, which he will try to take advantage of with his big serve. He is in the Red Group with Medvedev, 2018 winner Alexander Zverev and home favourite Matteo Berrettini.
“Both of the groups are super tough. Just eight guys qualified here,” Hurkacz said. “We will see [what happens].”
Denis Shapovalov is one victory away from retaining the Stockholm Open title. Friendship was cast aside Friday when the third-seeded Canadian Shapovalov broke a two-match losing streak against second-seeded compatriot Felix Auger-Aliassime in a 6-4, 7-5 victory over one hour and 58 minutes.
“I am very happy to have played exceptional tennis today,” said Shapovalov. “Felix is an incredible player, so I knew I had to come out and play big. We know each other well. It definitely means a lot to reach the final.”
[FOLLOW ACTION]
With his 30th match win of the season, Shapovalov will meet American Tommy Paul in Saturday’s final at the Kungliga Tennishallen. The pair has not met before.
“It’s crazy that it’s our first meeting ever,” said Shapovalov. “We grew up in juniors together, he was a couple of years older. I am a big fan of his game and it was only a matter of time before he came up with a week like this. We’re big shot-makers, so it should be fun.”
Shapovalov was full of energy in the first set, earning breaks of serve in the first game and at 2-4. Shapovalov, who barely missed a backhand in the opening exchanges, wobbled momentarily and was forced to recover from 15/40 when serving at 5-4.
Auger-Aliassime appeared to gain the momentum in the pair’s sixth ATP Head2Head meeting by breaking for a 3-1 advantage in the second set, but a reliance on his second serve soon cost the 21-year-old in the next game. At 5-5, a game of brutal ball-striking, Shapovalov decisively broke to love and later closed out the encounter with his seventh ace.
World No. 53 Paul beat fellow American Frances Tiafoe, the eighth seed, earlier in the day.
This week, South American tennis celebrates a historic milestone on the ATP Challenger Tour. For the first time, a tournament on the continent is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
Welcome to the Uruguay Open in Montevideo, where they have been perfecting the ‘world-class tennis plus premier entertainment’ formula since the tournament’s inception in 1998.
In addition to the action between the lines, an integral aspect of many successful Challengers involves entertainment beyond the courts. It is the notion that premier tennis and off-court entertainment create a first-rate experience with a festive atmosphere. In the smaller, more intimate settings on the Challenger circuit, this is especially effective in building popularity for the tournaments and creating buzz throughout the city.
In Montevideo, they have been doing exactly that since 1998. Led by tournament director and former World No. 27 Diego Perez, nightly concerts, food trucks, a premier VIP area and activities for fans of all ages have contributed to the vibrant soul and identity of the event.
This week, the Uruguay Open is in the spotlight, as Perez and his dedicated team welcome players and fans for the tournament’s 20th edition. It is an unprecedented milestone anniversary, marking the first time a tournament in South America has reached two decades on the ATP Challenger Tour.
The tournament is the pride of professional tennis in Uruguay and was its lone ATP Challenger event for many years, prior to the recent arrival of the Punta Open in Punta del Este. It is a party all week at the famous Carrasco Lawn Tennis Club, with the adjacent Arocena Street a vibrant scene with food trucks, live music and games in the sponsor village, accompanying the world-class tennis on the courts.
“I had very beautiful moments there, winning the tournament,” said World No. 13 Diego Schwartzman. “It’s always a pleasure to play in Uruguay. Every moment I was there I enjoyed it to the fullest. Many people in the organization I have a great relationship with. Despite not having gone in recent years because I am playing other tournaments, I always enjoy it from a distance. I hope they continue to enjoy it there and celebrate many more anniversaries.”
Schwartzman, the champion in Montevideo in 2016, is one of many past winners and finalists that would go on to the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. Former World No. 3 Guillermo Coria won the title in 2000 and was followed by another eventual No. 3 in David Nalbandian in 2001. Nalbandian defeated future World No. 5 Fernando Gonzalez in that final. Also, Juan Martin del Potro launched his career with his maiden ATP Challenger title in Montevideo in 2005.
The Uruguay Open is held at the Carrasco Lawn Tennis Club, a historic facility founded in 1943. Located in the residential neighborhood of Carrasco, the award-winning club has been recognized internationally for its excellence in hosting world-class sporting events. It consists of 22 clay courts, two football fields, one hockey field, four Olympic-sized swimming pools, three gyms and a cultural and social centre featuring a theatre room and art space.
Former World No. 27 Diego Perez has run the tournament since he retired in the late 1990s. The Uruguayan won his lone ATP Tour title in Bordeaux in 1985 and earned more than 200 match wins at the tour-level. He is one of many former players who have become Challenger tournament directors, especially in South America, along with Luis Horna (Lima), Andres Gomez (Guayaquil) and Nicolas Lapentti (Ambato).
Perez spoke with ATPTour.com during the Uruguay Open’s 20th anniversary celebration…
Diego, congrats on 20 years. How proud are you to reach this milestone?
I’m really proud and happy. I really love my job. I love doing what I do. Last year was tough not to have the tournament. I missed it a lot. Since we knew that it was going to happen this year, it was a big satisfaction. My team is not big, but we are many good ones. In terms of, they really do the best work and they always do what’s best for the tournament. Every year we try to do it better. The copy-and-paste is only for things that really works. If it doesn’t, we change it. If something isn’t our best, we try it another way. We always try to improve, especially the little details.
You’ve been a part of this tournament for all 20 years. Not many directors stay for that long. What has this experience been like for you?
For a long time, Uruguay didn’t have any other tournament. We were the only one. Now, in recent years we’ve also had the Punta Open in Punta del Este, but this is still a big event for our country. What keeps me going is that this is an important event for Uruguay. We’re the Uruguay Open. It’s the No. 1 tournament in this country with the ATP. The site is beautiful and we try to make this an ATP Tour event on the Challenger Tour. I always say that in order to make a tour event here, you only need money, because the rest is already there. It’s the main event in Uruguay and that’s what keeps me going.
Speaking of that, how rewarding is it to give back to tennis in your country?
That’s what it’s all about. That’s my side of helping tennis in Uruguay. I don’t like to be in the court anymore and I haven’t been playing much since I retired 25 years ago, but I’ve wanted to stay in tennis. That is, outside the court. I’m really happy with what I do and the kids are really happy to see these players coming every year. We’ve had really well known players these last 20 years.
I remember when it started as the Copa Ericsson, the winners were David Nalbandian and Guillermo Coria and we had Fernando Gonzalez reach the final. Gaston Gaudio was playing here and also Juan Ignacio Chela and Nicolas Massu. We’ve had very big names. And of course the very first tournament won by Juan Martin del Potro was here. And after that we had guys like Pablo Cuevas and Diego Schwartzman winning, not too long ago. And of course, the fans want them to come back, but you have to wait until they retire for them to stop by Montevideo again.
For you, how important is it to grow the game in South America?
In Uruguay, it’s a small number of people playing the game. We’ve been trying to work on that for a long time. In the region, I’m sure having these Challengers has helped a lot. In Argentina and Chile there are very good players and the same with Ecuador now. In Peru too with Juan Pablo Varillas coming up. I’m sure these tournaments have helped a lot in the region. In Uruguay, you have to be really lucky to make it to the Top 200. That’s what’s missing here. We are missing more tennis players to inspire the others, but that’s why this tournament is so important.
How has the tournament grown and evolved over the years? What is the biggest change and improvement?
We try to grow and improve the event every year. You know, it’s the VIP area that is so important for us. It’s important to have a nice place for the people to come and have dinner, a few drinks, a DJ playing some nice music and make a nice atmosphere. We spend a lot of money on that. We make that money back. Over the years, we started to make it a better experience. Do you like champagne? Sure. Do you like paella? Do you like tennis? Ok, come on over. We have a very nice VIP area and every year it’s getting better. I think that helps raise the money. We sell it to different companies and they bring their clients. For my Challenger, this is the formula to keep on going and get more sponsors.
That said, the Uruguay Open has an incredible fan experience. It really seems like a party every day. How important is that?
We try to help the fans also. What we’ve done in the past few years is to close off the street that is next to the club and have food trucks and live music and some kind of games for the people to play around. For tennis, either you live in a country like Argentina where there are 2 million people that play the game, or you live in Uruguay where tennis is very small. People want to see Nadal and Federer come here, but you have to make them understand that having 13 or 14 players in the Top 150 in the draw is really good. We’ve also had many Top 100 players in the draw. We do all this with a lot of passion.
Being a former player gives you a unique perspective. How has that helped you in this role?
I would love to do more for the players. I would love to raise the prize money. But I know they enjoy the transport, the hotel, the food, the club is really wide open for them. The area is really nice and friendly. You have the beach that is really close. The hotel is nearby. I think all that helps to make the players feel more comfortable. As a former player, I know there are a few things to provide a better service and that’s what I’m looking to do.
What are your memories competing on the Challenger Tour? How important was that part of your career?
It was always important, but my career was not conventional. I won my first [FedEx ATP Rankings] points in Rome, at the Masters 1000 event. I was playing a junior event there and I got to the semi-finals. The top four juniors got wild cards for the qualifying. That’s how I qualified and won my first points there. I was always mixing my time between tour events and Challengers. I have the biggest respect for Challengers. I think it really helps the players as they move up the rankings.
Top seed Carlos Alcaraz is the youngest player competing at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals this week. But the 18-year-old continued to impress Friday as he cruised into the final in Milan.
The Spaniard went 3-0 in the round-robin stage and produced another ruthless performance, soaring past Argentine Sebastian Baez 4-2, 4-1, 4-2 to advance after 62 minutes in their first tour-level meeting.
“It was a really good match from my side,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “I knew I had to play really well and aggressively. He is playing at a great level and had a great week. I always think in the tough moments I have to be aggressive and have no nerves in that moment. If I lose that point in the tough moments it is because I have gone for it.”
Alcaraz imposed his aggressive heavy-hitting game on the World No. 111 from the outset at the Allianz Cloud. The Spaniard demonstrated great footwork, which allowed him to run around and dictate on his forehand, striking with vast amounts of power to outmanoeuvre Baez.
The World No. 32, who has just dropped one set en route to the championship match, will face second seed Sebastian Korda in the final after the American defeated countryman Brandon Nakashima 4-3(3), 2-4, 1-4, 4-2, 4-2. If Alcaraz wins the title, he will become the youngest player since Andrei Medvedev, 18, to record 32 wins in a season, after the Ukrainian went 32-11 in 1992.
“The final is going to be really, really tough,” Alcaraz said. “Sebastian is playing great tennis and I am really excited to play against him for the first time. It would be amazing to win the title, but I am going to be facing a really good opponent, so we will see.”
In a strong serving display against Baez, Alcaraz won 32 of 37 of points behind his first delivery and saved all three break points he faced. The Spaniard hit 16 winners and committed just 11 unforced errors to end Baez’s hopes.
Earlier this year, under the guidance of coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz made headlines when he upset World No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to the quarter-finals at the US Open. The Spaniard also captured his maiden tour-level title in Umag and recorded Top 10 wins against Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner in recent weeks.
Baez had never played a tour-level hard-court match before this week. But the 20-year-old, who won five ATP Challenger Tour titles on clay this year, overcame home favourite Lorenzo Musetti and Hugo Gaston to reach the semi-finals at the 21-and-under event.
Tommy Paul booked a place in his first ATP Tour final on Friday at the Stockholm Open, snapping a three-match losing streak against Frances Tiafoe with his first victory over his fellow American since playing juniors.
One day after beating Andy Murray, the American backed up the performance with a high-quality performance to overcome eighth-seed Tiafoe 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-4 in two hours and 30 minutes.
“I haven’t got a win over Frances since juniors, so that was a big win for me,” said Paul. “That was the best level I’ve played all year long. He was playing amazing tennis for the first two sets, and I played my highest level in the third set.
“It wasn’t fun to be broken at 5-5 in the second set, again, but I knew if I stayed tough he may give me a couple of looks. I tried to have fun, and I ended up playing my best tennis. The more matches I’ve played, the more comfortable I’ve played in pressure situations. I’ve enjoyed playing in front of the big crowds.”
Paul will now prepare to challenge a Canadian, second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime or third seed and 2019 defending champion Denis Shapovalov, on Saturday at the Kungliga Tennishallen in Stockholm.
Tiafoe’s movement up the court put Paul under pressure in the latter stages of the 50-minute first set, which turned at 5-5. Paul jumped to a 2-0 lead, courtesy of a lapse in concentration from Tiafoe in the second set, but the World No. 53 was soon pinned back. The pair again exchanged service breaks prior to a high quality tie-break with Paul striking a forehand winner down the line at 5/5 on Tiafoe’s serve.
Paul’s patience was rewarded in the third game of the decider, when he chased down a drop shot for a winner on his fourth break point at 1-1. Paul remained focused and lost just two of his next 16 service points.
Tiafoe, who reached the Erste Bank Open final (l. to Tiafoe) two weeks ago, drops to 32-24 on the season. He’d beaten Paul in February 2020 at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com and in two other matches on the ITF Futures and ATP Challenger Tour in 2015 and 2016.
[FOLLOW ACTION]
Stockholm Doubles Final Set
Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer booked their places in a 10th team final (4-5 record) on Friday with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Swedish wild cards Markus Eriksson and Elias Ymer. They will face Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, winners of the Astana Open in September, who defeated Emil Ruusuvuori and Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6(2), 6-2.
We use technology such as cookies on our website, to provide functions and analysis of our visitor data. Click Accept to confirm that you agree to its use.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
