Watch the best shots and rallies as Germany’s Alexander Zverev defeats top seed and world number one Novak Djokovic at the Tokyo Olympics, ending the Serb’s hopes of a “Golden Slam”.
New Zealand duo Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus ended a strong week at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday by defeating Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren 7-6(3), 6-2 to capture the bronze medal.
Daniell and Venus, who also teamed at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, saved all three break points they faced. They won 75 per cent (33/44) of their first-service points to claim victory in one hour and 49 minutes.
View Order Of Play | View 2020 Olympics Results
Venus has won two tour-level titles this year at the Hamburg European Open (w/Puetz) and the Gonet Geneva Open (w/Peers), while Daniell enjoyed a run to the final at The Qatar ExxonMobil Open (w/Oswald) in March.
Krajicek and Sandgren were making their Olympic debuts this week and were teaming for the fifth time this year.
The ROC’s Karen Khachanov guaranteed himself at least a silver medal on Friday at the Tokyo Olympics as he produced a dominant display to move past Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3 to reach the final.
The 12th seed, who is making his Olympic debut this week, was strong on serve throughout, hitting 10 aces and winning 93 per cent (26/28) of his first-service points to advance in 80 minutes.
View Order Of Play | View 2020 Olympics Results | View Draw
Khachanov will next face either top-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic or German Alexander Zverev in the gold medal match.
The 25-year-old has enjoyed runs to the semi-finals at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon and the Great Ocean Road Open this year. Khachanov also equalled his best Grand Slam result at Wimbledon earlier this month as he advanced to the quarter-finals (l. to Shapovalov).
Carreno Busta upset World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals but could not match those performance levels against Medvedev’s countryman Khachanov on Friday. The sixth seed, who won his first ATP 500 trophy and sixth tour-level title earlier in July at the Hamburg European Open, had dropped just one set en route to the last four.
#NextGenATP Italian Jannik Sinner was completely calm Thursday evening despite losing his fourth consecutive match. After his opening defeat at the Truist Atlanta Open, the 19-year-old Italian made clear that a few bad results should not lead to panic.
“How do I stay positive? It’s very easy. I’m 19 years old, turning 20 this year, which I think a lot of people forget,” Sinner said. “For me personally, it doesn’t matter if I win now at 20 or at 23. I think our goal is to become a great player when I am around 23, 24 years old. The process we are doing is [for the] longterm.”
[WATCH LIVE 2]In Sinner’s mind, he has “had a couple of great results. I don’t think I’ve won something big.” That is a humble comment from a player who reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Miami earlier this year. By doing so, he became just the fourth teenager to make the Miami championship match, joining World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and former World No. 1s Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal.
The 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion is always thinking of maximising his potential, and whether he is winning or losing, the teen is learning.
“[I am] playing tennis a lot, enjoying playing tennis, working physically and mentally to be in the best possible position when I am around 23 years old. I don’t know if it’s going to be when I am 23 or 22 or maybe already next week, you never know,” Sinner said. “But what I think is very important [is] to think back where I come from. The people who stayed very close to me know how important tennis is for me, which I think [will be] my life for the next hopefully 20 years.
“[I am] just trying to enjoy every journey. It just started, so hopefully I can still show some good tennis in the future.”
Although Sinner lost against Australian Christopher O’Connell in the second round on his Atlanta debut, he found positives in the defeat. The teen had not played a match since losing in the first round at Wimbledon last month, and he has been working hard on his fitness and serve. Sinner won 81 per cent of his first-serve points and only faced one break point against the qualifier.
“Today, I was not serving so bad to be honest,” Sinner said. “In general, I think I was practising well. I didn’t put away one single practice session. I was always focused and obviously the results you cannot see in one or two tournaments. It’s going out in a couple of matches and hopefully I’m going to win some matches here in the U.S. swing, which will give me confidence and then after I’ll start to play my tennis, trying to get 100 per cent out of my potential.”
Sinner is not done in Atlanta. The Italian shook off his singles loss on the doubles court with American Reilly Opelka, as they advanced to the semi-finals with a straight-sets victory against Treat Huey of the Philippines and Benoit Paire of France. No matter what happens the rest of the week, Sinner will continue to try to make the most of it.
“First-round matches are not easy. I’m trying to have a couple of doubles matches as well, which I think can help me,” Sinner said. “Hopefully I can play better in Washington.”
Nick Kyrgios was quick to congratulate Briton Cameron Norrie after the lefty lifted his first ATP Tour trophy on Saturday in Los Cabos. The Aussie learned firsthand just how well his friend is playing on Thursday evening.
Norrie eliminated Kyrgios 6-1, 6-4 from the Truist Atlanta Open, an ATP 250 event that Kyrgios won in 2016. The third seed needed just 57 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals, in which he will play Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori.
“It’s very nice to be back here in Atlanta,” Norrie said in his on-court interview. “It’s good to have Nick back… really enjoyed the match and really happy with my level.”
[WATCH LIVE 2]Norrie, who is at a career-high No. 29 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, has made the semi-finals in Atlanta in his two previous appearances. Against Kyrgios, who struggled to find rhythm from the baseline, the British lefty remained solid with few dips in his level and saved the only break point he faced.
“It’s cool to be playing at this level and [I am] happy and satisfied to be getting some wins,” Norrie said. “I’m enjoying my tennis.”
The 25-year-old’s next opponent, Ruusuvuori, led Benoit Paire 4-6, 6-4, 3-0 when the Frenchman retired due to heat illness. The Finnish player is into his first quarter-final of the year.
Australian Christopher O’Connell earned the biggest win of his career on Thursday afternoon, stunning second seed Jannik Sinner 7-6(7), 6-4 at the Truist Atlanta Open to reach his first ATP Tour quarter-final.
“I got here last Wednesday, so I’ve been acclimatising for the past week or so. I felt pretty comfortable out there,” O’Connell said in his on-court interview. “Maybe I was a little off early on, but as I got into the swing of the match I felt pretty comfortable.”
Sinner, the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion who made his first ATP Masters 1000 final this year in Miami, earned three set points in the first-set tie-break. But O’Connell showed no fear of the stage or his opponent, hitting critical passing shots under pressure to rally.
“I struggled a little bit with that when I was a bit younger,” O’Connell said of facing higher-ranked opponents. “But I’m 27 now, so I need to start making some inroads. I feel confident at the moment.”
World No. 132 O’Connell, who qualified at this ATP 250, converted the only break point of the match early in the second set and he never looked back. The Aussie triumphed in one hour and 38 minutes to set a clash against five-time champion John Isner or wild card Jack Sock.
Pedro Munoz had a vision for the future of tennis in Spain. The year was 1991. Spanish tennis was beginning to enter the forefront on the global stage and would soon establish itself as a factory of clay-court stalwarts on the professional circuit.
For decades, tennis on clay has ruled in the European nation. The future stars of the ATP Tour, from Carlos Moya to Juan Carlos Ferrero and Rafael Nadal, would be raised and groomed on dirt across the country. Mastering the clay was a right of passage for those looking to develop their talents and take the next step at the pro level.
As the game continued to grow in popularity and a new generation of Spanish stars hit the courts, it was Munoz who saw an opportunity to take his beloved sport to the next level… on hard courts. The Spaniard was a pioneer in his country, seeking to transform the tennis landscape with the addition of a new tournament in his native Segovia.
This wasn’t your typical Spanish tournament on clay. As Munoz established the Open Castilla y Leon Villa de El Espinar, he introduced an integral aspect that would distinguish the event from all other professional tournaments in Spain. Munoz founded the country’s first premier hard-court tournament.
While preserving the rich culture of Spanish tennis, Munoz sought to bring an enduring hard-court presence to his homeland. And, equally as important, he hoped to integrate the local community of the Castilla y Leon region into the fold.
What started as a Spanish Tennis Federation event in 1986, the Open Castilla y Leon would later debut on the ATP Challenger Tour in 1991. Munoz’s vision was realized and now, after 30 years, the tournament celebrates the milestone anniversary this week. That is, three decades of players and fans witnessing hard-court Challenger tennis in Segovia. Its longevity is not only a testament to Munoz’s ambition, but the many legends who have entered the gates of Villa El Espinar throughout the years.
On Monday, the tournament launched its 30th edition with a special ceremony to honour Munoz, who passed away at the age of 72 in January. Also a former president of the Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET), his legacy remains the heart and the soul of his beloved tournament.
“This tournament has been important for the city of Segovia and the region as a whole,” said tournament director and former WTA No. 1 Virginia Ruano. “In terms of tennis, it contributes a lot to the growth of the sport in Spain. It has helped many young Spanish players, being an important and unique hard-court event for them on the calendar.
“For me, after everything that we have suffered through in the past year, the tournament continues and has survived such a difficult time with the pandemic. We’ve reached our 35th edition in total and 30 on the ATP Challenger Tour. It is, however, sad that we are missing the creator and president of the tournament, Pedro Munoz. I do know that the entire organization is going to work with double enthusiasm to keep his legacy as high as possible, as Pedro would like.”
Segovia enters exclusive territory, as just the fifth tournament to join the ’30-Year Club’ on the ATP Challenger Tour. Last week, the Tampere Open in Finland celebrated its 39th anniversary and is followed by San Luis Potosi, Mexico (34), as well as Istanbul, Turkey (34) and Aptos, California, USA (32). In September, another Spanish tournament – the Copa Sevilla – is poised to also reach 30 years.
Longest-Running Tournaments On ATP Challenger Tour
| Tournament |
Years on Tour |
Year Founded |
| Tampere, Finland | 39 | 1982 |
| San Luis Potosi, Mexico | 34 | 1980 |
| Istanbul, Turkey | 34 | 1985 |
| Aptos, USA | 32 | 1988 |
| Segovia, Spain |
30 |
1991 |
| Sevilla, Spain | 29 | 1991 |
The Open Castilla y Leon launched its 30th edition with a plaque unveiling on Monday, paying tribute to Munoz. The tournament site was renamed the Pedro Munoz Municipal Tennis Complex in his honour.
“I don’t know where to begin, but what I would like to say is ‘thank you’,” Fernando Verdasco posted on Instagram following Munoz’s passing. “You have always helped and supported me personally and you treated me like a member of your family. Thank you for the wild cards into the Open Villa de El Espinar, which gave me the start of my career. It helped me to get where I am today.”
Officially referred to as the ‘Open Castilla y Leon Villa de El Espinar’, the tournament takes its name from the local region, an aspect that Munoz valued strongly. Castilla y Leon is the province in Spain where Segovia is located and El Espinar is the local municipality.
The tournament site is comprised of public, municipal courts and is located in the middle of the recently transformed ‘Reserva de la Biosfera’ (Biosphere Reserve) in El Espinar. It is 35,414 hectares (87,511 acres) of preserved land, with mountain peaks, pastures, pine forests and vast plains surrounding the tennis facility.
Maintaining the local theme throughout the tournament, the trophy is no exception. Each year, the champion lifts an artisanal crystal bowl made at the Royal Crystal Factory in nearby La Granja. They are unique pieces that are mouth-blown, wheel carved and fire-gilded and based on originals from the 18th century.
The longest-running ATP Challenger event in Spain has also served as a launching pad for the future stars of the ATP Tour. Rafael Nadal won his first career hard-court tournament there in 2003, with fellow World No. 1s Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Yevgeny Kafelnikov also competing in Segovia.
Nadal is joined by Verdasco (2007), Juan Martin del Potro (2006), Pablo Carreno Busta (2013) and Radek Stepanek (1998) as eventual Top 10 players to lift the trophy at the Open Castilla y Leon. And like Nadal, it marked the first hard-court crowns for all of them. Former World No. 3 Sergi Bruguera also won the title in 2000, in the latter stages of his career.
In recent years, the #NextGenATP contingent have made their mark, with current World No. 18 Alex de Minaur reaching the final in 2017 and 28th-ranked Ugo Humbert claiming his maiden Challenger title the following year. Spain’s own Nicola Kuhn is the defending champion, having seized his second Challenger crown at the age of 19 in 2019.
“I think I have some of the best memories in Segovia, because I played in front of the home crowd in late night matches on the center court,” Kuhn told ATPTour.com. “I loved the attention and the support I was getting from the people. It was an absolute honor to play there. I enjoyed every second of it! Obviously winning a tournament is always special, but this one I will never forget.”
#NextGenATP stars Sebastian Korda, Carlos Alcaraz and Lorenzo Musetti headline the qualifying field for the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
Korda will be competing in qualifying at this event for the third time. The American advanced to his first ATP Masters 1000 main draw at last year’s Western & Southern Open, which was held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time, Korda was No. 225 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Now, he is World No. 47, just one spot off his career-high FedEx ATP Ranking. The Floridian won his first ATP Tour title in Parma in May.
Alcaraz is another in-form #NextGenATP player. The Spaniard just lifted his first tour-level trophy last week in Umag. This will be the 18-year-old’s first appearance in Cincinnati.
Musetti will also make his Cincinnati debut. The Italian, who pushed Novak Djokovic to a fifth set in the fourth round at Roland Garros, enjoyed impressive hard-court results earlier this year. The 19-year-old advanced to the Acapulco semi-finals and the third round in Miami.
Other players in the qualifying field include Americans Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe, 2019 semi-finalist Richard Gasquet and big-hitting German Jan-Lennard Struff.
Former World No. 3s Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka have withdrawn from the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati citing ongoing injuries to the wrist and foot, respectively, the tournament announced Thursday.
Thiem, the 2020 US Open champion, has not competed since 22 June after suffering a detachment of the posterior sheath of the ulnar side of his right wrist at the Mallorca Championships. The 27-year-old reached back-to-back quarter-finals at this ATP Masters 1000 event in 2016 and 2017.
Wawrinka, who owns 16 tour-level titles — including three Grand Slams — has not been in action since Doha in March. The Swiss player underwent left foot surgery that same month, and is continuing his recovery after a second surgery on the same foot on 21 June.
The 36-year-old holds a 3-3 record on the season, and sits at No. 30 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. He made the Cincinnati semi-finals in 2012 and the quarter-finals on three additional occasions.
With Thiem and Wawrinka’s withdrawals, Australian John Millman and Serbian Dusan Lajovic enter the main draw.
Top seed Casper Ruud survived a major scare on Thursday at the Generali Open as he saved a match point before defeating Swede Mikael Ymer 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 to reach the semi-finals in Kitzbühel.
The Norwegian has been dominant on clay in July, capturing back-to-back titles at the Nordea Open and the Swiss Open Gstaad in the past two weeks. However, hampered by a slight arm injury — for which he called the trainer to court in the second set — Ruud had to show his battling qualities against Ymer to advance in two hours and 28 minutes.
“I am just playing good tennis. [My arm] did not feel so good today, but that is part of the sport,” Ruud said in his on-court interview. “A lot of players have pain here and there. Today the arm was working a little bit better after treatment, so hopefully it can be fully recovered by tomorrow.”
The 22-year-old rallied as Ymer served for the match twice at 5-4 and 6-5 in the second set, squandering a match point in the tenth game. World No. 14 Ruud then played more consistently in the third set to deny his Swedish opponent a first ATP Tour semi-final appearance. The top seed has now claimed 26 clay-court victories this year.
“It was a very very tough match,” Ruud added. “Mikael played very well for two sets, and had the chance to win. I have been a bit lucky this year in a couple of matches where I have saved match points. It is small margins in this sport. Sometimes in tennis, it is not the guy who plays better that wins.”
Ruud will seek a 10th straight win in his next match against Arthur Rinderknech after the Frenchman’s best-ever season continued to go from strength to strength on Thursday. The 26-year-old defeated third seed Filip Krajinovic 6-4, 6-1 in Kitzbühel to reach his first ATP Tour semi-final.
Rinderknech, currently at a career-high No. 91 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, struck the ball with great power and depth throughout to advance in 80 minutes. The Frenchman has now claimed 13 tour-level wins this season, having not won a match at this level before 2021.
“It is amazing, it is such a nice city,” Rinderknech said. “It is such a pleasure to be in the semi-finals. Yesterday, I won 7-6 in the third and it was such a tough match. I went with my friend up the hill and took the cable car and went biking. It is such a nice region. I love it here.”
Rinderknech was competing in his fifth ATP Tour quarter-final on Thursday, having reached the last eight at the Swiss Open Gstaad and Nordea Open earlier this month.
Daniel Altmaier’s strong form continued as the German defeated Gianluca Mager for the second time in as many weeks with a 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory.
[WATCH LIVE 1]Altmaier, who beat Mager on the way to the semi-finals at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag last week, won 74 per cent (51/69) of his first-service points to advance in two hours and 34 minutes
The World No. 135 will next play Spaniard Pedro Martinez. The 24-year-old backed up his career-best win by FedEx ATP Ranking over countryman Roberto Bautista Agut by defeating qualifier Jozef Kovalik 6-2, 6-2.
Martinez, who upset World No. 17 Gael Monfils at Wimbledon to reach the third round, will be competing in his first ATP Tour semi-final on Friday.
