Tsitsipas Leads Milan Contenders Into Pressure-Packed Thursday

Two players have already guaranteed their spot in the semi-finals of the Next Gen ATP Finals, but there will be a lot on the line on a pressure-packed final day of round-robin play on Thursday, with two spots in the last four still up for grabs.

One #NextGenATP contender who has already moved through is top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek moved to 2-0 in Group A play on Wednesday, impressively dismissing 2018 Delray Beach Open champion Frances Tiafoe.

“I’m very satisfied with my performance. I was playing aggressive tennis, coming to the net, playing an all-around game, and being unpredictable, which helped a lot,” Tsitsipas said. “I used my forehand a lot, had a lot of winners from my forehand side. Just a great day at the office.”

Tsitsipas will have a chance to stay undefeated against Polish No. 1 Hubert Hurkacz. The two-time ATP Challenger Tour winner embraced the stage on Wednesday during his victory against Jaume Munar, a four-set battle. And he will hope to do the same against World No. 15 Tsitsipas.

“It’s great. Yeah, it’s amazing,” Hurkacz said of the atmosphere at the Next Gen ATP Finals. “Great people here supporting, loving tennis also. So it’s really fun to play here in front of this crowd.”

Second seed Alex de Minaur also booked a trip to the semi-finals after defeating last year’s runner-up, Andrey Rublev, in four sets. The Aussie was ecstatic to overcome an opponent with a weapon as massive as the Russian’s forehand, and De Minaur will face another powerful foe on Thursday in Taylor Fritz.

“The group of guys here, they all play some insanely good tennis and every match is going to be really tough, so I’m looking forward to going out there,” said De Minaur, the current leader of Group B. “Hopefully I can serve well and do a little bit of what I did today.”

Rublev is hoping to battle for a semi-final spot of his own, continuing his pursuit of a title at the Fiera Milano. The Russian will face Italian wild card Liam Caruana.

There are a variety of situations in which players can finish in the group stage. Only one player, Caruana, has been eliminated from semi-final contention. But he will surely battle in front of his home fans and try to spoil Rublev’s attempts at moving on.

SEMI-FINAL QUALIFICATION SCENARIOS
GROUP A 
1) Regardless of score, if S. TSITSIPAS defeats H. HURKACZ and F. TIAFOE defeats J. MUNAR, then S. TSITSIPAS wins the group and F. TIAFOE qualifies 2nd.
2) Regardless of score, if H. HURKACZ defeats S. TSITSIPAS and J. MUNAR defeats F. TIAFOE, then H. HURKACZ wins the group and S. TSITSIPAS qualifies 2nd.
3) If S. TSITSIPAS defeats H. HURKACZ in 3 or 4 sets and J. MUNAR defeats F. TIAFOE regardless of score, then S. TSITSIPAS wins the group and J. MUNAR qualifies 2nd.
4) If S. TSITSIPAS defeats H. HURKACZ in 5 sets and J. MUNAR defeats F. TIAFOE in 3 or 4 sets , then S. TSITSIPAS wins the group and J. MUNAR qualifies 2nd.
5) If S. TSITSIPAS defeats H. HURKACZ in 5 sets and J. MUNAR defeats F. TIAFOE in 5 sets, then S. TSITSIPAS wins the group and H. HURKACZ qualifies 2nd.
6) Regardless of score, if H. HURKACZ defeats S. TSITSIPAS and F. TIAFOE defeats J. MUNAR in 3 sets, then S. TSITSIPAS wins the group and F. TIAFOE qualifies 2nd.
7) If H. HURKACZ defeats S. TSITSIPAS in 4 or 5 sets and F. TIAFOE defeats J. MUNAR in 4 sets, then S. TSITSIPAS wins the group and F. TIAFOE qualifies 2nd.
8) If H. HURKACZ defeats S. TSITSIPAS in 3 sets and F. TIAFOE defeats J. MUNAR in 4 sets, then S. TSITSIPAS wins the group and H. HURKACZ qualifies 2nd.
9) If H. HURKACZ defeats S. TSITSIPAS in 3 sets and F. TIAFOE defeats J. MUNAR in 5 sets, then S. TSITSIPAS wins the group and H. HURKACZ qualifies 2nd.
10) If H. HURKACZ defeats S. TSITSIPAS in 4 sets and F. TIAFOE defeats J. MUNAR in 5 sets, then S. TSITSIPAS wins the group and H. HURKACZ qualifies 2nd.
11) If H. HURKACZ defeats S. TSITSIPAS in 5 sets and F. TIAFOE defeats J. MUNAR in 5 sets, then S. TSITSIPAS wins the group and F. TIAFOE qualifies 2nd.

GROUP B
1) Regardless of score, if A. DE MINAUR defeats T. FRITZ and A. RUBLEV defeats L. CARUANA, then A. DE MINAUR wins the group and A. RUBLEV qualifies 2nd.
2) Regardless of score, if T. FRITZ defeats A. DE MINAUR and L. CARUANA defeats A. RUBLEV, then T. FRITZ wins the group and A. DE MINAUR qualifies 2nd.
3) Regardless of score, if A. DE MINAUR defeats T. FRITZ and L. CARUANA defeats A. RUBLEV in 3 or 4 sets then A. DE MINAUR wins the group and T. FRITZ qualifies 2nd.
4) If A. DE MINAUR defeats T. FRITZ in 4 or 5 sets and L. CARUANA defeats A. RUBLEV in 5 sets, then A. DE MINAUR wins the group and T. FRITZ qualifies 2nd.
5) If A. DE MINAUR defeats T. FRITZ in 3 sets and L. CARUANA defeats A. RUBLEV in 5 sets, then A. DE MINAUR wins the group and A. RUBLEV qualifies 2nd.
6) If T. FRITZ defeats A. DE MINAUR in 3 sets and A. RUBLEV defeats L. CARUANA regardless of score, then T. FRITZ wins the group and A. DE MINAUR qualifies 2nd.
7) If T. FRITZ defeats A. DE MINAUR in 5 sets and A. RUBLEV defeats L. CARUANA in 3 sets, then A. DE MINAUR wins the group and A. RUBLEV qualifies 2nd.
8) If T. FRITZ defeats A. DE MINAUR in 4 or 5 sets and A. RUBLEV defeats L. CARUANA in 4 or 5 sets, then A. DE MINAUR wins the group and T. FRITZ qualifies 2nd.
9) If T. FRITZ defeats A. DE MINAUR in 4 sets and A. RUBLEV defeats L. CARUANA in 3 sets, then A. DE MINAUR wins the group and T. FRITZ qualifies 2nd.