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In a second-round showdown between four Top 30 singles players in the PIF ATP Rankings, Jack Draper and Jannik Sinner defeated Alexander Bublik and Ben Shelton 7-6(2), 6-1 at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers.

The British-Italian duo won 81 per cent of their serves and saved all three break points they faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to reach the quarter-finals. They will next face second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden or 14th seeds Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski.

Bublik and Shelton were competing just hours after playing each other in a first-round singles match, won by the American.

As part of the ATP doubles trial, teams of singles players are pitted against doubles specialist teams in the first round and Wednesday’s action featured a handful of such matches, with the results evenly split.

Miomir Kecmanovic and Casper Ruud ousted the seventh-seeded Argentine duo Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 7-6(4), 6-3.

Rafael Nadal announced on social media Wednesday that he will not compete at the US Open. The 38-year-old Spaniard shared that his next event will be the Laver Cup in Berlin.

"Hi all, writing today to let you guys know that I have decided not to compete at this year’s US Open, a place where I have amazing memories," Nadal wrote. "I will miss those electric and special night sessions in NYC at Ashe, but I don’t think I would be able to give my 100 per cent this time.

"Thanks to all my US Fans in particular, will miss you all and will see you another time. Best of luck to all for the always amazing US Open! My next event will be the Laver Cup in Berlin."

Hi all, writing today to let you guys know that I have decided not to compete at this year’s US Open a place where I have amazing memories.
I will miss those electric and special night sessions in NYC at Ashe, but I don’t think I would be able to give my 100% this time.
Thanks… pic.twitter.com/FluGRWUzIp

A four-time champion at Flushing Meadows, the lefty has earned a 12-7 season record across seven appearances. In the past month, Nadal reached the final of the ATP 250 event in Bastad and made the second round of the Paris Olympics, where he lost to longtime rival and eventual gold medalist Novak Djokovic. Nadal and countryman Carlos Alcaraz reached the quarter-finals in doubles.

Ben Shelton defeated doubles partner Alexander Bublik 7-6(4), 6-2 in a first-round match that ended in hilarious fashion Wednesday at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers.

The 11th-seeded American hit a backhand drop shot while holding three match points at 5-2 in the second set. Bublik darted towards the net and in a last-second effort, threw his racquet at the ball, making perfect contact. Though the shot did not count due to the racquet leaving Bublik's hand, the ball landed on Shelton's side, leaving the 21-year-old stunned. The pair of Top 25 players in the PIF ATP Rankings shared a laugh during a warm embrace at net.

Shelton, who will team the Kazakhstani later Wednesday in a second-round doubles showdown against Jack Draper and Jannik Sinner, overcame early forehand errors to record his first win in three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with Bublik. The two-time tour-level titlist raised his level when Bublik served for the opening set at 5-4 and rarely looked back to earn his career-best 27th match win of the season.

“I think the consistency in my tennis is improving every week,” Shelton said of his 8-0 first-round season record at ATP Masters 1000 level and higher. “I’m feeling more and more comfortable. I’m starting to feel more comfortable on the court against guys that I’ve had a lot of trouble with before. I think that my game is evolving every day. Surely not the player that I want to be in the future, but I think I’m moving the right way with a lot of things and finding identity on court.”

Up next for Shelton will be Australian Alexei Popyrin. The Australian downed Czech Tomas Machac 6-3, 6-4.

The US Open will offer a record $75 million in player compensation this year, with first-round prize money reaching $100,000 per player for the first time.

Early-round increases announced by the USTA cover both qualifying and the main draw of the hard-court Grand Slam in New York. The figure of $100,000 for reaching the first round is an increase of 72 per cent from five years ago, when it was $58,000. Those who lose in the final round of qualifying will this year take home $52,000, an increase of 63 per cent from when it was $32,000 in 2019.

There have also been increases in prize money for those players that go deep into the tournament. The men's and women's singles champions in New York will each receive $3.6 million, a 20 per cent increase from 2023. The singles finalists will earn $1,800,000.

The men's doubles and women's doubles championship teams will claim $750,000 per team. There has been a nine per cent increase in the total prize money for the men’s and women’s doubles draws from last year.

The year's fourth and final major, the US Open will be played at Flushing Meadows from 26 August-8 September.

Second serves are barely an asset.

The ATP Tour average is 51 per cent points won behind second serves. It’s only when you reach the rarified air at the top of the PIF ATP Rankings that you see the needle move in this all-important match metric.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of World No. 1, Jannik Sinner, and World No. 3, Carlos Alcaraz, identifies how they are able to create enough separation from their opponents to make a real difference behind their second serves. The data set is comprised of a minimum of 80 matches for each player over the past three seasons.

Second Serve Points Won
• Sinner = 54%
• Alcaraz = 55%

Sinner and Alcaraz only move three and four percentage points north of the tour average of 51%, but it’s enough to make a substantial difference to their careers. What’s fascinating is that Sinner and Alcaraz go about improving their average second-serve points won in different ways.

Tennis strategy involves making tactical decisions to outplay your opponent while maximizing your own strengths. Here's a detailed guide on various aspects of tennis strategy: Serving StrategyFirst ServePower and Placement: Aim to hit powerful serves with good placement to keep your opponent on the defensive. Target the corners and mix in serves to...

Winning in sport is tough, but when you get on a roll it can become a habit. In years gone by, winning became exactly that for Andre Agassi, Patrick Rafter, Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal across the North American hard-court swing.

During their careers, those four greats all completed one of the ATP Tour’s unique accomplishments at the Cincinnati Open. Since the ATP Masters 1000 series began in 1990, they are the only players to have backed up a title run at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers by claiming the trophy at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Ohio that same season.

Cracking the winning code consecutively in Canada and Cincinnati has proven tough even for some of the ATP Tour’s most iconic stars. Yet former World No. 1s Agassi (1995), Rafter (1998), Roddick (2003) and Nadal (2013) all dug deep win both hard-court events in the same season. All except Agassi also went on to win the US Open in the same year.

Ahead of the 2024 edition of the Cincinnati Open, which begins on Monday in Mason, Ohio, ATPTour.com looks back at the four champions who have tasted back-to-back Masters 1000 success in North America.

Andre Agassi – 1995
In 1995, Agassi arrived in Montreal seeking to consolidate his position as World No. 1 at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers. Two weeks and 10 wins later, the American stood on centre court at the Lindner Family Tennis Center having become the first man to win the Canada-Cincinnati Masters 1000 double.

No one will forget the 2023 Cincinnati Open championship match in a hurry.

A humdinger played out between the world’s two best players in stifling Ohio heat, the three-hour, 49-minute clash between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz was one of the greatest matches in ATP Masters 1000 history. Physical and mental resilience from both players, consistent shotmaking of the highest quality, and Djokovic battling back from championship point down to clinch the trophy were among the features that ensured the encounter instantly achieved classic status.

“Crazy. Honestly, I don't know what else I can say,” reflected Djokovic after his 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(4) victory at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. “Tough to describe. Definitely one of the toughest matches I've ever played in my life, regardless of what tournament, what category, what level, what player. It's unbelievable.”

Such a dramatic final had appeared unlikely when the then-No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings Alcaraz led No. 2 Djokovic, who was visibly struggling in the heat, by a set and a break at 7-5, 4-3. Even after Djokovic had reclaimed the break, he was still forced to fend off a championship point at 5/6 in the second-set tie-break, which he did with a big serve-forehand combo.

With Alcaraz beginning to suffer with cramp in his right hand in the decider, Djokovic emerged from nowhere as the physically stronger in the closing stages. He still needed to win another tie-break to get over the line after Alcaraz rallied admirably from a break down in the decider, but he did so with his fifth championship point before falling to the ground in ecstasy.

The seventh ATP Masters 1000 event of the season is the Cincinnati Open, which is held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz and defending titlist Novak Djokovic headline the action.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the US tournament:

When is the Cincinnati Open?
The ATP 1000 event will be held from 12-19 August. Founded in 1899, the hard-court tournament is celebrating its 125th year. It will take place at the Lindner Family Tennis Centre. The tournament director is Bob Moran.

Who is playing at the Cincinnati Open?
Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Alex de Minaur and Hubert Hurkacz are among the Cincinnati field.

When is the draw for the Cincinnati Open?
The Cincinnati Open draw will be made at a time yet to be confirmed. 

Many fans lined the exit of Court Central Tuesday evening in Montreal shouting Holger Rune’s name. Some wanted an autograph, others asked for a photo. There was enthusiastic support for the 21-year-old from Denmark, who had just defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the first round of the Omnium Banque National presente par Rogers.

Rune, who reached a career-high No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings last year, is competing in Montreal for just the second time. But he felt like a crowd favourite when he battled into the second round.

ATPTour.com caught up with the 13th seed, who will next play another Spaniard, Pablo Carreno Busta, for a round of quick questions with the Dane.

It was pretty cool hearing when they were yelling 'Holger! Holger! Holger!' Do you remember the first time any fans were cheering your name?
Yeah, it was many years ago. And it's great. It feels very good with the support. It's a special feeling. Being able to travel all over the world and hearing my name, it's really cool. Playing the first round here on centre court means a lot, and it was a special occasion. I'm just happy I could reveal good enough tennis to get through.

Did you ever watch a primetime match when you were a kid in the stands?
Millions, millions. Well, not so many in the stands, but definitely almost every primetime match on TV. Even the non-primetime matches, I still was watching. So I was watching almost from Court 14 to centre court, almost every tennis match.

After withdrawing from the Olympics with a wrist injury, Holger Rune made a successful return to competition with an opening win Tuesday at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers. In his first hard-court match since Miami, Rune dominated early and late in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory against lucky loser Roberto Bautista Agut.

Now 13-2 in his opening rounds this season, including 6-1 on hard courts, Rune will next meet Pablo Carreno Busta, who saved two match points to edge Fabian Maroszan at the Montreal ATP Masters 1000.

"It was a challenge for sure," Rune said. "It's never easy coming back after a little break — not the longest break, but for me, I'm very young and luckily I haven't been injured much. It was difficult but I think I managed to find the rhythm quickly. I didn't manage to sustain it in the second set. He played good, was feeling free. It was kind of an extra chance that he got to play a match. Happy that I could get through."

Holger moves ?

Rune takes his first win in Montreal with a 6-2 3-6 6-2 win against Bautista Agut ?@OBNmontreal | #OBN24 pic.twitter.com/y44iEtqZWi

Just minutes before the match, Bautista Agut replaced Milos Raonic, who withdrew with a shoulder injury. The Spaniard played two matches and six sets Tuesday, competing for more than five hours across defeats to Thanasi Kokkinakis in qualifying and Rune in the main draw.

Milos Raonic withdrew from the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers on Tuesday evening due to a shoulder injury.

“I tried to warm up for my match today. The thing that was the most difficult was to serve,” Raonic said. “I don't think I would have been able to be competitive by any means. I can manage a lot of things, but without serving, that would be a tough day for me.”

[ATP APP]

The former No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings was preparing to play in Montreal for the first time since 2019. He most recently competed in the Paris Olympics, where he lost his opening singles match in a final-set tie-break to Dominik Koepfer.

“It came up initially right when I came here on hard courts after the clay,” Raonic said. “I was playing points the other days, and I was kind of having a similar feeling. Took some days off trying to feel better about it. It just wasn't anywhere close to where I need it to be.”

Jack Draper and Jannik Sinner led a charge of singles stars who held the advantage against doubles specialists Tuesday at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers.

As part of the ATP doubles trial, teams of singles players are pitted against specialist doubles teams in the first round. Draper and Sinner headlined the action by defeating 16th seeds Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-0, 6-7(3), 10-8 in front of a packed Court 9.

Despite trailing 4/7 in the Match Tie-break, the British-Italian pair won six of the final seven points to advance. They dropped just four points behind their first serves, according to Infosys ATP Stats, throughout the one-hour, 23-minute match.

Draper and Sinner’s next opponents are a pair of fellow Top 30 singles players. They will face Alexander Bublik and Ben Shelton, who advanced after a freak injury to their opponents Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten.

The Wimbledon champions were serving at 4/2 in the first-set tie-break and were holding their ground at net, cleanly hitting volleys in response to monstrous forehands from Shelton. When the American opened the face of his racquet for a backhand, both the lefty Patten and right-hander Heliovaara prepared for an overhead.

After seven months of the 2024 season, a seven-pronged battle for eighth place has emerged in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.

The world’s top players are preparing for an ATP Masters 1000 doubleheader at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers in Montreal and the Cincinnati Open. Several members of the chasing pack will be keen to give a mid-season boost to their chances of booking a spot at the 2024 Nitto ATP Finals, to be held in Turin from 10-17 November.

With plenty of points available across Montreal and Cincinnati, the Live Race may well look completely different in two weeks’ time. As things stand, just 575 points separate Stefanos Tsitsipas in eighth (the final qualification spot for the prestigious season finale) and 14th-placed Lorenzo Musetti.

PIF ATP Live Race To Turin

The champion on his Nitto ATP Finals debut in 2019, Tsitsipas is chasing his sixth consecutive appearance at the season-ending showpiece. He lifted his third Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters crown in April but has not won a match at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers since 2021. He reached the final on event debut in Toronto in 2018, however, and is also a former Cincinnati finalist (2022). Tsitsipas knows that a big two weeks in North America could distance himself from the chasing pack.

One of the most difficult moments to watch at Wimbledon was the end of Hubert Hurkacz’s second-round match against Arthur Fils. People say a picture is worth a thousand words and that was the case looking at the pain of the Polish star’s face.

The 27-year-old dove for a ball, giving his absolute maximum effort as he always does. When Hurkacz tried to get up from the awkward position he was in, he tore the meniscus in his right knee and retired late in the fourth set.

A video that Hurkacz later posted showed the eight-time ATP Tour titlist sitting on a bench next to ball kids in the immediate aftermath sporting a look of concern, with a hand on his knee.

“Right after I knew something happened because it was painful and we needed to figure out how bad it was and just get as much information [as we could],” Hurkacz told ATPTour.com. “It was difficult because after the scan I didn't know when I was going to be back, if I was going to be playing this year or if I was going to reach my normal level. So it was definitely a challenging time.”

Hurkacz spoke to several doctors, almost all of whom said he would be out of competition until next year. Yet after undergoing surgery and working through an intensive rehab process with his physio Kuba and fitness coach Przemek, Hurkacz is ready to compete this week at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers in Montreal.

Kei Nishikori showed flashes of his vintage best Tuesday when he overcame #NextGenATP teen Alex Michelsen 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers.

By defeating the World No. 55 Michelsen, it marks the 34-year-old’s first win at ATP Masters 1000 level since 2021 Indian Wells and his highest-ranked victory since Washington that year.

"It's been a long time," Nishikori said with a smile in his on-court interview. "It means a lot, especially the way I played in the third set. First and second set, many ups and downs and I was missing a lot of balls. Third set, I was playing pretty good tennis I think, good defence and when I needed to, I was having good movement and playing aggressive. It was working really well."

Nishikori consistently struck deep returns to pressure the 19-year-old American's serve, converting four of his 12 break chances. The former World No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings earned a decisive break to clinch the second set and repeated that feat to close the match after two hours, 33 minutes. Competing in his fifth tournament this year across all levels, Nishikori crushed 22 forehand winners, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

"I just needed to keep believing in myself, that's the only thing I can do. To be aggressive, start hitting more forehands and backhands [down the] line. I think that started working well in the second set," said Nishikori, who has won 12 tour-level titles.

Twenty-seven-year-old Alejandro Tabilo grew up in Toronto, where his parents Ricardo and Maria met. The Chilean moved from Canada to Florida when he was 13, but some of his earliest memories stick with him most. After stunning then-World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Rome earlier this year, Tabilo thought back to those early days.

“I just started thinking about [when I was] here in Canada, where in the mornings I would go with my mom to practise,” Tabilo told ATPTour.com. “Or after coming back from school, my dad would be waiting right outside the bus and we would go straight to a park and play a little bit of tennis… All those little memories when I was a little kid and [not it has] come to this, which is what we worked for our entire lives.”

Tabilo is living his dream. The energetic lefty has enjoyed a breakthrough year on the ATP Tour, reaching a career-high No. 19 in the PIF ATP Rankings last month. Before 2024, he had never ranked high than No. 64.

But on Tuesday evening, the 15th seed will walk onto Court Central in Montreal to compete in the Omnium Banque Nationale Presente par Rogers for the first time. His match against Frances Tiafoe is a moment that he has waited for since before becoming a teenager.

Tabilo cannot remember exactly when he trained at Parc Jarry, the venue for the tournament, but he believes he was between eight and 10 years old. The Chilean practised at the home of the Montreal ATP Masters 1000 event for “maybe a month”, staying at a friend’s house while in town.

A lot of the attention during the 2024 season has gone to Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. Sinner won his first major at the Australian Open and completed his ascent to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Alcaraz triumphed at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and Djokovic just earned his maiden gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

But quietly, Daniil Medvedev has enjoyed a consistent season. The former World No. 1 is fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and is now entering the part of the season that has historically been when he performs best.

Seeded third at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers, this year’s Australian Open finalist and Wimbledon semi-finalist will try to claim his first title of the year.

“I think the thing always about my seasons is that a lot of times when I come to this stage, which is Canada, whatever happened before doesn't matter too much because that's really usually the best part of the season for me,” Medvedev told ATPTour.com. “So to be honest, I'm pretty happy with my season. I had some good results and good runs, some actually good wins. What I'm not happy [with] in a way is I don't have a title, but I'm playing [well at] the biggest tournaments and I lost to some great guys.”

It is not that Medvedev has failed to advance deep into tournaments. The 28-year-old is 35-11 for the season according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index and reached finals in Melbourne and Indian Wells.

Two years ago when Pablo Carreno Busta watched the draw for the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers, he was in disbelief. The Spaniard, then No. 23 in the PIF ATP Rankings, had drawn Matteo Berrettini, who earlier that year had reached World No. 6, in the first round.

“I wrote to my friends on WhatsApp and I said, 'Come on, this is crazy, the Masters 1000s. I am 23rd in the world and I play in the first round against Berrettini’,” Carreno Busta told ATPTour.com. “Come on, in the first round? I'm 23rd in the world and I have to play against Matteo?”

That week proved to be the best of Carreno Busta’s career. The mild-mannered Gijon-native not only defeated Berrettini, but went on to claim his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy, making memories for a lifetime in Montreal.

When Carreno Busta returned to Jarry Park a few days ago for the first time since that glorious week, his mindset was nowhere near the same. The 33-year-old has not played for most of the past year and a half due to elbow tendonitis.

“It's very special, of course, because I won two years ago here in Montreal, my first ATP Masters 1000. But also it's very special because the last year and a half, I was out of the Tour because of an injury,” Carreno Busta said. “To be here again is very important to me. To be on the Tour again after this long time, I didn't know if would be possible to continue playing tennis or not.”

Montreal native Gabriel Diallo grew up watching countryman Milos Raonic hammer aces and crush monstrous forehands. The eight-time tour-level titlist's explosive service motion and winding forehand assisted Raonic in becoming Canada’s highest-ranked player in history, climbing to No. 3 in 2016. Eight years on, the 22-year-old Diallo likes to study the 2016 Wimbledon finalist.

Though the six-foot-eight Diallo’s technique is uniquely different than Raonic’s, the principle remains the same: big man, first-strike tennis. The former University of Kentucky standout, who turned pro in December 2022, has found inspiration from watching the success of players such as fellow former collegiate player, 6’7” Christopher Eubanks, and 6’5” Raonic.

“Chris [Eubanks] is someone I’ve been compared to a lot, especially in college because I was very tall, very lanky,” Diallo told commentator Mike Cation at the Chicago Men’s Challenger. “Chris and I are both big servers and we look for our forehands.

“For me, the greatest to ever do it in terms of serve plus-one is Milos Raonic. I watched a lot of Milos growing up. I still watch a lot of matches from before, from now. I think watching those types of players is a real eye-opener for me.”

Diallo eight days ago won the ATP Challenger Tour 75 event in Chicago, where he fired 17 aces in the final to remain unbroken across five matches en route to lifting his third title at that level.