Looking for Tennis and Racket Sports International News?

#NextGenATP Shang Juncheng enjoyed one of the best weeks of his young career in Atlanta to rise to a career-high in Monday's PIF ATP Rankings. Italian Matteo Berrettini is back in the Top 40 for the first time in 11 months after claiming his second consecutive title in Kitzbühel and Argentine Francisco Cerundolo was crowned champion in Umag.

ATPTour.com looks at the movers in the PIF ATP Rankings as of Monday, 29 July.

No. 73 Shang Juncheng, +16 (Career High)
The 19-year-old's rapid ascent gained momentum as he advanced to his second tour-level semi-final of the season at the Atlanta Open, having also reached the last four in Hong Kong. The teen came through Atlanta qualifying and earned his third Lexus ATP Head2Head win against top seed Ben Shelton in the second round.

Shang strengthened his claim on fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah as he aims for his maiden trip to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 18-22 December. Only nine ranking points separate Shang from second-placed Jakub Mensik, with American Alex Michelsen sandwiched in between. The lefty Shang is the second-youngest player in the Top 100, only behind 18-year-old Mensik.

No. 26 Francisco Cerundolo, +11
A hard-fought week ended with a great reward for the 25-year-old Cerundolo, who en route to the Umag title, ousted the Top 2 seeds Andrey Rublev and Lorenzo Musetti in the semi-finals and final, respectively. Cerundolo, now World No. 26, seven spots shy of tying his career-high, claimed his third trophy in as many years.

Yoshihito Nishioka overcame Jordan Thompson and more than five hours worth of rain delays to win the Atlanta Open. The 28-year-old rallied past the fourth seed 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2, securing his first tour-level title since 2022 at 12:37 a.m. local time Monday.

"This is an amazing feeling," Nishioka said. "Today's battle, it was huge coming back. I think the rain was very bad for Thompson. I just got some luck from the rain. At the end, [I was] playing amazing. Third title, which I couldn't believe at the beginning of the year, so this is an amazing feeling."

The match was first suspended due to rain with Thompson leading 6-4, 4-5. Three points into the resumption of play after an approximate 45-minute delay, heavy precipitation forced the players off court, this time for more than four-and-a-half hours. 

The Japanese player battled through uncharacteristic forehand errors at the start of the match, eventually polishing his groundstrokes to outlast Thompson in baseline rallies.

The lefty broke Thompson’s serve in the opening game of the third set and raced to the finish line, extending his perfect Lexus ATP Head2Head record against the Aussie to 5-0, with all of their meetings having gone to a deciding set.

After more than two years without facing off, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will meet for the record-extending 60th time in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series on Monday in the second round of the Paris Olympics.

The match will be their second showdown at the Olympics, having clashed in the Beijing semi-finals (Nadal won in three sets). This will be their first encounter since the Roland Garros quarter-finals in 2022, when Nadal's four-set victory trimmed Djokovic's lead in their legendary rivalry to 30-29.

"Of course we have a lot of history together," the Spaniard said after their latest battle. "A lot of important moments playing against each other. That's the truth. [It] always is a special match, playing against Novak."

ATPTour.com breaks down a history of the duo's 59 career matches:

2022 Roland Garros QF, clay, Nadal d. Djokovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4)
Meeting in the quarter-finals for just the sixth time, Nadal and Djokovic lit up the night session on Court Philippe Chatrier. The pair has never met before that stage at any event, other than in the round-robin stage at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Novak Djokovic will play Rafael Nadal in the most highly anticipated match of the Paris Olympics on Monday afternoon.

The record-extending 60th Lexus ATP Head2Head clash between Djokovic and Nadal will take place second on Court Philippe-Chatrier not before 1:30 p.m. local time, following the women's singles match between top seed Iga Swiatek and Diane Parry.

This will be Djokovic and Nadal's first meeting since the 2022 Roland Garros quarter-finals on the same court, where Nadal emerged victorious in four sets. Djokovic leads their legendary rivalry 30-29.

The pair faced off in the semi-finals of the Beijing Olympics, where Nadal triumphed in three sets and ultimately claimed the gold medal. Djokovic won the bronze medal.

In other action Monday, second seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain will face Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor on Court Philippe-Chatrier starting at 7 p.m. local time. Alcaraz leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 2-0.

Andy Murray's career was as close to being over as possible Sunday evening, but then came one of the early moments of magic of the Paris Olympics.

The former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings and Daniel Evans of Great Britain saved five consecutive match points from 4/9 in the Match Tie-break before defeating Japan's Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori 2-6, 7-6(5), 11-9. 

“We just tried to play every point at the end. I thought we were done,” Murray said. “Evo came out with some good returns. I had a couple good serves at 6/9 to get us to 8/9. Just unbelievable. I’ve never played a doubles match like that where I’ve saved that many consecutive match points. A special place to do it obviously.”

WHAT A FIGHT ?@andy_murray and Dan Evans save 5 match points to win their first round battle in #Paris2024 ?#Olympics #tennis pic.twitter.com/h8PwdRfpgP

Daniel and Nishikori were in control for most of the match, leading 6-2, 4-2. But Evans and Murray continued to battle on and ultimately overcame a seemingly insurmountable deficit in the momentum-filled Match Tie-break.

Reigning gold medallist Alexander Zverev has a chance to add his name to the record books of the Olympic Tennis Event as seeks to successfully defend his Tokyo title. Only Andy Murray has achieved this feat (2012, 2016).

Ahead of his quest for history, ATPTour.com caught up with the 27-year-old to learn where he keeps his prized Tokyo medal, who his favourite Olympic athlete is and how that ties in with his earliest memory from the event.

What other Olympic sport do you think you would be good at?
We had this discussion [with my team], a funny question, ‘Which Olympic sport do you think you can compete in and not get last?’ I think I would get last in every single sport, I honestly do. I think if it's a team competition like hockey or field hockey or basketball or something, I could hide behind some players. Maybe I could sit on the bench doing quite well. I think there's no chance at all. I mean, I enjoy basketball. I enjoy field hockey. I enjoy a lot of sports, but I would be atrocious in all of them I think.

I'm actually quite okay at middle distances like 400m running. So I think I will be okay at it, but I will still be dead last. But I guess I'm okay for a tennis player, let's put it that way.

For which Olympic sports would you be not well suited?
The obvious ones are maybe skateboarding. I think swimming, I'm not a great swimmer, something like that. Skateboarding would not be great.

Rafael Nadal set a blockbuster clash against Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Paris Olympics when he defeated Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 on Sunday in the first round.

The two all-time greats will play a record-extending 60th match in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, which Djokovic leads 30-29. It will be their first clash since the 2022 Roland Garros quarter-finals, which Nadal won in four sets.

When the draw was made, the big news was the potential for another showdown between the rivals. Thanks to Djokovic’s win against Matthew Ebden on Saturday and Nadal’s victory over Fucsovics on Sunday, the fans will get their wish.

“Of course it's beautiful to play against one of the two biggest rivals that I had in my career, especially on this court,” Nadal said. “But situations are completely different for him, for me. He's being very competitive. I was not being very competitive for the last two years, so in that case, I think probably he is the clear favourite. I'm going to try my best to bring the best to the court and then let's see how how far I can go and how many problems I can create [for] him.”

RAFAEL. NADAL. ?@RafaelNadal is into the #Olympics second round after defeating Fucsovics 6-1 4-6 6-4 ?#Paris2024 #tennis pic.twitter.com/qWGYvHnCmy

Across his iconic career, Andy Murray grew from a boisterous, rising Scottish star to an ever-present, grizzled veteran and legend of the ATP Tour. In that time, the 37-year-old developed all manner of Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalries — some with older competitors, some with younger foes, and many with his contemporaries.

Murray’s biggest rivals were no doubt his fellow members of the Big 4: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Murray has met each of those superstars at least 24 times, including 36 meetings with Djokovic.

ATPTour.com looks back at the history of those matchups and another pivotal series, against Stan Wawrinka, that shaped the story of Murray’s competitive career.

Murray vs. Djokovic (Lexus ATP Head2Head: 11-25)
Murray and Djokovic are contemporaries in the most literal sense, with Murray just one week older than the Serbian. Their long-running rivalry was sparked at the ATP Masters 1000 level, where nine of their first 10 Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings took place (including the first seven from 2006-09).

Murray lost their first four matchups but then won the first two of what would ultimately become 19 final meetings between the pair, triumphing in Cincinnati and Miami before Djokovic won their maiden Grand Slam showdown in the 2011 Australian Open final.

Jordan Thompson advanced to the fourth tour-level final of his career Saturday at the Atlanta Open, where he overcame #NextGenATP 19-year-old Shang Juncheng 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Should the Australian go one step further and claim his second tour-level title — after his Los Cabos triumph in in February — the 30-year-old would enter the Top 30 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time in his career.

“I served really well today. I only was broken one time, held off a couple of games. I felt like my serve really kept me in it,” said Thompson, who struck 13 aces and made 75 per cent of his first serves, compared to Shang’s 61 per cent, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

The fourth seed found great success when serving to Shang’s body, making it difficult for the lefty to attack early in rallies. Thompson was rock solid from the baseline throughout the two-hour, 21-minute match, easily transitioning from defence to offence and remaining the more consistent player in the latter stages of the match.

The Sydney native yesterday survived the longest match in Atlanta tournament history, a three-hour, three-minute marathon against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Despite the short recovery, Thompson quickly rebounded to avenge this year's Indian Wells loss to Shang and level their Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 1-1.

Battling back from behind for much of the match, Francisco Cerundolo earned his third ATP Tour title by fending off constant pressure from Lorenzo Musetti in Saturday's Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag final.

In a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) victory, the Argentine stopped his opponent from serving out the match at 5-4 in the third set and then roared back from 1/3 in the decisive tie-break, winning five straight points to take command of the match for the first time. On his third match point, a forehand volley winner sent Cerundolo onto the European clay on his back in celebration.

"It was an unreal battle," Cerundolo said after beating the Wimbledon semi-finalist, who is now 15-4 since the start of the grass season. "Lorenzo has played super great tennis the last month. He probably is one of the players who won the most matches on Tour so I knew it was going to be really tough tonight.

"I don't know how I came back. I fought until the last point and luckily I won the match. I'm super proud because it was a really tough battle."

Frantastic Francisco ?⚡️⭐️@FranCerundolo takes the win over Musetti 6-2 4-6 7-6(5) @CroatiaOpenUmag | #CroatiaOpenUmag pic.twitter.com/TvSamaAKAm

Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal made a roaring start to their much-anticipated doubles debut Saturday at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where the Spanish duo ousted sixth-seeded Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach the second round.

“It’s been an emotional night, an electrifying night, an amazing crowd,” Nadal told reporters. “Playing with Carlos on this court has been so special. We’re just super happy about the victory, that it’s given us the chance to keep going.”

Alcaraz, who began the day with a singles victory in his Olympics debut, made a nervy start, dropping serve in the opening game and needing to fend off two break points in his second service game. But it was the more experienced 38-year-old Nadal, in his fourth Olympics appearance, who helped settle the team with banana-curling forehand winners and lightning-fast reflexes at net.

Both wearing Spanish red shirts and white shorts, Alcaraz and Nadal resorted to a ‘two back’ strategy on return, with the lefty Nadal returning on the deuce side. Alcaraz and Nadal then looked for early opportunities to use angles and work their way forward to seize control of rallies. They gained a mini-break advantage at 3/3 in the opening-set tie-break, when Alcaraz blasted a forehand that clipped the net cord and deflected off Gonzalez’s racquet frame.

Alcaraz and Nadal trailed 0-3 in the second set, before tallying three consecutive games and building upon their momentum, earning a crucial break at 4-4. The 92-time tour-level titlist Nadal then served out the match, accompanied by fans chanting, "Rafa! Rafa!" under the Court-Philippe Chatrier roof.

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on MubadalaCitiOpen.com.

Both the men's and women's singles draws have been revealed and the itinerary for the 55th edition of Mubadala Citi DC Open is starting to take shape.

While qualifying rounds will be completed over the weekend, main-draw play begins Monday with several headliners and Grand Slam champions set to usher in a busy week of competition.

Shelton, Korda & Tiafoe Among American Headliners In Men's Draw
On the ATP Tour side, the top 16 seeds in the 48-player field all received first-round byes. Andrey Rublev returns to Washington for his fourth career appearance and his second as the tournament’s top seed. American Ben Shelton, No. 14 in the PIF ATP Rankings, anchors the bottom half of the draw as the second seed.

Rublev is a two-time D.C. semi-finalist and could face local hero Frances Tiafoe in the quarter-finals. Tiafoe, who made his pro debut on these grounds 10 years ago, has reached the D.C. quarters in each of the past two years before falling to the eventual tournament champ. The top quarter of the draw also includes a first-round match between 2022 D.C. finalist Yoshihito Nishioka and American Aleksandar Kovacevic, the pair's second Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

The hard courts of the Mubadala Citi DC Open will host the lone ATP Tour event of the week in Washington. The ATP 500 field includes top seed Andrey Rublev and a host of American stars, led by Ben Shelton and local hero Frances Tiafoe.

ATPTour.com breaks down five key storylines at the American event.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN WASHINGTON
1) Rublev On A Roll?: After breaking a four-match losing streak in Umag, Rublev put together a strong week to reach the semi-finals on the European clay. It will be a quick turnaround to the American hard courts, but Rublev will be full of confidence after earning his way back into the win column.

2) Shelton Leads American Charge: The popular 21-year-old will be the top-ranked American in Washington. Having rose to U.S. No. 1 behind his Houston title in April, Shelton is now the American No. 3 at World No. 14. After a first-round loss to #NextGenATP Chinese star Shang Juncheng last year in Washington, he will be seeking his first wins at the event. (Shang also beat Shelton last week in Atlanta.)

Home favourite Alexander Erler and German Andreas Mies enjoyed a perfect week as first-time partners at the Generali Open. But it was far from easy.

The Austrian-German duo needed a Match Tie-break in all four of its matches, including a second-round win against top seeds Jamie Murray and Adam Pavlasek. On Saturday, the sixth seeds earned a final 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 victory against fifth seeds Constantin Frantzen and Hendrik Jebens to win the clay ATP 250.

"It was like a coincidence [we played together]," Mies said. "I was supposed to play with Yannick Hanfmann here and 'Alex' with Lucas [Miedler]. He got injured unfortunately in Hamburg. So we decided last minute to play and to sign in. To win the title here is unbelievable. Great atmosphere, great feeling. It was a pleasure to play together for the first time. We are super happy to win the title here. It's been two years for me since the last time I won a title. I'm super happy with the team effort."

The home favourite Erler has three times won the Kitzbühel title (2021 and 2023 with Lucas Miedler). This week marks Mies' first tour-level crown since 2022 Munich.

"It was an amazing crowd the whole week. We are very happy to win," Erler said. "We were focussed all the time, I think it was a really good match."

Serbian Novak Djokovic and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz made fast starts Saturday at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Djokovic raced to a 6-0, 6-1 victory against Australian Matthew Ebden, needing just 53 minutes to reach the second round. The 37-year-old, who is the top seed in Paris, won 63 per cent of his return points and struck 24 winners in front of a packed crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

A 24-time major champion who has spent 428 weeks as World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Djokovic could next play longtime rival Rafael Nadal in a blockbuster second-round clash. Nadal faces Marton Fucsovics in the first round. The 98-time tour-level titlist Djokovic leads Nadal 30-29 in their Lexus ATP Head2Headseries. Djokovic is 5-0 against Fucsovics.

The Belgrade native is making his fifth Olympics appearance, with his best result being a bronze medal in Beijing in 2008.

Second seed Alcaraz defeated Lebanon’s Hady Habib 6-3, 6-1 in the first round. Making his Olympics debut this fortnight, the 21-year-old looks to add to his standout young career, having won 15 tour-level trophies, by becoming the second player to win the Roland Garros men’s singles title and the Olympic men’s singles gold medal in the same year (Rafael Nadal, 2008). The World No. 3 also won in Indian Wells and at Wimbledon this year.

Matteo Berrettini captured his second consecutive title Saturday at the Generali Open, where he defeated Frenchman Hugo Gaston 7-5, 6-3 in the final. The Italian, who last week lifted the Gstaad trophy, has not dropped a set in his past 10 matches.

The 28-year-old made the best use of high-altitude conditions in Kitzbühel, relying on his booming serve and heavy hitting to overpower Gaston after one hour, 21 minutes.

"I'm just so happy and so tired," said a relieved Berrettini in his on-court interview. "It's been a crazy two weeks, playing I think some of my best level of tennis."

Now a 10-time tour-level titlist, Berrettini struck eight aces and won 80 per cent (33/41) of his first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Berrettini earned a crucial break at 5-5 in the opener before gaining a one-set advantage behind his own delivery and racing to a double-break lead in the second. Despite dropping serve when serving for the match at 5-2, Berrettini quickly recovered to capture the clay ATP 250. 

"I was happy that I had the double break. In tennis, you never know. A little bit of tension, he played a great game," Berrettini said. "I was focussed, I kept doing what I was doing well, hitting the ball well, hitting the ball aggressive in important moments."

Of the 40 countries represented at Paris 2024 Olympics men's tennis event, Lebanon is the only one with no prior representation in the field.

But last month, Benjamin Hassan was notified that he would have the honour of becoming one of the first tennis players to represent Lebanon in the Olympics, alongside countryman Hady Habib, whom faces four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz in the first round.

The 29-year-old Hassan is among the field of 64 singles players via a ‘University Place’, which awards one spot, in both men’s and women’s, to nations that are under-represented in the Olympic Games. He will also partner Habib in doubles.

“When I first heard it, I couldn’t believe it. It was unbelievable for me because it was very spontaneous,” Hassan told ATPTour.com. “I heard before that they have some spots for players, but I wasn’t sure what kind of rule it was or if I could use that. I asked my Federation if they can check and they told me, ‘Look Benjamin, we are very late. Probably not going to work out.’

“I thought, ‘Okay, there’s no chance, but at least I tried.’ I think a few days before the Stuttgart [ATP 250] tournament, I got the information. I was really happy.”

During the second rain delay of Shang Juncheng’s Atlanta Open quarter-final against Max Purcell Friday evening, the #NextGenATP star was not stressing over where Purcell would serve when play resumed. Something else was on the 19-year-old’s mind: ice cream!

“We try to keep a fun environment, but keeping myself focused. We talked about eating ice cream after the tournament,” Shang said during his on-court interview, cracking a laugh. “There's a shop right over there. After the tournament if I do really good, and I feel good, I might go so maybe see you guys there!”

Shang leaps into victory ✨⏭️?

The wins continue for Shang taking the win against Purcell 7-6(3) 6-4 @ATLOpenTennis | #AtlantaOpen pic.twitter.com/i4CQU2TETN

Shang is performing plenty well this week to earn it. The teen defeated Purcell 7-6(3), 6-4 despite two rain delays to reach the second ATP Tour semi-final of his budding career. Earlier this season, he made the last four in Hong Kong.

The Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF contender led 5/2 in the first-set tie-break when play was suspended due to rain. The weather struck again at 4-4, deuce in the second set.

Tennis gets underway at the Paris 2024 Olympics this Saturday and all eyes will be on the doubles pairing of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz, dubbed 'Nadalcaraz', playing in Spanish colours.

“It’s an iconic image that could define an era,” explained Carlos Moyà, Nadal’s coach. “I watched the two training sessions they’ve had from the courtside and I had a great time. You see Rafa with his experience and charisma. And then you see Carlos, kind of like Rafa was aged 20 or 21, very expressive and effusive… Hopefully they can keep going because it’s a partnership that tennis fans can fall in love with.”

Nadal and Alcaraz go into their first-round match against the Argentines Máximo González and Andrés Molteni after completing two doubles training sessions together: on Wednesday they won 6-4, 3-0 against Marcel Granollers and Pablo Carreño Busta and on Friday they were victorious again against the other Spanish pair by 6-3.

“It’s not just about understanding each other,” Nadal stressed. “We need to play doubles well individually. We’ve played very little doubles: Carlos hasn’t played for a long time and I played for two days last week, in Bastad. We have to make the doubles movements automatic, they’re completely different to those of a singles match,” the two-time Olympic medallist added.

“We have to know where to return, select the right shot in each situation… With each game, we’ve felt better and better, more comfortable all-round. We’ll make mistakes from time to time. I doubt our opponents will: they know their roles, and we’ll have to face that from the start. We’re very excited and very focused on giving ourselves the best chance.”

ATPTour.com continues it series paying tribute to Andy Murray as the former World No. 1 readies for his final tournament, the Olympic Tennis Event.

There was rarely a dull moment when Andy Murray stepped onto a tennis court.

The Briton will be remembered as one of the most resilient and defiant fighters the ATP Tour has ever seen. A natural competitor who also possessed one of the most effective counter-punching games in the world, the emotions Murray conveyed as he played encouraged millions of fans to live every shot, every rally, and every match with him.

To celebrate the end of his esteemed career, ATPTour.com looks back on 10 of Murray’s most memorable on-court moments.

1. San Jose, 2006: Teenage Murray beats former No. 1s for first Tour title
Murray announced himself as one of the world’s most promising teenagers in 2005. He reached the third round at both the Queen’s Club and Wimbledon, his second and third tour-level events, respectively, before reaching his first ATP Tour final later that year in Bangkok, where he fell to World No. 1 Roger Federer.