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Alex de Minaur has Andy Murray’s number.

In September, the Australian rallied from 2-5 down in the third set against the Scot to triumph in Beijing, saving match points in the process. Fast forward four weeks and history repeated itself at the Rolex Paris Masters on Monday. De Minaur battled from 2-5 behind in Paris, saving one match point to defeat former champion Murray 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-5.

The Australian hung tough in a three-hour battle against the former World No. 1. He saved the match point when Murray was serving at 5-4, 40/30 and won the final five games of the match to improve 6-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Four of their meetings have come in 2023.

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With his 43rd win of the year, De Minaur kept alive his slim Nitto ATP Finals qualification chances. The 24-year-old is 13th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 685 points behind Holger Rune, who occupies the final qualification spot in eighth.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals together for the fourth consecutive year. They will try to earn their first team title at the season finale in Turin from 12-19 November.

The two-time year-end championships semi-finalists (2020 and 2021) are the fifth team to qualify, joining Ivan Dodig/Austin Krajicek, Wesley Koolhof/Neal Skupski, Rohan Bopanna/Matthew Ebden and defending champions Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury.

The veteran doubles players have enjoyed a standout year at the majors, which has propelled them to the season finale.

Granollers and Zeballos reached the final at Wimbledon and the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros. The Spanish-Argentine duo won an ATP Masters 1000 title in Shanghai and also made semi-finals at that level in Rome and Toronto.

Granollers will make his eighth appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals and try to secure his second crown after lifting the trophy with Marc Lopez in 2012. It will be Zeballos' fourth appearance and the team is 4-7 together, having made the semi-finals in 2020 and 2021.

Dominic Stricker has climbed two places to sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah after enjoying an impressive run on home soil at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

The 21-year-old advanced to the quarter-finals at the ATP 500 event, defeating World No. 8 Casper Ruud in the second round to earn his second Top 10 win of the season. It was the first time this year that Stricker reached the last eight at a tour-level event. He also advanced to the fourth round at the US Open in September.

Stricker is aiming to make his second appearance at the Next Gen ATP Finals after reaching the semi-finals on debut last year.

Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah

Italian Flavio Cobolli is eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah. The 21-year-old continued his impressive form at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Italy, where he reached the final. Cobolli won his first Challenger Tour crown of the year in Lisbon, Portugal at the start of October.

French tennis currently finds itself in an exciting position today, with the country having 13 players inside the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The second youngest is Luca Van Assche. The 19-year-old is currently seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah and seeking a spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals.

The Frenchman has been on the rise in 2023, climbing from as low as No. 152 earlier this year to a career-high No. 63. Van Assche is quick to acknowledge the role those who came before him have played in his development, singling out Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils.

“When I was young I watched the French players a lot, especially during Roland Garros as it was on TV,” Van Assche told ATPTour.com. “When I left school I went home and watched Roland Garros on TV. We had a lot of good players so it was incredible to see them and I wanted to be like them, so I started trying to be a professional player.

“I watched a lot of good matches. I remember when Tsonga beat Roger Federer [at Roland Garros in 2013] and at the Davis Cup when Monfils won a lot of matches and when they won the Davis Cup in 2017. To see a lot of French players at the top of the rankings inspires you to continue what they have done.”

After watching France’s biggest stars from the stands, Van Assche has since had the opportunity to rub shoulders with them. The 19-year-old has hit with Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon, soaking up advice from both.

With just two weeks to go, the battle for the final three qualification spots at the Nitto ATP Finals continued to heat up at ATP 500 events in Vienna and Basel, where Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime triumphed.

ATPTour.com looks at the key movers as of Monday, 30 October in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

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Ninth (3,075 points) – Hubert Hurkacz
The Pole climbed two spots to ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin after he reached the title match at the Swiss Indoors Basel. The 26-year-old earned three-set victories against Tallon Griekspoor and Ugo Humbert before losing against Auger-Aliassime in the title match. Hurkacz, who is aiming to make his second appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, heads to Paris 215 points behind eighth-placed Holger Rune, who occupies the final qualification spot.

Sixth (3,885 points) – Stefanos Tsitsipas
The Greek consolidated his sixth-placed position after reaching the semi-finals at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. Tsitsipas overcame Dominic Thiem before falling to Daniil Medvedev in the last four. The 25-year-old is 810 points clear of ninth-placed Hurkacz and can stamp his ticket for the Nitto ATP Finals at the Rolex Paris Masters this week. Tsitsipas has competed at the prestigious year-end for the past four years, winning the title in 2019.

Novak Djokovic will begin his chase for a record-extending seventh title at the Rolex Paris Masters when he competes on Wednesday. Before focusing on singles, though, the Serbian took to court on Tuesday in doubles, teaming with countryman Miomir Kecmanovic to reach the second round.

Djokovic and Kecmanovic swept past Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-4, 6-2 in 68 minutes at the ATP Masters 100 event.

The Serbians won 67 per cent (12/18) of points on Escobar and Nedovyesov’s second serves, breaking four times to set a second-round meeting against third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden.

Djokovic will face Tomas Martin Etcheverry in his opening singles match on Wednesday. The 36-year-old is aiming for another deep run in Paris to boost his ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone chances. The Serbian leads Carlos Alcaraz by 500 points in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, which serves as a barometer for the year-end World No. 1 battle.

Second serves to the forehand.

Players typically stay away from this higher-risk strategy and kick the second serve to the less potent backhand return.

Not Novak Djokovic. Not by a long shot.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of 41 matches against right-handed opponents this season shows that Djokovic actually prefers to hit second serves to the forehand wing. By going against the grain, he collects more second-serve aces, extracts significantly more return errors and wins a higher percentage of second-serve points overall.

Opponents are sitting on a heavy kick to the backhand return. A hard slider to the forehand is what comes at them more often than not. Djokovic hit 55 per cent (382/690) of his second serves at the forehand corners versus backhand corners in both service boxes, while opponents only hit 26 per cent (164/622) to the forehand corners against him. Interestingly, Djokovic served more to the backhand return against left-handers.

Taylor Fritz withdrew from the Rolex Paris Masters on Tuesday due to an abdominal strain. The withdrawal puts his hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals in jeopardy.

"Devastated to have to pull out with so much on the line," Fritz wrote on social media. "All I wanted was the chance to fight for my potential Turin spot but after getting scans today on my oblique it’s just not possible for me to play. Time to rehab and hope to be back on court as soon as I can be ❤️‍?"

Get well soon, Taylor ?@Taylor_Fritz97 has withdrawn from the #RolexParisMasters due to an abdominal injury. pic.twitter.com/iDlqyUYiUM

The American, who was not scheduled to play Tuesday, advanced to the second round on Monday with a straight-sets win over Sebastian Baez, but received treatment during the second set on his abdominal region.

“It’s something that’s been bothering me for a little bit... I didn’t think it was anything too bad going in [to this match], but one where I slid out and sliced that forehand, I felt like I did something that I had never done to it before," Fritz said after the match. "Like maybe I tore something or pulled it. So I’m going to have to get it checked out and see what’s going on.”

Novak Djokovic is returning to action this week at the Rolex Paris Masters, but first he took advantage of cool opportunities off the court in Paris.

On Monday evening, the Serbian presented the Women's Ballon d'Or award to Spaniard Aitana Bonmati.

Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images
Djokovic enjoyed the evening and even caught up with David Beckham, who is the co-owner of Inter Miami, the club for which Men's Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi plays.

Before taking to the football spotlight, Djokovic enjoyed the final of the Rugby World Cup between South Africa and New Zealand.

On Tuesday, the 36-year-old will take to the doubles court alongside countryman Miomir Kecmanovic against Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov. He will open his singles event against Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Alexander Zverev looked as if he was going to miss the chance to fully cement his Nitto ATP Finals qualification claims after 40 minutes of play on Tuesday at the Rolex Paris Masters.

Two hours later and the German’s position in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin became comfortable again after he rallied past Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the second round in Paris.

"It was just one or two points [that made the difference]," Zverev said. "He was playing incredibly well and tactically I think he was unbelievable... His slice was effective as I did not know what to do on this surface here. It was a very difficult match and I am happy to be through. I found my level and I am happy with that."

Zverev recovered from a slow start at the ATP Masters 1000 event in France, where he won 63 per cent (15/24) of his first-serve points in the opening set. He recovered well, improving on serve as the match went on to earn his 52nd tour-level win of the year after two hours and 40 minutes.

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Reilly Opelka is set to return to action for the first time in 15 months at this week’s ATP Challenger Tour 75 event in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The 26-year-old, who has been sidelined with a hip and wrist injury, will meet Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday in the opening round of the Jonathan Fried Pro Challenger, Opelka’s first tournament since August 2022.

A four-time tour-level titlist, Opelka enjoyed a career-best season in 2022 before suffering injury. The 6’11” American claimed two titles and reached a career-high No. 17 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in February 2022.

Fans can visit Challenger TV to watch all ATP Challenger Tour matches live and on demand at no cost. At the indoor hard-court event in Charlottesville, Opelka and Sandgren will follow seventh seed Denis Kudla and Chris Rodesch, who are scheduled to play at 4pm ET.

Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka did not play for six and a half years entering their clash Monday evening at the Rolex Paris Masters, but the return of their Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry proved well worth the wait.

Thiem saved a match point at 3-5 in the third set before rallying past his fellow former World No. 3 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 for a place in the second round. The tantalising encounter between two of the best one-handed backhands in recent memory ultimately ended after two hours and 31 minutes at 2:22 a.m. Tuesday morning.

"It's very nice to share a great and close match like that with Stan because we have a history together of many great matches," Thiem said. "Obviously he's one of my big idols backhand wise."

What a finish ?

After saving a match point, @domithiem edges past Wawrinka 3-6 6-3 7-5.@RolexPMasters | #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/aGn92D8Gsa

While Thiem hit highlight-reel shots throughout the match, especially with jaw-dropping passing shots, it was Wawrinka who was first on the verge of victory. The Swiss held match point at 5-3, 40/30 in the decider, but double-faulted long. It was one of six double faults he hit in the match.

Fifteen months ago, Roman Safiullin had never cracked the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Now the World No. 45, he will face one of his biggest challenges yet on Tuesday at the Rolex Paris Masters against Carlos Alcaraz.

Having played Novak Djokovic in last year's Tel Aviv semi-finals, Safiullin has gone from outside the Top 100 to consistently competing against the best players in the world.

“For this year, I made different preparation. So during the season, we changed maybe two or three times the preparation for tournaments, and it worked very well. For the next year, we're going to change something and adapt to be even better,” Safiullin told ATP Podcast. “Like training schedule, training hours, fitness, tennis, physio, everything. We were mixing it up regarding the time and quality, everything.

“So we were changing, adapting, see what's working, what doesn't work. And slowly we were finding the solution which worked the best.”

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Daniil Medvedev finished runner-up in the Erste Bank Open final Sunday but still left Vienna a winner after topping the inaugural ATP 500 bonus pool standings for the 2023 season.

Implemented this year as part of ATP’s OneVision strategy, the bonus pool distributes $1.3 million to eligible players who earned the most Pepperstone ATP Rankings points at the ATP 500 level, which comprises 13 events.

Boosted by titles early in the season in Rotterdam and Dubai, and a runner-up finish to Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s Vienna final, Medvedev earned more points than any other player this year at the ATP 500 level.

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World No. 3 Medvedev moved past Carlos Alcaraz into first place of the bonus pool during his run to the Vienna final. The 20-time ATP Tour champion will receive a $600,000 bonus. Other players to finish in the top five of the bonus pool – Alcaraz, Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Alex de Minaur – will share $700,000 in bonus pool prize money.

Taylor Fritz delivered a clinical display to keep alive his Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes on Monday at the Rolex Paris Masters.

The ninth-seeded American wrapped a 6-1, 6-4 first-round triumph against Sebastian Baez at the ATP Masters 1000 event in the French capital. Fritz converted all three break points he earned to improve to 54-23 for the season and set a second-round meeting with #NextGenATP home favourite Arthur Fils or Daniel Altmaier.

“I’m pretty happy, especially with how the match started in the first set,” said Fritz, whose best Paris result is a quarter-final run in 2021. “I got an early break of serve in the second and luckily I was just able to hold on serve and finish it up.”

Moving on ?@Taylor_Fritz97 knocks out Baez 6-1 6-4 to advance to R2 in Paris!
@RolexPMasters | #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/oqGBDp0kaf

However, it was not all plain sailing on Monday for Fritz, who received treatment from the physio mid-way through the second set on his left abdomen. The 25-year-old spoke candidly after the match about the issue and he will hope it is nothing too serious as he next looks to move past Fils or Altmaier to set a potential third-round showdown with his Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin rival Holger Rune.

Daniil Medvedev and Grigor Dimitrov treated the Vienna crowd to an Austrian National Day treat Thursday at the Erste Bank Open.

The top seed and defending champion Medvedev dug deep for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 triumph in front of a packed crowd at the Wiener Stadthalle, hauling himself back into the second-round contest after Dimitrov had made a lightning-fast start at the ATP 500.

Defiant Daniil ✋

Reigning champion @DaniilMedwed reels in Dimitrov 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 ? QFs@ErsteBankOpen | #erstebankopen pic.twitter.com/ihckSwN3Y1

Medvedev is now 3-0 against Dimitrov indoors, having dominated the Bulgarian in the semi-finals in Vienna a year ago and in Rotterdam in February. Although Dimitrov ensured Thursday’s clash was a far closer affair, the World No. 3 Medvedev held firm to set a quarter-final clash against eighth seed Karen Khachanov.

More to follow…

The people of Vienna have the option of a unique backdrop for their lunchtime sandwiches this week, thanks to the Erste Bank Open.

Since 2021, the ATP 500 in Vienna has been the home to one of the most unique second courts on the ATP Tour. While the main stadium court is located in the city’s west inside the Wiener Stadthalle, the tournament’s second arena, the #glaubandich (German for ‘Believe In Yourself’) Court, is nestled right in the middle of the Austrian capital’s historic city centre.

The temporary stadium is erected on one half of the ice rink at the Vienna Ice Skating Club. Its location not only gives the tented court an interesting backdrop outside, but also ensures that top-level tennis is as accessible as possible for busy Viennese going about their days.

“I had in mind to activate tennis in the city centre,” tournament director Herwig Straka told ATPTour.com. “Vienna is a pretty big city, and the Stadthalle is not in the city centre. The feeling was that inside the tennis community, everybody knows about the event, but outside not. Positioning a second match court in the city centre attracted a lot of new fans, young fans, a new audience. This was the basic idea.”

The #glaubandich Court is located at the Vienna Ice Skating Club. Photo Credit: Andy West/ATP Tour.

Andrey Rublev has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year. The 26-year-old guaranteed his spot at the season finale on Thursday when he defeated Matteo Arnaldi to reach the Vienna quarter-finals.

Rublev is the fifth player to earn his place in Turin from 12-19 November. Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner have also qualified for the year-end championships.

"It feels great," Rublev said. "It's great news. After the match I didn't know that if I would win the match I would qualify for sure, so I didn't know that and it's a great feeling, great news. Looking forward [to it] and happy to be part of the Nitto ATP Finals for one more year."

See you in Turin, @AndreyRublev97 ?

Rublev has sealed his spot at the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year! ?#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/hoFuCTy4Yk

It has been a consistent season for Rublev, who reached the 50-wins mark for the third straight season. He has also broken new ground in 2023, claiming his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo.

The unseeded duo of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul upset top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski on Wednesday at the Erste Bank Open, where the all-French pair clinched a Match Tie-break opening-round.victory.

Despite not creating a break chance in the match, the Frenchmen pulled out a 2-6, 7-6(5), 10-4 win by owning the crucial moments of the one-hour, 47-minute match. Doumbia and Reboul stayed within touching distance by saving nine of 11 break points they faced, and made their move late to earn the upset.

Fourth-seeded Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen were also knocked out at the ATP 500, with Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow scoring a 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Lammons/Withrow face a crucial week in their quest to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. They are currently 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, just 25 points behind ninth-placed Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer and 35 points behind eighth-placed Jamie Murray and Michael Venus.

Arevalo and Rojer maintained their Turin push after they avoided becoming the third seeded pair to fall on Wednesday in Vienna. They defeated Nikola Mektic and John Peers 6-7(3), 6-4, 10-8 to set advance to face home wild card pair Sebastian Ofner and Philipp Oswald.

Carlos Alcaraz announced on social media on Wednesday that he is fit to play the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals.

“I have good news!” Alcaraz posted. “I am feeling better every day and I will play Paris-Bercy and be in Turin for the ATP Finals! Excited to finish the year on a high!”

I have good news! ?? I am feeling better every day and I will play Paris-Bercy and be in Turin for the ATP Finals! ? Excited to finish the year on a high! ?? pic.twitter.com/RC1pCzr237

The Spaniard withdrew ahead of the Swiss Indoors Basel due to a left foot injury and muscle fatigue to his lower back. He most recently competed in Shanghai, where he lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the Round of 16.

Alcaraz will hope to find his form immediately in Paris, where he will resume his battle for ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone with Novak Djokovic. The Serbian currently leads the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, a good barometer for the year-end No. 1 battle, by 500 points with a maximum of 2,500 points up for grabs in Paris and Turin.