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Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow continued their standout season together on Tuesday at the Astana Open, where they defeated fourth seeds Mate Pavic and John Peers 7-6(4), 7-6(7) to win their fourth tour-level title of the year.

The Americans won 81 per cent (42/52) of their first-serve points and saved two set points in the second set, eventually advancing on their third match point after one hour and 38 minutes.

With their title run at the ATP 250, the second seeds have boosted their hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals. Lammons and Withrow are currently eighth in the ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, 158 points ahead of ninth-placed team Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski.

[ATP APP]

Earlier this year Lammons and Withrow captured titles on hard courts in Atlanta and Winston-Salem and on grass in Newport.

Abdullah Shelbayh completed a historic run Sunday, when he became the first player from Jordan to win an ATP Challenger Tour title.

The 19-year-old triumphed at the LTP Challenger in Charleston, South Carolina, where he defeated American wild card Oliver Crawford 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3 in the final. Shelbayh, who is one of four Challenger champions this week, is the youngest player from an Arab country to win a title at that level.

“It’s something special for me to represent Jordan at such tournaments at a high level. Being able to win such a great event is such a big title for me, the biggest of my career so far,” Shelbayh told commentator Mike Cation.

[ATP APP]

Shelbayh made a breakthrough this February when he made the Manama Challenger final before falling to Thanasi Kokkinakis. The following week, the lefty made his ATP Tour debut in Doha. A 2021 graduate of the Rafa Nadal Academy, Shelbayh hopes to build upon his momentum after capturing his maiden Challenger title.

Second seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski relied on a strong serving performance Monday to advance to the China Open semi-finals.

The Dutch-British duo cruised past Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 6-2, 6-3 after winning 24 of their 31 first-serve points and saving all six break points faced. Wimbledon champions Koolhof and Skupski, who are second in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, will next meet Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev, who booked their semi-final spot on Sunday.

Fourth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin survived Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 10-5. The Mexican-French pair will next face top seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.

Lammons/Withrow Advance In Astana
Second seeds Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow overcame Ariel Behar and Adam Pavlasek 6-3, 2-6, 10-4 to reach their eighth tour-level final of the season at the Astana Open.

The Americans Lammons and Withrow have earned three tour-level titles this year and are currently eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings. Aiming to boost their Turin hopes, Lammons and Withrow will clash against fourth seeds Mate Pavic and John Peers in the championship match after the Croatian-Australian team downed Robin Haase and Botic van de Zandschulp 6-2, 6-1 in the last four.

Jannik Sinner has set a blockbuster China Open semi-final clash with top seed Carlos Alcaraz after defeating Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in Beijing Monday.

Sinner, who rallied from a set down to beat the Spaniard in the Miami semi-finals earlier in the year, will look to take a 4-3 lead in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the World No. 2.

[ATP APP]

Having already this week climbed to an equal-best No. 6 in the Pepperstone Live ATP Rankings, the 22-year-old Italian will surge to World No. 4 should he push onto the Beijing final.

Sinner, who said that he wasn't feeling 100 per cent, missed the chance to close out the match in straight sets when he failed to convert eight break point opportunities across three games in the second set. The match turned when he blew four break points when leading 0/40 at 3-all and then dropped serve himself after going down 0/40 in the following game.

Carlos Alcaraz boosted his hopes of finishing ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone for a second consecutive year on Monday when he downed Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2 to reach his 12th semi-final of the season.

The Spaniard became the first player to earn 60 tour-level wins this season when he defeated Lorenzo Musetti in the second round and quickly moved to 61 with an aggressive display against Ruud. The top seed recovered from falling 0-3 behind in the first set, hitting with too much power and intensity for Ruud, who was seeking his first win against Alcaraz in his fourth attempt.

With his win, Alcaraz set a last-four clash against Jannik Sinner or Grigor Dimitrov. The 20-year-old is currently 635 points behind first-placed Novak Djokovic in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin but can move to within 415 points with the title.

"I am very happy," Alcaraz said. "To be able to beat a player like Casper in straight sets is really good. It means you are playing well. It is really tough, big rallies at the beggining of the match, but I am really happy with the level. Being able to find solutions after the start of the first set. These kind of matches give you extra confidence."

Alcaraz, who is seeking his seventh crown of the season this week, now holds a 12-1 record in quarter-finals in 2023. He struck 30 winners against Ruud and broke the seventh seed's serve four times to advance after one hour and 45 minutes.

Is this the week Sebastian Korda wins his first tour-level title of the season?

The American survived a major test at the Astana Open on Monday when he defeated #NextGenATP Serbian Hamad Medjedovic 6-7(8), 7-6(2), 7-6(3) to reach the final.

Korda was pushed by the wild card, who took big cuts at the ball to push the American from side to side. Korda remained strong on serve, though. He hit 18 aces and won 87 per cent (66/76) of his first-serve points to remain in contention, finding consistency in the third-set tie-break to advance after two hours and 49 minutes.

[ATP APP]

The 23-year-old, who lifted his only previous tour-level title in Parma in 2021, will meet Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the championship match on Tuesday.

Defending champion Daniil Medvedev will have to overcome a series of difficult tests if he is to retain his title at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, where Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Zverev have landed in his quarter.

The 27-year-old triumphed at the Chinese ATP Masters 1000 event when the tournament was last held in 2019. Returning this week, Medvedev will face Cristian Garin or a qualifier in the second round, with 14th seed Auger-Aliassime a potential fourth-round opponent.

Medvedev, who has captured four tour-level titles on hard courts this year, is seeded to meet sixth seed Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals. The World No. 3 leads the Italian 6-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Ben Shelton could face 2019 finalist Alexander Zverev in the third round in Sinner’s section.

[ATP APP]

At the top of the draw, Carlos Alcaraz will face Nuno Borges or Gregoire Barrere on debut in Shanghai. The top seed is seeded to play Karen Khachanov in the fourth round and could take on Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe in the quarter-finals.

Daniil Medvedev earned his 41st hard-court win of the season on Monday when he recovered from a mid-match dip to down Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 at the China Open.

The second seed, who has recorded the most hard-court wins on Tour in 2023, struggled to find his best level throughout the first two sets, misfiring from the baseline to give Frenchman Humbert a foothold. Medvedev upped his intensity in the third set, though, not committing an unforced error to advance after two hours and seven minutes.

“I'm kind of happy that I managed to raise my level in important moments, except a game in the second set,” Medvedev said. “It's great that I managed to still find in this tough match these moments of consistency, which is enough to win. That's what you have to do.

“I am happy to be in the semi-finals. When you come to the tournament, you always want to go as far as possible. Happy to still be here tomorrow. The further we go, the tougher the matches, the tougher the opponents. That's normal.”

[ATP APP]

After battling through a tough three-setter to open his China Open campaign, Jannik Sinner put his foot down to accelerate past Yoshihito Nishioka on Sunday and reach the quarter-finals in Beijing.

Sinner prevailed 6-2, 6-0 against the Japanese World No. 38 to reach his 12th tour-level quarter-final of the season. The Italian’s 67-minute triumph was in stark contrast to his first-round win against Daniel Evans, and he later acknowledged it had taken him time to settle after arriving in Beiing for his debut at the ATP 500 event.

“The first couple of days [in China] I was sick, and I tried somehow to get through the first round and I knew then I would have one day off,” said Sinner. “Every day is different. I feel physically much better, and I think when I have this shape of physicality, the way I play is a little bit easier.

“Today I played well. Maybe on serve I have to improve a little bit, the percentage, but I think all the rest was really good today.”

.@janniksin in full flight ?@ChinaOpen | #ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/wPZ3i5gXHZ

Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev moved past Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 7-5, 7-6(4) to reach the semi-finals at the China Open on Sunday.

The ATP Tour singles stars rallied from a break down in the first set before holding their nerves deep in the second set to advance after one hour and 40 minutes. They will next play Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski or Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski.

Khachanov and Rublev have tasted success together on Tour this year, capturing the ATP Masters 1000 crown in Madrid.

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek saved two match points to clinch a 7-6(5), 4-6, 11-9 win against Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev.

The Croatian-American team saved match points at 7/9 in the Match Tie-break to seal victory after two hours and seven minutes. Dodig and Krajicek are chasing their fifth trophy of the season together.

Carlos Alcaraz became the first player to earn 60 tour-level wins in 2023 on Sunday when he defeated Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals at the China Open in Beijing.

The top-seeded Spaniard overpowered Musetti with his explosive groundstrokes, striking 18 winners and breaking the Italian's serve four times to improve to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against the 21-year-old.

"Today was a perfect match for me," Alcaraz said. "You can improve and be better every day but I was proud of my tennis playing this level. I played high quality, great shots and a great return game. It was a great match and I enjoyed playing today. I enjoy China."

With his 81-minute victory, Alcaraz improved to 16-1 at ATP 500 events, highlighted by title runs in Barcelona and at The Queen’s Club. The 20-year-old will look to earn his 17th win at this level when he takes on Casper Ruud in the last eight.

"A goal for me today was to start strong," Alcaraz added. "Try to push him to the limit at the start. Trying to dominate the match, not make him feel comfortable. Move him and not let him hit his shots."

Hamad Medjedovic captured the biggest win of his career Sunday at the Astana Open, where the #NextGenATP Serbian overcame fourth seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals.

A single break of World No. 29 Lehecka’s serve in each set was enough for Medjedovic to book his last-four spot at the ATP 250 in Kazakhstan. The 20-year-old, who also reached the semi-finals on clay in Gstaad in July, saved all four break points he faced en route to his 69-minute triumph.

“Honestly, it feels amazing,” said Medjedovic in his on-court interview. “It’s an amazing feeling to be in the semi-finals of Astana. It’s my second ATP 250 semi-final, but I think this one feels pretty special because I beat very good players and especially on indoor hard courts. I’m very happy with the win and let’s try to win some more matches.”

HUGE win! ?@MedjedovicHamad reaches his second ATP semi-final after getting the better of No. 4 seed lehecka 6-3, 6-4!@ktf_kz | #AstanaOpen pic.twitter.com/hhllFo11ay

Medjedovic has defeated countryman Laslo Djere, Alexander Shevchenko and Lehecka in Astana so far. His run has propelled him 16 spots to No. 104 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, and he is likely to crack the Top 100 for the first time if he can defeat top seed Tallon Griekspoor or Sebastian Korda in Monday’s semi-finals.

Facing two straight match points in the first round of the Astana Open on Thursday, Jurij Rodionov wanted to hit aces against Gregoire Barrere.

The left-handed qualifier not only pulled it off at 4-5 in the third set, but did so going against his preferred serving patterns.

“At that point I felt he was stronger than me from the baseline, so I wanted to avoid the rallies as much as possible, and I was just going for it,” said the Austrian. “I went out wide on the deuce side and down the tee on the ad-side, which are my least favourite serves.

“Usually I use the lefty advantage, but I went against that and surprised him.”

Rodionov edged a third-set tie-break, then upset second seed Sebastian Baez in straight sets on Friday for a place in his second career ATP Tour quarter-final.

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek made a confident start to their first tournament together on Chinese soil with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph against Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz at the China Open.

The top seeds Dodig and Krajicek converted four of five break points they earned in Saturday’s first-round clash to book a quarter-final spot in Beijing. The Croatian-American pair is chasing its fifth tour-level crown of the year in the Chinese capital, and its first on outdoor hard courts.

The leading team in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings as they chase a second consecutive appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, Dodig and Krajicek will take on Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev in the last eight. Dodig is a defending champion in Beijing, where he lifted the trophy at the previous edition of the ATP 500 event in 2019 alongside Filip Polasek.

Fourth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin also reached the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph against Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Nicolas Jarry. Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski beat Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 7-6(5), 6-4, and the experienced duo of Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos overcame singles stars Alex de Minaur and Jannik Sinner 7-6(2), 6-3.

[ATP APP]

Ugo Humbert earned his first Top 10 win in more than a year with a dramatic victory against Andrey Rublev on Saturday night in Beijing. In the second round of the China Open, the Frenchman pulled out a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(3) victory against the fifth seed, improving his career record to 8-8 against Top 10 opponents.

In an eventful match that saw 10 breaks of serve evenly split, Humbert denied Rublev's attempt to serve out a win at 5-3 in the final set and leaned on his rock-solid baseline game to close out the victory in a one-sided tie-break.

"I was really focussed from the beginning of the second set and the level was high," Humbert said after two hours, 48 minutes on court. "It's not easy against him because he plays very fast. I'm very proud that I did it."

[ATP APP]

Humbert improved to 8-8 against the Top 10 and 1-3 this season, with his most recent such victory coming against Casper Ruud last year at Wimbledon. He will have a chance for another Top 10 win in the quarter-finals when he takes on World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev, against whom he holds a 2-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head edge.

For the second straight match at the Astana Open, Dominic Thiem earned a hard-fought victory by winning a closing tie-break. After taking a second-set tie-break against Juan Pablo Varillias in the first round, the Austrian edged Marcos Giron 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2) on Saturday at the ATP 250.

The result saw Thiem through to his 76th tour-level quarter-final, his fourth of 2023 (Estoril, Munich, Kitzbühel) and his first on hard courts since reaching the 2022 Antwerp semis (l. To Korda).

"It was a very close match again. It's obvious that here with these conditions there are many close matches, so many tie-breaks as well," he said, later explaining how the fast indoor conditions favour the server. "I was expecting a really tough one. I was starting very well, very aggressive, so that was good. Second set he started to play much better and the third set was a very close battle — I saved some break points, he did [also].

"I played a very good tie-break. This was the best part of the match."

[ATP APP]

Daniil Medvedev steadied himself to overcome a typically resilient Alex de Minaur on Saturday and book a last-eight spot at the China Open.

The second-seeded Medvedev prevailed 7-6(3), 6-3 in Beijing after his Australian opponent had rallied from 2-5 in the first set to force a tie-break. It was the third time in four tour-level events that the pair had met (Toronto, US Open, Beijing), and Medvedev was not surprised by De Minaur’s tenacity.

“[It was] tough, tough like always,” said Medvedev. “Alex has this ability, everyone knows it that when he’s down, he starts to play better. That’s what happened today. First set, I didn’t manage to count him down, as he was playing better because he was down. Second set I managed to play just unbelievable.

“It’s crazy how every time he is down in a match, you know he is going to start playing like he is No. 1 in the world. Tough to play against him, a tough victory, but I am happy with my level.”

Medvedev on ? @DaniilMedwed | @ChinaOpen | #ChinaOpen

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Jack Draper hit a career-high No. 38 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in January following a semi-final run at the Adelaide International 2. The 21-year-old was poised to continue his rapid rise in 2023. Injuries soon struck the Briton and have been an unfortunate theme this season for last year's Next Gen ATP Finals semi-finalist.

Draper reached the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open before an abdominal injury forced him to retire against Carlos Alcaraz. A shoulder injury suffered at Roland Garros forced him to miss three months of action, in which he was unable to compete at his home Slam, Wimbledon.

Despite the time away from the Tour, Draper stayed positive and used it as a teaching moment.

“With this year, having so many injuries and having to come back from them, it definitely builds a lot of strength of character,” Draper told the ATP Challenger Tour media team this week in Orleans. “I knew I just had to get myself in a good place physically and mentally to be at the top of my game.

“I feel like this year, although it’s been really difficult, dropping out of the Top 100 and all these things, I’ve learned so much and I’m a much better player now than I was nine, 10 months ago. I’m proud of myself, but it’s definitely been difficult.”

Tallon Griekspoor finds himself as the top seed at an ATP Tour event for the first time this week at the Astana Open.

And the Dutchman is fully aware of it.

“Yeah, I know,” Griekspoor said ahead of his opener on Saturday against Japanese qualifier Sho Shimabukuro on the indoor hard courts of the National Tennis Center. “It’s something special. If you look at the draw, you see some big names and you see your name on the first line.

“It’s something you worked for all your life. It’s a bit surreal at this point and maybe a little extra pressure here. I think it’s a good sign to see your name at the top of the list.”

[ATP APP]

Second seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski wasted no time Friday when they cruised past home hopes Sun Fajing and Zhou Yi 6-1, 6-4 in the China Open first round.

Koolhof and Skupski won 23 of their 27 first-serve points and needed just 66 minutes to advance, setting up a second-round meeting with Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski or Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.

The Dutch-British duo of Koolhof and Skupski, who are second in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, have earned two titles this season: Wimbledon and 's-Hertogenbosch. They are aiming to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for a second consecutive year.

Glasspool/Heliovaara Upset In Astana
Ariel Behar and Adam Pavlasek upset third seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 7-6(12), 4-6, 10-7 at the Astana Open. The Uruguayan-Czech pair will next face Gonzalo Escobar, who has won three-tour level titles with Behar, and Aleksandr Nedovyesov.

Robin Haase and Botic van de Zandschulp also advanced after they downed wild cards Egor Gerasimov and Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-2.