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Sebastian Baez crashed the Generali Open party of home favourite Dominic Thiem in style on Saturday, when the Argentine delivered a stunning championship-match performance to triumph at the ATP 250.

Baez produced a near-flawless display of heavy hitting through the Kitzbühel clay to prevail 6-3, 6-1 against 2019 champion Thiem and lift his second tour-level title of the year. The 22-year-old opened up an ultimately unassailable 4-1 lead en route to the opening set, and put together another streak of four straight games in the second to complete his 80-minute win.

“I know all the people wanted Domi to win because he is from here, sorry” said Baez to the crowd in his on-court interview. “I’m happy not just for today, but the whole week. All the people, the crowd, made me feel so comfortable here this week. I know this weather is not the best, but this place is amazing, and I enjoyed every day. I’m happy to take the match.

“Congrats to Domi and his team. It was a great week [for them], so I hope he comes back to his best level.”

This is what it means ?

Introducing your champion in Kitzbuhel ?#generaliopen pic.twitter.com/Fs0PL4dOJV

Chasing his first ATP Tour title of 2023, Stefanos Tsitsipas continues to excel in challenging conditions at the Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo.

The top seeded Greek breezed past Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 on Friday night in Los Cabos to reach his third tour-level championship match of the season. The heat and humidity of the Mexican Pacific coast did little to prevent Tsitsipas from delivering a dominant semi-final display, as he wrapped a 72-minute triumph at the ATP 250 without facing a break point.

“Once again, it’s joyful playing on this court,” said Tsitsipas in his on-court interview. “I made myself feel very comfortable today, I’m very happy with that. It’s not easy under these circumstances to reach that level of comfort and I’m really happy with the way things were put together.”

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A break in the sixth game was enough for Tsitsipas to seal the opening set against Coric and he barely looked back in the second as he finished with 20 winners to Coric’s seven overall. Tsitsipas entered 2023 with a 1-3 Lexus ATP Head2Head deficit against Coric but has now defeated the Croatian three times this season (United Cup, Rome, Los Cabos) to lead 4-3.

Following his three-hour win against Andy Murray earlier on Friday, Taylor Fritz defeated Jordan Thompson in less than half that time to advance to the semi-finals at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.

The top-seeded American earned a 6-3, 6-3 victory to extend his winning streak to seven matches, all on home soil, beginning with his Atlanta title run last week. He will face 12th seed Tallon Griekspoor on Saturday, after the Dutchman beat both Gael Monfils and J.J. Wolf on Friday, having split sets against Monfils before rain halted play Thursday evening.

"I've put in a lot of work the last couple of weeks before coming here. I knew that this is one of the most physically demanding parts of the season, playing in the heat," Fritz said post-match. "I definitely wasn't training and preparing to play two matches in a day, especially one following a three-hour match. 

"I came out tonight in the second match playing really well, being aggressive. I got early breaks in both sets, which was kind of my strategy, to kind of give it everything I had early, get up a break, and then I could coast a bit and focus on my serve games."

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Fritz saved the only two break points he faced against Thompson, both at 3-1 in the opening set. He has now saved 18 of 19 break points on the week after erasing eight from eight in the opening round against American qualifier Zachary Svajda and eight of nine against Murray.

Taylor Fritz extended his winning streak to six matches on the American hard courts with a comeback win against Andy Murray on Friday at the Mubadala Citi DC Open. In a match that was postponed from Thursday evening by rain, the Atlanta champion earned a 6-7,(2), 6-3, 6-4 victory after three hours of action on the stadium court.

Fritz escaped 0/40 in the final game, holding his nerve in several rallies to make good on his break in the previous game. A full-stretch, airborne volley winner brought up his third match point, which he took with a forehand winner.

"I feel like when I'm down those break points, sometimes the opponent might feel some added pressure to it," Fritz said post-match. "Lately I feel like I've been playing those big points even better and just having clarity of knowing what shots I want to hit. It's been feeling great because that's not always the case, so I'm really happy with how I've been playing these big points."

High on quality and excitement, the pair's second Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting proved to be worth the wait, with Fritz's win improving him to 2-0 in their series. The American will not have to wait long for his next match: He will return to the court Friday evening to take on Australia's Jordan Thompson in the quarter-finals — his 11th tour-level quarter-final of the season.

By becoming the fourth player to notch 40 wins this season (40-16), Fritz denied Murray what would have been his first Top 10 win since he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas last June in Stuttgart.

Carlos Alcaraz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Holger Rune were all drawn in the top half of the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers draw Friday.

Wimbledon champion Alcaraz, who is looking for his first match win at the ATP Masters 1000 in Canada in his second appearance, could add another chapter in his budding rivalry with Rune in the quarter-finals, the same round that Tsitsipas may meet seventh seed Jannik Sinner.

Boasting a season-leading 47-4 match record, the World No. 1 Alcaraz will open against #NextGenATP star Ben Shelton or countryman Bernabe Zapata Miralles.

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In the bottom half of the draw, Daniil Medvedev, who triumphed in Toronto in 2021, is seeded to meet Taylor Fritz for just the second time in the last eight. Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud could clash in the quarters.

In vintage form, Dominic Thiem saved five match points Friday to oust fifth seed Laslo Djere 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-6(8) at the Generali Open and reach his first tour-level final since the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals.

The former World No. 3 thrilled the home crowd with fearless backhand winners and held his nerve on serve throughout the thrilling three-hour, 30-minute battle. Thiem was unbroken, fending off all 12 break points faced to survive his third consecutive match from a set down. The Austrian saved a trio of match points on serve at 5-6 in the third set and another two in the decisive tie-break.

"I don't know if I can still produce some good words," Thiem said in disbelief post match. "It was probably the longest best of three match I've ever played in my life, including when I was a kid. I think even then I didn't play that long for a best of three match.

"It was a very tough and intense match. So close every set, every single game. I knew it straight from the beginning that it would be so close, first three or four games were 20, 25 minutes. It was just an incredible atmosphere again."

Should Thiem win his 17th tour-level crown, it would mark his first trophy at any level since the 2020 US Open. He will next meet Sebastian Baez in the final, where he will look to avenge last year's Bastad loss to the Argentine.

Mackenzie McDonald and Ben Shelton were on the brink of defeat Friday at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, but the home favourites mounted a comeback, saving two match points to reach the Washington final.

The Americans ousted third seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 3-6, 6-3, 12-10 after one hour, 17 minutes. The British-Finnish pair held a 9/7 lead in the Match Tie-break before McDonald and Shelton tallied five of the next six points to advance. Glasspool will rue letting slip a match point by double faulting.

McDonald and Shelton, who are teaming for the fourth time this season, won 61 per cent of their second-serve points, compared to their opponent's 45 per cent. The wild cards will next face Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen or Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in the ATP 500 final.

? It's a party in the USA ?@mackiemacster & @BenShelton reach the doubles final, saving 2 match points to defeat Glasspool/Heliovaara 3-6, 6-3, 12-10! A maiden ATP final for Shelton ?#MubadalaCitiDCOpen pic.twitter.com/KZYW8YYtOY

Casper Ruud's first time attending a Major League Baseball game was a memorable experience. In Canada gearing up for next week's National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, the 24-year-old Ruud threw the ceremonial first pitch Thursday at the Toronto Blue Jays vs. Baltimore Orioles game.

"It's my first ever live baseball game, so I'm really excited," Ruud said in a social media post produced by the Blue Jays. "I'm a bit nervous and hopefully I can throw a good pitch."

If Ruud was nervous, there no were signs of it as he delivered a fastball over the plate, with Blue Jays player Erik Swanson catching the pitch.

The Netflix Break Point star Ruud is making his third appearance at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers. Currently eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, Ruud is aiming to return to the Nitto ATP Finals, where he was a finalist last year. The 10-time tour-level titlist was a semi-finalist in Canada last year and will look for another deep run to put more distance between him and other Turin hopefuls.

Sebastian Baez prevailed in a bruising all-Argentine semi-final battle Friday on the clay of Kitzbühel, where the World No. 72 overcame top seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4 at the Generali Open.

Baez held his nerve in a two-hour, 41-minute encounter of fine margins at the Austrian ATP 250, converting three of five break points he earned to reach his fifth tour-level championship match. Despite a difficult start to the second set that saw him drop four games in a row to the World No. 34 Etcheverry, Baez rediscovered his rhythm in time to claim the decider via a break to love in the ninth game.

“It’s always difficult to play with a friend,” said Baez. “We’ve known each other all my tennis life, so I know him, I know he’s a very good player who has had a big year. Congrats to him for this semi-final and for this year, but I tried to fight every time and every point.”

Baez is final bound ?⁰⁰Will he face Thiem or Djere tomorrow? ?⁰⁰#GeneraliOpen pic.twitter.com/c2F7wF3G0T

Baez improved his season record to 20-19 with Friday’s victory. The 22-year-old arrived in Kitzbühel with one win in his previous five tournaments, but has dropped just one set en route to the final on his debut in the Austrian Alps. He will take on home favourite Dominic Thiem or Laslo Djere in Saturday’s championship match.

Coming from a family with a motorsports background, Mark Lajal was likely set to follow the same path. But life had something else in the cards for the 20-year-old Estonian who won his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in June.

At a career-high No. 224 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Lajal spent his early years with his hands on handlebars before he ever picked up a racquet.

“I wasn’t really supposed to be a tennis player. I come from a family in motorsports,” Lajal told ATPTour.com. “My dad was a motocross racer and my grandpa was a rally driver. I come from a very sporting family, but a very extreme sporting family. When I was younger, from like three years old, I started racing motorcycles. I raced them until I was eight or nine years old.”

With a unique background detached from tennis, it begs the question: How did Lajal first start playing the sport in which he is now a professional?

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Persistence paid off for Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday at the Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo.

The top seed held his nerve to down Nicolas Jarry 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 6-2 in Los Cabos and reach the semi-finals on his debut at the hard-court ATP 250. Tsitsipas had to hang tough as Jarry held the upper hand in the first half of the two-hour, 58-minute encounter, but a strong second-set tie-break display proved pivotal before the Greek dominated the decider.

“Sometimes you feel like those kinds of matches are very important for your continuation in a tournament,” said Tsitsipas. “You get to play at a high intensity and a very high level, and it kind of brings the best out of you. I hope to move forwards stronger from this point onwards, to learn from this match, and take away as much as I can.”

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Jarry’s big serving had helped him defeat Tsitsipas in the pair’s previous Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting in June on the grass of Halle. The Chilean found good rhythm behind his delivery again on the Mexican Pacific coast, but he began to struggle physically in a deciding set in which Tsitsipas converted both break points he earned.

Alex de Minaur is still perfect, both this season in Mexico and in his Lexus ATP Head2Head against Tommy Paul.

On Thursday at the Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo, De Minaur earned a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win against the American to move within two victories of a second title on Mexican soil this season. It was a rematch of March's Acapulco final, which the Aussie also won in three sets.

De Minaur is now 5-0 in the pair's budding rivalry. All five of their meetings have come in the past 18 months, and the past three have gone three sets.

Now 8-0 in Mexico this year, De Minaur will next put his his winning streak on the line against Dominik Koepfer in Friday's semi-finals.

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The biggest match was saved for last on Thursday at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, and the wait will now go on just a bit longer due to rain at the ATP 500 event.

The blockbuster Round of 16 matchup between top seed Taylor Fritz and 15th seed Andy Murray, scheduled for last on Washington's stadium court, will be pushed back as wet conditions have halted play in the United States capital. Prior to that showdown, home favourite and second seed Frances Tiafoe is set to take on Chinese qualifier Shang Juncheng in the evening opener.

Before the rain, three ATP Tour singles matches and two men's doubles contests were completed. Fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov began Thursday's play on the show court with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Emil Ruusuvuori, while J.J. Wolf was a 6-4, 7-6(5) winner against Michael Mmoh and Ugo Humbert secured a 6-0, 6-2 result against Yosuke Watanuki on John Harris Court.

The American duo of Mackenzie McDonald and Ben Shelton joined Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen as the two doubles winners on the day, with both teams advancing to the semi-finals.

Americans Mackenzie McDonald and Ben Shelton survived a thrilling battle Thursday to reach the semi-finals at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.

The wild cards defeated Juan Sebastian Cabal and Matthew Ebden 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 after dropping just six points behind their first serve. McDonald and Shelton fought off seven of eight break points faced and despite winning 64 total points to Cabal and Ebden's 65, the American duo advanced to the last four, where they will meet third seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.

At 7/7 in the Match Tie-break, the Washington crowd was brought to their feet when McDonald and Shelton won an exciting rally. The Americans displayed great defence before the 20-year-old Shelton sealed the point with a volley that pegged Cabal. Shelton celebrated the dramatic point by sprinting back to the baseline, high-fiving a fan along the way.

Scenessss ?@BenShelton #MubadalaCitiDCOpen pic.twitter.com/m6Uyer9ypU

Cabal and Ebden were aiming to back up their opening-round upset against top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

Several singles stars will join the world’s top doubles teams in a jam-packed field at the Western & Southern Open, where Novak Djokovic will partner countryman Nikola Cacic.

The doubles World No. 57 Cacic last teamed with Djokovic at the Davis Cup Finals and ATP Cup in 2021, tallying a 1-2 record. The ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati will mark Djokovic’s first doubles action since he partnered Vasek Pospisil in Adelaide to start this season.

Stefanos Tsitsipas will play with Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Cincinnati, where the Greek made the doubles semi-finals last year alongside Holger Rune. Hubert Hurkacz and Mate Pavic will aim for their second team title when they compete at the Western & Southern Open.

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Wimbledon champions Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski and defending Cincinnati titlists Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will also be in action at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

Former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem rallied from a set down for the second consecutive match to charge into the semi-finals of the Generali Open Thursday.

The hometown hero defeated Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and is now one win away from reaching his first final since the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals almost three years ago. Thiem dropped serve in the opening game but thereafter didn’t face a break point.

"It was another great, great night here. The first game was horrible but from then on it was really good against an opponent who is playing great tennis at the moment," said Thiem, who last reached an ATP semi-final in Antwerp almost a year ago "It's my first semi-final of the year and I couldn't have chosen a better place.

"Everything is coming together here. The incredible support of the home crowd is something I can rely on every single match, which is such a huge advantage for me. I also have a lot of experience playing here. It's my 13th or 14th time. I am super happy to be in the last four."

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Third seed Tommy Paul needed eight match points to close out gallant Brazilian Felipe Meligeni Alves to reach the quarter-finals of the Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo in Los Cabos Wednesday.

Meligeni Alves, the nephew of former pro Fernando Meligeni, rallied from 0/40 in his final two service games of the second set, saving four match points the first time of asking and then another three to force a tie-break.

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Paul was forced to fight off four set points in the tie-break before closing out a 7-5, 7-6(7) win in two hours and 12 minutes.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy as he played a great match on Monday and he played a really high level of tennis,” said Paul, an Australian Open semi-finalist this year. “I was sweating through my shoes so I was thinking that I really don’t want to lose this tie-break and change my shoes and do a full switch out. I was really trying to win that set.”

Top seed Taylor Fritz claimed his 17th win from 20 matches on American soil this season when he defeated practice partner Zachary Svajda 6-3, 6-3 in the feature night match at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C. Wednesday.

Fritz, who twice rallied from 0/40 down in the second set, will next face former World No. 1 Andy Murray.

Trying to work his way into contention to qualify for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, Fritz has the opportunity to move inside the cut in eighth position in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin with a title this week.

“Zach and I have trained together consistently for the past couple of years; I try to give him advice. He’s not someone you want to see on the other side of the court. I know what level he is capable of,” Fritz said.

Coming off his second title of the season last week in Atlanta, Fritz stitched up the first set against 20-year-old Svajda with love breaks in the third and eighth games. The 25-year-old dug himself out of a 0/40 hold in the fifth game of the second set and claimed the decisive break three games later.

Former pro Tony Mmoh sat in the stands at Court John Harris Tuesday as he watched his son, Michael Mmoh, nearly three hours into his second-round clash against Hubert Hurkacz at the Mubadala Citi DC Open. After letting slip an opportunity to close out the match in straight sets, the younger Mmoh was deep in a final-set tie-break, leading 4/3. He danced around a backhand, desperate to hit a forehand under the utmost pressure. 

Not only did Mmoh do so successfully — ending up at the side wall in the process — he eventually won the point to secure the critical mini break that he did not relinquish, advancing to the third round.

“He even just ran into the wall to hit a ball. That was just awesome to see. I was so impressed. I mean, it was just mind-boggling,” the elder Mmoh told ATPTour.com. “He literally ran into the wall to return a ball. Determination, that's guts. I was just taken aback. I was like, ‘Whoa, that is the new Michael.’”

It has been a breakthrough season for Mmoh, who has been opportunistic to claim some of the biggest wins of his career. It started in Melbourne at the Australian Open, where the American lost in the final round of qualifying. He booked a flight home and was watching an NFL playoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in his room when he was called to site to potentially claim a place in the main draw.

Mmoh did that and rallied from two sets down to reach the second round, in which he stunned two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev.

Andy Murray found his way through a compelling contest Wednesday against American Brandon Nakashima to reach the third round of the Mubadala Citi DC Open.

The three-time major champion Murray earned a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory against Nakashima, who won the 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals. Murray found consistency from the baseline and mixed in variety, producing deft drop shots and often working his way forward to advance after two hours, 11 minutes. Despite trailing 2/5 in the opening-set tie-break, Murray tallied five consecutive points to gain an advantage. 

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"I thought I did well, I hit the ball very well from the beginning of the match," Murray said in his on-court interview. "I was struggling a little bit on the return. Brandon serves well, especially his second serve. I was struggling to create many opportunities on return. But I was just a little bit more solid than him at the end of the tie-break, he made a few mistakes, I put enough balls back in play.

"Then I got the break immediately at the beginning of the second set and served it out pretty well from there. It was tight at the end. The courts and the balls are extremely slow here, so you're having to work really hard in all of the games, it's not easy to finish points. It was a good one to get through."