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For the first time this season, things were looking truly bleak for Carlos Alcaraz. Qualifier Nicolas Jarry was giving the Spaniard all he could handle in Saturday's Rio Open presented by Claro semi-finals. The Chilean was twice within two games of victory at 4-4 and 5-5 in the second set, with Alcaraz receiving treatment on his upper left leg after holding on both of those occasions.

Watch the Rio de Janeiro final Sunday from 9.30pm CET/3.30pm ET

But just when he seemed at his most vulnerable, not having seen a break point since he stopped Jarry from serving out the opening set at 5-3, the 19-year-old reeled off eight straight games in devastating fashion for a 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-0 victory.

"I'm so proud of myself," Alcaraz said after winning his eighth match in 11 days. "To be in a final again in my second tournament is a really special moment for me... I couldn't ask for a better start of 2023."

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Novak Djokovic will put his unbeaten record in 2023 on the line this week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The Serbian, who is 12-0 this season, will be in action this week for the first time since collecting his record-extending 10th Australian Open title. On Saturday, Djokovic practised with Croatian Borna Coric ahead of the ATP 500 event.

The 35-year-old will begin his quest for a sixth Dubai crown against a qualifier before meeting the winner of Tallon Griekspoor and Constant Lestienne. Djokovic could meet eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz or Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.

On Monday, the 22-time major champion will add to the record books. Djokovic, who will enter his 378th week as World No. 1, will surpass Stefanie Graf with the most weeks atop the sport. Following his title in Melbourne, Djokovic reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and his leap from World No. 5 marked the biggest jump to top spot in history (since 1973).

In 2022, Dubai was Djokovic’s first tournament of the season. He suffered a quarter-final exit to eventual finalist Jiri Vesely. Already a two-time titlist this year (Adelaide, Australian Open), Djokovic aims to continue his sizzling start to the year in the United Arab Emirates.

Holger Rune and Ben Shelton are set to team up on the doubles court next month in Indian Wells. But before they join forces for the first time, they will contest their ATP Head2Head matchup in the singles opening round at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC. Saturday's draw for the ATP 500 event also revealed Mackenzie McDonald as top seed Carlos Alcaraz's first opponent and set an all-American showdown between third seed Taylor Fritz and John Isner.

View Draws: Singles | Doubles

Returning Acapulco quarter-finalist Marcos Giron, who opens against countryman Michael Mmoh, was on hand for the draw ceremony and shared his matches to watch in the opening round.

"I would want to see Mackie, a fellow American, playing against Carlitos," the 29-year-old said. "Carlitos is obviously playing great I think that would be a fun one." McDonald will be bidding to upset a Spaniard ranked at No. 2 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the second time this season after his second-round upset of Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open.

"Also Holger Rune against Ben Shelton, I think that's going to be a really good one," Giron added. "Ben's been playing great, quarter-finals of the Australian Open. Holger is young, in the Top 10 in the world. So I think that's going to be a really good match."

One week after a narrow defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the Buenos Aires final, Cameron Norrie has done his part to earn a rematch in the Rio Open presented by Claro title match.

The Briton edged Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3) on Saturday in Brazil to reach his third final of the season and improve to 17-3 on the year. Norrie, who also reached the Auckland final last month, leads the ATP Tour in wins in 2023.

A pair of one-sided sets gave way to a thrilling decider on Court Guga Kuerten. Norrie won five games in a row to win the opener without facing a break point before Zapata Miralles levelled behind a 3-0 start in set two, denying Norrie a break chance in the set.

"It was good from him and I was a little bit impatient," Norrie said of the turnaround after a strong opening set. "I tried to finish the points a little bit too early. I was a bit overconfident. But credit to him, he came back strong."

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Daniil Medvedev maintained his red-hot February form on Saturday to power to victory at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, where the third seed prevailed 6-4, 6-4 against Andy Murray to claim the title on tournament debut in Doha.

Medvedev made a fast start in both sets to complete his one-hour, 47-minute victory in a battle between two former World No. 1s, opening up a 4-1 lead in the first and a 3-1 lead in the second. Murray, who won all four of his previous matches in Doha this week in three sets, reclaimed a break in each set, but Medvedev denied another comeback for the 35-year-old to clinch his 17th tour-level title.

Having also triumphed in Rotterdam last week, Medvedev is the first player to clinch back-to-back singles titles in the 2023 ATP Tour season. On Monday, the 27-year-old will leapfrog Rafael Nadal to No. 7 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings as a result of his Doha title run.

More to follow…

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Hubert Hurkacz booked his place in the Open 13 Provence final with a straight-sets victory on Saturday, but not before the Pole and his opponent Alexander Bublik had treated the Marseille crowd to a richly entertaining semi-final clash at the indoor ATP 250.

Top seed Hurkacz prevailed 6-4, 7-6(4) in a match defined by plenty of creative and, at times, outrageous shotmaking. With both players also dialled in on serve, it was the World No. 11 who raised his level at crucial moments to book his spot in the championship match against Benjamin Bonzi or Arthur Fils. (Watch Hurkacz v Bonzi or Fils, Sunday 2pm CET/8am ET)

The highlight of the 94-minute clash was Hurkacz’s tweener pass from way behind the baseline to bring up 15/40 on Bublik's serve in the third game of the second set. Although the Kazakhstani went on to hold in that game and ultimately saved all seven break points he faced in the second set, Hurkacz progressed to his seventh tour-level final with a rock-solid showing in the tie-break.

“I’ve known Sasha since I was 11 or 12 years old, so we’ve been through a lot, even played some doubles as juniors," said Hurkacz post-match, when asked about his on-court chemistry with Bublik. "He’s such a fun guy, and he brings a lot of great energy to the sport. He can produce some unbelievable shots. It’s nice that we were playing juniors and now playing at a high level, semi-finals at an ATP event, so it’s really amazing.”

“Usually Sasha hits those kinds of shots," added Hurkacz of his showstopping tweener winner. "This time I was able to complete this kind of shot against him.”

A meeting between fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz and 2017 champion Andy Murray headlines the first-round action at next week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where Novak Djokovic, Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev lead the field at the hard-court ATP 500.

View Draws: Singles | Doubles

Both Hurkacz and Murray will arrive in Dubai off the back of deep runs at ATP 250 level in the past week. The World No. 11 Hurkacz plays his semi-final in Marseille on Saturday, with former World No. 1 Murray due on court in the Doha championship match against Medvedev shortly after.

Hurkacz leads Murray 2-1 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series, but the pair has not played since 2021. Should the winner of the Dubai clash go on to reach the quarter-finals, they could face top seed Djokovic.

The Serbian has been drawn to play a qualifier in his first match since lifting a record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam title at January’s Australian Open. Djokovic, a five-time champion in Dubai, would face Tallon Griekspoor or Constant Lestienne in the second round if he prevails in his opener.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz extended his perfect record in 2023 to 7-0 after a fighting 6-4, 7-6(0) win over Serbian Dusan Lajovic to advance to the semi-finals of the Rio Open presented by Claro on Friday.

The 19-year-old Spaniard rallied from 2-4 in both the first and second sets before putting away the World No. 80 for the second time in as many weeks, having beaten the 29-year-old 6-4, 6-2 in the Buenos Aires quarter-finals.

Despite clubbing 32 winners to Lajovic’s 13 and winning 16 of 17 net approaches, Alcaraz will not be entirely happy with his performance after forcing himself to work harder than perhaps needed for victory. In addition to going down breaks in both sets and making 25 unforced errors, the Spaniard was broken at 5-all in the second despite holding a 40/0 lead in the game.

The former World No. 1 was forced to save a set point with some inspired play at net in the following game before running away with the win in the tie-break.

"That's the point... to find a way to come back against a tough opponent," Alcaraz said. "I had to be really focussed and be there all the time waiting for my chances."

The rapid rise of Arthur Fils continued unabated Friday at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille. The #NextGenATP Frenchman dispatched former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3 at the indoor hard-court event to reach his second consecutive ATP Tour semi-final.

Fils’ converted four of 12 break points in his dominant 66-minute victory to underline his status as one of the breakout stars of 2023 so far. The 18-year-old is 5-1 on the ATP Tour after reaching the semi-finals in Montpellier and now in Marseille. He also began the season by going 9-1 on the ATP Challenger Tour.

In a dominant quarter-final performance, Fils dropped just one point behind his first serve against Wawrinka, who struggled to find his best form after coming through tough-three-setters against Zizou Bergs and Richard Gasquet in his opening two rounds.

The home wild card Fils later admitted that it felt slightly surreal to defeat a three-time Grand Slam champion, for whom he served as a hitting partner just under four months ago at November’s Rolex Paris Masters. Fils made his ATP Tour main draw debut as a qualifier at that event, where he pushed Fabio Fognini to three sets in the first round.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” said Fils. “I was watching him [Wawrinka] play during all my young career. I was hitting in Bercy with him as a sparring partner, and now I beat him. It’s a long way, a long way for my coach and my family, but it’s not over yet and I want to enjoy more.”

After the ATP singles stars made their 2023 predictions, the world’s best doubles teams sat down to make their picks for the year.

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury have been a consistent force at the top of the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Team Rankings, but have never finished as the year-end No. 1 duo. However, they were a popular pick to claim the honour in 2023, with Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah and Nikola Mektic/Mate Pavic among the teams to choose the American-British pair.

“Salisbury and Ram because they have been playing well the past two years,” Farah said.

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When asked to pick which team would win the most ATP Masters 1000 titles, Lloyd Glasspool/Harri Heliovaara and Wesley Koolhof/Neal Skupski were among the teams that jokingly picked themselves before locking in on Mektic and Pavic.

Hubert Hurkacz and Alexander Bublik both came back from the brink Friday to reach the semi-finals at the Open 13 Provence after an afternoon of dramatic quarter-final action in Marseille.

The top-seeded Hurkacz saved a Mikael Ymer match point at 5/6 in the deciding-set tie-break en route to a hard-earned 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6) victory at the indoor ATP 250 in southern France. The Pole, who saved six of nine break points he faced in his two-hour, 50-minute win, reeled off three points in a row to prevail and reach his maiden Marseille semi-final on his third appearance at the event.

“I’m just really happy with the victory today,” said Hurkacz post-match. “Mikael is a beautiful player, an amazing competitor and it could have gone either way. Those matches mean a lot if you’re able to come through them. I’m just really pumped and happy to be in the semi-finals.”

What a v?lley!@Open13 | #open13provence | @HubertHurkacz pic.twitter.com/XFpvFM7JRP

The World No. 11 Hurkacz is now 8-4 for the 2023 season. The Pole is this week chasing his sixth ATP Tour title, and his first since his triumph on the grass in Halle last June.

There was an element of déjà vu in the air on Friday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, where Daniil Medevedev defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets for the second week in a row to reach the final at the hard-court ATP 250.

Seven days after Medvedev secured quarter-final victory against Auger-Aliassime in Rotterdam, the 27-year-old delivered another rock-solid performance to prevail 6-4, 7-6(7) in the Doha semi-finals. Auger-Aliassime ensured a closer contest this time around by reclaiming early breaks in both sets, but he could not match Medvedev’s consistency at crucial moments in the one-hour, 57-minute clash.

“Today and yesterday the matches were super close,” said Medvedev, when asked about the confidence gained from Friday’s win and his quarter-final victory against Christopher O’Connell. “Confidence matters, because [Auger-Aliassime] had [three] set points. I managed to just stay in there and it was enough to win, but a very high-level match. Two hours for two sets.”

Medvedev saved three set points in the second-set tie-break before converting his first match point to complete a win in which he won 77 per cent (37/48) of points behind his first serve. He also struck just eight unforced errors across the two sets, compared to 26 for the second-seeded Auger-Aliassime.

The win improved Medvedev’s ATP Head2Head series lead against the Canadian to 6-0. The third seed is now on an eight-match winning streak, having gone on to lift his 16th tour-level title in the Netherlands last weekend.

Andy Murray pulled off another thrilling three-set victory on Friday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, where the Briton saved five match points to down Jiri Lehecka 6-0, 3-6, 7-6(6) and reach his first ATP Tour final since last June.

In an engaging clash of generations and gamestyles in Doha, the determined defence and consistent baseline hitting of former World No. 1 Murray prevailed in dramatic fashion against the greater power of 21-year-old Jiri Lehecka. The Briton recovered a 3-5 deficit in the final set, including breaking Lehecka when trailing 4-5, 40/0 on the Czech's serve.

“I don’t know [how I won],” said a disbelieving Murray after the match. “That was one of the most amazing turnarounds I’ve had in my career. You obviously had the three match points at 5-4, but also [two] when I was serving at 5-3, and then I don’t know.

“I knew it was his first time serving for a final, so I knew I had to try and keep the pressure on at the end. I know how difficult it is to serve matches like that out, but I’ve no idea how I managed to turn that one round to be honest.”

It was Murray’s fourth three-set win in four matches this week in Doha, where he has also gone the distance in victories against Lorenzo Sonego, Alexander Zverev and Alexandre Muller. The two-hour, 29-minute victory improved Murray’s record for 2023 to 6-2, with all six of the 35-year-old’s victories coming in deciding sets. He has not won a tour-level match in straight sets since beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the Gijon first round on 11 October last year.

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden capped a week of Match Tie-break redemption at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Friday, when they edged Constant Lestienne and Botic van de Zandschulp 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-6 to lift their maiden ATP Tour title as a team.

Despite losing a tie-break to drop a see-saw opening set that featured six breaks of serve, the Indian-Australian pair held its nerve to complete a 99-minute final victory. Bopanna and Ebden converted four of six break point opportunities and took command early in the Match Tie-break, opening 4/1 and 9/4 leads en route to their win.

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Last weekend, Bopanna and Ebden suffered final heartbreak in Rotterdam, where they held a championship point in the Match Tie-break before falling to Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek. This week in Doha, the third-seeded pair sealed three of its four victories in Match Tie-breaks, including Friday’s final.

It was Bopanna’s second title in Doha. The 42-year-old lifted the trophy there in 2018 alongside Wesley Koolhof, while he also reached the 2022 final with Denis Shapovalov. His partner Ebden is the first Australian titlist, in singles or doubles, in the history of the Doha event.

The ATP Challenger event in Monterrey, Mexico is not only a fan favourite, but consistently ranks towards the top of players’ lists as well.

Club Sonoma, where the Challenger 125 event is hosted, sits under breathtaking views of the Nuevo León mountains. The tournament has a plethora of off-court activities for fans to enjoy alongside world-class tennis. Next week, there will also be a WTA 250 event at the venue. Autograph sessions and interactive kids clinics are organised throughout the week. A hospitality area is filled with food trucks, vendors and games for fans to enjoy.

Among players’ favourite aspects of the tournament are the views, first-class organisation, and everything that Monterrey has to offer as one of Mexico’s largest cities.

“The Challenger 125s tend to be higher quality and I think this one is special even among those. We have everything here,” World No. 103 Nuno Borges told ATPTour.com. “I really like the views. The hotel and the club have nice views, that was my first impression. The courts are pretty quick too because it’s at altitude.

Juan Sebastian Cabal and Marcelo Melo dominated the Argentine team of Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Diego Schwartzman on Thursday at the Rio Open presented by Claro. The second seeds earned a 6-1, 6-2 win in the all-South American quarter-final, not allowing a break point in the match.

Home favourite Melo is lone Brazilian remaining in the singles or doubles draw at the ATP 500.

The Colombian-Brazilian duo will meet Frenchmen Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul in the semi-finals after their 7-5, 6-4 win against Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow.

Fourth seeds Francisco Cabral and Horacio Zeballos also advanced to the last four with a 6-4, 7-6(4) win against Gonzalo Escobar and Tomislav Brkic.

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Carlos Alcaraz's title defence at the Rio Open presented by Claro picked up steam on Thursday, but not before a vintage opening set from Fabio Fognini threatened the Spaniard's reign at the Brazilian ATP 500.

In a rematch of their 2022 Rio de Janeiro semi-final, Alcaraz earned an entertaining 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 victory, improving to 6-0 on the season as he bids to back up his Cordoba title with second trophy in as many weeks on the South American clay.

"It was really tough. Both Fabio and I played such a high level, great points, great shots," Alcaraz said post-match, later admitting to feeling tired but ready for more. "It's amazing to play these kinds of matches. I would say both players played almost our 100 per cent."

Alcaraz led 3-0 in the opening set and had two break points for 4-0 before Fognini stormed back into the match with his unique brand of shotmaking, frequently leaving his opponent and the Rio crowd stunned with his inventiveness. After breaks in seven of the set's final eight games, Fognini's brilliance peaked at 4/5 in the tie-break, when a casual pickup volley came off inch perfect to spark a run of three points to seal the set.

"I struggled with my serve a little bit. I was up with a lot of control of the match. But a lot of breaks of serve in a row," Alcaraz said of the eventful opening set. "I got a little bit down in that moment and it was tough to come back after that.

If you can’t find Aleksandar Kovacevic on the tennis court or on a plane, perhaps you should look to the mountain slopes to find the American who is making quick progress on the ATP Challenger Tour.

“My favourite thing to do in the world is snowboard,” Kovacevic said when sharing his love for thrill-seeking activities such as jet-skiing and skydiving. “In 2021, I went and snowboarded with my buddy who lives in Lake Tahoe, California. I was there for like four days during the Australian Open because I didn’t qualify. But this year I went to Australia, so I missed out on snowboarding.

“I grew up in New York City, so I’d go to the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, it’s about a 90-minute drive from where I lived. I sustained some injuries from snowboarding when I was younger because all my friends were regular people, they didn’t play sports like I did. All they wanted to do was try tricks at the terrain park and I was a little kid trying all these tricks. I wasn’t very good so I hurt myself a lot. Now, I’m a little smarter.”

The 24-year-old, who is competing at this week’s Monterrey Challenger, misses the days when he had more spare time to pack his gear and head out for a getaway, but now he’s focused on a different mountain: climbing the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

For a 35-year-old with a metal hip, Andy Murray has spent quite a bit of time on court this season: more than 20 hours across his past six matches, to be exact. Given his age and recent injury struggles, it might be assumed that those marathon matches would favour his opponents. The reality is the opposite, far from the first time the Briton has proven conventional wisdom wrong.

Murray has notched five ATP Tour victories this year. Each one of them was won in a deciding set.

"The last couple of years I lost quite a lot of close matches, and it's something I spoke to my team about last year," Murray said this week in Doha, where he has won three three-setters to advance to his 102nd tour-level semi-final. "I think the work I did in the offseason on my game, physically has given me a bit more belief in those moments.

"I think when you're in better shape, when you start to fatigue, it helps you make better decisions. If you're struggling quite a bit physically towards the end of matches and in those important moments, it makes you maybe try and shorten the points, or play a different way, which doesn't give you the best chance of wining. I feel like that improvement physically has helped in those moments."

After a pair of marathon five-setters at the Australian Open, Murray has continued his penchant for long-running matches this week at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha. The 35-year-old's most recent win came on Thursday, a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 comeback against Alexandre Muller in the quarter-finals of the ATP 250. Clocking in at two hours and four minutes, that match wrapped up the blink of an eye compared to Murray's other recent exploits.

If you have checked the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings this week, you might have noticed that Carlos Alcaraz has an opportunity to tie World No. 1 Novak Djokovic by winning the Rio Open presented by Claro. However, the Spaniard cannot return to World No. 1 next Monday.

When two players are tied for the same spot in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, the first tie-break goes to the player who has more points at the mandatory events: the Nitto ATP Finals, Grand Slams and ATP Masters 1000s. Djokovic has 5,820 points at those tournaments compared to Alcaraz’s 5,090.

Therefore, even if Alcaraz defends his Rio de Janeiro title and matches the number of points Djokovic will have Monday (6,980), the Serbian will remain No. 1 and Alcaraz No. 2. 

The battle for No. 1 will heat up next week, with both men set to compete in ATP 500 events. Alcaraz is scheduled to play in the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, and Djokovic will lead the way at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

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