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Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen opened the 2023 season in style with a flawless trophy run at the Tata Open Maharashtra, winning the Pune ATP 250 title without dropping a set in four matches.

The longtime partners defeated the Indian duo of N.Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-4, 6-4 in Saturday's Pune final to win their sixth ATP Tour title as a team. The fourth seeds improved to 6-2 in tour-level finals, with all of their final runs coming as a pair.

"It's been a fantastic week," said Gille. "We didn't really know what to expect, as this is the first time that we came to India. But right from the start we felt good. It was a great atmosphere and a well organised tournament. We played very well and we're super happy to get the sixth title."

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Breaks of serve in the third game of each set proved enough for Gille/Vliegen to claim the title, with the Belgians capitalising in both games in which they created a break chance. They won two of four break points and did not face a break point on their own serve for the third time on the week.

In a highly anticipated showdown Saturday evening, Novak Djokovic defeated Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final of the Adelaide International 1.

The 35-year-old was best in the critical moments, saving all three break points he faced while converting two of his three break opportunities to claim the battle of former World No. 1s after one hour and 30 minutes.

The match was not without a scary moment for the Serbian. Djokovic tweaked his left leg and during the 5-2 changeover was forced to leave the court for a medical timeout. But the 91-time tour-level titlist played on and took a 9-4 lead in his ATP Head2Head series with Medvedev.

“Thankfully it was nothing too serious. If it was, I wouldn’t be able to continue, so I just tried with [a] medical timeout, some anti-inflammatories and kind of settled in after a few games,” Djokovic said. “I was just trying to keep the momentum going and [not] allow him to break my serve. I think that was the key, that eventually I would get a chance.

“I think the longer the match went, the more my hamstring was warmer and bothering me less, so hopefully for tomorrow it will be all fine.”

It appeared Matteo Berrettini would seal Team Italy’s place in the United Cup final on Saturday evening, but Stefanos Tsitsipas refused to allow that to happen.

The Greek rallied past Berrettini 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 to keep his country’s hopes alive at the Final Four in Sydney. Italy still leads the tie 2-1, and Lucia Bronzetti will have a chance to close out the tie against Valentini Grammatikopuolou, a late substitute for Despina Papamichail.

"What a great atmosphere out here, I'm loving it," Tsitsipas said. "We won this together guys."

For the first half of the No. 1 men’s singles match, Berrettini was in control. Full of confidence after victories against Thiago Monteiro and Top 10 stars Casper Ruud and Hubert Hurkacz earlier in the mixed-teams competition, the Italian used his booming serve and thunderous forehand to keep the Greek on the back foot.

Despite having the racquet taken out of his hand for much of the match, Tsitsipas began to encourage the Ken Rosewall Arena crowd to involve itself midway into the second set. That proved the turning point.

Andrey Rublev will aim to bounce back from a disappointing first-round exit at the Adelaide International 1 when he headlines the draw at the Adelaide International 2 this week. The World No. 8, who is the top seed at the ATP 250 event, will face an Australian wild card in his opening match, with the winner of Thanasi Kokkinakis and Alexei Popyrin taking on the 12-time tour-level titlist.

The 25-year-old is seeded to meet sixth seed Miomir Kecmanovic in the quarter-finals. The Serbian begins against the returning Kyle Edmund. Rublev is also joined in the top half by fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, with the Spaniard opening against Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi or American Maxime Cressy.

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At the bottom of the draw, second seed Pablo Carreno Busta opens against a qualifier, with fifth seed Daniel Evans a potential quarter-final opponent. The Briton faces American Mackenzie McDonald in the first round and could meet Sebastian Korda in the second round. The 22-year-old Korda, who plays Yoshihito Nishioka in the semi-finals in Adelaide Saturday, opens against Emil Ruusuvuori.

After three years, the ATP Tour returns to Auckland this week, where World No. 3 Casper Ruud leads the field at the ASB Classic. The Norwegian, who is making his third appearance at the ATP 250 event, attended the draw ceremony on Saturday as he learned his possible path to the title.

The top seed will face Spaniard Jaume Munar or Serbian Laslo Djere in his opening match and could play two-time Auckland titlist John Isner in the quarter-finals. The sixth-seeded American begins his campaign against Argentine Pedro Cachin or Frenchman Constant Lestienne.

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Second seed Cameron Norrie arrives in New Zealand holding a 3-0 record on the season, having earned victories against Alex de Minaur, Rafael Nadal and Taylor Fritz at the United Cup. The Briton will look to continue his perfect start when he faces a qualifier in his opening match.

The 27-year-old is seeded to meet Adrian Mannarino in the quarter-finals and Diego Schwartzman in the semi-finals. Eighth-seeded Frenchman Mannarino plays J.J. Wolf in his first match, while third-seeded Argentine Schwartzman takes on Jenson Brooksby or Fabio Fognini.

Team United States sprinted to a 2-0 lead against Team Poland on Friday in the United Cup Final Four, and American Taylor Fritz finished the job Saturday morning.

The reigning BNP Paribas Open champion clawed past Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in the No. 1 men's singles match to give his country an insurmountable 3-0 lead. Jessica Pegula upset World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and Frances Tiafoe eased past Kacper Zuk to earn the Americans their first two points.

"It was great to get the win today to get us through. I had no doubt that if I were to lose that the rest of the team would have come through. But I've played with Team USA a lot. I think it's a huge advantage this time having the girls on our team because it just makes the whole team so much stronger. I'm super excited going into the final and I think we've been the favourites all week."

In the championship match, Team United States will face Team Italy or Team Greece. Italy leads Greece 2-0 in their semi-final tie.

"I think whoever serves better is probably going to get over the line," Tiafoe predicted for the Fritz-Hurkacz clash Friday afternoon.

Tennis remembers Dick Savitt, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles in 1951 and gave much of his life to the game.

An extraordinary, self-taught champion who competed with unbridled intensity and won two majors including Wimbledon in 1951, a man admired by players and the public alike for his magnificent backhand and remarkable match playing acumen, Hall of Famer Dick Savitt has died at age 95.

Richard “Dick” Savitt was born March 4, 1927 in Bayonne, New Jersey, and grew up in that state. He developed an imposing game from the backcourt and had impenetrable groundstrokes along with an underrated serve, stamping his authority as one of the best American players of the 1950s. His many exploits propelled Savitt into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the Class of 1976. 

Savitt’s deep intensity and adaptability as a competitor carried him to lofty heights on the premier stages of the sport. During his youth, Savitt played basketball and baseball, and was consumed by those sports until he was 13. Then tennis became a priority when he moved with his family to Texas in time for his sophomore year of high school.

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World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz has withdrawn from the Australian Open due to a right leg injury.

The 19-year-old Spaniard, who last year became the youngest player to finish year-end No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, would have held the top seed at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career.

Alcaraz tweeted: When I was at my best in preseason, I picked up an injury through a chance, unnatural movement in training. This time it's the semimembranosus muscle in my right leg.

I'd worked so hard to get to my best level for Australia but unfortunately I won't be able to play the Care A2+ Kooyong or the Australian Open. It's tough, but I have to be optimistic, recover and look forward. See you in 2024 @AustralianOpen.

The withdrawal imperils Alcaraz's hold on World No. 1, with Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic all having an opportunity to rise to top spot the Monday after the Australian Open.

Last year, Jessica Pegula lost all of her four matches against Iga Swiatek. But the new year has brought with it a burgeoning confidence for the American. In 2023, Pegula’s now 1-0 against the World No. 1.

Pegula scored a decisive 6-2, 6-2 victory over Swiatek on Friday at the United Cup semi-finals in Sydney. When Frances Tiafoe followed that up with similarly definitive 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Kacper Zuk, Poland found itself in the precarious predicament of needing to win all three matches Saturday against the United States to advance to the final.

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It’s the same for top-seeded Greece, surprisingly down 2-0 to Italy after Martina Trevisan and Lorenzo Musetti won their singles matches. Trevisan was a 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5 winner over World No. 6 Maria Sakkari in a contest that ran three hours, 15 minutes. Musetti scored a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Stefanos Sakellaridis.

Here’s how Saturday’s matches — two singles contests and a potential mixed doubles decider in each tie — shape up:

Tallon Griekspoor kept his cool in his maiden ATP Tour semi-final Friday at the Tata Open Maharashtra, where the Dutchman completed a 7-6(4), 6-1 victory against eighth seed Aslan Karatsev.

Griekspoor won a single-season record of eight ATP Challenger Tour titles in 2021, but the 26-year-old had not been past the quarter-finals of a tour-level event prior to this week in India. The Dutchman will take on another first-time finalist, Benjamin Bonzi, in Saturday’s championship match.

“It’s great. It’s something you work for, something you dream of,” said Griekspoor of reaching his first ATP Tour final. “That was a goal coming into this year. To do it in the first week of the year is great, but the tournament is not over, there is one more match left. So [I will] try to keep focusing on that one.”

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED ✅@Griekii is through to a 1st ever @atptour final after a dominant 7-6 6-1 win ?#TataOpenMaharashtra pic.twitter.com/5nwrq2pB7M

The World No. 95 produced a high-class serving performance to down the three-time tour-level titlist Karatsev. Griekspoor did not face a break point, sent down 11 aces and won 89 per cent (32/36) of points behind his first delivery.

After Martina Trevisan won an epic against Maria Sakkari on Friday, Lorenzo Musetti extended Team Italy's lead over Team Greece to 2-0 in the United Cup Final Four.

Musetti maintained his perfect record at the mixed-teams event (4-0) when he defeated Stefanos Sakellaridis 6-1, 6-1 in just 62 minutes. The No. 23 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings won 53 per cent of his return points to give his country a commading lead.

World No. 803 Sakellaridis earned one of the most memorable victories of the group stages when he upset Belgium's Zizou Bergs. The 18-year-old appeared primed to make another splash, this time in Sydney, when he earned a break point in the opening game of the match. But Musetti hit a timely drop shot and finished off the point with a forehand volley. From there, the 20-year-old never looked back.

Musetti's strokes were heavier than his opponent's, and he showed far more consistency. That proved a winning formula for the Italian, who gave Matteo Berrettini a chance to close out the tie on Saturday evening against Stefanos Tsitsipas. Lucia Bronzetti is scheduled to face Despina Papamichail in the No. 2 women's singles match.

Italy lost its City Final in Brisbane against Poland. But after earning a place in the Final Four as the best-positioned runner-up, the country has taken full advantage. The winner of the tie will face Team United States or Team Poland (Team United States leads 2-0).

Novak Djokovic came through some staunch resistance from Denis Shapovalov on Friday at the Adelaide International 1, where the top-seeded Serbian pulled away to a 6-3, 6-4 quarter-final victory at the ATP 250 event.

An entertaining one-hour, 55-minute matchup provided rich entertainment for a vocal Adelaide crowd, which was treated to some ferocious baseline exchanges as Shapovalov went toe-to-toe with the 91-time tour-level titlist Djokovic. The Serbian was more clinical at key moments, however, and three breaks of serve across the two sets were enough for him to complete his 21st victory in his past 22 tour-level matches.

Djokovic’s win sets a blockbuster semi-final clash with third seed Daniil Medvedev in South Australia. The Serbian leads 8-4 lead in his ATP Head2Head series with the World No. 7, with his tally including victory in a marathon three-set battle at November’s Nitto ATP Finals.

He's the master of turning defence to offence ?@DjokerNole flips the script on Shapovalov at #AdelaideTennis. pic.twitter.com/ZNU62d9V7F

Djokovic entered the quarter-final clash with a 7-0 ATP Head2Head record against the 23-year-old Shapovalov, but the Serbian faced three break points in an intriguing first set during which the Canadian’s big groundstrokes kept him under pressure. Shapovalov was left to rue not converting those chances, however, as the top-seeded Serbian made no mistake with a break point of his own to move 5-3 ahead before serving out for the set.

All was well for Team United States on Friday in Sydney, where the Americans cruised to a 2-0 lead in the United Cup Final Four against Team Poland. It was impossible to tell that there was a controversy of sorts within the group on Thursday.

“We did another escape room. We did boys versus girls and girls won, so go girls,” Jessica Pegula said after her upset of Iga Swiatek. “But it was really fun. We’ve done a couple of them and I’m not sure, it was kind of like an anti-team building experience because we kind of all wanted to kill each other at the end, but hopefully it brings us together today.”

“[The] guys are so salty they lost. It's like, It's real,” Pegula said.

“Fritz is still pissed. I hope he loosens up for tomorrow,” Tiafoe responded, cracking a laugh. “It's just been great team energy. Jess hurt our team-building yesterday after that. Both the guys and girls getting pretty heated there at the end. No, I mean, it was great to do stuff like that, and obviously Jess is our captain, making us do team outings like that.”

“I didn't make anyone do anything. I just throw out feelers and see what everyone is feeling,” Pegula said.

Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, Alex Zverev, Frances Tiafoe, and Alex de Minaur will feature in the Tennis Plays for Peace charity spectacular at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday 11 January. With events still taking place in Adelaide and Hobart, further player participation will be announced closer to the event.

All funds raised from the star-studded night of tennis and entertainment will support the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine by UNICEF Australia and Global Giving, which are providing help on the ground.

“Tennis is a truly global sport with an international playing community that has a history of stepping up and helping out. Through Tennis Plays for Peace the tennis community can offer practical assistance through fundraising, as well as show our heartfelt support for the victims of the war,” Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley explained.

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“We look forward to a spectacular night of tennis and entertainment and a wonderful opportunity to come together and raise much-needed funds.”

Daniil Medvedev’s impressive start to the 2023 season continued on Friday at the Adelaide International 1, where the World No. 7 downed Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at the hard-court ATP 250 event.

After fending off two break points from 15/40 to hold in his opening service game, the third-seeded Medvedev delivered a commanding quarter-final performance in his first tour-level meeting with Khachanov since 2019. He reeled off four games in a row from 2-3 to claim the first set and did not panic when broken early in the second, winning five straight games from 1-3 to clinch a comfortable 78-minute victory.

“It’s been a long time,” said Medvedev in his on-court interview. “We didn’t play since 2019, that’s pretty long. Hopefully we can play more matches at later stages of tournaments. It’s never easy, I’m happy that I managed to really raise my level, especially at the end of both sets, and I’m really happy to be through to the semis.”

Medvedev is yet to drop a set this week in Adelaide, where he moved past Lorenzo Sonego and Miomir Kecmanovic in his opening two rounds. Fourteen of his 15 tour-level titles have come on hard courts, and he will hope to move one step closer to lifting another trophy on the surface when he takes on top seed Novak Djokovic or seventh seed Denis Shapovalov in the semi-finals.

“I think one of them has a lot of titles and quite likes to play in Australia!” said Medvedev of Djokovic when asked about his potential semi-final opponents. “I think he didn’t lose for a long time here, but I’m going to watch their match.

Jessica Pegula produced a flawless performance on Friday in Sydney, where she upset World No. 1 Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-2 to give Team United States a 1-0 lead over Team Poland in the United Cup Final Four.

More to come...

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“I need this confidence,” Martina Trevisan said with a big smile after Matteo Berrettini praised her backhand when the Italians revealed which part of each other’s game they would like to have.

While Trevisan said she would opt for Berrettini’s heavy serve or how he stands tall at 6'5", the duo then cracked a laugh as they joked who owns the better backhand.

“She asked me if I’m sure [I want her backhand],” Berrettini said while holding up his answer on the whiteboard.

It was a straight-forward response for both players when they were asked about their partner’s biggest weapon: Berrettini’s serve and Trevisan’s forehand. However, it wasn’t such an easy answer when they were quizzed on when they first saw each other play in person.

Want to know what else the Italian stars spoke about? Watch the full United Cup Partnership feature.

The novelty of the rare mixed doubles combinations in the United Cup is what makes them so compelling. The banter and the byplay between the ATP and WTA players has been refreshing to watch and hear.

Turns out the matches mean something, too.

Look no further than Wednesday's crucial City Finals in Brisbane and Perth, where Poland and Greece needed their mixed doubles teams to break 2-2 ties and help them advance into the United Cup semi-finals. 

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Of the 18 mixed doubles confrontations in the United Cup’s group play, only one decided the match — when Alexandar Lazarov and Isabella Shinikova upset David Goffin and Elise Mertens to forge a 3-2 victory for Bulgaria over Belgium. But with the elite teams advancing to the City Finals, semi-finals and, ultimately, the Sunday final, it was increasingly possible that a meaningful match would hinge on a mixed doubles result.

Botic van de Zandschulp and Tallon Griekspoor made Dutch tennis history on Thursday at the Tata Open Maharashtra as both men progressed to the semi-finals in Pune. They became the first Dutch duo to reach the semi-finals of the same ATP Tour event since Dennis Van Scheppingen and Martin Verkerk at Amersfoort in 2004.

"It's been a long time," van de Zandschulp said of the achievement. "I cannot remember how long it's been, but it's pretty nice for the country."

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Van de Zandschulp has yet to drop a set in his Pune debut, having beaten Flavio Cobolli 7-5, 6-4 in his first match. After facing six break points in that contest, the World No. 35 did not face any against Marterer as he won 85 per cent of his first-serve points.

"I served well. It's always helping when you serve well and you get a lot of free points," he assessed, later adding that he enjoyed the slower, flatter evening conditions compared to his daytime Wednesday match. "[I was] really consistent, more consistent that the last match, so I'm happy with that."