Looking for Tennis and Racket Sports International News?

Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski became the first team to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals on Wednesday when they reached the second round of the US Open. The Dutch-British tandem will compete in Turin at the season finale, which will be held from 13-20 November.

Koolhof will compete in the Nitto ATP Finals for the second time after lifting the trophy alongside Nikola Mektic in 2020. This is the first time Skupski has qualified for the year-end championships.

The first-placed team in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings has won six doubles titles together this season, highlighted by ATP Masters 1000 victories in Madrid and Montreal. They have also triumphed at ATP 250 events in Melbourne, Adelaide, Doha and ’s-Hertogenbosch. This is the first year Koolhof and Skupski have competed as a pair.

"It will be my first experience of playing it and it's been a goal of mine for many years," Skupski said. "It's a nice goal to tick off and hopefully we can do well. Hopefully Wes can show me the way to winning the title."

"It's a great showcase for doubles with only the best eight teams in the world and I'm really looking forward to it," Koolhof said.

Fifth seed Casper Ruud continued his under-the-radar push towards becoming the new World No. 1 at the US Open after rallying from a set down Wednesday to defeat Dutchman Tim van Rijthoven.

After dropping the first set in a tie-break, the Norwegian rebounded strongly to win 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

[ATP APP]

Ruud, who reached his first major final this year at Roland Garros, saved six of seven breaks points and withstood 52 winners – including 20 aces - from van Rijthoven and will next play the winner of Americans Tommy Paul and Sebastian Korda.

Ruud must make the US Open final to have a chance of finishing the tournament No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Andy Murray had plenty of thinking to do early in his second-round clash against #NextGenATP American Emilio Nava at the US Open on Wednesday, but the former World No. 1 raised his level to prevail 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 and reach the third round in New York.

The 20-year-old Nava clinched a lung-busting 84-minute opening set with a stunning forehand pass to heap pressure on his experienced opponent, but Murray bided his time and began to unpick the Nava game with some consistent baseline hitting on Arthur Ashe Stadium. The 2012 champion won 14 of the final 15 games to reach the third round in New York for the first time in six years.

“I think I started to take the ball on a little bit more,” said Murray in his on-court interview when asked how he had turned the match around. “He was dictating a lot of the points in the first set. Once I started to hit the ball a little bit bigger, a little bit deeper, I was then able to control the points more.

“He (Nava) also played a really long first-round match, a five-setter against John Millman. I think that’s the first five-setter that he’s played, so it’s not always that easy to recover and I think his level dropped a little bit in the third and fourth sets. But he’s a brilliant young player and he’s going to have a very bright future.”

[ATP APP]

Have Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury found their best form in time for another dream run at the US Open?

The defending champions and top seeds were clinical in seeing off Federico Coria and Cristian Rodriguez in the first round on Wednesday at the hard-court Grand Slam, where they clinched the solitary break of serve in both sets to seal a 6-4, 6-4 victory.

[ATP APP]

The American-British duo lifted its second ATP Masters 1000 trophy of 2022 at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati 11 days ago and picked up where it left off with a rock-solid showing in New York. Ram and Salisbury faced no break points and fired 29 winners against their Argentine-Colombian opponents to book a second-round clash against Sander Gille and Lukasz Kubot or Aslan Karatsev and Luke Saville.

Ram and Salisbury are chasing their third Grand Slam crown as a team following their triumphs at the Australian Open in 2020 and in New York a year ago. They have been consistent performers at the majors in 2022, reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon either side of a quarter-final run at Roland Garros.

Daniel Elahi Galan’s secret to progress this year on the ATP Tour, as strange as it may seem, has been taking a break.

Disciplined work is ever present in the Colombian’s career, but downtime has been the most significant contributor this season and he is reaping the rewards. On Monday, almost a month after breaking into the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Galan defeated World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round of the US Open.

Not only was it the best win of his career, it was also one of the biggest in the history of Colombian tennis, which has not seen a victory over a Top-5 player since Iván Molina took down then-No. 3 Manuel Orantes in Tehran in 1975.

“This result is part of a long process and the product of so many things we’ve been preparing for many years,” said Xando, Daniel’s older brother (four years his senior), who coaches alongside their father, Santos.

“People often see the amazing things, but behind that there is a lot of sacrifice and hard work. This win is a reward for the sacrifice and those day-to-day battles,” Xando said of his brother’s current form.

After seeing fellow Top-10 seeds Stefanos Tsitsipas and Taylor Fritz crash out of the top half on Day 1, top seed Daniil Medvedev and sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime won’t take anything for granted when they suit up for battle in the US Open second round Wednesday.

ATPTour.com looks at five things to watch on Day Three at Flushing Meadows, where Medvedev continues his title defense and Felix faces dangerous young Brit Jack Draper.

1) Felix Meets Draper For First Encounter:Felix Auger-Aliassime, semi-finalist at the US Open last season, is at a career-high No. 8 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The Canadian should expect a fierce challenge in his first meeting with fast-rising 20-year-old Jack Draper.

Felix, who boasts 37 wins this season including his maiden ATP Tour title in Rotterdam, has had success in New York dating back to his junior days. The Montreal native claimed the boys’ singles title at Flushing Meadows in 2016 and the boys’ doubles title with countryman Denis Shapovalov in 2015. Last year, the 22-year-old became the first Canadian men’s singles semi-finalist in tournament history.

#NextGenATP lefty Draper, who is making his US Open debut, is hungry for his second Top 10 win. After earning his first win over a Top 10 player earlier this month when he ousted Tsitsipas in Montreal, the Brit looks to strengthen his hold on a spot at the eight-player Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals with an upset over Auger-Aliassime Wednesday. The 2018 Wimbledon boys’ singles finalist has won four ATP Challenger Tour titles this year, a season record he shares with Argentine Pedro Cachin.

It took time for Rafael Nadal to discover his rhythm on Tuesday evening at the US Open, but the four-time champion found it to advance to the second round.

The Spaniard rallied past #NextGenATP Australian Rinky Hijikata 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 at Flushing Meadows, where he is competing for the first time since he won the 2019 title. The second seed has won 19 of his past 20 matches at the season’s final Grand Slam, and he has triumphed in all 20 of his matches at major championships this year.

"It's been a long wait. For some time I thought I may not be able to be back, so I am super happy. Night sessions are the best," Nadal said. "I just have to be humble and accept the process, day after day in practices and matches and stay positive."

Nadal will next face a tough challenge against Italian Fabio Fognini, who rallied from two sets down against the 22-time Slam champion in New York in 2015. Nadal leads the pair’s ATP Head2Head series 13-4.

[ATP APP]

Sam Querrey remembers a moment in his hotel at the 2007 Australian Open, when he was a 19-year-old first embarking on his professional career. When he walked into the elevator, World No. 1 Roger Federer was there.

“I remember he introduced himself to me. He said, ‘Hey Sam, Roger, welcome to the Tour’, something along those lines. ‘It’s good to see you here’,” Querrey remembered. “It was pretty cool for a guy like that to come up to a new player like myself.”

It was a pinch-me moment for the teenage Querrey, a recognition of his arrival on the circuit. More than a decade later, following his first-round loss at the US Open against Ilya Ivashka, the American’s illustrious career has come to a close.

Querrey retires having lifted 10 ATP Tour singles trophies, climbed to a career-high No. 11 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and earned 23 victories against Top 10 opponents.

“My body is getting a little tired. I’ve been at the US Open since 2006. I’ve got two little kids. I want to go do something else,” Querrey said. “I want to test my mind somewhere else and try something new. It feels like this is the right time.”

To some players, facing seven match points would be a daunting task. Tim van Rijthoven, however, has confronted much worse.

The Dutchman, who saved seven match points on Monday and rallied from two sets down to stun Zhang Zhizhen at the US Open, is enjoying the best year of his career. But it has been far from easy for the 25-year-old to get to this point.

Going through the list of injuries van Rijthoven has suffered since turning pro in 2015 takes almost as long as an interview itself.

“When I was 18, I had a golfer’s elbow. It hurt when I was hitting serves, forehand volleys and smashes, so I couldn’t play a match,” van Rijthoven said. “It took me about a year to recover from that and that was my first year as a pro.”

[ATP APP]

There was no easing in gently for Jannik Sinner on Tuesday at the US Open. The 11th seed was forced to work overtime to see off the resilient Daniel Altmaier in a five-set epic in the first round at the hard-court Grand Slam in New York.

The Italian prevailed 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 against the World No. 93 in the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting. Sinner appeared to have taken control of the three-hour, 35-minute encounter after easing to the second and third sets with some typically forceful baseline hitting, but tournament debutant Altmaier enjoyed a fourth-set resurgence to push the six-time tour-titlist the distance.

“It’s very tough, obviously, playing the first round in every tournament, and especially here where I think I can play well,” said Sinner in his on-court interview. “I had moments where I played well and I had moments where I could play better, but [in the] first round it’s obviously a very tough one.”

[ATP APP]

Despite the one-sided nature of the fifth-set scoreline, it was Sinner who had been in early trouble in the decider as the 21-year-old recovered 0/40 for a crucial hold of serve at 1-1. He then secured an immediate break for a 3-1 lead after coming out on top in a stunning break point during which incredible defence from both players had the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd on their feet.

Benjamin Bonzi has a big opportunity on Wednesday evening in the second round of the US Open, where he will play Nick Kyrgios.

Like Kyrgios, Bonzi enjoys video games. ATPTour.com caught up with the Frenchman to discuss his favourite games, e-sports and basketball. It is safe to say Bonzi and Kyrgios will not agree on their favourite team!

Tell us about your love of video games. When did you start playing, and what are some of the earliest games you remember playing?
I started around maybe 10 or 11 when my parents bought me the Game Boy. I started with that. This is pretty old, but I remember this. I played a lot of Pokemon on this one, like every kid. I think Pikachu is the best. I liked it.

Now this is different. Now we have PlayStation. This is not the same games, but I used to play a lot.

Of course you played a lot of tennis as a kid, but was it nice to have other hobbies like playing video games to not only focus on tennis?
I think it’s important not to be focussed too much on tennis. We have a lot of hours on the tennis court. Then we have fitness and everything. We have maybe five, six, seven hours of focus on tennis every day and at a moment you have to disconnect from it, just try to relax, try to chill and there is music, video games, TV, whatever. But you have to disconnect from tennis.

Leading an entertaining US Open matchup against Sebastian Baez 7-5, 7-5, 2-0 on Tuesday, Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the second round at the final Grand Slam of the year when his opponent retired due to a leg injury.

The 19-year-old Spaniard had prevailed in two scintillating sets on Arthur Ashe Stadium against the World No. 37 Baez. Both players produced plenty of high-quality all-court tennis, but it was the 2021 quarter-finalist Alcaraz who had found something extra to clinch a crucial break of serve in the 12th game of both sets.

“No one wants to see the end of a match like this,” said Alcaraz in his on-court interview. “I think both players don’t deserve the end like this, but I just say that Sebastian is a great player. He fights until the last ball, so he decided the best thing.”

[ATP APP]

The first two sets had been a showcase of two of the biggest-hitting young talents on the ATP Tour. Both Alcaraz and 21-year-old Baez struck the ball crisply from the baseline, but they also demonstrated plenty of variety in stifling conditions in New York. Particularly in the second set, Baez used his lob to good effect to manoeuvre Alcaraz around the court as he broke for a 4-3 lead, but Alcaraz’s trademark retrieving helped him recover to take the set 7-5.

Cameron Norrie wasted no time bringing his impressive 2022 form to the US Open on Tuesday, when the sixth seed raced past Benoit Paire 6-0, 7-6(1), 6-0 to reach the second round in New York in style.

Norrie claimed the first and third sets of his second tour-level meeting with Paire in just 18 minutes and 15 minutes, respectively, as his consistency overwhelmed his opponent. He also held firm in a far tighter second set during which former World No. 18 Paire let slip the opportunity to level the first-round match when serving at 5-3.

Norrie fired 24 winners, including nine aces, to capitalise on a wayward performance by Paire, who reached the fourth round in New York in 2015. The win represented a comprehensive start for the Briton as he seeks to back up his run to his maiden Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon in July.

[ATP APP]

The 27-year-old Norrie has pedigree on American hard courts. The former Texas Christian University Horned Frog lifted his maiden ATP Masters 1000 trophy in Indian Wells in 2021 and also claimed the title in Delray Beach in February. Alongside his Wimbledon run, those triumphs have headlined a stellar 2022 for the Briton, who improved his season-record to 42-19 with Tuesday’s win.

The bottom half of the US Open draw kicks into gear on Tuesday in New York, where Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz are among the stars in first-round action.

ATPTour.com looks at five things to watch on Day 2 at Flushing Meadows.

View Schedule | View Singles Draw

[ATP APP]

1) Nadal Returns To NYC: The last time Nadal competed on Arthur Ashe stadium in 2019, he defeated Daniil Medvedev in five sets to clinch his fourth US Open crown. The Spaniard’s first task after three years away is a first-round meeting against 21-year-old Rinky Hijikata, the Australian wild card making his Grand Slam debut.

Rinky Hijikata had just landed in New York Thursday when the messages started lighting up his phone.

“The first one was from my manager, Kelly [Wolf], and she said something along the lines of ‘Welcome to the Big House!’” Hijikata told ATPTour.com. “There was no real context, so I really didn’t know what she was talking about. I thought maybe she was saying ‘Welcome to New York’.

“I got a few others like ‘I can’t believe your draw!’ so that’s when I went and had a look. Pretty exciting.”

When he called up the US Open draw he found his name on Line 127, one above second seed and 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal. The context was no longer lacking.

[ATP APP]

When the US Open draw was released, one of the matches that stood out was a clash between Nick Kyrgios and close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis. Kyrgios made sure the blockbuster matchup did not turn into an epic battle.

The 23rd seed defeated Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) to reach the second round at Flushing Meadows. He will play Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi for a place in the third round.

"Probably one of the most uncomfortable matches I've played in my career. I feel like we both had a game plan. We know our games so well. From the get-go, I was trying to block out his body and just play the tennis ball," Kyrgios said. "I was really trying not to look at him at all. I felt like that kind of helped me."

Kyrgios has shown the best form of his career in recent months, reaching the Wimbledon final, winning the Washington title and defeating World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in Montreal. He maintained that form inside Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday evening following Serena Williams' match, earning his 200th tour-level win after two hours and one minute.

"To play one of probably my best friends after Serena's possible last match, with a record-breaking attendance, it's insane," Kyrgios said. "A night I'm never going to forget. My 200th win as well. A couple accolades today. It was good."

As if a shock first-round exit at the US Open wasn’t painful enough, Stefanos Tsitsipas was also left ruing his lost shot at World No. 1 in the wake of his four-set defeat to Colombian qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan on Monday night.

The Greek was one of five players who had the opportunity at Flushing Meadows to hold the No. 1 Pepperstone ATP Ranking at the end of the tournament, but that dream is now gone.

“I was very motivated and pumped before the US Open started because I knew I could use this tournament to get closer to the No. 1 spot,” Tsitsipas said. “It would be very weird and very unusual if it didn’t cross my mind, because this is something I wanted since I was a kid and I know this is my chance now to step it up.

“It just didn’t go as planned. Sometimes you just need to let it go, you don’t need to overthink it, you don’t need to push yourself too hard but at the same time it’s difficult because there’s this open opportunity right in front of you, you don’t want to mess it up, you don’t want to waste it.

“My chances, I guess, are a bit smaller. The margin is not as thin as it used to be now after the US Open but I’m still going to try and add points to my ranking, as much as I can until the end of the year, I really want to perhaps finish in the Top 3… more opportunities ahead.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas appeared poised to escape a significant scare on Monday at the US Open, but qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan refused to let him slip from his grasp.

The Colombian earned the biggest win of his career inside Louis Armstrong Stadium, where he stunned the fourth seed 6-0, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 behind 41 winners to reach the second round at Flushing Meadows. The World No. 94 converted his ninth match point after two hours and 48 minutes on his main draw debut at the season’s final major.

"He dominated the match," Tsitsipas admitted. "I just couldn't get into it."

The 26-year-old, who did not lose a set in qualifying, won the first 11 games of the match against Tsitsipas with a stunning display of aggression. The Greek had his right forearm massaged several times, and it took until 54 minutes into the clash for him to win a game.

[ATP APP]

American qualifier Brandon Holt claimed a statement win in his main-draw Grand Slam debut Monday night at the US Open, upsetting 10th-seeded countryman Taylor Fritz 6-7(3), 7-6(1), 6-3, 6-4 to charge into the second round at Flushing Meadows.

Holt, 24, the son of two-time US Open champion Tracy Austin, had not won a Tour-level match coming into the tournament. The World No. 303 had to win through qualifying at the ATP Challenger Tour level in Chicago in his final tournament before playing US Open qualifying.

The defeat is a blow to Fritz's hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals in November. The American is currently 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race to Turin and was hoping for a deep run at Flushing Meadows to move into the Top 8.

Holt turned professional in 2020 after the Covid-19 pandemic began. Last year, Holt began to feel pain in his hand, which troubled him for months. After several doctor visits, he learned an osteoid osteoma, an extra bone growing on his fourth metacarpal.

The American had two options to deal with it, and chose the more invasive, but safer option. After undergoing the operation in August, Holt did not play the rest of 2021.