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After back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati, the ATP Tour moves to Winston-Salem next week for an ATP 250 event.

Plenty of stars will try to secure important PIF ATP Rankings points, including defending champion Sebastian Baez, second seed Jack Draper and third-seeded wild card Francisco Cerundolo.

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Jack Draper — replacing 20 points
The 22-year-old has enjoyed the best season of his career, earning his first ATP Tour title in Stuttgart. If the British lefty lifts another trophy in Winston-Salem, he will claim plenty of net points given he will be replacing a 20-point entry in his rankings breakdown.

Draper is in form after upsetting Stefanos Tsitsipas in Cincinnati and has long been a dangerous foe on hard courts. His big serve and aggressive game have proven tough for many players to overcome. He is the second seed in Winston-Salem, where his brother, Ben Draper, played a season of college tennis.

Playing under pressure was Friday's doubles theme at the Cincinnati Open, where Jamie Murray and Ivan Dodig dispatched fifth-seeded Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in a tight 7-5, 7-6(4) contest while three other matches went to a Match Tie-break.

Murray and Dodig are into the last eight and will next face Arthur Fils and Nicolas Jarry.

American wild cards Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelsen became the first team to reach the semi-finals after they saved two match points to upset the 2022 titlists Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 6-3, 5-7, 11-9. The third seeds held two consecutive match points on serve at 9/7 in the Match Tie-break before McDonald and Michelsen tallied four consecutive points.

Top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, who won Montreal last week, defeated Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 6-7(3), 6-4, 10-6. Seventh seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten, fifth in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Race To Turin, survived Wesley Koolhof and Mate Pavic 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 10-5.

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Holger Rune held his nerve in a topsy-turvy third set Friday to pull away from Gael Monfils 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and advance to the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals. The 15th seed is the first Danish man to reach the last eight in the tournament’s Open Era history.

"It took some patience for sure," said Rune. "I wasn't totally on top of the first set. He was serving big, had to get used to the conditions a little bit. He came from an incredible win earlier, so obviously he was very confident. I had to find my rhythm."

Monfils came flying out of the blocks, building upon his momentum from upsetting second seed Carlos Alcaraz in their rain-hindered match earlier in the day. Rune then gained an advantage by looking for early opportunities to move forward, converting 25 of his 33 net points across the two-hour, 14-minute match.

"I changed a little bit of tactics from the beginning of the second set and I tried to stay on that throughout the whole match, and it seemed to work," said Rune.

Next level net play @CincyTennis ?

1️⃣9️⃣ Volley #WinningPlays by @holgerrune2003 with 1️⃣2️⃣of those coming the crucial 3rd set vs Monfils #WinningPlays:
✅ Highlight a specific winning tactic
✅ Recognise that the "key" shot is not always the winner or the last shot in the… pic.twitter.com/xAdzg0qxgW

Carlos Alcaraz has no shortage of memorable accolades this season, from winning two majors, an ATP Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells and a silver medal at the Paris Olympics. But the Spaniard wants to have no memory of any kind of his second-round loss against Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Open.

“It's kind of really difficult to find some good stuff from this match. So I want to forget it, and try to move on to New York,” Alcaraz said in his post-match press conference. “I'll go to New York and I'll try to practise well, to get used to those courts. And I will forget this match, because I think it is impossible to get any good things about this match.”

The 21-year-old, who was competing in his first hard-court tournament since Miami in March, held championship point last year in Cincinnati before Novak Djokovic roared back to claim the title in what is largely considered one of the greatest ATP Masters 1000 finals.

Playing his first match in Cincinnati since that near-four hour epic, with hopes of going one step further than last year’s runner-up finish, Alcaraz was instead stunned by the 37-year-old Monfils 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. The 15-time tour-level titlist spoke candidly in assessing his level.

“I felt like it was the worst match that I ever played in my career,” Alcaraz said. “[I] couldn't play. Honestly, I've been practising really well here in this tournament. The previous days, I was feeling great, hitting the ball clear, moving well. I don't know what happened. I don't know how I felt like this, but I couldn't control myself. I couldn't be better. So this match, it was impossible to win.”

Has Ben Shelton found his newest and biggest fan?

When the 21-year-old American walked onto court to face Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Thursday at the Cincinnati Open, he received the majority of support at his home event.

However, there was one young boy, Gabriel Green, who was cheering loudly for Etcheverry and could not hide his disappointment at the Argentine’s three-set defeat. After the match, Shelton found Gabriel in the crowd at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, where he chatted with the youngster before giving him his headband.

Ben's newest fan likes his headband VERY MUCH?@BenShelton #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/OKdqcVqEjf

A day later and Gabriel was courtside again, but this time wearing Shelton's headband and loudly supporting the 12th seed, who defeated Fabian Marozsan to reach the quarter-finals on Friday.

Ben Shelton earned his career-best 30th match win of the season and advanced to his second ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final Friday at the Cincinnati Open.

The 12th-seeded American made a rocky start, but leaned on his hefty first serve to dig him out of trouble and defeat Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-4, 6-3 amidst windy conditions. Shelton is set to face third seed Alexander Zverev in a blockbuster quarter-final.

“It was a really rough start of the match, pretty windy,” said Shelton, who committed 18 unforced errors to Marozsan’s 29. “It felt like every ball off his racquet was coming really, really fast. He was hitting some nukes and it took me a little while to speed up and adjust, but once I got rolling in the second set, I started to feel really confident.”

After the opening set featured three breaks of serve, Shelton lifted his aggression and drew on his home support. He dropped just two points behind his first delivery in the second set to advance after one hour, nine minutes and sealed the match with a net-cord winner, for which he apologised when embracing Marozsan at net.

The 21-year-old lefty, No. 14 in the PIF ATP Rankings, is the youngest American man to reach the Cincinnati quarters since 20-year-old Jared Donaldson in 2017. Shelton and Tiafoe are the lone Americans left in the draw as they aim to become the first American male to win Cincinnati since Andy Roddick in 2006.

Gael Monfils earned his biggest win in more than two years on Friday at the Cincinnati Open, where he stunned World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 to capture the ninth Top 3 victory of his career.

Play was cancelled on Thursday night due to rain, with Alcaraz leading Monfils 6-4, 6-6(1/3). However, the Frenchman came out firing upon the resumption, remaining composed to build on his early lead in the tie-break and seal the set on his third set point.

In windy conditions, Monfils was the more consistent in the decider to inflict just an eighth defeat of the year on Alcaraz. The 37-year-old saved all four break points he faced and rode the momentum he had gained in the second-set tie-break to earn his first Top 3 win since he beat then-No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Daniil Medvedev in March 2022 in Indian Wells.

GLORIOUS GAEL ✨@Gael_Monfils stuns Alcaraz in an epic three set encounter to advance in @CincyTennis !#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/ANpoZg5eJ8

Alcaraz was competing in his first hard-court match since March in Miami, where he reached the quarter-finals. The 21-year-old has since lifted major trophies at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics.

Alexander Zverev became the 10th player in history to reach 30 ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finals on Friday at the Cincinnati Open, where he moved past Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 7-5, 7-6(6).

The third-seeded German recovered from squandering break advantages in both sets to eventually earn his 51st win of the season. Zverev lifted his sixth ATP Masters 1000 title in Rome earlier this year and will aim to add to that tally in Ohio, where he next meets Ben Shelton or Fabian Marozsan.

Zverev, who struck 26 winners in his two-hour, five-minute win against Carreno Busta, has fond memories in Cincinnati. The 27-year-old captured the trophy in 2021 and reached the semi-finals last season.

A deep run at the hard-court event will also boost Zverev’s hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals. A two-time champion at the year-end event, Zverev is third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.

In other action, Andrey Rublev made it two wins in two weeks against Brandon Nakashima. He moved past the 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion 7-6(5), 6-1.

Jannik Sinner has advanced to the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open after Jordan Thompson withdrew from their scheduled third-round match Friday with a rib injury.

The World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings will now get the opportunity to avenge last week's loss to Andrey Rublev in Montreal. The World No. 6 defeated Sinner 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 in the quarter-finals, snapping a three-match losing streak to the Italian.

Sinner leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 5-3.

Sinner, who is chasing his first title since winning the ATP 500 in Halle on grass in June, defeated American qualifier Alex Michelsen 6-4, 7-5 in his opening-round match in Cincinnati.

Last week Sinner became the first player to qualify for November's Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

Carlos Alcaraz has a nervous night of sleep ahead after his second-round match with Gael Monfils was left balancing on a knife’s edge Thursday night when rain cancelled play for the night.

Alcaraz took the first set 6-4 but found himself down 1/3 in the second-set tie-break when players were forced from the court. The match will resume Friday not before 12:30 p.m., with the winner needing to pull double duty later in the day against 15th seed Holger Rune.

Playing his first hard-court tournament since Miami in March, and his first event since winning a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, the 21-year-old Alcaraz saved a set point on serve at 5-6 in the second set to force a tie-break.

The World No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings leads Monfils 2-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Seventh seed Casper Ruud and Felix Auger-Aliassime are yet to begin their second-round match, which will now be played Friday. The winner will then return to court later to face Jack Draper.

Arthur Fils and Nicolas Jarry earned a hard-fought victory Thursday at the Cincinnati Open, where they overcame second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-8 to reach the quarter-finals.

Teaming for the second consecutive week, Fils and Jarry, who lost in the Montreal first round, saved the two break points they faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats.Bopanna and Ebden, fourth in the PIF ATP Live Doubles To Turin, led 8/6 in the Match Tie-break before Fils and Jarry tallied four consecutive points to advance.

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden during Thursday's action in Cincinnati. Credit: Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour

The French-Chilean duo will meet fifth seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori or Ivan Dodig and Jamie Murray in the last eight.

In other Match Tie-break action, Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski downed defending champions Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 3-6, 7-5, 10-5 while Neal Skupski and Michael Venus defeated sixth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 2-6, 10-4.

Jack Draper survived a three-set thriller Thursday at the Cincinnati Open, where he fought off ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to reach the Round of 16.

The Greek Tsitsipas broke for 5-4 in the deciding set, but faltered to serve out the match in a dramatic tenth game. Tsitsipas lost a first serve when he received a time violation at 0/30. He then double faulted, giving Draper three break points, but the 22-year-old lefty only needed one forehand pass to level the set and deflate Tsitsipas’ momentum. Draper won the final three games to advance.

“Since coming from the Olympics I haven't found my best tennis... but I've been trying to find a way and I showed my grit and determination to come through today,” Draper said. “Each day I get an opportunity to come out and play again the better I feel. I feel great physically and look forward to keep it going.”

Draper now leads Tsitsipas 2-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. The Stuttgart champion also beat the 11-time tour-level titlist at the Canadian ATP Masters 1000 event in 2022.

"Stefanos is such a tough competitor, so I had to be there every point and be ready to compete,” said Draper, who committed 24 unforced errors to Tsitsipas’ 38. “Losing my service and then coming back in the final three games means the world to me and helps a lot mentally."

Andrey Rublev and Brandon Nakashima continued their impressive form on Thursday at the Cincinnati Open, where they both earned wins to reach the third round and set a Montreal rematch.

Rublev overcame Chinese star Zhang Zhizhen 6-4, 6-3 to clinch his fifth win in six matches. The No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings reached his second ATP Masters 1000 final of the season in Montreal last week and quickly adjusted to the conditions in Ohio against Zhang.

Rublev hammered 23 winners and committed just five unforced errors to triumph after 61 minutes, improving to 3-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Forehand ? in Cincinnati!@tennis_insights | #ShotQuality pic.twitter.com/F1pSJqIBGn

Rublev, who is chasing his third title of the season this week, will next play Nakashima after the American defeated #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils  7-5, 7-6(3) in one hour and 50 minutes.

Alexander Zverev became the first player to earn 50 tour-level wins this season on Thursday at the Cincinnati Open, where he overcame Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-2 for an opening win at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

The German dominated throughout the 78-minute clash and coped with a 10-minute rain delay in the second set. The 27-year-old hugged the baseline to strike 16 winners compared to nine from Khachanov, improving to 5-2 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

"I felt well on the court," Zverev said. "I have felt well in practise and then it is easier to bring on court. I didn't feel well in Canada at all, even in the few matches I won. I hope my form is getting better and better and I can play some good tennis.

"We are very similar players. We are both very tall and good baseline players and when we are both playing it is about form and who is playing better and today I am happy that it was me and I got a good win today."

Zverev, who lifted the trophy in Cincinnati in 2021, will play Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the third round.

Gael Monfils lives for showtime moments. That is exactly what he will experience Thursday evening at the Cincinnati Open when he plays second seed Carlos Alcaraz.

Monfils and Alcaraz are two of the most entertaining players on the ATP Tour and they never leave fans short of a good time. The Frenchman has the utmost respect for this year’s Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion.

“Big, obviously, big. He is a complete athlete, a tonne of speed, endurance, power, and then his tennis, of course, is quite complete too,” Monfils said. “Backhand, forehand, it's quite hard to see where you can sit [and wait]. He improved a lot in the return, serving big. He's just a really, really complete player.”

Alcaraz is in a key part of the season. The 21-year-old is second in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and is trying to position himself for his battle with first-placed Jannik Sinner for ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours.

Already a four-time major champion, the Spaniard has impressed Monfils.

It has been a memorable few weeks for Jack Draper in an unforgettable season for the Briton.

The lefty competed in the Olympics for the first time in Paris, where he enjoyed a front-row seat to the final event of Andy Murray’s career.

“lt was amazing. Andy's been such a role model and an inspiration for me throughout the years,” Draper said. “I think to be at his last event was incredible. Obviously, what he's done for the sport and done for British tennis, hopefully I can take it forward from here.”

Draper has reached new heights in 2024, ascending to a career-high No. 26 in the PIF ATP Rankings in July and claiming his first ATP Tour title in Stuttgart. But a memory that will stick out despite a second-round loss in singles is spending time with Murray and his teammates in Paris.

“To be a part of the team and to be at his last event, having watched when he was younger, what he's achieved and stuff, that was really special and a real honour for me,” Draper said. “Hopefully, he's going to stick around and not be a stranger. He'll still be around and give advice and be a good friend.”

Jordan Thompson has plenty of highlights to look back on across his ATP Tour career so far.

A high of No. 30 in the PIF ATP Rankings, one singles title and six doubles crowns on the ATP Tour, and four victories against Top 10 opponents all feature on his tennis resume. Yet for the Australian, perhaps the thrill of all those achievements pales in comparison with one summer's day in Sydney earlier this year.

A rugby league fanatic, Thompson was invited to join a training session with his beloved National Rugby League (NRL) side, Wests Tigers. He didn’t need asking twice.

“Honestly, when I finished, I went out for dinner and drinks at the end of the night, and I was like, ‘That was the best day of my life’,” Thompson told ATPTour.com. “I guess I'd always looked up to the coaches that were there, and they were running the show, and they were so welcoming.

“They let me join in on pretty much everything apart from the full-on game. I didn't want a part of that anyway, I would have got destroyed! But I got to play, and it was honestly the best experience of my life.”

Here are some effective tennis drills that target different areas of the game, including footwork, groundstrokes, volleys, and serves: 1. Shadow Swing DrillObjective: Improve stroke mechanics and muscle memory.How to Do It: Without hitting a ball, practice your forehand and backhand swings using full strokes. Focus on proper form, footwork, and smo...

Jiri Lehecka earned a stunning upset victory against former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday evening in the second round of the Cincinnati Open.

Medvedev, the 2019 champion, arrived in Ohio hungry for matches and an uptick in form after an opening-round exit in Montreal. But instead Lehecka, who prior to Cincinnati had not played since Madrid due to a back injury, emerged victorious 7-6(2), 6-4.

“It's amazing to be back, to be honest,” Lehecka said in his on-court interview. “It was a long time since I was playing on a big stage, so I enjoyed every moment of it today. To get a win again such a good player, talented player as Daniil surely is, is just a bonus for me.”

? UPSET ALERT ?@jirilehecka put on a show for the Cincy crowd with a 7-6(2) 6-4 victory over Medvedev.@CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/UcsNlau1yt

The runner-up at the 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF went more than two months without touching a tennis racquet. On 7 July, he returned to court. And just more than a month later, he has earned one of the best wins of his career.

Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev rode a big serving performance to first-round victory on Wednesday at the Cincinnati Open.

The Brazilian-German duo edged home favourites Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-2 in a hard-fought 85-minute encounter at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Ohio. Melo and Zverev dominated the Match Tie-break to complete victory after winning 84 per cent (38/45) of points behind their first serves, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic will be Melo and Zverev’s second-round opponents. The clash will be the second Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between the two teams, after Melo and Zverev’s triumph in the Monte-Carlo semi-finals in April.

Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten have won three tour-level titles together, including a major title at Wimbledon, since first teaming in April. The seventh-seeded pair was forced to retire with concussion last week in Montreal after clashing heads going for a smash, but it was quickly back to winning ways in Cincinnati, where it defeated wild cards Brandon Nakashima and William Woodall 6-4, 6-3. Heliovaara and Patten will next take on Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic.

Ivan Dodig and Jamie Murray were also early winners on Wednesday at the Lindner Family Tennis Centre. The Croatian-British pair booked its second-round spot with a 6-3, 7-6(4) triumph against singles stars Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev.