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Carlos Alcaraz's run at the Rolex Paris Masters came to a sudden end on Friday as an abdominal problem forced him to retire late in his quarter-final match against Holger Rune. He dropped a 6-3 opening set to the Dane and began to feel the issue at the end of the second set, ultimately retiring while trailing 1/3 in the tie-break.

"At the end of the set, it was wrong," he said of the abdominal issue. "It was getting wrong and I preferred to retire and see it, and take care [of] it."

Despite the unfortunate end to the entertaining contest — a rematch of the pair's meeting at the 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals — Alcaraz is hopeful of a fast and full recovery before his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals, which begins 13 November. If he can maintain his position as World No. 1 in Turin, the 19-year-old will become the youngest year-end No. 1 in the history of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

"I have the Nitto [ATP] Finals," he said, when asked if he was looking forward to the end of a gruelling season in which he's played 70 matches, winning 57. "I have some tests on how it's going to be before Turin. But right now I'm focused to try to get better in the abdominal and trying to be at 100 per cent in Turin."

[ATP APP]

Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara on Friday became the seventh doubles team to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. One place remains at the season finale, to be played from 13-20 November in Turin.

It has been a standout season for the British-Finnish team, which will make its debut at the year-end championships. Glasspool and Heliovaara claimed the title at the ATP 500 event in Hamburg and showed great consistency throughout the season, their second together.

Glasspool and Heliovaara advanced to ATP Tour finals on three different surfaces in 2022, reaching the championship match in Montpellier (hard), Dallas (hard), Queen’s Club (grass), Umag (clay), Metz (hard) and Stockholm (hard). The pair also enjoyed success at the Grand Slams, reaching the quarter-finals at Roland Garros and the US Open.

Glasspool and Heliovaara join Wesley Koolhof/Neal Skupski, Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury, Marcelo Arevalo/Jean-Julien Rojer, Nikola Mektic/Mate Pavic, Marcel/Granollers/Horacio Zeballos and Thanasi Kokkinakis/Nick Kyrgios in Turin. 

Editor's Note: This story was originally published on 15 January 2022.

Holger Rune has big dreams in tennis. The #NextGenATP Danish star has no problem saying he believes he can compete with everyone on the ATP Tour and that one day, he wants to be World No. 1.

According to Holger’s mother, Aneke Rune, he is not just saying that for the sake of it.

“As Holger says, a lot of guys say I want to be No. 1, but you can see they don’t mean it. He says you can see it in their eyes. For Holger it’s important as well [that] his coach and people involved really want it,” Aneke said. “He feels it immediately if it’s just fake. If some coaches tried to be interested when he was younger, he was like, ‘But he doesn’t mean it’.

“He’s very serious, and still now when he says he wants to improve and wants to do these things, this is what he really means. It’s not like [he is just saying] ‘I want to be a rockstar’. He wants it.”

Holger Rune advanced to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final on Friday at the Rolex Paris Masters after Carlos Alcaraz was forced to retire deep into the pair’s quarter-final clash.

After charging to the opening set, Rune held firm to force a tie-break as World No. 1 Alcaraz stepped up his level in the second. Having had treatment on an abdominal muscle at 6-5, however, Alcaraz was forced to retire with Rune leading 3/1 in the second-set tie-break at 6-3, 6-6 .

“I thought it was a great match. [It's] unlucky for him,” said Rune. “I think we both played very well and I was super focused. It was an amazing crowd, amazing tennis, so I’m super pleased with how I handled everything today.”

Prior to Alcaraz’s injury, Stockholm champion Rune had given another demonstration of the recent strides he has made with his game. He rode a fast start to claim the opening set in his first match against fellow 19-year-old Alcaraz since the Spaniard prevailed in straight sets at the 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals. When Alcaraz raised his level in a keenly fought second, Rune fended off two break points at 3-4 en route to the tie-break.

“Carlos is, if not the best, one of the best return players in the world,” said Rune. “Of course, he is No. 1, so he is obviously the best in the world right now, but I’m super happy with how I handled all the things under pressure and how I handled also my return game. I tried to play as aggressive as possible. Sometimes I missed a few shots but it was all worth it because at the end I was very good at important moments."

#NextGenATP youngster Roman Andres Burruchaga comes from a family that holds a piece of Argentine sports history.

Burruchaga’s father, Jorge, scored the game-winning goal in the 1986 World Cup Final, sealing an Argentina 3-2 victory over West Germany. 36 years later, fans still awe over the memorable moment.

“In Argentina, he’s a very famous person,” Roman said of his father. “They love him a lot because of that goal, I think the most important goal in the history of Argentina.”

After retiring from professional football, Jorge spent time as a coach and served as general manager of Argentina’s national team during the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

 

Felix Auger-Aliassime added another dominant win to his remarkable winning streak on the indoor hard courts of Europe on Friday at the Rolex Paris Masters, where he raced to a 6-1, 6-4 quarter-final win against Frances Tiafoe.

The eighth seed was clinical behind serve and sharp on return to down Tiafoe and seal his 16th consecutive tour-level win. He struck 26 winners to Tiafoe’s 14 and won 86 per cent (31/36) of points behind his first delivery to clinch a Tour-leading 27th indoor win in 2022.

“Of course a few times the luck was on my side, but I feel like also I played a great match,” said Auger-Aliassime after his win. “We’ve played a few times. In New York [in 2021] it was tight sets, we played in Barcelona this year also, two not easy sets. To come out and play the way I did in the first set, 6-1, it was great.

“Of course, I had match points at 5-3… [He] tried everything and tried many different ways to stay in the match. He did for one more game, but I’m happy that I was able to be clutch in those moments. Serving for the match and [I] stayed cool and played great points when I needed to.”

Auger-Aliassime cruised to the first set as Tiafoe, playing in just his second Masters 1000 quarter-final, struggled to find his best level. The Canadian found rhythm behind his heavy forehand and dropped just two points behind serve in the opening set, and he made it nine of the first 11 games won with an early break in the second.

One year ago, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune met in the group stage of the 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. Since then, both 19-year-olds have rocketed up the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Alcaraz rising to World No. 1 and Rune reaching a career high of No. 18.

The future has arrived, and fans at the Rolex Paris Masters will see it first-hand on Friday as Alcaraz and Rune square off for a second time in the quarter-finals. 

[ATP APP]

The unseeded Rune — a finalist in each of his past three events, including a run to his second career title in Stockholm — has had the more challenging path to the final eight. He edged Stan Wawrinka in a third-set tie-break in the first round before impressive straight-sets wins against 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz and seventh seed Andrey Rublev. The Dane has won 16 of his past 18 matches, including wins against Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Alcaraz has yet to drop a set in Paris as he's rounded into form with wins against Yoshihito Nishioka and Grigor Dimitrov. 

Three Nitto ATP Finals doubles contenders pushed their claims at the Rolex Paris Masters Thursday, but Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, who have already booked their spot in Turin, suffered an opening-round loss in Bercy.

Third seeds Arevalo and Rojer won the first set against Matthew Ebden and Jamie Murray but slipped to a 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 defeat as Murray rallied to claim his 500th career match win.

After saving two match points, seventh seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara, who are next in line to qualify for Turin, converted their fourth match point in a narrow 6-3, 6-7(5), 15-13 victory over Daniel Evans and John Peers. Glasspool and Heliovaara, who are sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, will face Ebden and Murray in the quarter-finals Friday.

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek, seventh in the Race, extended their winning streak to nine by ousting German pair Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 7-6(5). Dodig and Krajicek won their previous two tournaments in Naples and Basel.

The Croatian-American duo will next meet top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the quarter-finals, a rematch from the Roland Garros quarter-final encounter, which Dodig and Krajicek won en route to a runner-up finish.

Jamie Murray walked off Court 2 on Thursday happy to be in the quarter-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters with partner Matthew Ebden. What he did not know is that their triumph against third seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer marked his 500th tour-level win.

“It’s cool. I wasn’t aware of that at all, actually, that I was close to getting there. But it’s a cool thing, a nice milestone to have in your career,” Murray told ATPTour.com. “It doesn’t feel like I’ve been winning that much this year, so a nice way to finish the year and give a nice motivation for next season and try to get to 600 at some point.”

[ATP APP]

Murray became just the second active doubles player to reach the 500-wins mark, joining Brazilian Marcelo Melo (590-375). It is another big achievement for the Scot, who has climbed to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings and lifted 27 tour-level trophies.

“The thing with tennis is it’s so constant and you’re always thinking about the next event or the next match or the next practice. You’re kind of always looking to the future, you’re not always in the present or taking time to take stock of what you’ve done in your career,” Murray said. “I’ve obviously had a really good career to this point. Always want to do better and strive for more, but if you’d told me as a kid that I’d win 500 matches on the ATP Tour, I probably would have been like, ‘Yes please, I’ll take that!’ It’s motivating to go for more and try to keep working hard, try to get more success, be in the winners’ circle as often as you can.

After controlling the early action against home favourite Corentin Moutet on Thursday, Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a tense finish to advance the quarter-finals at the Rolex Paris Masters.

With his 6-3, 7-6(3) victory, Tsitsipas advances to his 14th quarter-final of the season and keeps alive his hopes of finishing the year atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He has moved up two places this week to No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, and could pass Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz with deep runs in both Paris and Turin.

"I'm happy because I knew I had to not just deal with a player today but also with the crowd," Tsitsipas said after battling Moutet and the French crowd. "It's not something that I really think about when I play, but it's kind of present and it's there. It worked out really well for me towards the end. I was very solid and consistent, knowing that I can really generate more opportunities from my serve.

"I was laser-focused on every single one of the points," he continiued. "I played some good shots deep and short, and it was a very good ending."

[ATP APP]

Novak Djokovic avenged his 2018 championship match defeat to Karen Khachanov in style on Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters, where the Serbian delivered a commanding performance for a 6-4, 6-1 third-round victory.

With the win, Djokovic extended his winning streak in tour-level matches to 11. It was also an 11th straight victory for the Serbian at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris, where he has not lost since he fell to Khachanov in the 2018 final.

Just an artist and his canvas ?@DjokerNole #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/i0pXbco6wY

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 3, 2022

The sixth-seeded Djokovic appeared in a confident mood after his opening win against Maxime Cressy but he was initially pegged back by Khachanov, who recovered an early 0-3 deficit to draw level in the opening set. The World No. 19 had little joy against the free-flowing Djokovic from that point on, however, as the Serbian converted four of eight break points and struck 17 winners to wrap an 87-minute win.

In quintessential Djokovic fashion, the Serbian’s defence proved decisive for nullifying Khachanov’s powerful groundstrokes. According to Tennis Data Innovation’s INSIGHTS Steal Scores for the match, the 90-time tour-level finalist found a way to win 50 per cent of points when he was defending, well above the ATP Tour average of 34 per cent.

Before walking on Court Central Monday evening to play Andy Murray at the Rolex Paris Masters, Gilles Simon felt the same pressure he had before each of his 895 previous tour-level matches.

“I feel the exact same stress that I had on every match, because it is the same logic, the same routine. You have a match to play, you have a tournament and you need to prepare, and this is the only thing I know in the end,” Simon told ATPTour.com. “That’s why it is easier for me to focus on this, because trying to be ready for a match is what I’ve done for 20 years.”

However similar the process was, Simon knew in the bigger picture, it was different. His retirement tournament this week at Bercy turned out to be a memorable farewell as he showed the world why he was one of the trickiest opponents of his generation.

The 14-time ATP Tour titlist put forth a courageous effort in Paris, rallying with the crowd’s support to oust the former World No. 1 Murray, whom he had only defeated twice from 18 previous attempts. His run did not stop there, as Simon upset BNP Paribas Open champion Taylor Fritz in the second round, ending the American’s hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals.

The Frenchman fell short Thursday against red-hot Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, but Simon had produced his final moment of magic.

When it comes to mastering the unique scoring format at next week’s Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, Dominic Stricker may be able to turn to his love of golf for help.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Stricker recently told ATPTour.com after being asked about the fast-paced first-to-four-games set structure used at the 21-and-under event. “Because you really have to forget what happened maybe five minutes ago. If you don’t forget it, you’ve already lost the next set.

“It’s maybe a bit like golf. If you play one hole really bad, you just have to accept it and go to the next hole because if you don’t, a lot could go wrong.”

As well as the time he has spent on the golf course, the 20-year-old lefty Stricker will hope that the experience of training with ATP Tour legend and countryman Roger Federer can benefit him in tough moments during his upcoming Milan campaign.

“It is lucky,” said Stricker’s coach, Sven Swinnen, who spent two years as Federer’s classmate and daily practice partner at the Swiss national federation when the pair were in their teens. "Roger invited Dominic to Dubai twice already to do some practice, some pre-season stuff, so that was really helpful. Roger knows us now pretty well and we got some really good tips from him.”

A lightning-fast start set the tone for Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters, where the World No. 1 won nine of the first 10 games en route to a 6-1, 6-3 third-round victory against Grigor Dimitrov.

Alcaraz was dialled-in from the start in his maiden ATP Head2Head meeting with the former World No. 3 Dimitrov. Striking the ball cleanly off both wings from the baseline and deploying his drop shot to good effect throughout, the Spaniard converted five of seven break points against the Bulgarian’s serve to wrap an impressive 72-minute win.

“I started playing pretty well,” said Alcaraz after the match. “[Grigor’s] level is very much not the level you saw today, but I played very well. At the end of the second set, it was tougher for me, he came back, he raised the level and obviously it was tough. He had the chance to go up in the second set, I had to stay calm in that moment and show my best to not allow him to go up.”

In a near-flawless opening, Alcaraz’s all-around game left the former World No. 3 Dimitrov with few chances to counter. The Spaniard dropped just two points behind serve in the first set as he picked up where he had left off in his straight-sets second-round win against Yoshihito Nishioka.

Dimitrov found his feet to reel off three straight games from 0-3 to draw level in the second set before carving out two break point opportunities for a 4-3 lead, but Alcaraz’s relentless consistency proved crucial. He held off the Bulgarian’s charge to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time in Paris, where he will take on seventh seed Andrey Rublev or Holger Rune.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos are the sixth team to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, which will be played from 13-20 November at the Pala Alpitour in Turin. The Spanish-Argentine tandem will make its third consecutive appearance at the season finale.

Granollers and Zeballos advanced to the semi-finals of the year-end championships in 2020 and 2021, falling to the eventual champions on each occasion.

It has been a consistent season for the Spaniard and Argentine, who lifted their seventh ATP Tour trophy as a team in Halle. It is the fourth consecutive year in which they have earned at least one crown at an ATP 500 event or above.

Granollers and Zeballos thrived at the Grand Slam championships this season, reaching the final at Wimbledon and the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

It is Granollers’ seventh appearance at the year-end championships. In 2012, he won the Nitto ATP Finals with Marc Lopez.

#NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti earned his first Top 5 win Thursday when he upset World No. 4 Casper Ruud 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals at the Rolex Paris Masters.

The 20-year-old played with confidence throughout the two-hour, 19-minute clash in the French capital, striking 37 winners as he pulled the Norwegian from corner to corner to reach his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.

"I am really happy," Musetti said. "I think we played a great match until the end. A lot of remarkable shots from his side. He was playing really well and I had to play my best tennis to beat him. I am really happy that all the hard work I am doing keeps improving me. I am really proud of this win."

[ATP APP]

Musetti, who entered the match holding a 0-6 record against Top 5 players, will next play sixth-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic or Karen Khachanov. He is making his second appearance in the French capital, having advanced to the second round last year.

The ATP and Italian Tennis Federation (FIT) on Thursday announced the new innovations and rules for the 2022 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, the 21-and-under season finale to be played from 8-12 November in Milan.

The event, created to spotlight tennis’ rising talents, continues to evolve. Several of this year's innovations and rule changes are designed to enhance the flow of the game, including a quicker shot clock and one sit-down per set, while other innovations include off-court coaching and in-game analytics for players and coaches.

Look for the following at the Allianz Cloud in Milan in 2022:

Quicker Shot Clock

The time in-between points will be shortened to 15 seconds (from the standard 25 seconds) if the server hits an ace, a double fault or if the returner misses the return through forced or unforced error.

One Sit-Down Per Set

Novak Djokovic has been the Prince Of Paris in recent years, winning 15 of his past 16 matches and taking the title in his past two appearances in 2019 and 2021. But on Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters the Serb runs into the only player he’s fallen to during that streak: Karen Khachanov.

The 38-time ATP Masters 1000 champion holds a 7-1 Head2Head advantage over his rival, but a straight-sets defeat in the 2018 final in Bercy, where Khachanov claimed his lone Masters 1000 trophy, surely still gives Djokovic some indigestion.

The record holder of 373 weeks as No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings is aiming for his fourth victory over Khachanov this season (Dubai, Belgrade, Astana). He is also chasing his fifth title of the year after triumphs at Rome, Wimbledon, Tel Aviv and Astana, the latter two coming in consecutive weeks. The indoor hard-court event in France presents a new challenge, even for the six-time champion.

“The conditions are different,” Djokovic said following his opening match against Maxime Cressy. “From last year, it’s quicker. The balls are fast and they go through the court. It makes it more challenging to break serve.”

Khachanov, World No. 19 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, will rely on his heavy first delivery and firepower from the baseline to try his hand at another upset in the French capital in the fourth match on Court Central.

Rafael Nadal struck a positive tone following his early exit at the Rolex Paris Masters, looking forward to his 11th appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, which begins 13 November. The Spaniard has always kept perspective after defeats, and that held true on Wednesday after a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 loss to Tommy Paul in what was Nadal's first match as a father.

"I'm excited about playing [in Turin], even if it hasn't been the perfect couple of months for me, of course," said Nadal, who will be seeking his first title at the ATP Tour's season finale. "But, yeah, nothing to lose. After a good year, going there, just trying my best."

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While Nadal has spent time on the practice court since the US Open and competed in doubles alongside Roger Federer at the Laver Cup, he has lacked the usual routine of life on the ATP Tour.

"At the end, I need days on the Tour," he said in a press conference. "It's true that for the last five months I didn't spend enough days on the Tour. I don't even say competing on a tennis court; I say on the Tour, practising with the guys. That's what I need. I am going to try — [if] nothing happens, if I am feeling OK — to be there [in Turn] a little bit earlier than usual and have some practices. 

Tommy Paul earned the biggest win of his career by defeating new dad Rafael Nadal on Wednesday at the Rolex Paris Masters. With his 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 victory, the American denied the World No. 2 a potential return to the top of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings — a title run for the Spaniard combined with a third-round exit for Carlos Alcaraz would have seen Nadal move past his countryman at the summit.

"It's probably my best win," Paul said post-match. "I was obviously pumped for the matchup because it's always interesting when you play one of the Big Three. I've only played him the second time, but the first time I was so nervous. It was weird, this time I wasn't really nervous. I was pretty relaxed going onto the court and the day before. I think that played a role. I came out playing pretty well. He got the first set, but I feel like I played pretty well from the jump."

After a late start to the Paris evening session, Paul trailed by a set and a break before an instant reply saw him break Nadal at love for 2-2 in the second. The American began to dictate from there, creating three further break chances with his aggressive baseline game before sealing the set in the tie-break.

"I thought when I was making my first serve, I was playing well," said Paul, who made 67 per cent of his first deliveries in the second set. "I had a lot of fun out there. It was probably the best I've played in the past three months. I know it's been a slow Europe swing for me, so I'm pumped to get that W."

.@TommyPaul1 played some very aggressive and effective tennis tonight, especially in the 3rd set ?#InAttack shows the percentage of shots played in attack #TennisInsights | @RolexPMasters | #RolexParisMasters https://t.co/sUjlNhMnKw pic.twitter.com/SevikAetf7