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Trivia question: who is the youngest player in the Top 100 of the current Pepperstone ATP Rankings?

If you guessed Frenchman Luca Van Assche, you’d be correct. The 18-year-old, who is one of four ATP Challenger Tour champions this week, triumphed at the Sanremo Tennis Cup to capture his third Challenger title.

After dropping the opening set in his first-round match against Ryan Peniston, the Frenchman didn’t look back. Van Assche didn’t drop a set the rest of the week and downed Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas 6-1, 6-3 in the final to lift his second Challenger trophy of the season (Pau).

“I’m very happy, it’s been a crazy four weeks for me,” Van Assche said. “Tough first match, but I managed to find solutions and my level was very high the rest of the week.”

The first quarter of 2023 saw a dazzling start to the ATP Challenger Tour season. Tennis fanatics witnessed the premiere of the Challenger 175 category and saw memorable moments such as Max Purcell’s Indian hat-trick, Nuno Borges’ biggest career title, and the surge of several young stars.

Purcell, who’s tallied a season-leading 25 Challenger-match wins, boasts an early lead for most Challenger titles this year after the Australian won three consecutive crowns in India.

The Sydney native left for the Indian Challenger swing with two things in mind: winning matches and spending less time on his cell phone.

“I made the choice to stop with distractions off court,” Purcell told ATPTour.com. “Especially through India, I wanted to be off my phone as much as I could. I wanted to make sure I was getting as much quiet time as I could and just make sure going into my matches that I didn’t bring anything else on the court.

ATP and LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (LONGi) have today announced a strategic global partnership, making LONGi the ATP Tour’s Official Solar Energy and Hydrogen Partner.

Founded in 2000, LONGi is committed to becoming the world's leading solar energy technology company, as well as an advocate, practitioner, and leader in the sustainable development of the global clean energy industry through technical innovation. The partnership will help accelerate ATP’s sustainability drive under ATP Serves, in line with its commitment to UN Sports for Climate Action, and was brokered with the support of Juss Sports.

In parallel, LONGi will partner with ATP events during the 2023-2024 season, covering Asia, Europe and the Americas. This includes the ABN AMRO Open, Movistar Chile Open, Miami Open presented by Itau, Mutua Madrid Open, Terra Wortmann Open (Halle), Laver Cup, Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships, Rolex Shanghai Masters and Nitto ATP Finals,

During a signing ceremony in Shanghai today, LONGi announced the launch of its global energy creation initiative, ‘Plan-GET’, standing for Green, Energy and Tours. This initiative advocates a new concept of sustainability for green sports and explores new ways for the sustainable development of zero-carbon sports and events. Plan-GET aspires to have an impact on the world and create a stronger voice in pursuit of a green and low-carbon future.

Massimo Calvelli, ATP CEO, said: “We're proud to welcome LONGi as our Solar Energy and Hydrogen Partner. Climate Change is having an impact on our sport – from hotter temperatures to extreme weather. Addressing this is our most important challenge. LONGi shares our commitment to sustainable development and our collaboration will support transition to a Net Zero future, under ATP Serves.”

A host of world-class players begins each tournament on the ATP Tour, but there can be only one champion.

Across the first three months of 2023, 14 different players lifted a tour-level singles trophy, with some paying multiple visits to the winners’ circle. Daniil Medvedev led the way with four titles won, while Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz are already two-time titlists for the season.

After three months of emotional, historic, and groundbreaking triumphs, ATPTour.com reflects on some of the champions from the first quarter of 2023 and the early qualification contenders for the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

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Daniil Medvedev: Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai, Miami
Medvedev racked up a remarkable 24-1 record across five hard-court tournaments in February, March and April as he bounced back from a disappointing Australian swing in style. The 27-year-old defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime, Grigor Dimitrov and Sinner en route to an indoor ATP 500 triumph at Rotterdam's ABN AMRO Open before heading to the Middle East, where he became the champion at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha (d. Murray) and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (d. Rublev).

Daniil Medvedev earned his fifth ATP Masters 1000 trophy when he defeated Jannik Sinner on Sunday for the Miami Open presented by Itau title. It was the best moment yet of a torrid stretch for the 27-year-old, who also claimed crowns in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai and reached the final at Indian Wells.

Less than two months ago, Medvedev was No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, his lowest point since July 2019. Now he is back to World No. 4 with an opportunity to surge higher during the clay-court season.

After Medvedev’s Miami triumph, ATPTour.com caught up with his coach, Gilles Cervara, who revealed when everything turned around, why opponents struggle so much against the former World No. 1 and more.

Last year was tough for Daniil. The start of this year was tough. When did everything click and turn around?
For me, it turned around just before Rotterdam. I remember as a coach the three days in Rotterdam before the first round on court were very, very tough. I felt after the Australian Open, during two weeks of practising, but then a few days before the first round in Rotterdam, I felt Daniil quite nervous, quite not confident.

But I felt also he could play good tennis. My job at that time was to find the way to talk to him in a good way to find the good button inside himself to make him practise well and to win the sets during practices. That’s what happened.

Nobody on the planet loves backhand-to-backhand rallies more than Daniil Medvedev.

Medvedev defeated Jannik Sinner 7-5, 6-3 in the Miami Open presented by Itau final on Sunday on the back of dominating backhand exchanges through the Ad court.

The secret sauce of Medvedev’s flat, “knuckle-ball” backhands is that they are almost impossible to do anything with. They come at you flat and low, skidding through the court. They are not fast enough that you can use the raw power back against him or slow enough to step in and dominate. They live in a maddening “middle world” that bamboozle opponents into self-destruction.

Backhand Groundstroke Performance

Medvedev

Daniil Medvedev is a former World No. 1, a Grand Slam champion and now a five-time ATP Masters 1000 titlist. For all his accolades, he may never have had a better stretch than the one he is currently on. His maiden trophy triumph at the Miami Open presented by Itau improved his 2023 record to 29-3 and earned him his fourth trophy in his past five events.

"It's the best start of the season I have ever had. Amazing amount of points won," said Medvedev, who now enjoys a 600 point lead over Novak Djokovic in the calendar-year Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

"I think 2019 was great also with six finals and it was also new for me in 2019. So I think it's kind of the same," he also said. 

Medvedev won four titles in his breakout 2019 season and matched that tally in 2021. Just over three months into 2023, he has already equalled that mark with his 7-5, 6-3 victory against Jannik Sinner on Sunday, with plenty of time to add to it.

The 27-year-old was particularly happy that his recent run has come at events across the world, with all different hard-court conditions: He won titles in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami and reached the final in Indian Wells.

Defeated but not dejected, Jannik Sinner was keen to focus on the bigger picture following his straight-sets loss against Daniil Medvedev in the Miami Open presented by Itau title match on Sunday.

The Italian advanced to the semi-finals at the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the season in Indian Wells and backed up that run by reaching his third final of the year in Miami. He leaves South Florida holding a 9-2 record across the ‘Sunshine Double’.

“It's always going to be a tough, tough challenge for me to play against [Medvedev]. But I feel like I'm getting closer and closer,” Sinner said. “Even today I felt like that the chances are there, so that's the good thing and the positive thing.

“The good thing is that after Indian Wells compared to here I have improved. I felt better on court. That's the most important,” Sinner later added.

Sinner is up two spots to No. 9 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings following a series of impressive results in South Florida. The 21-year-old defeated Top 10 star Andrey Rublev in the fourth round before he overcame top seed Carlos Alcaraz in an epic three-set semi-final battle.

Playing in his fifth ATP Tour final is a many tournaments, Daniil Medvedev continued his blistering form to claim his first title at the Miami Open presented by Itau. With a 7-5, 6-3 victory against Jannik Sinner, Medvedev improved to 24-1 in his past five events, which have reaped four titles.

After falling to Carlos Alcaraz two weeks ago in the Indian Wells final, the fourth seed was rock-solid against Sinner as he frustrated the Italian with his calculated baseline game. Medvedev is now 6-0 in his ATP Head2Head against Sinner, also having beaten the Italian in the Rotterdam final in February.

"I'm really happy. Today was a tough match. It was probably the hottest day and the most humid during the day," Medvedev said after winning his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title and 19th career tour-level crown. "It was not easy conditions. I don't know if Jannik had a small injury or cramp. I was also struggling, tried not to show it.

"I haven't won't such a big title in probably a year and a half," he added, not having tasted Masters 1000 glory since he won Toronto in 2021. "At the end I was quite shaky. Not even tight, because I'm not scared to win. But still the hands get a little shaky so the serve is a little bit tougher... I managed to get myself together and close the match."

Medvedev has now won five of the six hard-court ATP Masters 1000s and reached the final in the other (Indian Wells). The 27-year-old has also contested the final at both hard-court Grand Slams, winning the 2021 US Open. His success on the surface has also extended to the Nitto ATP Finals, where he won the 2020 title.

Daniil Medvedev will return to World No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday following his title at the Miami Open presented by Itau. It continues a big surge for the 27-year-old, who was outside the Top 10 as recently as the week of 13 February.

But after winning titles in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami in addition to reaching the final in Indian Wells, the former World No. 1 is in position to make a charge for the top of the sport during the clay-court season.

In 2022, Medvedev underwent a procedure to fix a small hernia following Miami. That kept him out for most of the clay season, during which he only earned 180 points (all at Roland Garros). That means Medvedev, despite his past comments about the surface, has a lot to gain on clay.

Medvedev trails World No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas by just 620 points in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. However, the Greek is defending 2,230 points during the clay-court season, 2,050 more than Medvedev.

Heading into the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, which begins on 9 April, Medvedev will have a chance to challenge for World No. 3. Tsitsipas will be defending 1,000 points while Medvedev has no points to defend because he did not compete in the tournament last year because of his injury.

Feliciano López announced early this season that it will be his last on the ATP Tour. David Ferrer was keen to do something special as a parting gift. He surprised Lopez at his home in Madrid with an invitation to the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. 

The director of the ATP 500 event, which takes place on clay from 17-23 April, made the trip to the player’s house to tell him the news in person. “He was the last person I was expecting to see,” admitted López when he opened the door. “I wasn’t expecting this visit.

Ferrer explained: “This is a wild card for you to come and play on centre court.”

The news means that the event has now publicly announced its first invitation, which has gone to a player who played his first professional match in Barcelona at the age of 16. Now 41, López will say his goodbyes having competed there 22 times with a 21-21 record, and reached the quarter-finals in 2011 and 2012. 

“I’m very grateful to everyone that forms part of the tournament organisation and, of course, to David Ferrer for giving me this opportunity once again,” Lopez said. “David is a very special person in the world of tennis, there are few players who are more loved and respected than he is.

After the hard-court action of the ‘Sunshine Double’, the ATP Tour returns to clay this week as Estoril, Houston and Marrakech host a trio of ATP 250 events from 3-9 April.

Casper Ruud is the top seed at the Millennium Estoril Open, where the Norwegian is looking to kick-start his season with a deep run in Portugal. Home favourites Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul lead the field at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship, while Lorenzo Musetti headlines the draw at the only ATP Tour event on the African continent, the Grand Prix Hassan II.

ATPTour.com looks ahead at five things to watch at each event.

View Draws: Estoril | Houston | Marrakech

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Sometimes it seems like Jannik Sinner is playing a video game when he steps on the tennis court. The 21-year-old defies convention with his levels of power and precision.

Most players cannot hit the ball as hard as the San Candido native, nor can they come close. But when they do, they might land one shot and hit the next ball 10 feet past the baseline or into the bottom of the net. Sinner, an easygoing former junior skier from northern Italy, whips the ball with such calm that it is as if he is playing ping-pong on a tennis court.

Some people call playing so aggressively 'redlining'. For Sinner, it is just another day at the office. He is a ball-striking machine.

There are players with more finesse who make better use of spins and angles. As far as pure gripping and ripping goes, few, if any, do it better than Sinner.

The 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion has plenty of flair, too. Take the magical point he played when serving at 4-2, 0/15 in the Miami Open presented by Itau semi-finals against World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard has quickly become a human highlight reel, with fans sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for him to produce a magical moment. It appeared he would do it again Friday evening inside Hard Rock Stadium.

Both Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin have enjoyed long and distinguished careers on the ATP Tour, but that didn’t make their triumph on Saturday at the Miami Open presented by Itau any less special.

The Mexican-French duo defeated Austin Krajicek and Nicolas Mahut 7-6(4), 7-5 to claim the trophy at the hard-court ATP Masters 1000 event in Florida. It was a second title at that level for 39-year-old Roger-Vasselin and a first for 40-year-old Gonzalez, who was the first Mexican finalist in tournament history.

“It was my dream, of course,” said Gonzalez. “Lifting this kind of title, a Masters 1000. I’m 40 years old, I didn’t have one, this is my first. I’m glad [it’s] today. Today is my son’s birthday, so I’m going to remember this day for the rest of my life and I’m very happy.”

One of the most prestigious titles in tennis ??@gonzalezsanty ? @ERogerVasselin clinch doubles glory 7-6(4), 7-5 over Mahut/Krajicek@MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/mn9EuRDTDq

Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin produced a clinical performance inside Hard Rock Stadium to seal a one-hour, 44-minute victory. They converted both break point chances they earned, including their only one of the second set which doubled up as a championship point.

After Jannik Sinner came from behind to stun Carlos Alcaraz in the Miami Open presented by Itau semi-finals, ending the Spaniard's 10-match winning run and his reign as World No. 1, the Italian will now bid to end a more personal streak against Daniil Medvedev in Sunday's title match.

Watch from 1 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CET.

Medvedev, who saw his own 19-match winning streak snapped by Alcaraz two weeks ago in the Indian Wells final, enters the Miami showpiece with a 5-0 ATP Head2Head record against Sinner. Their most recent meeting came in February in the Rotterdam final, when Medvedev dominated the final two sets of a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 victory to claim the first of what would be three consecutive titles. 

Now into his fifth consecutive ATP Tour final, Medvedev will aim to stay perfect against Sinner with his sixth straight win against the Italian. His red-hot run across the past two months has lifted him to the top of the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, inserting him into the conversation for year-end No. 1.

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Tennis strings striking a fuzzy yellow ball is not the only impact that Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela is making.

The World No. 65 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings played a key role in charity activities held at this week’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Mexico City, where players in the Challenger 125 field visited terminally-ill children and spent time with paralympic athletes.

Reyes-Varela’s girlfriend, Maricela Paulin, works as director of the non-profit organisation Fundacion Concamin. Paulin and ‘Micky’ teamed with businesses and the Mexico City Open to bring their idea to fruition.

“Through Maricela, I was invited to a paralympic race in November,” Reyes-Varela said. “Some of the athletes were blind, in wheelchairs, or had other disabilities. It really moved me. From there, I was like, ‘Let’s connect this to tennis.’ Maricela was the main person to get it done, I was just trying to connect the tournament and players.”

Despite leaving south Florida without defending his title and falling from World No. 1, Carlos Alcaraz is looking forward to an extended rivalry with Jannik Sinner after they put on another thrilling match in Friday’s semi-final at the 2023 Miami Open presented by Itau.

Alcaraz, who won this month’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, was gunning to be the first player to win the ‘Sunshine Double’ since Roger Federer in 2017. Despite winning the opening set, Alcaraz saw Sinner rally to a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 victory against the 19-year-old, who suffered from cramps early in the third set of the high-quality three-hour, one minute contest.

Instead of focussing on the loss, the Spaniard was already looking forward soon after the match, talking of claiming the Indian Wells-Miami double in the future, and to an era in which he and Sinner push each other to higher and higher levels of excellence.

“I had [an] opportunity to get the Sunshine Double, but I think I’m going to have more years to try to get it,” Alcaraz said in his post-match press conference. “But all I can think about is to improve my level to beat Jannik.”

Still early in their careers, Alcaraz and Sinner have displayed several epic battles, including at the 2022 US Open, where the Spaniard won a five-set quarter-final before claiming his maiden Grand Slam title later that week. On Friday, Sinner levelled their ATP Head2Head at three a piece.

Jannik Sinner not only upset World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in their Miami Open presented by Itau semi-final Friday evening. The Italian also conquered the Spaniard in an exchange that is a genuine contender for point of the year.

The 25-shot rally featured blistering groundstrokes, side-to-side movement, a drop shot from Alcaraz and ultimately an incredible curling backhand passing shot from Sinner to win the point that was too far out of the reach of the diving top seed.

The crowd ooh-ed and ahh-ed throughout the point, but the fans inside Hard Rock Stadium erupted once Sinner hit his passing shot and motioned to the crowd to make more noise.

“It was [an] unbelievable point. When I lost that point, the first thing that came to my mind is like, ‘He's unbeatable, this guy’,” Alcaraz said. “We played a great game, I think [we were] both [at a] great level. I broke his serve that game, if I remember well. But of course against Jannik [there are] always great points like this one.”

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Novak Djokovic will return to World No. 1 Monday following Jannik Sinner’s defeat of Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals of the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Alcaraz dethroned Djokovic less than two weeks ago when the Spaniard defeated Daniil Medvedev to capture his third ATP Masters 1000 title at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. But the 19-year-old was defending 1000 points in Miami following his 2022 triumph in south Florida and needed to successfully defend the title to stay in top spot.

Djokovic, who will begin his 381st week atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday, is scheduled to return to the ATP Tour at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, which begins 9 April.

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Sinner is up to No. 9 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and will move to a career-high No. 6 on Monday should he defeat Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s championship match at Hard Rock Stadium.

Jannik Sinner roared back in his budding rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz with a statement semi-final win on Friday night at the Miami Open presented by Itau. The Italian's 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 victory will end Alcaraz's reign atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, with Novak Djokovic set to take over as World No. 1 on Monday.

Despite leading early in all three sets, Sinner was on the brink of defeat as he stared down two break points at 3-4 in the second. But the 21-year-old won 19 of 21 points to snatch the set and open up a 2-0 lead in the deciding set, with Alcaraz struggling physically at the start of set three. The Spaniard regrouped to bring up a break point at 3-2, but Sinner fought it off and powered through the finish after three hours of show-stopping tennis of the highest quality.

By levelling their ATP Head2Head series at 3-3, Sinner snapped Alcaraz's 10-match and 21-set winning streaks, denying the Spaniard's bid to achieve the Sunshine Double by following his Indian Wells trophy with a successful Miami title defence.

Sinner will face Daniil Medvedev in Sunday's final, when the Italian will play for his first ATP Masters 1000 title. It is Sinner's second final at the prestigious level, following his 2021 run in Miami, when he lost to Hubert Hurkacz in the title round.

More to follow...