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With a semi-final spot on the line at the Nitto ATP Finals Thursday, it was Taylor Fritz who rose to the occasion in Turin.

In a winner-takes-all blockbuster at the Pala Alpitour, the American clawed past Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-2 to reach the semi-finals on debut at the prestigious year-end event.

Both entered the match holding a 1-1 record in Green Group, aiming to join Casper Ruud in the last four. In front of an electric crowd, Fritz effectively executed his aggressive game as he handled the pressure in the crucial moments. He fired 32 winners and outlasted Auger-Aliassime during the heavy-hitting exchanges in the third set, gaining the crucial break at 3-2 in the decider to advance after two hours and 44 minutes.

“I needed to serve well the whole time, I knew that,” Fritz said. “It was frustrating throughout the match when so many points I was one away from break point. So many times at 15/30, 0/30 when I was returning, I got myself in the points and kept losing the points. I just tried to stay patient and not get frustrated and then I capitalised when I got the chances.”

The eighth seed was strong on serve throughout the clash, finding his spots to dominate behind his delivery in the fast indoor conditions. The World No. 9 gave Auger-Aliassime few chances on return. He won 88 per cent (50/57) of his first-service points and saved all three break points he faced, roaring in delight when he sealed victory on his first match point.

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury overcame a high-energy performance from Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer on Thursday at the Nitto ATP Finals, where the seconds seeds rallied to a 3-6, 7-6(4), 10-5 victory to reach the semi-finals.

Arevalo and Rojer made a fast start at the Pala Alpitour, where they needed a straight-sets victory to pip Ram and Salisbury to a semi-final spot. They clinched the only break of serve in the match in the fourth game to take the opening set but could not match Ram and Salisbury’s consistency in the second-set tie-break as the eight-time tour-level titlists levelled the match and simultaneously confirmed their progression to the semi-finals.

“It was pretty tense,” Ram said. “It is not often that you are in those kind of situations where you just need to win a set to advance. I think we did a really good job handling it and got better as the match went on.”

With victory in the Red Group encounter still at stake in the Match Tie-break, it was Ram and Salisbury who took charge as they opened what proved to be an unassailable 6/1 lead in rapid time, eventually securing victory in one hour, 42 minutes.

“There was a lot of pressure,” Salisbury said. “In some ways it is almost better that you know you have to win the match. Then you just go out and win. I thought they played really well. We lost the first set. But we knew we had to get back at it. We weren’t playing our best tennis, but we fought hard and we are happy with how we managed to get through it.”

The mascot kid programme presented by Nitto was launched in 2017. On Monday, it led to another unforgettable moment.

When Andrey Rublev walked on court, he took the hand of Nicole De Angelis and shared a nice word with her on the way to his chair.

“We do this often in tennis when we play on centre court. Often some kid is going with us. Obviously I don’t think that tennis players are thinking about these moments so much,” Rublev said. “But I think for the kids it can be a special moment if they are in love with tennis and they walk with one of their favourite players that they follow. For sure it’s an important moment and special.”

The mascot kid programme has been developed by Nitto in partnership with Casa UGI, a Turin-based volunteer organisation that supports children who are battling cancer and their families, doctors, nurses and volunteers. The children participating have either struggled with an illness or have a family member who is battling one.

Although players are focused on their match, they understand the importance of creating a special moment for the kids. Rublev is keen to maximise those opportunities.

Rafael Nadal finished his Nitto ATP Finals campaign with a flourish on Thursday, when the Spaniard downed Casper Ruud 7-5, 7-5 at the prestigious season finale in Turin.

The top seed raised his level in his third round-robin match in Green Group, using the fast conditions to his advantage with some trademark clean ballstriking at the Pala Alpitour. Nadal hit 37 winners to Ruud’s 19 and won 93 per cent (38/41) of points behind his first serve to seal a one-hour, 43-minute victory and round out his 2022 season on a winning note.

“I have been practising well,” a philosophical Nadal said after claiming his first tour-level singles win since September at the US Open. “Just probably not enough matches to be at the level that I needed to be. Not enough confidence, probably, after six tough months. That’s how it is. I accept that the season didn’t end the way that I wanted, [but] at least I finished with a positive victory.

“It’s important, the last official match of the season, so I am happy for that. At the end I am happy about that… I was able to win against a great player.”

The win means Nadal finishes with a 1-2 record at this year’s season finale. The 36-year-old, who this year lifted four tour-level titles including major crowns at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, ends 2022 with a 39-8 tour-level record.

After a standout first year together on the ATP Tour, Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski’s 2022 achievements were recognised on Thursday when they were crowned ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by Pepperstone in a special ceremony at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

The Dutch-British team was presented the year-end No. 1 doubles trophy by ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi on court at the Pala Alpitour, where Koolhof and Skupski are competing as the top seeds at the prestigious season finale.

“It’s incredible,” said Skupski. “We only came together in January. One of our goals was just to make the Nitto ATP Finals. We’ve come in and won seven titles this year and come in as the No. 1 seeds. So this is a dream come true, to end the year No. 1.”

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Koolhof and Skupski currently hold a 55-18 record for the season, which has been headlined by ATP Masters 1000 titles in Madrid, Montreal and Paris. The pair also lifted ATP 250 trophies in Melbourne, Adelaide, Doha and ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara booked their spot in the semi-finals at the Nitto ATP Finals Thursday when they moved past Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-0, 6-4 in Turin.

The sixth seeds produced a ruthless performance from the first to last point to light up the Pala Alpitour. They crushed returns, demonstrated good touch around the net and held their nerves at key moments, saving all five break points they faced to triumph after 59 minutes.

“It feels very, very, very good,” Heliovaara said when asked about qualifying for the semi-finals. “You saw the celebrations at the end. We played an amazing match. I don’t think we could have played any better in the first set and then we kept going. What a dream.”

“It just shows how much hard work we have put in,” Glasspool said. “It is really nice to have it pay off as it doesn’t always pay off. it is amazing to be able to play our best stuff on the biggest stage.”

The British-Finnish pair finishes the round-robin stage holding a 2-1 record. Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will face Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer in the final Red Group doubles match on Thursday evening.

The ATP has announced the largest single-year increase in player compensation in its history. The $37.5 million increase takes total compensation at ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events to $217.9 million for the 2023 season, an all-time record.

Players will receive an increase of $18.6 million of on-site prize money paid out across the ATP Tour, led by the expansion of three ATP Masters 1000 tournaments from eight to 12-day events. A further two ATP Masters 1000 events are set to expand in 2025, creating more days of action and playing opportunities at top-tier ATP events.

The record increase also includes a significant uplift on the ATP Challenger Tour, which will see on-site prize money grow by 75 per cent, from $12.1 million to $21.1 million. It follows the announcement of sweeping Challenger Tour enhancements earlier this season designed to strengthen the sport’s pathway and player earning potential.

In addition, a revised bonus pool structure introduced through OneVision, ATP’s strategic plan, is set to deliver bonus pools of $21.3 million in 2023, a $9.8 million increase on 2022 (+85%), to an expanded group of top-performing players.

Increases will be bolstered by ATP’s newly established profit-sharing formula, also introduced through OneVision in 2022, under which players will share in the financial upside of the ATP Masters 1000 events. Any increases in Grand Slam prize money, which would further add to the player compensation figures, are yet to be announced for 2023.

The Green Group qualification scenarios have become crystal clear entering Thursday at the Nitto ATP Finals. With Casper Ruud already through to the Turin semis, one more place is available for either Felix Auger-Aliassime or Taylor Fritz. The two Turin debutants will square off on Day 5 in what essentially amounts to a quarter-final: win and advance at the other's expense.

Ruud will look to improve to 3-0 in round-robin play when he takes on Rafael Nadal, who has already been eliminated from semi-final contention — though the Spaniard still has a generous helping of potential prize money and Pepperstone ATP Rankings points to play for.

In the doubles competition, returning finalists Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury look to complete their own 3-0 run against semi-final hopefuls Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, while Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos seek their first win of the week against the 1-1 team of Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.

View Schedule | View Group Standings | View Qualification Scenarios

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Having first visited Italy as a kid, Felix Auger-Aliassime has a host of fond memories from time spent in the southern European nation.

Some of those have come on court — he lifted the first of three back-to-back ATP Tour titles in Florence in October — but the 22 year old’s most treasured experience in the country is something a little less recent.

“There are recent ones of course,” the Canadian told ATPTour.com at the season finale in Turin. “Winning in Florence, that was a great recent memory, but I think overall in my life, just the first time that I came. I was about 12 years old, coming to play tennis everywhere around Italy from Canada.

“It was just crazy. There were just so many good memories of being here with the other guys who played with me, friends that I was travelling with. We would play tournaments every night and have a gelato every night, and it was good times. You’re 11 or 12 years old and you’re just playing tennis and travelling in Italy. It’s special, so those are good memories.”

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In one of the matches of the season, Stefanos Tsitsipas stepped up and delivered Wednesday when he clawed past Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-7(11), 7-6(1) to boost his semi-final hopes in Turin.

In the 11th chapter of their longstanding ATP Head2Head rivalry, it was Tsitsipas who prevailed in a thrilling topsy-turvy clash that swayed one way and then the other at the Pala Alpitour.

The Greek squandered three match points in the second set, before he regained his focus, rallying from 3-5 in the third set to eventually triumph after two hours and 21 minutes, improving to 4-7 in his ATP Head2Head series against Medvedev.

“It was very tiring out there,” said Tsitsipas. “I’m so glad I overcame this and I was able to enjoy it with the crowd. It’s a great win and I’m extremely proud of the way I thought. It never seemed to kind of be ending for me. Even on the last game when he was serving, I still felt if I was able to put a few balls in, some opportunity might present [itself], and it did.

“It was great to get back into the match, I felt reborn, and what a great way to end it.”

Carlos Alcaraz received a raucous reception Wednesday evening at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, where he received the ATP No. 1 Trophy presented by Pepperstone. The 19-year-old is the youngest player in history to earn the award.

"It means a lot to me," Alcaraz said. "To get this trophy, the World No. 1, to be part of tennis history along with a lot of legends, for me [it] is an amazing feeling."

The Spaniard was set to make his Nitto ATP Finals debut this week, but was forced to withdraw due to an internal oblique muscle tear in his left abdominal wall. He was still happy to take in the atmosphere of the season finale in Turin.

“I'm a little bit disappointed to not be able to play here in the Nitto [ATP] Finals. I really wanted to play here,” Alcaraz said. “These kind of things can happen in tennis life. But… at the same time I'm really grateful to lift this amazing trophy. It's an amazing achievement. All the hard work pays off. For me it's incredible to lift this trophy today."

Alcaraz is fully focussed on rehabbing to be in top form for the start of the 2023 season. The year-end World No. 1 gave a positive update on his status Wednesday.

Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios pulled off a stunning Match Tie-break comeback against Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek on Wednesday to keep their Nitto ATP Finals semi-final hopes alive.

After a slow start in the Green Group clash, the eighth seeds fed off the energy of an increasingly raucous Pala Alpitour crowd as they rallied from 1/5 in the Match Tie-break to clinch a 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 win at the prestigious season finale.

“I was thinking to myself, 'If we lose today, we [would be] out of the whole event, so I am going to go out and there and do what I can do',” Kyrgios said. “We are the pair that is able to do that pretty much every time we play, so why don’t we use that to our advantage. The crowd was amazing and they got us over the line.”

As they built momentum towards the end of the 81-minute encounter, Kokkinakis and Kyrgios revelled in the noise provided by the fans inside the Pala Alpitour. The pair won nine of the final 10 points to cap a stunning win in which they saved four of five break points.

After Dodig and Krajicek broke Kyrgios’ serve in the second game of the match, the Croatian-American pair were clinical in sealing the first set. It was a double fault from Krajicek at 4-5, 40/30 that proved pivotal in the second, as Kyrgios fired a classy forehand pass on the subsequent deuce deciding point to force what proved to be a thrilling Match Tie-break.

Which tennis players entertained you or caught your eye during the 2022 ATP Tour season? Show your support by casting your vote in the Fans' Favourite Awards!

Select your favourite singles player and doubles team from the dropdowns below, submit your vote and stay tuned over the coming weeks as we celebrate players and tournaments in the 2022 ATP Awards.

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Voting for the 2022 Fans' Favourite Awards closes at 11:59pm GMT on Friday, 2 December.

If you have already cast your vote, you have the option to change your selection through the dropdown menu during the voting period, but your last submission will be the only one recorded. 

It has been a family affair for Novak Djokovic this week at the Nitto ATP Finals, where his wife Jelena and children Stefan and Tara are supporting the Serbian in Turin.

With a semi-final spot on the line at the prestigious year-end event on Wednesday, the Serbian put on a show for his son and daughter, who cheered their father to victory against Andrey Rublev.

“I think it is probably the first match that both my daughter and son, and of course my wife, have watched the entire match from the first to the last minute," Djokovic said. "We played for just over an hour. It is so great to have them. For me, that is one of the biggest motivational factors that I have right now competing at the highest level. Having them courtside, watching and celebrating, hopefully with me.”

Djokovic’s son Stefan grabbed the spotlight earlier this year at Wimbledon when he showed off his skills on the practice court alongside his dad and coach Goran Ivanisevic. The former World No. 1 revealed that Stefan has loved the opportunity to spend time on Tour again this week in Turin.

“My son is playing tennis, he's eight years old now and he's aware of what is happening, who is who,” Djokovic said. "He just loves going around, getting signatures, playing some tennis, assisting Goran with the ball picking, then coaching on the warmup sessions and training sessions when I'm on the court.

Novak Djokovic stepped up his quest for a record-equalling sixth Nitto ATP Finals crown Wednesday when he defeated Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-1 to reach the semi-finals in Turin.

The Serbian, who overcame Stefanos Tsitsipas in his opening Red Group match, soaked up Rublev’s powerful forehand during the first set, demonstrating great agility to hang in points in the quick indoor conditions to frustrate the sixth seed.

The former World No. 1 also fired his watertight backhand with great depth to dictate baseline exchanges, committing just six unforced errors to seal his 43rd victory of the season in 68 minutes.

“I played very, very well. One of the best matches of the year without a doubt,” Djokovic said. “He is a tough opponent. A great competitor. He possesses a lot of strengths in his game. I managed to find the right attitude and the right game.

“In the 10th game of the first set, I think he was 40/30 and we played a long rally and I just stayed in there and told myself chances will come. He went down in his energy a little in the second [set] and I wanted to use the momentum and energy from my side in the first few games and it was a flawless second set.”

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic earned a statement win Wednesday at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, where the Croatian duo defeated top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 6-4, 7-6(3) to reach the semi-finals at the prestigious season finale for the second consecutive year.

There was one former Nitto ATP Finals champion on either side of the net in Wednesday’s clash. Koolhof and Mektic lifted the trophy together in London in 2020, but it was the 14-time tour-level title-winning team of Mektic and Pavic who marginally retained the upper hand throughout a high-quality 93-minute encounter.

Mektic and Pavic made a fast start at the Pala Alpitour, where they clinched the sole break of the first set in the opening game. The fourth seeds were both strong behind serve, with Pavic’s swinging lefty delivery proving particularly effective as the pair fired 10 aces and saved three of three break points. They clinched a crucial mini-break on the opening point of the second-set tie-break that proved enough to secure the win and move to 2-0 in Green Group.

Fourth seeds Mektic and Pavic arrived in Turin seeking to become ATP Tour champions for the sixth time this year. The duo won its fourth ATP Masters 1000 crown in May at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where it also defeated Koolhof and Skupski in the quarter-finals on the Rome clay. The pair then lifted trophies in Geneva, at The Queen’s Club in London, in Eastbourne and in Astana.

Dutchman Koolhof and Briton Skupski will next take on Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in their final Green Group match on Friday as they seek to join Mektic and Pavic in the semi-finals.

After Rafael Nadal became the first man to be eliminated from semi-final contention at the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals, Wednesday's action will see Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev playing to avoid the same fate.

An evening defeat for either man would deal a major dent in his hopes to progress out of the Red Group, while the winner of the afternoon matchup between Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev could have his place in the knockout rounds confirmed by day's end.

In doubles action, top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski meet Croatians Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic in a battle of 1-0 teams, while Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios face Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek as both pairs seek their first win of the week.

View Schedule | View Group Standings | Semi-final Qualification Scenarios

[2] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs. [4] Daniil Medvedev

The 11th meeting in the longstanding ATP Head2Head rivalry between Tsitsipas and Medvedev will play out at the Pala Alpitour as the pair meets at the Nitto ATP Finals for a second time. After Medvedev won the first five meetings, Tsitsipas has claimed three of the past five to improve to 3-7 in their history. The Greek scored his first win in the series at the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals and went on to win the London title in his tournament debut.

After every match on the ATP Tour there is discussion around keys to the action. Jean-Julien Rojer added a new one to that list Tuesday at the Nitto ATP Finals: a haircut.

“I wanted to get a haircut that I usually don’t wear and a little bit more aggressive of a cut. Maybe it helps me be more aggressive on the court,” Rojer told ATPTour.com. “But the funny part is yesterday when I went to fix my hair, my barber here, Gianmarco, [told] me if I wanted to play well, I should touch my hair when I walk out to the court or in important moments.

“If you watch the match back, I’m just touching the hair the whole match. But nothing behind the haircut, just a little bit of fun and a different haircut than what I normally would have.”

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It worked for the Dutchman, who with the power of a fresh mohawk partnered El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo on Tuesday to a 6-1, 6-7(3), 10-7 win against Spaniard Marcel Granollers and Argentine Horacio Zeballos.