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Rafael Nadal leads the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, but Carlos Alcaraz can make a significant dent in his countryman’s advantage this week in Montreal.

The 19-year-old Spaniard enters the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers in second place in the Race as he tries to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. But with Nadal missing the year’s sixth ATP Masters 1000 event due to an abdominal injury, Alcaraz has an opportunity to close the gap on his countryman for the top spot.

If Alcaraz (4,270 points) claims his third Masters 1000 title of the season (also Miami, Madrid), he will claw to within 350 points of the 36-year-old (5,620). That would give Alcaraz an opportunity to pass Nadal in the Race in Cincinnati.

Fans can track the latest Race movements in real time this week following the launch of the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, which updates after each completed match. The Race is now available in the ATP/WTA Live App, which for the first time also features the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin Standings

Nick Kyrgios has owned the spotlight at the 2022 Citi Open, and the Washington singles champion finished the week in style by claiming the doubles title with partner Jack Sock on Sunday evening.

The Aussie brought the event to a fitting conclusion as he served out a 7-5, 6-4 victory against Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek, firing the pair's ninth ace of the contest on match point. With the victory, Kyrgios became the first player to sweep the singles and doubles titles in the 53-year history of the Citi Open.

"I'm really happy to take home both titles," Kyrgios, who improved to 4-0 in tour-level doubles finals, said during the trophy ceremony. "Hopefully I can keep this momentum going."

[ATP APP]

Kyrgios and Sock revelled in the evening atmosphere as they produced a series of show-stopping points to claim the title against this year's Lyon champions and Roland Garros finalists. The fan-favourite duo claimed a late break in the opening set when a Kyrgios passing shot caught the edge of the baseline, then struck early in the second set on a Sock return winner — both breaks coming on a deciding point.

From the lows of his struggles with mental health this time one year ago, Nick Kyrgios has once again risen to become a champion on the ATP Tour. The Aussie claimed a well-deserved reward for arguably the most consistent season of his career by winning the Citi Open title against Yoshihito Nishioka on Sunday.

Playing in the singles final for the second straight event after his breakthrough Wimbledon run, Kyrgios outclassed his Japanese opponent in a 6-4, 6-3 victory, claiming his first title since his 2019 Washington triumph. In an efficient display, Kyrgios converted on his first two break chances to take an instant lead in both sets and broke again on his third match point to secure his seventh tour-level title.

[ATP APP]

"It's just very emotional for me," he said in a post-match interview. "To see where I was at last year to now, it's just an incredible transformation. I just came out with great energy. I knew that I had experience on my side today. I love this court, I've played so many good matches here, so I'm just really happy with myself.

"I've been in some really dark places. Just to be able to turn it around... There are so many people who have helped me get there, but myself, I've shown some serious strength to just continue and persevere and get through all those times and be able to still perform and win tournaments like this one."

Carlos Alcaraz is ready to break more ground at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers as he looks to build on his whirlwind year in Montreal.

The second-seeded Spaniard, who was ranked outside the Top 50 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings last August, will be targeting a Tour-leading fifth title and third ATP Masters 1000 crown of a dream season on debut in Canada.

“I grew up so fast. To be the second seed at a Masters 1000 is amazing and I didn’t expect this at the beginning of the year. Honestly I still can’t believe it right now,” Alcaraz said during his pre-tournament press conference on Sunday. “It is something I wanted at the start of the year, when I was aiming to be at the top and be one of the favourites to win one of the most important tournaments.”

The 19-year-old, who will face Tommy Paul or Vasek Pospisil in his opening match in Quebec, has enjoyed a remarkable rise. Last month, he became the second-youngest player in the 21st century to crack the Top 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, with only countryman Rafael Nadal reaching the landmark faster.

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Daniil Medvedev claimed his first title of the season on Saturday when he defeated Cameron Norrie 7-5, 6-0 to win the Abierto de Tenis Mifel in Los Cabos.

The World No. 1 did not drop a set all week at the Mexican ATP 250 event to earn his 14th tour-level trophy. It is the 26-year-old’s first triumph since last year’s US Open.

“Every match was very good, but the final is always special,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “In the final you play the best player of this week, so it’s always a high-level match and I’m really happy that I managed to show some good level, some good shots in such an important match.”

Entering the match, Medvedev was on a five-final losing streak dating back to last year’s Rolex Paris Masters. But the top seed did not show any nerves, converting six of his 10 break points to storm to a one-hour, 23-minute win.

“It was not easy. Cam is an amazing player, so it was really intense,” Medvedev said. “When you play against Cam, you know that you have to fight for every point.”

Yoshihito Nishioka’s week to remember keeps getting better.

The Japanese lefty continued his impressive run in Washington on Saturday evening when he stunned top seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-4 to reach the Citi Open final. The 26-year-old will play 2019 champion Nick Kyrgios for the trophy.

"I love to play here, I have been here many times. But for tomorrow, everyone loves Nick as well. Hopefully still they... the crowd, [cheers for] me, but just [going to] enjoy the day tomorrow," Nishioka said in his on-court interview. "[It is my] first time [in a] final in a 500, so [I will] just [try to] play my best and [I am] excited."

Entering the week, Nishioka had not won a tour-level match since Miami in March. But in July, he won five of his seven matches on the ATP Challenger Tour and carried that momentum into the United States’ capital, where he is now one victory from the biggest trophy of his career.

Nishioka has lost all three of his previous ATP Head2Head matches against Kyrgios. Their most recent clash came in the Round of 16 three years ago, a meeting the Australian won 6-2, 7-5 en route to the title.

William Blumberg and Miomir Kecmanovic will never forget their team debut on the ATP Tour.

The American-Serbian pair defeated fourth seeds Raven Klaasen and Marcelo Melo 6-0, 6-1 on Saturday to win Abierto de Tenis Mifel title in Los Cabos.

"I'm happy to do it with Miomir," Blumberg said. "We've been friends for a really long time. I've known him since 14, 15, we were juniors. It's nice to link up again."

Blumberg has been Klaasen and Melo’s kryptonite in recent weeks. The former University of North Carolina star teamed with Steve Johnson to defeat the veterans 6-4, 7-5 in the Newport final in July.

[ATP APP]

Three years after one of the best tournaments of his career, Nick Kyrgios is back in the Citi Open final.

The 2019 Washington champion battled past Mikael Ymer 7-6(4), 6-3 on Saturday to reach the championship match of the ATP 500 for the second time. He will play top seed Andrey Rublev or Japanese lefty Yoshihito Nishioka for the title.

On Friday, the Australian won two matches and saved five match points in the second of those clashes, in the quarter-finals against Frances Tiafoe. Kyrgios did not have his back up against the wall again, but he did have to work hard to oust Ymer.

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The Swede, who ousted former World No. 1 Andy Murray in the first round, used his speed and defensive skills to great effect throughout the week and did so against on Saturday, finding small openings with sublime backhand passing shots. 

The world’s best return to ATP Masters 1000 action this week as the ATP Tour visits Montreal for the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.

World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev leads the field in Quebec, where he is seeking to defend the crown he won in Toronto in 2021. Carlos Alcaraz chases his third Masters 1000 title of the season and is the second seed on his Canadian Masters 1000 debut, while Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov will look to channel the support of their home fans. 

ATPTour.com looks ahead at 10 things to watch in Montreal.

View Schedule | View Singles Draw | View Doubles Draw 

1) Medvedev Seeking More Canadian Success: Medvedev captured the title when the Canadian ATP Masters 1000 event was played in Toronto last season. With the action set to take place in Montreal this week, the 26-year-old will look to maintain his strong hard court record and clinch his 13th title on the surface. The top seed, who advanced to his first Masters 1000 championship match in Montreal in 2019, could face Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios in a blockbuster second-round clash if the Australian overcomes Sebastian Baez in the first round.

Alexander Zverev announced on Saturday the launch of the Alexander Zverev Foundation, which will support children with diabetes and provide medication for those in developing countries with the condition.

“Today, the Alexander Zverev Foundation has officially come to life, supporting children with type 1 diabetes and helping people prevent type 2 diabetes by living a healthy and active life,” Zverev wrote in his announcement. “Our mission is to provide insulin and life-saving medicine to children in developing countries and those in need."

As part of his announcement, the German revealed he is diabetic.

“As a type 1 diabetic myself, I want to encourage children with diabetes to never give up on their dreams no matter what others might say to you,” Zverev added.

The stars of the ATP Tour are used to competing on the tennis court, but not in the way they did on Saturday at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.

Casper Ruud, Hubert Hurkacz, Tommy Paul, Alex Molcan, Emil Ruusuvuori, Harri Heliovaara and Andreas Mies took on National Hockey League players, including Calgary Flames star Jonathan Huberdeau, in the annual game of ball hockey contested at the Canadian ATP Masters 1000 event.

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It was no surprise that the professional hockey players — Huberdeau, Zachary L’Heureux, Marc-Edouard Classic, Jonathan Drouin and Olympic gold medalist in women’s hockey, Melodie Daoust — dominated the action. But there was fun for all involved, especially the tennis players who are hockey fans, like Ruusuvuori.

“I love both. I used to play quite a bit [of hockey] with my friends when I was younger. I love the sport. I still follow and I have a lot of friends playing, also in the NHL. I love both sports and it was really fun today to play with these guys,” Ruusuvuori said. “It was really cool.”

Cameron Norrie seems to be relishing the role of defending champion.

The Briton moved within one victory of retaining his crown at the Abierto de Tenis Mifel in Los Cabos late on Friday, when he hung tough to secure a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 semi-final victory against second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime at the ATP 250 event in Mexico.

“Especially winning last year, you want to come out and win the title, but [I’ve just] taken it one match at a time,” said Norrie after clinching his first win over the Canadian in five attempts. “It was a tough task at the beginning of the tournament and I got through a couple of matches.

“ [Against] Felix today it was looking really tough, so I was really pleased with how I handled that today, especially after losing that second set.”

The World No. 12 will now seek his third ATP Tour title of 2022 in a championship match clash with Daniil Medvedev, after the World No. 1 was a 7-6(0), 6-1 winner against Miomir Kecmanovic.

Two of the ATP Tour's great entertainers did what they do best on Friday night in the Citi Open quarter-finals. Nick Kyrgios and Frances Tiafoe put on a late-night show in one of the matches of the ATP Tour season, not taking their final bows until just before 1 a.m. local time.

Kyrgios saved five match points in a high-octane second-set tie-break before dominating the final set in a 6-7(5), 7-6(12), 6-2 victory, earning the right to remain in the spotlight as he drew the curtains on local favourite Tiafoe's run.

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Neither man led the crucial second tie-break by more than one point until Kyrgios won the last three to send the match to a decider. The drama of the tie-break — and the match — was matched by its quality, with both competitors putting their shotmaking skills on full display throughout.

The highlight-filled contest included tweeners, drop shots, outrageous gets and unbelievable winners along with dominant serving from both sides of the net.

Daniil Medvedev guaranteed his stay atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings until at least the end of the US Open by reaching the final at the Abierto de Tenis Mifel on Saturday night in Los Cabos.

In his second stint as World No. 1, Medvedev advanced to his fourth final of the season with a 7-6(0), 6-1 win against fourth seed Miomir Kecmanovic. He will face Felix Auger-Aliassime or Cameron Norrie in Saturday's final as he seeks his first title of 2022. 

"Very tough match," Medvedev said in his on-court interview. "He started great and all the first set was a great level. So many tough points, so many points where I felt like I was close to getting the edge. The tie-break was great."

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Kecmanovic came out firing and held a 4-1 lead after saving the first break point against him. The Serbian was fully comfortable in his third semi-final of the year, and he showed it with an array of drop shots, including a three-shot combo in which he casually hit a drop shot, a volley lob and a drop volley to frustrate his opponent.

If you’re a ballkid in need, you best hope you’re working a Shang Juncheng match.

Fans at the Lexington ATP Challenger Tour event this week witnessed a wonderful act of sportsmanship by the world No. 344 Chinese player. The 17-year-old and American Stefan Dostanic were locked in a three-set battle in scorching temperatures in the American state of Kentucky when Shang noticed a ballkid, Atharva Dang, in distress.

What an act of sportsmanship ?

In Lexington, ?? Juncheng Shang noticed a ball kid was not feeling well & was there to help him get some rest

? Sound Up ?#ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/UPxgdw5OoX

After asking Atharva if he was okay, Shang exclaimed, “He’s going to faint!” Immediately, Shang set his racquet down and assisted the overheated boy, lifting him into his arms and rushing him behind the umpire’s chair and out of the direct sunlight. After setting him down in the shade, Shang gave a bottle of water to Atharva and placed an ice-pack behind his head.

“I turned around to ask for the ball. When the ballkid gave me the ball, he looked like he was unable to stand,” Shang said. “I asked him, ‘How are you?’ and he said, ‘I don’t feel good.’ He staggered over and I felt like he was going to faint right away. I just did everything I could do with my gut feeling,” the teenager recalled.

The National Bank Open Presented by Rogers singles draw was released on Friday, with a potential second-round showdown between World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev and Nick Kyrgios among the surprises.

Kyrgios holds a 2-1 edge in the pair's ATP Head2Head, though Medvedev was victorious in their Australian Open meeting earlier this year. The Aussie will need to get past Sebastian Baez to set up a rematch, with Medvedev earning a bye as the Montreal top seed. Eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz is a potential quarter-final opponent for either man, while Casper Ruud and Felix Auger-Aliassime headline the second quarter.

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Carlos Alcaraz, seeking his third ATP Masters 1000 title, occupies the draw's bottom line as the second seed. He could meet fifth seed Andrey Rublev for the first time in the quarter-finals. The 19-year-old is making his Montreal debut after claiming his first two Masters 1000s trophies in Miami and Madrid this year.

"At the moment everything is going well," he said at the draw ceremony. "I like the weather. I like the court. At the moment I'm feeling great.

Top seed Andrey Rublev completed part one of a two-step mission to reach the Citi Open semi-finals Friday, defeating American Maxime Cressy 6-4, 7-6(8) in early play.

The match was originally scheduled for Thursday, but was postponed due to heavy rain, forcing Rublev to play and win two matches Friday if he is to reach the last four in Washington, D.C.

In warm and humid conditions, the World No. 8 got off to a hot start against serve-and-volleyer Cressy, who forced the 24-year-old to consistently come up with high-quality passing shots. “To be honest it’s super tough to manage this type of style because you have to be focused 100%; you never know what to expect,” the 2018 D.C. semi-finalist said.

Rublev was dominant in the first set, breaking in the third game and winning all 14 of his first serve points.

The turning point in the second set came with Cressy serving at 5/3 in the tie-break. The 6’6” former UCLA star dashed to the net following a blistering serve and had a routine put-away smash on top of the net to set up three set points. Cressy fired the smash directly at Rublev, who despite standing just inside the baseline, reflexed back another easy overhead, which Cressy hit wide.

Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from next week’s National Bank Open Presented by Rogers in Montreal due to an ongoing abdominal issue.

The Spaniard aggravated the injury during his quarter-final clash against Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon on July 6. Despite battling through the pain to a remarkable five-set victory against the American, Nadal was later forced to withdraw from his semi-final clash against Nick Kyrgios. Nadal requires more time to recover from the problem, prompting his withdrawal from the hard-court ATP Masters 1000 event in Canada.

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“I have been practising for a while now without serving and started with serves four days ago,” said Nadal in a statement via Tennis Canada. “Everything has been going well. However yesterday, after my normal practice, I felt a slight bother on my abdominal and today it was still there.

“After speaking with my doctor, we prefer to take things in a conservative way and give a few more days before starting to compete. I would like to thank Eugene, the Tournament Director, and all his team for understanding and supporting me and this decision.

Miomir Kecmanovic earned a pair of quarter-final victories on Thursday at the Abierto de Tenis Mifel, following up his singles triumph with a doubles victory alonside American William Blumberg.

Blumberg and Kecmanovic battled back from a set down to defeat Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan 1-6, 7-5, 10-4. The American-Serbian pairing also won a Match Tie-break in their opening-round win against Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow.

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A former North Carolina Tar Heel, Blumberg is seeking his second tour-level title in as many months after he teamed with Steve Johnson to win the Newport title in July. He also won the Newport title with Jack Sock in 2021 to claim his first tour-level trophy.

Kecmanovic is one win away from his first tour-level doubles final. The singles World No. 38 is also gearing up to face World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in the Los Cabos singles semi-finals on Friday. He and Blumberg will face Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in Friday's doubles semi-finals.

Felix Auger-Aliassime lost just one point on first serve Thursday night at the Abierto de Tenis Mifel as he fought off a stern challenge from Steve Johnson to reach the semi-finals in Los Cabos. In his 6-4, 7-6(3) victory, the Canadian was all but flawless on his first delivery, winning 33 of 34 points — a stellar 97 per cent.

"That's a pretty good stat," he said with a smile in his on-court interview. "I didn't know it was that good. I knew it was good, definitely better than yesterday.

"I know my serve can be a really good weapon for me, a really strong one. Today I showed it, not facing a break point. That stat, I don't know if I've done that before."

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After starting the match with an immediate break, the second seed dropped just two points on serve in the opening set. While he threatened with seven break points in the second set, Johnson held firm to force a tie-break, saving one of those break chances with a drop volley that was equal parts devilish and daring.