Maximo Gonzalez and Andre Goransson had not played with or against each other before this week, but that has not bothered the unseeded team. The Argentine-Swedish duo reached the Millennium Estoril Open final on Saturday.

Gonzalez and Goransson defeated fourth seeds Raven Klaasen and Ben McLachlan 2-6, 7-6(7), 10-6 in the semi-finals. It was the second time they needed to battle through a Match Tie-break this week.

In the final, home favourites will be waiting. Portuguese wild cards Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral continued their dream run with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against top seeds Jamie Murray and Michael Venus.

Borges and Cabral are certainly confident, having won eight ATP Challenger Tour titles together in the past 12 months. Neither had played an ATP Tour doubles match before this week.

Krawietz/Mies Maintain Hot Streak In Munich
Two-time Roland Garros champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies continues their hot streak on Saturday when they defeated Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 7-5, 6-3 to reach the final of the BMW Open by American Express.

The Germans have won seven consecutive matches dating back to the start of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, an ATP 500 event they won last week. Krawietz and Mies will play Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez for the Munich crown.

Frances Tiafoe produced one of the comebacks of the 2022 season so far at the Millennium Estoril Open on Saturday night, saving three match points on his way to a dramatic victory against Sebastian Korda.

The fifth seed trailed 4-6, 2-5 in the semi-final at the ATP 250 event before rallying for a 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 win to the delight of an enthralled crowd in Portugal. Tiafoe now has the chance to banish the memories of his straight-sets defeat to Joao Sousa in the 2018 championship match when he takes on Sebastian Baez in Sunday’s final.

The Tiafoe-Baez final clash will be the culmination of an intriguing story that has played out this week in Portugal. Throughout the tournament, Baez has written “Why not me?” on the television camera’s lens after his wins. The positivity has worked ⁠— the Argentine surged past defending champion Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-0 on Saturday to leave him just one victory from claiming his first ATP Tour title.

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So where did Baez’s motto come from? The Argentine and his coach, Sebastian Gutierrez, had seen Tiafoe wearing a bracelet with ‘Why not me?’ written on it and liked it so much that the 21-year-old started writing it on screen as part of his post-match routine.

“He told me that in the locker room a couple of days ago,” said Tiafoe when asked about Baez’s inspiration. “I’ve been wearing it so long, I didn’t even know what he was talking about.

“After he won today, I said ‘Why not me?’ to him again. It’s cool. Any kind of inspiration, that stuff matters, it goes a long way. I think belief in yourself is the biggest thing. It doesn’t matter if everyone else around you doesn’t believe in you. If you don’t believe in yourself, it’s tough to go far in life.

“Obviously that kid has a lot of belief in himself, but I hope he doesn’t believe too much tomorrow!”

Tiafoe made the early running in his match against eighth-seeded Korda, opening up a 3-1 lead, but Korda broke twice to recover 2-4 and take the opening set and then surged to a 5-2 lead in the second as he stayed solid behind his groundstrokes to soak up his opponent’s aggressive play.

Tiafoe has been wearing a second bracelet with the inscription ‘Prove them wrong’ in Portugal, and the World No. 29 channelled that mantra to come soaring back into the match as his explosive groundstrokes began to find the lines. The 2018 finalist saved three match points on the way to forcing a second-set tie-break, one at 2-5 and two at 4-5. With momentum behind him, Tiafoe took the tie-break 7/2 to the delight of the Saturday night crowd.

Even after establishing a 4-1 lead in the deciding set, closing out the match proved difficult for Tiafoe as Korda overcame his mid-match lapse to level at 4-4. There was time for one final twist, however, as Tiafoe broke to love in the 10th game to extend his lead in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series to 3-0.

“I knew it was going to be really tough, Sebastian has been killing everybody this week,” said Tiafoe. “I knew he was going to be fresh and have a lot of legs. I came out pretty good, but I went on a bad streak serving. This crowd definitely kept me in it, for sure.”

Sunday’s clash with Baez will be the first tour-level final of 2022 for Tiafoe, who lifted his sole ATP Tour trophy at Delray Beach in 2018.

Like in Tiafoe’s win over Korda, there was match point drama for Baez in his semi-final too. The Argentine was relieved to recover from missing two match point chances in the second-set tie-break to clinch the win.

”I just tried to continue the game [after the second-set tie-break],” said Baez. “Maybe he played a little bit better, but I knew if I continued the level, it was so close. I made two big mistakes in the tie-break, and I paid [for them]. In the third set Ramos was more tired than me, so I tried to [use] that.

“The first match point, he served well. The second, I had one easy ball so [that’s something] to take and do better tomorrow, because it’s a final. It’s always difficult, so I have to do it like today, but better.”

Baez has needed three sets in three of his four matches this week at the Portuguese ATP 250, but has looked strong when it has mattered most. Baez won a jaw-dropping 75 per cent of his return points against Spanish veteran Ramos-Vinolas in the deciding set to triumph after two hours and 35 minutes.

The Argentine, who is at a career-high No. 59 in the ATP Rankings, held match point at 6/5 and 7/6 in the second-set tie-break. On his first chance, he missed a return. On his second, this time serving, he ripped an aggressive inside-out forehand wide.

But that misstep did not come back to haunt Baez. Although Ramos-Vinolas forced a decider, he was unable to maintain his level in the third set. Baez also defeated Ramos-Vinolas in this year’s Santiago semi-finals before losing to Pedro Martinez in the final.

Reporting contributed by Marcos Zugasti.

Rafael Nadal has now earned 1,048 tour-level wins, the fourth-best haul in the Open Era. But while his quest to grow his legacy and surpass the 1,068 victories of third-placed Ivan Lendl continues, we take a look back at how it all began. Today is the 20th anniversary of Nadal’s first match win on Tour.

It was 29 April 2002 on a clay court in Mallorca. Bartolome Salva-Vidal, better-known as Tomeu Salva, remembers it like it was yesterday, because he was Nadal’s doubles partner at the event and witnessed his friend’s win over Paraguayan Ramon Delgado, then No. 81 in the ATP Rankings.

“When I saw him playing on court, I thought ‘Rafa is superior’. And I wasn’t surprised to see him win,” Salva said in a conversation with ATPTour.com.

Despite losing his own singles match on the adjoining court, Tomeu was as happy to see his friend’s score as if it were his own. “I was delighted. And even though Rafa was my age and had never played these kinds of opponents because at the time his calendar was completely different, he was really superior in that match,” added Salva, who reached No. 288 in the world before becoming a coach.

Both Salva and Nadal received wild cards to play in the singles and doubles at that event. It was the first time for both of them playing tennis at that level, and they enjoyed it together from start to finish.

“Our memory of it is being so excited when they told us the news that we could play in an ATP tournament, and at home, on the island of Mallorca,” Salva said. “But as the competition drew closer, that excitement turned into pressure.”

That tension was evident when Nadal, then World No. 762, started losing his match against Delgado 0-2. The comeback and victory was generally met with astonishment. A local boy had just become the second-youngest player to win an ATP Tour match in the Open Era (after Richard Gasquet at Monte Carlo in 2002). Why was Salva one of the few people who were not surprised? Not just because of the superiority he saw in Nadal on court, but also because he had known him since they were seven years old, when Nadal beat him 6-0, 6-0 in the second round of a junior tournament in Mallorca.

After that, the pair grew up together. They were friends, occasional doubles partners and even played like one another. In fact, they are both left-handed and there are just five months between them. At the time, Salva knew of Nadal’s potential, which is why seeing him win the first main-draw match he played on the ATP Tour only confirmed that his own predictions for Nadal’s future were true.

“At the end of the day, Rafa is a genius, and geniuses never fail to surprise,” Salva said.

That Monday at the Nova Sport Club, the same day on which the national press announced that Sergi Bruguera was retiring, Spanish tennis had a new hope. The generational changing of the guard seemed to be complete with Nadal’s 6-4, 6-4 win over Delgado in one hour and 23 minutes, during which he converted five of the seven break points he earned.

“The difference between Rafa and the rest at that time was already clear,” said Salva, who is currently a coach at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar and a mentor of Jaume Munar and Casper Ruud. “In terms of tennis, he was already ahead of the rest of the players. The most striking difference was his mentality. He was already so competitive, a winner, so mature on court. He had very clear ideas at such a young age, when it’s so difficult to be clear about your future. Physique was also a difference. But mostly it was the mental side.”

Then came defeat in the second round to World No. 70 Olivier Rochus, and also in the first round of the doubles with Salva (l. to Adams/Aspelin). But the seeds were already sown. “I think we competed very well. The experience gave us a taste of the Tour, and we actually felt very comfortable playing in that tournament,” Salva said.

Twenty years have passed since their first tournament on the ATP Tour. Many things have changed since then. The courts where the event was held now form part of the Vilas Tennis Academy.

Ramon Delgado has been a business administrator for some time and Tomeu Salvà is one of the most renowned coaches on Tour. One thing that hasn’t changed is Rafael Nadal’s ambition; at 35 years of age and having spent 20 of them on the ATP Tour, he continues to aspire to earn the biggest titles in our sport.

Did You Know?
Rafael Nadal and Tomeu Salva reached two doubles finals together: in Chennai (l. to Malisse/Norman) and Barcelona (l. to Pavel/Waske) in the 2007 season.

The clay-court season rolls into the Caja Magica, where the world’s biggest stars will compete for an ATP Masters 1000 title at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Five-time titlist Rafael Nadal leads the way as he pursues a record-tying 37th Masters 1000 crown, while World No. 1 Novak Djokovic tops the draw. All eyes will also be on the rapidly rising Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz, who will try to make a deep run in front of his home fans.

ATPTour.com looks at 10 things to watch in Madrid.

VIEW DRAWS: SINGLES | DOUBLES

1) Rafa Returns: Nadal will chase his sixth title this week in Madrid, where he owns a 54-13 record. The lefty has not competed since Indian Wells due to a stress fracture in one of his ribs, so he will be keen to make a quick start to his clay-court season.

Before the injury, Nadal was the hottest player on the ATP Tour. The Spaniard has won 20 of his 21 matches this year, including a run to his record 21st major trophy at the Australian Open. Nadal’s most recent title at the Caja Magica came in 2017, and last year he reached the quarter-finals. He could face a stern test in his opener against in-form Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic or Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik.

2) Novak Rounding Into Form: Djokovic made a slow start to his clay-court season with an opening loss in Monte Carlo. However, the Serbian rounded into form on home soil at the Serbia Open in Belgrade, where he won three three-setters before falling in a deciding set in the final against Andrey Rublev.

The three-time Madrid titlist will try to carry that level to the Caja Magica, where he will begin his run against Frenchman Gael Monfils or wild card Carlos Gimeno Valero. If Djokovic faces Monfils, he will take a 17-0 lead in their ATP Head2Head series into that matchup.

3) Alcaraz Rising: Nobody has created more hype this season than Alcaraz, who last Monday cracked the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the first time at World No. 9. The 18-year-old — who turns 19 on 5 May — has received plenty of attention, including a recent appearance on famous Spanish talkshow El Hormiguero.

But the teen, who claimed his maiden Masters 1000 title in Miami, will be focussed on the task at hand, which is making a deep run in front of his home fans. Alcaraz will play Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili or Italian Fabio Fognini in the second round, with a blockbuster showdown potentially looming against Nadal in the quarter-finals if they both advance that far. The #NextGenATP star made his debut at the Caja Magica last year, when he defeated Frenchman Adrian Mannarino before losing to Nadal in straight sets.

4) Tsitsipas Flying High: Stefanos Tsitsipas will bring plenty of confidence to the season’s second clay-court Masters 1000 event after lifting the trophy at the first in Monte Carlo. The Greek star has also played well in Madrid before, having made the final in 2019 with three-set wins against Alexander Zverev and Nadal before losing to Djokovic. The 23-year-old will have to be sharp from his first match, which will come against one of two former Top 10 players in Karen Khachanov or Lucas Pouille.

5) Zverev Two-Time Champ: Zverev is a two-time champion at the Mutua Madrid Open, where his booming serve and comfort at the back of the court have combined for good results in the past. The German earned three consecutive Top 10 victories en route to the title last year, including a straight-sets triumph against Nadal in the quarter-finals. This edition he is the second seed and will begin his tournament against 2017 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters finalist Albert Ramos-Vinolas or former World No. 3 Marin Cilic.

6) Murray-Thiem Blockbuster: When the draw came out, one first-round match in particular stood out: a tantalising encounter between former World No. 1 Andy Murray and former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem. This will be the pair’s fifth ATP Head2Head clash, with each man winning two of their previous meetings.

Murray is a two-time Mutua Madrid Open champion, triumphing in 2008 (on hard) and 2015 (on clay). He last competed at the Caja Magica in 2017 and had planned to skip the clay-court season this year before taking a wild card into the event. Thiem made the Madrid final in 2017 and 2018, and is continuing his comeback from a wrist injury that kept him out for eight months.

7) Spaniards To Watch: All eyes will be on Nadal and Alcaraz, but there are other Spaniards to watch in Madrid. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina advanced to his first Masters 1000 final, while Pablo Carreno Busta and 2014 semi-finalist Roberto Bautista Agut are seeded 16th and 17th, respectively. Ramos-Vinolas, a four-time ATP Tour titlist, is always dangerous on clay and could play Zverev in the second round.

8) Dangerous On Clay: While they might not be at the very top of the favourites’ list in Madrid, Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev, the fifth and sixth seeds, respectively, are dangerous players on clay. Ruud made the semi-finals at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals on a hard court, but he made his ascent off the back of impressive clay-court play. The Norwegian has claimed six of his seven ATP Tour titles on the surface, including a victory earlier this year in Buenos Aires. Ruud opens against Croatian Borna Coric or a qualifier.

Unlike Ruud, Rublev is known for his hard-court play with his booming groundstrokes, especially his forehand. But his game has translated well to clay, on which he has earned three titles, including one last week in Belgrade, where he upset Djokovic in the final. The second seed, who is making his second appearance in Madrid, will face Italian Lorenzo Sonego or British wild card Jack Draper in the second round.

9) Granollers/Zeballos Defending Champions: Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos are the defending champions in Madrid, but they will have to battle through a tough field if they are to retain their crown. The top seeds are Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, the recent Monte Carlo winners who have lifted two Masters 1000 trophies and two major crowns together.

10) Top 10 Singles Stars Playing Doubles: The singles stars are plentiful in the doubles draw, with five of the Top 10 players in the ATP Rankings competing. Alcaraz is playing with Marc Lopez, Tsitsipas with his brother Petros Tsitsipas, Zverev alongside Marcelo Melo, Rublev is partnering Karen Khachanov and Felix Auger-Aliassime is competing with 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov.

All eyes will be on #NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz when he takes to court with countryman Marc Lopez on home soil on Day 1 of the Mutua Madrid Open.

The 18-year-old captured his maiden ATP Masters 1000 crown in Miami and cracked the Top 10 in the ATP Rankings on Monday following his title run in Barcelona. Alcaraz will be aiming to break more singles records at the clay-court event this week, but before that, he will turn his attention to doubles action in the Spanish capital Sunday.

Alcaraz and Lopez have accepted a wild card into the event and will face Lukasz Kubot and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in their opening match on Manolo Santana Stadium in front of an excitable home crowd.

Alcaraz, who is third in the ATP Race To Turin, will be teaming with Lopez for the first time, with his only previous doubles experience on the ATP Tour coming with Pablo Carreno Busta at events in Barcelona, Indian Wells and Rio de Janeiro.

View Schedule | View Singles Draw | View Doubles Draw

Alongside the doubles action, #NextGenATP Briton Jack Draper will make his Madrid debut in the singles draw against Lorenzo Sonego after receiving a wild card from the tournament. The 20-year-old has enjoyed a standout start to the season, clinching four ATP Challenger Tour titles and also earning his first Masters 1000 victory in Miami.

The World No. 124 will be meeting Sonego for the first time, with the Italian looking to recapture his best clay-court form having won a title on the surface in Cagliari in 2021. The World No. 27 is also playing in the Spanish capital for the first time.

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In a busy day for Brits, Daniel Evans will take a 1-0 ATP Head2Head series lead into his match against Argentine Federico Delbonis on Stadium 3. The 31-year-old, who lost to eventual champion Alexander Zverev in the third round in Madrid last year, upset World No. 1 Novak Djokovic on the red dirt in Monte Carlo in 2021. Delbonis’ best result this season was a run to the semi-finals on clay in Buenos Aires in February.

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John Isner and Filip Krajinovic will round out the singles action, with the pair meeting on Manolo Santana Stadium. Isner and Serb Krajinovic are tied at 1-1 in their ATP Head2Head series, with the American winning their only clay-court meeting at Roland Garros in 2021.

Isner has reached the quarter-finals in his past three appearances in Madrid. Meanwhile, Krajinovic lost in the first round on debut last season.

Botic van de Zandschulp recovered from a disappointing opening set to defeat Miomir Kecmanovic and clinch a spot in his maiden ATP Tour final at the BMW Open by American Express in Munich on Saturday.

The eighth seed was impressive in dealing with damp conditions and a consistently high level from his in-form opponent as he clinched a 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 semi-final victory to reach the championship match on debut at the ATP 250 event.

“I’m pretty tired,” said van de Zandschulp after prevailing in a two-hour, 52-minute encounter. “It was a long match, tough conditions, the court was so heavy, so I’m happy I made it through. It didn’t look like [I would] after the first set, so I’m really happy with the win.”

Although van de Zandschulp struggled at times for consistency, the Dutchman was delighted with how he had coped with the wet conditions that meant the centre court at the Iphitos Tennis Club played differently to during his quarter-final win over second seed Casper Ruud.

“I had to adjust a little bit,” said van de Zandschulp. “It was slower than yesterday, a lot heavier than yesterday, and he did better than me in the first. Second set I started to play better, smarter, and I’m happy I won 6-4 in the third.”

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Kecmanovic started with all the confidence of a player who has won 22 tour-level matches in 2022. He broke van de Zandschulp three times on his way to the first set, as the Dutchman struggled to replicate the level that earned him a third Top 10 win over World No. 7 Ruud on Friday.

Van de Zandschulp found his feet but still needed a second-set tie-break to level the match despite twice having broken to forge ahead. The momentum appeared to be with the World No. 40, who broke early in the decider to carve out a 3-1 lead. Despite being immediately broken back again by a stubborn Kecmanovic, it was van de Zandschulp who secured another decisive break in the tenth game of the set, converting his second match point after Kecmanovic pushed a volley wide.

The win brings van de Zandschulp level at 1-1 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series, with Kecmanovic having triumphed in the previous meeting between the two at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in March. Awaiting the Dutchman in Sunday’s final will be home favourite Oscar Otte or #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune.

Reigning Mutua Madrid Open champions Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos may have to overcome a host of top singles stars if they are to triumph once again at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid.

In the bottom half of the draw, the second seeds will face wild cards Pablo Carreno Busta and Pedro Martinez or Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov in their opening match and are on a collision course to meet Rotterdam champ Felix Auger-Aliassime and Monte Carlo semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov in the third round.

The Canadian-Bulgarian team opens against Diego Schwartzman and Maximo Gonzalez and might have to overcome fifth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the second round. The Colombians begin against Raven Klaasen and Ben McLachlan.

View Doubles Draw

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury arrive in Madrid high in confidence after clinching their second Masters 1000 crown as a team in Monte Carlo. The top seeds will meet Germans Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies or Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer in their first match.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut are seeded to face Ram and Salisbury in the semi-finals, with the Frenchmen aiming to win their eighth Masters 1000 title together.

#NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz will team with countryman Marc Lopez, while World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas will join forces with brother Petros Tsitsipas. Alcaraz and Lopez start against Lukasz Kubot and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, with the Greeks facing eighth seeds Jamie Murray and Michael Venus.

Third seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic reached the final in Madrid last season. The Croatians are in the bottom half and will play Andrey Golubev and Santiago Gonzalez or Simone Bolelli and Ivan Dodig in their opening match.

Hubert Hurkacz and John Isner will also provide a threat having dropped just one set en route to the title in Miami at the start of April. The pair will take on Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar in the first round.

#NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz will be aiming to lift his fourth tour-level trophy of the season when he competes on home soil at the Mutua Madrid Open this week.

However, before turning his attention to match action at the ATP Masters 1000 event, the World No. 9 joined two-time Madrid titlist Andy Murray and WTA stars Paula Badosa and Simona Halep at the Palacio de Cibeles Friday, where the foursome hit balls and entertained with flashy shotmaking.

“The people of the sport always come out and support the tournament really well and they are very knowledgeable about the game. I am thankful for the opportunity Feliciano [Lopez] and his team gave me to come here and compete again,” wild card Murray said when looking ahead to the event. “I had a nice crowd for my practice and I love coming back to play in Spain.”

^{Photo Credit: ANGEL MARTINEZ / MMO}

The event was based in the Crystal Gallery of the Palacio de Cibeles and was hosted by tournament director Feliciano Lopez and the Mayor of Madrid Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida.

Alcaraz and Murray teamed against Badosa and Halep in an entertaining mini-match to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Mutua Madrid Open.

Former WTA Singles World No. 1 Halep, who won the title in Madrid in 2016 and 2017, is preparing to make her 11th appearance at the clay-court tournament this week.

“It is a big tournament and the organisation is always great,” Halep said. “I am really happy that I have been able to lift this trophy twice and compete with top players. It will always be a special place to come.”

Murray will be competing in his first tour-level event since he reached the second round in Miami in March and opens against Dominic Thiem, while Alcaraz arrives off the back of triumphing on the clay in Barcelona earlier in April. The Spaniard could face countryman Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.

^{Photo Credit: ANGEL MARTINEZ / MMO}

Wild cards Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral are just two wins from becoming the first Portuguese team to win the Millennium Estoril Open doubles title.

Borges and Cabral defeated Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Tommy Paul 6-3, 6-7(2), 10-6 on Friday to reach the last four in front of their home fans. It is the second Match Tie-break they have won this week. In the first round, they upset third seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek 6-4, 3-6, 10-5.

It won’t get any easier for the Portuguese, who will next play top seeds Jamie Murray and Michael Venus. The British-Kiwi duo eliminated Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-4, 6-4.

Murray and Venus are not full-time doubles partners — Murray typically competes with Bruno Soares and Venus with Tim Puetz. But they have performed well on their team debut to make the semi-finals.

Matos/Vega Hernandez Reach Munich Final
Brazilian Rafael Matos and Spaniard David Vega Hernandez reached the BMW Open by American Express final on Friday when they clawed past Kazakhstani Andrey Golubev and Frenchman Fabrice Martin 7-6(1), 7-6(2).

The other Munich doubles semi-final will be played on Saturday between third seeds Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies and Briton Lloyd Glasspool and Finland’s Harri Heliovaara. Two-time Roland Garros champions Krawietz and Mies are in good form, winning last week’s Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.