Nick Kyrgios will be pulling double duty at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, which, if you’re looking for a positive superstition, is a good thing for his singles chances.

Kyrgios also played singles and doubles at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., and although he and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, his Cincy partner as well, fell in their opener, Kyrgios went onto win his second ATP 500 title of the season (Acapulco) in the U.S. capital.

The Aussie remains in friendly U.S. territory this week as it was only two years ago when Kyrgios made the ATP Masters 1000 final in Cincinnati (l. to Dimitrov). He’ll try to start another memorable run against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

The 24-year-old Italian, however, is having his best season. He cracked the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings earlier this month and won his first ATP Tour title in June at the Turkish Airlines Open Antalya (d. Kecmanovic). This will be Sonego’s first hard-court match since March in Miami.

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#NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime will miss the home support he received at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal last week, but the 19-year-old likely will be pleased to have the spotlight on someone else in Ohio. Auger-Aliassime made the third round of his home Masters 1000 event (l. to Khachanov).

He’ll look to begin a new winning streak against #NextGenATP Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in what could be a preview of what fans could see at the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 5-9 November in Milan.

Auger-Aliassime (second) and Kecmanovic (seventh) are both inside the top eight of the ATP Race To Milan, which will determine seven of the eight players who compete at the 21-and-under event. The eighth position is reserved for an Italian wild card.

Other notable matches include Andy Murray beginning his singles comeback after four weeks of doubles success. The Brit meets Richard Gasquet for the 12^th time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series (Murray leads 8-3).

Twelfth seed Borna Coric faces big-serving American Reilly Opelka in the final match on Centre Court, and 14^th seed Marin Cilic, the 2016 champion (d. Murray), will look to kickstart another successful week in Cincinnati against Moldovan Radu Albot.

Schedule – 12 August 2019 Monday
CENTRE COURT start 11:00 am
WTA Match
WTA Match
[WC] Andy Murray (GBR) vs [PR] Richard Gasquet (FRA)

Not Before 7:00 pm
WTA Match

Not Before 8:30 pm
[WC] Reilly Opelka (USA) vs [12] Borna Coric (CRO)

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
[14] Marin Cilic (CRO) vs Radu Albot (MDA)
[Q] Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) vs Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)
WTA Match

Not Before 7:00 pm
Nick Kyrgios (AUS) vs Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)

Not Before 8:30 pm
WTA Match

View the remainder of Monday’s schedule here.

John Isner broke at exactly the right time on Sunday to start his Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. The 13^th seed broke Dusan Lajovic for the first time as the Serbian served to stay in the match at 5-6 in the third set and advanced 7-6(3), 1-6, 7-5 at the season’s seventh ATP Masters 1000 tournament.

Lajovic had saved all four break points prior to that. Isner, the 2013 finalist and 2017 semi-finalist, hit 27 aces and won 80 per cent (59/74) of his first-serve points.

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The top-ranked American will next meet the winner between Spanish qualifier Pablo Carreno Busta and Frenchman Gilles Simon.

#NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur improved to 3-1 against Italy’s Marco Cecchinato in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with a 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2 win. The BB&T Atlanta Open champion will next meet the winner between American Reilly Opelka and 12^th seed Borna Coric of Croatia.

“These wins are often the ones that count the most,” De Minaur said. “To be able to come back from not playing my best tennis and turn it around… I’m really happy to get the win.”

In doubles, seventh seeds Henri Kontinen/John Peers escaped past Felix Auger-Aliassime/Matteo Berrettini 7-6(5), 2-6, 10-4, and fifth-seeded Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut advanced past Croatians Nikola Mektic/Franko Skugor 6-3, 6-7(6), 12-10.

If the ATP Tour calendar is a racetrack, the best tennis players in the world are more than halfway to the finish line. But two superstars have pulled away from the pack in pursuit of first place. And on Monday, Rafael Nadal will pass Novak Djokovic for the lead in the ATP Race To London, giving him the edge in the battle for the year-end No. 1 ATP Ranking.

Nadal captured his record-extending 35th ATP Masters 1000 title on Sunday with a straight-sets victory against Daniil Medvedev at the Coupe Rogers, giving him 1,000 points in the Race, which will move him 500 points ahead of second-placed Djokovic. 

“I am never too confident. I always respect every situation and every opponent,” Nadal said. “That’s why I’m always putting my 100 per cent attention.”

If the 33-year-old advances to the final of the Western & Southern Open, he will hold onto the top spot regardless of Djokovic’s efforts in Cincinnati, where the Serbian is the defending champion. It has been an exciting back-and-forth battle all year between the two legends of the sport, and the tension will only build as the season continues forward.

If Nadal finishes the season atop the ATP Rankings, he will tie Djokovic, Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors for the second-most year-end No. 1 finishes in history behind only Pete Sampras (6). Djokovic, however, is trying to match Sampras’ record.

Most Year-End No. 1 Finishes In The ATP Rankings

What’s most important to Nadal is that after some early-season health struggles, he is healthy and playing good tennis, as evidenced by his performance in Montreal. The lefty has made at least the semi-finals in his past eight tournaments.

“I am healthy for a while. Since Madrid I think I have been improving in all terms, especially on the body. The body is feeling better,” Nadal said. “That makes me play better, too, because my mind is focused on tennis, not thinking about if I can do this thing or another thing.”

Nadal finished his run in Canada in exceptionally strong form, winning eight of the final nine games against Medvedev. The Spaniard knew that the Russian had shown a high level all week, making the final without dropping a set. So Nadal, as always, kept his foot on the gas.

“In this sport you are never under full control. Things change very quickly. When you play against almost every player, when you play Masters 1000s, every single match is tough. Everybody has the potential to cause problems and everybody is dangerous,” Nadal said. “Even if you are winning, especially today I was winning 6-3, 4-0, I know I have an advantage, but of course I cannot be 100 per cent calm knowing that I [am] going to win the match.”

The 83-time tour-level titlist enjoyed the atmosphere, too, as the Montreal fans showed their love for Nadal from the moment he arrived. It is his third victory in Montreal, and his fifth in Canada.

“Every single place has a different atmosphere, different feeling. Every place is special by itself. But honestly here, I think they are very passionate about the sport. They are very passionate about tennis,” Nadal said. “I always felt when I have been playing here, [there has] always an unbelievable atmosphere out here, full crowd. That’s so important for our sport and for me personally.”

Nadal won his first hard-court title at 2005 Montreal, defeating Andre Agassi in the final. And one thing has remained a constant for him in this city: his driver, Jacque.

“He is not only a good luck charm, [he] is a great man. I am super happy when I see him, always,” Nadal said. “We know each other since a long time. It’s great to have him around.”

Rafael Nadal is one set away from a record-extending 35^th ATP Masters 1000 title. The Spaniard leads Daniil Medvedev 6-3 on Sunday at the Coupe Rogers, breaking the Russian in the fourth game when Medvedev double faulted.

The first-time finalist was matching Nadal from the baseline in the early going, teasing the crowd with gut-busting rallies of 24 shots and 32 shots in the opening game. But Nadal found his way to net more often as the set progressed (8/10), striking high and heavy forehands in windy conditions, and he benefitted from the slightest dip in level from Medvedev.

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The World No. 8 and Nadal are facing off for the first time in the final of the season’s sixth Masters 1000 tournament. Nadal, a four-time champion (2005, 2008, 2013, 2018), is looking to win his third tour-level title of the year and his first hard-court crown of the season.

Medvedev is going for his second ATP Tour title of the year and his fifth overall (4-4). If Medvedev can come back, he’d become the ninth player to win a maiden Masters 1000 title during the past 20 events in the series.

Forget the “King of Clay”, a nickname that doesn’t truly reflect Rafael Nadal’s mastery of all surfaces during his legendary ATP Tour career. How about “King of Masters”?

Nadal already owns the most ATP Masters 1000 wins in the series’ 30-year history, 380, two better than longtime rival Roger Federer. The Spaniard advanced to his 51^st final at the elite level, one better than Federer’s 50, on Saturday when Gael Monfils withdrew (ankle) from their Coupe Rogers semi-final.

Should Nadal beat Russian Daniil Medvedev in the Montreal final on Sunday, the World No. 2 would win his 35th Masters 1000 crown, extending his all-time lead. Novak Djokovic has the second-most Masters 1000 tites, with 33.

King of Masters, indeed.

But a recounting of Nadal’s pedigree won’t tremble Medvedev, who’s into his first Masters 1000 final and has won eight of his past nine matches. “I won’t be intimidated. I want to win every match I play,” he said.

The World No. 9 has hardly been bothered all week in the French-speaking Canadian city. Medvedev, who trains in France, is sponsored by Lacoste, has a French coach (Gilles Cervara) and speaks French, has been playing as if he’s on home courts and has been embraced as one of Montreal’s own.

“After the match, everybody says, ‘Oh, you speak French, Daniil’. I think this brings the crowd to support me. It’s funny,” he said.

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The 23-year-old had reached only one Masters 1000 semi-final before this week, in April at the clay-court Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (l. to Lajovic). But hard courts, where his flat backhand can do the most damage, have long been his favourite surface. Medvedev has won all four of his ATP Tour titles on hard court and owns his best winning percentage (66%) of the three surfaces on it.

The Russian, however, has never had a week like this at a Masters 1000 event. Following his run to the Citi Open final last week (l. to Kyrgios), Medvedev dropped only three games against Brit Kyle Edmund, swept two-time ATP Tour titlist Cristian Garin of Chile 6-3, 6-3 and delivered his best show yet against No. 4 Dominic Thiem, dropping only four games.

In the semi-finals against longtime friend Karen Khachanov, Medvedev tightened up serving for the match at 5-4, but he held on to win in straight sets and improve to 8-0 in sets this week.

“It just means that I’m playing better now, that I’m able to beat these top players in two sets. It’s a great achievement,” Medvedev said.

Nadal’s only blemish came in his quarter-final against Italy’s Fabio Fognini, but the top seed and defending champion quickly erased those memories, dropping only three games in the final two sets.

“In general terms [it was] an up-and-down match, but a positive match for me because I played better and better,” Nadal said.

He and Medvedev have never met, marking the second time this season a Masters 1000 final will be the first meeting between the two finalists (Monte-Carlo, Fognini v Lajovic). If Medvedev can get off to his customary fast start, give the Russian a chance, even against the all-time Masters 1000 titles leader.

Nadal, perhaps more so than others, really arrives at top gear after a break of serve, and if Medvedev can keep holding, make yourself comfortable, because the Russian is not lacking belief.

“I’m playing very well right now,” he said. “I believe if I am able to play like this, it’s not going to be easy for Rafa. It’s going to be a big battle.”