David Goffin opened his quest for his second Moselle Open title on Thursday. The second-seeded Belgian, who captured the 2014 trophy (d. Sousa), knocked out Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 for a place in the quarter-finals against Benoit Paire, who recorded the 150th match win of his career. Earlier in the day, Paire had cruised past Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-1, 6-2 in 55 minutes.

Goffin’s hopes of winning a third ATP World Tour title, and boost his chances of a rising up the Emirates ATP Race To London (currently No. 13) for one of the six remaining places at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London, were helped when Romania’s Marius Copil knocked out third seed and defending champion Lucas Pouille. Goffin, incidentally, lost to Pouille in last year’s Metz semi-finals.

Copil kept his nerve mid-afternoon at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament to record his biggest match win in almost five years. The World No. 86 knocked out Pouille, currently No. 22 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, 7-6(4), 7-5 in one hour and 40 minutes to avenge his loss to the Frenchman at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February.

Copil saved two set points at 4-5 in the first set, then took a 3-0 lead in the second set before Pouille recovered and went on to save three match points from 0/40 at 4-5. Pouille held one set point at 5/6, but Copil regrouped to complete his best victory since January 2013 when he defeated then No. 19-ranked Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-3 at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. Copil will now challenge German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk, who had beaten eighth-seeded Frenchman and 2010, 2013 titlist Gilles Simon on Wednesday night.

Elsewhere, Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili knocked out fourth seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-4, 6-4 for a last-eight clash against Uzbekistani Denis Istomin, a 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(0) victor over German lucky loser Yannick Maden in two hours and 29 minutes.

Fifth-seeded German Mischa Zverev advanced to his fourth quarter-final of 2017 after he beat Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4 in one hour. He now plays lucky loser Kenny De Schepper, who overcame fellow Frenchman and wild card Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 7-5.

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French Hopes Reach Doubles SFs

Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who have a 2-3 record in tour-level doubles finals – including the 2014 Roland Garros title  – edged past Andre Begemann and Jonathan Eysseric 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 for a place in the quarter-finals.

Elsewhere, Max Mirnyi, hoping to capture his 50 tour-level doubles crown, moved to 749 match wins when he partnered Philipp Oswald to a 6-4, 6-4 quarter-final win over Treat Huey and Fabrice Martin.

It’s hard to believe, but just three months ago Damir Dzumhur was fighting just to stay in the Top 100. This week, already at a career-high No. 55 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and set to compete in the St. Petersburg Open quarter-finals Friday, the 25-year-old from Bosnia & Herzegovina is knocking on the door of the Top 50.

On Tuesday, Liam Broady registered his first win in the main draw of an ATP World Tour tournament by defeating former world No. 10 Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-0, in the opening round of the St. Petersburg Open in Russia.

Satisfied? Hardly. On the heels of achieving his inaugural win, the 23-year-old British qualifier followed with a three-set, come-from-behind victory over the tournament’s No. 4 seed Adrian Mannarino one day later. A set and a break down, Broady gathered his wits, outdueled the fellow southpaw and overcame the 31^st-ranked Frenchman to advance to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final.

 “After the first set, my legs were bad,” Broady said. “It was my fourth match in four days, so I was pretty emotional. I was a little bit more aggressive in the second set. Two lefties, it’s quite tricky and that adds an extra dimension. Week in and week out, you don’t see that.”

Currently at No. 242 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, there isn’t a lot that Broady hasn’t seen during his time on the Tour.

When Broady reached the final of the 2011 Wimbledon Boys’ Singles Championship and the the 2012 US Open Boys’ Singles Championship, it seemed that a British star had been born. But the pressure of living up to those expectations initially took its toll on the pride of Stockport, even if he was afforded the full backing of English fans.

 “Support is always crazy (at Wimbledon),” Broady said. “Playing in England does bring some added pressure, just having grown up there, but it’s still a thrill.”

Fully focused on the current task at hand in St. Petersburg, Broady has prepared himself for a final-eight showdown against 25-year-old Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, a 6-4, 7-6 (4) winner over Marcos Baghdatis on Tuesday.

“I played Damir in the juniors six or seven years ago, so it’s been a while,” Broady said. “I’m friends with Kyle Edmund and he played against Damir at Winston-Salem. I already contacted Kyle’s coach, Mark Hilton, my former coach, for tips about [Dzumhur’s] game.”

 With momentum fully on his side, the Brit is eager to close out the 2017 season on a high note. “I’m targeting a place in the Top 150 this year,” Broady said. “I want to be in the Top 100 next year.”

For the third year in a row, the First Lady of Romania, Carmen Iohannis, attended Kids Day at the Sibiu Open, a €43,000 tournament on the ATP Challenger Tour. Also joining the First Lady at the special event were two-time champion Adrian Ungur and former World No. 5 Tommy Robredo.

“I’m here to enjoy this wonderful tournament along with the kids,” Iohannis said. “As far as I know, there are some important players attending Sibiu Open and that means that the quality of the tournament is constantly growing.”

With Sibiu being the only Challenger in Romania and largest men’s tournament in country, it was destined to be a extraordinary day. Over 300 kids showed up and several national television stations were there to broadcast how the day unfolded with the First Lady in attendance.

“It was lovely to have the First Lady here. I invited her to play,” Robredo said. “It’s good to have her supporting the tournament and hopefully she liked it. Maybe she will come on the court and play next time.”

With a passion for the sport, Iohannis has been an advocate for the game for years as it teaches and encourages kids to live out a healthy and active lifestyle.

“I’m still training in tennis, for fun, it’s one of my favourite sports,” Iohannis added. “And because I also want to send a signal to everyone that sport is very important, especially for our kids, the future of every country in the world.”

Third seed Fabio Fognini ended Russian involvement on Thursday at the St. Petersburg Open when the Italian knocked out 2004 champion Mikhail Youzhny, competing at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the 16th year (34-14 match record).

Fognini, the 2012 runner-up, came close to breaking at 4-4 in the second set, but Youzhny regrouped before falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in almost two hours. Fognini now faces Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, who advanced to the quarter-finals for the second time (also 2012) when his German opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber withdrew due to illness before their match. Kohlschreiber must wait another week in his bid to win at least 30 matches (29-17 in 2017) for the 11th straight year.

Top seed Roberto Bautista Agut opened his campaign by beating Brazil’s Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 in one hour and 40 minutes. The Spaniard, who lost just four points in the deciding set, also beat Dutra Silva at the Aircel Chennai Open in January. A semi-finalist at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the past two years, Bautista Agut now faces seventh-seeded Serbian Viktor Troicki in Friday’s quarter-finals. Troicki edged Argentina’s Guido Pella 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 27 minutes.

Eighth-seeded German Jan-Lennard Struff won seven of the first eight games in a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Brazil’s Thomas Fabbiano. He awaits the winner of second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, making his tournament debut, or Joao Sousa, who compete during the night session. Tsonga, 32, is playing in Russia for the first time since 2010, when he lost to Troicki in the VTB Kremlin Cup second round.

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As they battle to secure their place in Milan at the end of the year, with fewer than 50 days to go, the #NextGenATP stars have been lighting it up on the ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour with an array of hot shots.

ATPWorldTour.com has chosen the best five and now it’s up to you, the fans, to decide which is the best hot shot from a #NextGenATP player in the third quarter of the season.

Click through to watch the Top 5 and cast your vote!

Tickets to the Next Gen ATP Finals are on sale now. Get Yours!

Follow the Next Gen ATP Finals on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

ATP and ATP Media today announced that Amazon Prime Video is now an official streaming partner of the ATP World Tour. The new deal covers the worldwide distribution of the Next Gen ATP Finals through Amazon Prime Video.

Starting in 2017, Amazon will have worldwide OTT rights (excluding China), and the full exclusive rights in the U.S., to distribute the Next Gen ATP Finals, outside of ATP’s OTT channel, Tennis TV. This new event, held in partnership with the Italian Tennis Federation and the Italian National Olympic Committee, takes place from 7-11 November in Milan and will showcase the very best men’s tennis players aged 21-and-Under, as well as introducing many new innovations to the game.

The deal, which expires at the end of 2018, includes a commitment from Amazon to show all Next Gen ATP Finals matches produced by ATP Media. ATP has also produced three documentaries that will air on Amazon Prime Video. The documentaries take fans behind the scenes, tracking many of the #NextGenATP players as they battle to make the cut for the inaugural event later this year. As well as giving fans unique access, the documentaries also feature exclusive interviews with some of today’s top players, who offer their insights into the future stars of the sport.

This deal will provide an international reach for this new and innovative tournament providing a global audience for the tennis stars of the future.

Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman & President, said: “Innovation is at the heart of everything we’re doing with the Next Gen ATP Finals, and the way in which we present and broadcast the event is central to that. Our agreement with Amazon will give this year’s inaugural tournament in Milan an international reach in a digital space that is only becoming increasingly important in the world of sport & entertainment.”

“We know live sports attracts a passionate fan base, many of whom are Prime members,” said Greg Hart, Vice President of Amazon Video. “We are thrilled ATP has awarded distribution rights to Amazon, showing their commitment to streaming live sports.”

Stuart Watts, COO ATP Media, added: “The synergies between a global brand such as Amazon and the future of our sport being showcased at the Next Gen ATP Finals are clear for all to see. This is an exciting deal that will not only bring great coverage for the Next Gen ATP Finals but will also offer a huge boost to the global reach of tennis.”