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Predictor Picks: Could Sinner, Medvedev & Fritz be great grass picks?

  • Posted: Jun 15, 2024

The grass-court season continues with ATP 500 events at Halle and Queen’s Club, with many of the biggest stars in the sport in action.

New World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings Jannik Sinner headlines the field at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, while Roland Garros champion Carlos Alcaraz returns to action at the Cinch Championships.

Before each tournament week, ATPTour.com looks at three players who might be good selections for fans in the PIF ATP Rankings Predictor.

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Jannik Sinner — defending 90 points
The Italian arrives in Germany as the 29th No. 1 in the history of the PIF ATP Rankings. He will try to make a splash in his first week at the pinnacle of men’s tennis.

Sinner, who seeks his first title on grass, has enjoyed success on the surface before. One year ago, he made the semi-finals at Wimbledon (l. to Djokovic) and in 2022 he took a two-sets-to-none lead before falling to Novak Djokovic in five sets.

The 22-year-old has also improved his serve, which should make him an even tougher opponent on grass. His first-round opponent will be Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, against whom he owns a 4-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head record.

Daniil Medvedev — defending 90 points
The third seed in Halle is former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev. The 28-year-old has enjoyed the most success on hard courts, but he has also performed well on grass.

Medvedev has won a title (2021 Mallorca) and reached two more finals (2022 ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Halle) on the surface. Last season, he reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon.

This year’s Australian Open and Indian Wells finalist has played consistently throughout the season and will try to maintain that as he transitions surfaces. He begins his tournament against Nuno Borges and could play Sinner in the semi-finals.

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Taylor Fritz — defending 45 points
Few players have as powerful of a one-two punch as Fritz does in his serve and forehand. The aggressive American enjoys controlling points and that has served him well on grass before.

Fritz won two of his seven ATP Tour titles on the surface, triumphing in Eastbourne in 2019 and 2022. Last year, he lost in the second round at Queen’s Club, but that defeat came against a tricky grass-court opponent in Adrian Mannarino.

Fritz will try to gain net points on the London grass, where he will pursue his second title of the season (Delray Beach). The American will open against a qualifier and if he wins, Fritz will face Cameron Norrie or Milos Raonic.

Bonus Ball — Jannik Sinner
The Italian must reach the quarter-finals in Halle to gain points this week. The good news for fans keen to select Sinner is that he has consistently earned his way deep into tournaments throughout 2024.

The only event at which the 22-year-old did not advance to the semi-finals this year was the Mutua Madrid Open, where he withdrew ahead of the quarter-finals due to injury.

Sinner advanced to the last eight in Halle last year and will try to push further into the draw at this edition.

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De Minaur reaches 's-Hertogenbosch final, climbs to new heights

  • Posted: Jun 15, 2024

Alex de Minaur continues to climb to new heights.

The Australian defeated big-serving lefty Ugo Humbert 7-6(4), 6-3 on Saturday to reach the final of the Libema Open. By doing so, he is guaranteed to reach a career-high No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings on Monday.

“It was an interesting one that’s for sure. I got off to a very good start playing some great tennis and then I maybe lost focus a little bit,” De Minaur said. “Ugo is an incredible competitor, he always fights ’til the end, so he made it very tricky. I was able to just sneak that first set and then happy with the break at the end and happy to be here. Happy it didn’t rain and onto the final.”

The top seed lost five consecutive games to his French opponent from 4-0 up in the first set, but De Minaur remained calm in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. He won 62 per cent of his second-serve return points, which proved critical.

The on-court reporter asked De Minaur about competing in ’s-Hertogenbosch as a Top 10 player for the first time. If he lifts the trophy, the 25-year-old will surge to No. 7.

“At the end of the day it’s just tennis,” De Minaur said. “You run for that yellow ball from one side to the other. You try to have fun and yeah, I’m definitely enjoying myself here on the grass, so I’m very happy with that.”

Earlier on Saturday, Humbert completed a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 quarter-final victory against Gijs Brouwer in a match that began on Friday evening.

De Minaur’s opponent on Sunday, Sebastian Korda, will try to snap a three-year wait for a second ATP Tour title. 

The American charged into the championship match with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph against home favourite and defending champion Tallon Griekspoor. Korda converted three of the four break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats, while he did not face a break point on his own serve in his 64-minute semi-final win.

“Overall, I’m very happy with today,” said Korda in his on-court interview. “It was super tricky, super windy, and obviously Tallon is an unbelievable player and he won here last year. It’s a nice confidence boost for me and hopefully I can win another match tomorrow.”

Korda now holds a 2-0 lead in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with his good friend Griekspoor. The 23-year-old American is 1-5 in tour-level finals, with his sole victory coming on clay in Parma in 2021.

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Berrettini back in Stuttgart final; Will he defeat Draper for the title?

  • Posted: Jun 15, 2024

Matteo Berrettini is back in a big way.

In his first tournament since Monte-Carlo in April, the former No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings is into the Stuttgart final. The Italian defeated countryman Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-0 Saturday to reach the championship match of the BOSS OPEN.

“When you win like this, it’s better,” Berrettini said of his 66-minute victory. “You just burn less energy. I think I played enough during the week. So today, it was really good to play an hour and six minutes.”

Berrettini has thrived on grass throughout his career. The 2021 Wimbledon finalist has triumphed in Stuttgart twice before and is one win from claiming a hat-trick of crowns at the German ATP 250.

There were razor-thin margins in the first set. Musetti actually earned more break points in the opener (4-2), but did not convert any of his chances. Berrettini faced a 0/40 deficit when he served for the set at 5-4, but powered through to move within one set of victory.

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Musetti then gifted him a break to begin the second set when he missed a high backhand volley. Berrettini surged to the finish line from there, converting four of his seven break points to triumph according to Infosys ATP Stats.

“Obviously, it’s never easy when you play against a good friend like Lorenzo. We know each other pretty well,” Berrettini said. “Especially at the beginning, I think you could see there was a little bit of tension. But I was able to hold my nerves, especially when I served for the first set. And then after that I was feeling better and better and happy for the win.”

His next opponent, Jack Draper, will already become the new British No. 1 on Monday. Will he also enter the new week as a first-time ATP Tour champion?

The lefty is one win from earning his maiden trophy after cruising past 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF titlist Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 6-3 in 72 minutes.

The 22-year-old hit 13 aces and won 94 per cent of his first-serve points (31/33). He did not face a break point in the match.

Draper and former World No. 1 Andy Murray are the only British finalists in event history. At 22 years and five months, the lefty is set to become the youngest British No. 1 since Murray in November 2009.

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#NextGenATP Fonseca receives wild card for Halle

  • Posted: Jun 14, 2024

Can Joao Fonseca add grass-court success to his breakout year on the ATP Tour?

The #NextGenATP Brazilian will next week compete as a wild card at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, the tournament announced Friday. It will be the 17-year-old’s first tour-level appearance on grass.

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Fonseca began the year outside the Top 700 of the PIF ATP Rankings, but is currently at a career-high No. 224 after a strong six months. He has racked up an 11-7 record on the ATP Challenger Tour in 2024, while his 5-5 ATP Tour record this season includes quarter-final runs as a wild card in Rio de Janeiro and Bucharest.

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Currently sixth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, Fonseca will hope to take advantage of another wild card opportunity at tour-level on the lawns of Halle. He has already notched a grass-court milestone this month: Nine days ago, Fonseca beat former World No. 14 Kyle Edmund in his first ATP Challenger Tour match on the surface in Surbiton. This week, the Brazilian is into the second round at another Challenger event in Nottingham.

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 4 Alexander Zverev lead the field at the Terra Wortmann Open, where main-draw action runs from 17-23 June. The defending champion is Alexander Bublik.

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Doubles trial at Queen's Club: Less time between points, 'time extensions' & more

  • Posted: Jun 14, 2024

The first tournament that participated in the 2024 ATP Doubles Trial was the Mutua Madrid Open. Now, the Cinch Championships at Queen’s Club will trial a set of changes — with some new tweaks — during next week’s ATP 500 event.

By trialing more changes, the ATP continues to innovate, with foci including in-match time reduction and creating an elevated on-site fan experience.

Changes at Queen’s Club will include less time between points, adjustments to time allowances during changeovers, the use of “time extensions” and more.

Tournament director Jamie Murray, the former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings, said: “I’m excited to see the ATP continue to try to test ways to figure out things to try to improve the doubles product and unlock more value for all the different stakeholders: players, fans, tournaments, streaming, TV and broadcasters. We were excited to be a part of that and hopefully, it’s a positive experience for the players and fans that are coming to watch it at Queen’s this week.”

[ATP APP]

There will be 18 seconds between all points (15+3) and 60-second changeovers with time called after 40 seconds. Each team may request one time extension per set to discuss tactics.

Select doubles matches at the Cinch Championships will be played in the evening to encourage fans to visit the tournament to watch doubles after work. There will also be a doubles-only court.

Like in Madrid, there will be free crowd movement and fan engagement is encouraged.

“Doubles should be marketed as nonstop action and I think reducing a lot of the dead time will improve the product, hopefully a lot,” Murray said. “It’s a good thing going forward.”

The tournament will use standard entry procedures for the doubles draw. However, doubles matches will begin on Wednesday (qualifying to start on Monday). Singles teams will be paired against doubles teams in the first round whenever possible.

Further trials will take place across all categories at events including Gstaad, Hamburg, Kitzbühel, Newport, Toronto, Washington and Winston-Salem.

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Draper hits 31 aces to down defending champ Tiafoe in Stuttgart, Berrettini reaches SFs

  • Posted: Jun 14, 2024

Jack Draper continued to impress on the lawns in Stuttgart on Friday when he clawed past last year’s champion Frances Tiafoe 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(1) to reach the semi-finals at the BOSS OPEN.

The lefty, who is up seven spots to No. 33 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, produced an explosive display on serve at the ATP 250 event. Draper fired 31 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, and backed up pinpoint deliveries with fierce groundstrokes to advance to his sixth tour-level semi-final after two hours and 13 minutes.

“I am incredibly happy,” Draper said. “My last three tie-breaks in the third set I have lost them all, so to come through today is amazing and I am really proud of my level. I am really happy with how I served and it was a really high-quality match.”

Draper is aiming to win his maiden ATP Tour title this week and has looked comfortable on the grass in Germany. The 22-year-old arrived in Stuttgart off the back of three consecutive defeats on clay, but has refound the winning formula this week to improve to 16-12 on the season.

With his victory, Draper improved to 1-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Tiafoe, who is 13-13 in 2024. Draper will face Brandon Nakashima in the semi-finals after the American received a walkover from Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff due to illness.

[ATP APP]

Later on Friday, Matteo Berrettini improved his perfect record in tour-level quarter-finals on grass to 7-0 by defeating qualifier James Duckworth 6-4, 7-5. A single break of serve in each set was enough for the two-time champion to overcome the World No. 101 Duckworth in the pair’s maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

Berrettini is now 12-1 in Stuttgart, where he lifted the trophy in 2019 and 2022. Prior to this week in Germany, he had not competed since early April. Yet the 28-year-old Italian is now into his first grass-court semi-final since his 2022 Queen’s Club triumph.

A former No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Berrettini will take on his countryman Lorenzo Musetti in the last four. The fifth-seeded Musetti advanced after Alexander Bublik retired from the pair’s quarter-final with the Italian leading 4-6, 6-1, 1-0.

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