The doubles field has been halved after six days of play at the Nitto ATP Finals, with the four remaining teams set for semi-final Saturday in Turin.

In an afternoon-session meeting of the Top 2 teams in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski face Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in a rematch of the US Open final, won by Ram/Salisbury. The evening session at the Pala Alpitour will open with Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic taking on Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.

[1] Wesley Koolhof (NED) / Neal Skupski (GBR) vs. [2] Rajeev Ram (USA) / Joe Salisbury (GBR)

Koolhof/Skupski, who were honoured as the 2022 ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by Pepperstone on Thursday, finished second in the Green Group with a 2-1 record. After a win against Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios in their opening match, a Friday win against Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek sealed their place in the semis. The Dutch-British pair is seeking its eighth ATP Tour title of the 2022 season.

Ram/Salisbury, who spent time as the World No. 1 doubles team this season before being overtaken by their semi-final opponents, were a perfect 3-0 in the Red Group. But the American-British pair still needed to win a set in their final round-robin match to clinch progress to the knockout rounds. In a tense match against Roland Garros champ Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, they claimed the set they required in a second-set tie-break before winning their second Match Tie-break of the week.

The two best doubles teams of the 2022 ATP Tour season have met three times this year, with Ram/Salisbury winning in the Indian Wells quarter-finals and the US Open final — both in two tight sets. Koolhof/Skupski recorded a win via retirement in Dubai after winning a first-set tie-break.

This semi-final matchup is set for 11:30 a.m. CET / 5:30 a.m. ET.

[4] Nikola Mektic (CRO) / Mate Pavic (CRO) vs. [6] Lloyd Glasspool / Harri Heliovvara (FIN)

Mektic/Pavic dropped just one set in compiling a 3-0 record in the Green Group, finishing their round-robin campaign with a 7-6(4), 7-6(4) win against Kokkinakis/Kyrgios. The Croatians are seeking their sixth team title of 2022, with the biggest of their current lot coming in Rome. They also reached three finals on the year, including at Wimbledon, where they lost to Aussies Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell in a fifth-set tie-break.

The 33-year-old Mektic is bidding for his second Nitto ATP Finals title after winning the 2020 crown with Koolhof.

Glasspool/Heliovaara clinched their semi-final berth with a statement 6-0, 6-4 win against Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos on Thursday. The British-Finnish pair seeks its eighth final and second title of the 2022 season. They have two ATP Tour titles as a team, in Marseille (2021) and Hamburg (2022).

This matchup will open the evening session at the Pala Alputour at 6:30 p.m. CET / 12:30 p.m. ET.

Both Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev compiled 2-1 group-stage records to progress to Saturday’s semi-finals in Turin. The lone loss for each man at the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals came against one of the game’s all-time greats: Ruud fell to Rafael Nadal while Rublev was turned back by Novak Djokovic.

Norway’s Ruud was already through to the semis when he came up against Rafa, his wins against Felix Auger-Aliassime and Taylor Fritz enough to clinch first place in the Green Group. Those two victories matched his win total across four events after the US Open.

“I didn’t imagine that I would be in that position after two matches, but luckily I was,” a recharged Ruud said of his early qualification for the knockout rounds. 

As such, he was able to conserve some energy on Thursday against Nadal at the tail-end of a gruelling season: “I just tried to keep my flow going, [made sure] that I had a good rhythm… not risking too much in terms of my body and the physical aspects of the match.”

Rublev had no such luxury in his Friday Red Group finale against Stefanos Tsitsipas — a winner-takes all showdown that essentially served as a quarter-final. The 25-year-old had his back to the wall after losing a one-sided opening set against the Greek, but Rublev clawed his way back into the match and ultimately ran away with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.

“I kept fighting,” Rublev said when asked what he was most proud of from his effort. “I kept just saying to myself, ‘It doesn’t matter how he’s playing, how good he’s playing, just fight for every ball.’ In the end I was able to start to play better and better. In the end I was able to turn around the match. I’m happy.”

The World No. 7 was in the same position at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals, needing a win in his final round-robin match to advance. Facing none other than Ruud, he fell just short of the semis with a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) defeat. Now through to the knockout rounds for the first time in three consecutive appearances at the Nitto ATP Finals, Rublev has his chance for revenge.

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Ruud, whose lone win in five previous ATP Head2Head meetings with Rublev came in that Turin tilt, hopes to continue to fill out his hard-court resume after following up a semi-final run in his Nitto ATP Finals debut with a breakout 2022 season on the surface. The 23-year-old reached the final in both Miami and the US Open this season, and also reached the Roland Garros final in addition to winning three tour-level titles on clay.

Rublev is seeking his fifth ATP Tour title of the 2022 season, which would match his career-best return from 2020. Nine of his 12 career titles have come on hard courts, including five indoors.

This evening semi-final has a start time of not before 9 p.m. CET / 3 p.m. ET.

Novak Djokovic put forth a Herculean effort to finish his Nitto ATP Finals group campaign at 3-0, battling Daniil Medvedev for more than three hours on Friday with his place in the knockout rounds already secured. Roughy 21 hours after a forehand winner punctuated his victory, the first serve will be struck in the Serbian’s semi-final against Taylor Fritz in Turin.

Djokovic takes a 5-0 ATP Head2Head record against the American into the contest, their most recent meeting coming one year ago at the Rolex Paris Masters. Will the 35-year-old be able to recover in time to extend his two winning streaks?

“Well, I’m not the freshest guy right now, as I was maybe yesterday,” Djokovic said in his post-match press conference. But he won’t be wasting any of his precious energy worrying about his reserves.

“On the physical side, I’m not worried because worry just depletes you of the vital energy you need,” he continued. “I’ve had many cases in my life before where I managed to recover very quickly. Hopefully that’s going to be the case again.”

One of those previous instances came when Djokovic won the 2021 Australian Open despite an abdominal oblique tear — an injury which first seriously affected him during a third-round matchup against none other than Fritz.

The American is through to his fourth tour-level semi-final of the season in Turin, and he has won the title at each 2022 event in which he’s reached the final four. While Fritz is not reading too far into that statistic, he takes pride in his record at the business end of tournaments.

“I didn’t know that until the last tournament. I’m just going to continue not really thinking about it,” he said.

“For me, that is probably the most impressive stat because the difference in points to winning a tournament and losing the semi-finals is massive. One of the only reasons why I’m ranked where I’m ranked is because every time I’ve gone to the semis, I’ve been able to win the tournament. It’s been a big part of my year.”

After wins against Rafael Nadal and Felix Auger-Aliassime earned him his semi-final place, Fritz is looking forward to the chance to pick up his first win against Djokovic on the ATP Tour’s biggest stage.

“It’s a great opportunity,” he said of the occasion. “I look forward to playing Novak. Obviously he’s one of the best, if not the best. He’s done pretty well here in the past.”

Indeed, only one man has won more Nitto ATP Finals than Djokovic’s five. The Serbian is two wins away from matching Roger Federer’s six titles at the season finale.

Both Djokovic and Fritz have been at home on the indoor hard court at the Pala Alpitour. Fritz feels the slick conditions are an equaliser on the serve, comments which suggest a benefit for Djokovic in this particular match. 

“Holding serve by far is the most important thing on this court, holding serve and returning,” the American said. “But you don’t necessarily have to be serving amazing. If you just hit your spots, take care of the serve, it’s going to look like everyone is serving incredible.”

While Djokovic may not possess as powerful a serve as Fritz, the Serbian is a master at hitting his spots — and hitting them on the biggest points. In a marquee match that could come down to a few key shots, those pressure moments will likely prove decisive.

This evening semi-final will be played in the day session, with a start time of not before 2 p.m. CET / 8 a.m. ET.

Stefanos Tsitsipas flew out of the gate in a winner-takes-all Red Group finale agains Andrey Rublev on Friday at the Nitto ATP Finals. But after a flawless opening set, the Greek lost his way as Rublev roared into the Turin semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.

While Tsitsipas was quick to credit his opponent — “Things were coming off the racquet pretty good from his side,” he said of Rublev — the second seed also rued his missed opportunity in a match he felt was his for the taking.

“It’s a shame,” he said in his post-match press conference. “I feel like the better player. I felt like I could do more with the ball today. I felt like I could just be much more creative. I don’t even have to say that. I think it’s quite obvious.

“But, yeah, he prevailed with the few tools that he has. He was able to really take advantage of them and win today.”

While Rublev showed his frustration at the start of the second set, it was the Greek who was left flustered late, his ground game deserting him in the final set. His unraveling was completed by consecutive double faults which handed Rublev a double-break lead for 5-2 in the decider.

Due to Rublev’s positioning close to the baseline, Tsitsipas was unable to attack the net — a strategy he employed 45 times in his win against Daniil Medvedev.

“When you have an opponent standing so close to the baseline, he gives you less time to come to the front of the net,” he explained. “I didn’t really do it. I think I did it twice today.

“I wouldn’t say it would have perhaps changed the game, but I could have used it a bit more. He hits the ball slightly more powerful than my previous opponent and has better passing shots, I would say. That’s the reason why I chose to play the game I played today.”

Tsitsipas finalises his ATP Tour season with a 61-24 record and will finish the year with the most wins on Tour. He currently sits third in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, though Capsper Ruud could pass him by reaching the final.

Entering Turin, the Greek had an opportunity to pass Carlos Alcaraz for the year-end No. 1 honour in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, but his hopes were dashed by an opening defeat to Novak Djokovic.

Still, Tsitsipas is in position to accomplish his preseason goal of finishing the season in the Top 3.

“That was my goal from the beginning of the year, which I was still kind of not fully convinced that I can do it because of my [elbow] injury at the end of the previous year,” Tsitsipas said. “But after having a few good results in the beginning of the year, I thought maybe I can actually do it this year and break into the Top 3 again.”

As for 2023, the Greek has a clear priority for his offseason training: “My goal for the pre-season is going to be perhaps a bit more consistent with my returns, because I think if I’m able to improve on that aspect of my game, I can do more damage.”

Andrey Rublev fired up his forehand to forge an exhilarating turnaround against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday night in Turin, where the sixth seed clinched a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win to reach the semi-finals at the Nitto ATP Finals.

In a winner-takes-all match to decide the second-place finisher in Red Group, Rublev withstood an early barrage from Tsitsipas to claim a milestone victory at the prestigious season finale. Although the Greek’s bright start had his opponent under pressure at the Pala Alpitour, Rublev continued to hit through his groundstrokes throughout the match to seal his 51st tour-level win of the season.

The Marseille, Dubai, Belgrade and Gijon champion Rublev had lost his two prior ATP Head2Head clashes with Tsitsipas in 2022. Yet he displayed admirable resilience at key moments on Friday night in Turin, crashing 36 winners to seal a high-quality one-hour, 42-minute victory .

The 25-year-old Rublev, who had not progressed from the group stage in his two previous Nitto ATP Finals appearances, will meet third seed Casper Ruud in Saturday’s semi-finals.

More to follow…

With the 2022 season reaching its climax this week at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, the ATP Tour took the opportunity to honour some of its recently retired stars with a special ceremony on Friday at the prestigious season finale.

Those whose stellar achievements were recognised included former Top 10 French stars Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon. The 14-time tour-level titlist Simon played his last professional tournament in November at the Rolex Paris Masters, and he was pleased to be in attendance on an emotional night in Italy.

“It’s an honour to be here,” Simon told ATPTour.com. “I have been part of this Tour for more than 20 years now. I had the chance to play the Masters (now the Nitto ATP Finals). It was not here but in Shanghai [in 2008]. I had the chance to play this fantastic event once in my life and I’m really happy to come and have this ceremony here. It’s really a great feeling.”

Joining Tsonga and Simon on court was another former Top 10 player, Tommy Robredo. The Spaniard won 12 tour-level titles and reached a career-high No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2006.

“It’s a pleasure,” said Robredo, when asked about the ceremony. “When they sent me an email telling me that they wanted to invite me here to celebrate my retirement, it was a pleasure to realise that they still remember me.

“Being here with the players that retired this year and also being in the best place for the tennis world, the [Nitto ATP Finals], for a small recognition, it’s something amazing and I really want to thank the people for doing this.”

Eight-time ATP Tour champion Philipp Kohlschreiber was happy to make an exception to his post-retirement break from tennis to participate in the ceremony, during which the players were greeted by ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi.

“When I first got the email from our [Chairman] that I was invited, of course I said ‘Wow’,” said Kohlschreiber. “My first thought was I don’t want to have to do anything with tennis this year, but I said it is a great honour to be here with the best players in our sport and also to be in such a big stadium and with this special atmosphere, to be part of the celebration. Also, to say thank you and goodbye, I think it’s just a great honour and I’m very happy that I am here today.”

Also in attendance was four-time ATP Tour singles champion Sergiy Stakhovsky, who has taken up arms in Ukraine’s war effort and walked on court as the Pala Alpitour was lit up in his country’s national colours.

“It’s pretty special of course,” said Stakhovsky. “Gilles Simon and Tsonga, and [Robert] Lindstedt and [Horia] Tecau, and all these great doubles players, it’s a great bunch of individuals. We spent tonnes of time together on the Tour, playing against each other and competing, and spending time on the [ATP Player] Council with Gilles a lot. Of course, it’s great, it’s nice, but in my given circumstances I feel a little out of place here.”

World-class doubles stars who recently called time on their professional careers were also recognised at the Pala Alpitour. They included 38-time tour-level titlist Horia Tecau and 35-time tour-level doubles titlist Bruno Soares, as well as former World No. 5 and 2013 Nitto ATP Finals champion David Marrero, 23-time Tour titlist Robert Lindstedt, former Wimbledon men’s doubles champion Frederik Nielsen, and seven-time tour-level titlist Ken Skupski.

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic entered their final round-robin match on Friday with their semi-final spot already secured at the Nitto ATP Finals.

However, the Croatians still had a major role to play in the final Green Group standings, with their 7-6(4), 7-6(4) victory against Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios ensuring top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski joined the Croatians in the knockout stages.

Kokkinakis and Kyrgios held a 1-1 round-robin record heading into the clash, needing a win to reach the last four on debut in Turin. In a hard-fought clash, the Australians produced a strong serving performance, firing 17 aces and winning 90 per cent (46/51) of points behind their first delivery.

Mektic and Pavic are a tough team to crack, though, and they proved why during the 90-minute match, raising their level in both tie-breaks to finish the round-robin stage holding a perfect 3-0 record.

The fourth seeds’ victory means Koolhof and Skupski have qualified for the semi-finals. The Dutch-British tandem defeated Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek earlier to finish Green Group play at 2-1.

In an entertaining clash at the Pala Alpitour, Mektic and Pavic were sharp around the net, acting as a brick wall as they soaked up the Australian’s powerful baseline hitting to earn their 50th tour-level win together this year.

Mektic and Pavic, who fell at the semi-final stage in Turin last year, will face Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara in the last four on Saturday. Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury play Koolhof and Skupski in the other doubles semi-final.

The Croatians arrived in Turin seeking to become ATP Tour champions for the sixth time this year. They triumphed together at an ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome, while they also lifted trophies in Geneva, at The Queen’s Club in London, in Eastbourne and Astana.

As he prepares to take on Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday for a semi-final spot at the Nitto ATP Finals, Andrey Rublev tells ATPTour.com his preferences when it comes to all things Italian.

Would you rather visit the Colosseum or climb Mount Vesuvius?
(Climb Mount Vesuvius), because I already visited the Colosseum. It’s super nice. Obviously, I would love to visit inside [the Colosseum], because it has a huge history and is something unreal, but I never visited something like [Mount Vesuvius] so I would love to visit.

Would you prefer to attend a Serie A football match or watch the historic Italian Grand Prix at Monza?
I have been to an Italian football match, but I have never been to Formula 1. Therefore, I would probably choose Formula 1.

The Godfather or The Italian Job?
The Godfather.

Espresso or Cappuccino?
Cappuccino.

What is your favourite pizza topping?
A lot of them. There is not just one.

Is there a topping you won’t eat?
Maybe pineapple or tuna.

What is your favourite pasta dish?
I don’t know. Many, many different pastas.

Which Italian dish can you cook best?
Nothing. I don’t cook. I don’t know how to do it.

What first comes to mind when you think of Italy?
Food and history.