Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin moved closer to a Nitto ATP Finals berth on Sunday when they won the Swiss Indoors Basel title. The third seeds rallied past Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 6-7(8), 7-6(3), 10-1 to triumph at the ATP 500 event.

Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin are in fifth place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings as they try to secure their qualification for the season finale in their first full year as a duo. They have now won four titles in 2023, emerging victorious at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami, Marseille, Los Cabos and Basel.

“I think it all started with the golf,” Roger-Vasselin said, cracking a laugh. “We play golf together a lot. We have family, we have the same age of kids, so we kind of have the same age as well. We hang out well outside of the court and obviously on court I think our games match well together.

“It’s been a great year so far and we’re obviously very happy to win here in Basel.”

🏆Your doubles champions in Basel 🏆@gonzalezsanty + @ERogerVasselin lift the trophy after defeating Nys/Zielinski 6-7(8), 7-6(6), [10-1]!#SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/2PpoY4m3ZQ

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 29, 2023

Gonzalez said during the trophy ceremony: “Thanks to my partner Eddy for a great week. We enjoyed playing in Basel. It’s not our first time here. I have some friends in Basel so I want to say hello to them. Thanks for coming out and cheering for us. Thanks to my wife and kids. They came from all the way from Mexico for this. And of course everybody here attending the final, it was great to play again in front of you guys.”

Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin saved one match point in the second round against Harri Heliovaara and Mate Pavic. On Sunday, the Match Tie-break was far more straightforward.

“It’s not the first time we played each other this year, except the first match you guys crushed us,” Zielinski said. “It was hell of a battle. Congrats to you, congrats to your team and you guys are great players who deserve it and good luck for the rest of the season.”

Gonzalez is now a 22-time tour-level champion and Roger-Vasselin has claimed 27 tour-level trophies in his career.

Novak Djokovic’s season is not over, but the Serbian is certainly happy with his success so far in 2023 as he gets ready for the Rolex Paris Masters, the final ATP Masters 1000 event of the year.

“I obviously had a fantastic year so far, winning three out of four Slams and playing another final in Wimbledon. At the beginning of the year I was saying that Grand Slams are the priorities. They still remain the priorities also for the next season and the tournaments where I want to do my best,” Djokovic said. “So I couldn’t ask for a better season, to be honest. One match away from winning all four Slams is something I would sign right away at the beginning of the season if someone told me that would be the case.”

The Serbian owns 24 major crowns and 39 Masters 1000 trophies (six in Paris-Bercy), but his love for the game and desire to continue challenging for those titles keeps him motivated. Djokovic is also pursuing an eighth ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone honour.

“Of course my greatest motivation is still love for the game. I really like competing. So as simple as that. Then I always have goals, and to win another Slam, to be No. 1 again, to finish the year as No. 1. Those are let’s say the big goals,” said Djokovic, who will play Tomas Martin Etcheverry or Miomir Kecmanovic in the second round in Paris. “Of course next year is Olympic Games. I really want to do well in Olympic Games, represent my country. Davis Cup is something that still gives me a lot of inspiration.

“Of course any tournament where I play, I want to win, no doubt. But the big goals are the ones that I mentioned. So I think it’s important to have clarity, to have goals and ambitions and move towards them.”

Recent news in the tennis world involved a former member of Djokovic’s team: former World No. 1 Boris Becker. The German, who helped the Serbian reach some of his greatest heights, is now coaching Holger Rune, who defeated Djokovic in last year’s Paris final.

“I think it’s a very good decision from Holger to invite Boris to join his team. Boris is legend of our sport, someone that understands the game so well from a player’s perspective, coaching perspective,” Djokovic said. “He’s been around the game for so many years. He’s seen and played against different players in different generations. Incredibly intelligent, smart man, very confident, obviously composed. He was famous for his mental strength and ability to come up with his best game when he was facing the biggest pressure.”

Djokovic explained that it is one thing to reach the Top 10 and another to begin winning majors and climb to the very top. He has already noticed Becker integrating one thing into Rune’s routine: chess.

“I saw they are playing chess. That was the first thing that Boris introduced to our team, as well, playing chess,” Djokovic said. “I think it’s great for focus and I think just mental clarity and strategy.”

Djokovic is still focussed on improving himself. He explained that after every tournament, he tries to correct things in his game, attitude and approach.

“I try to be always the better version of myself the next week comparing to the week before,” Djokovic said. “Overall if I have to see things from a general perspective, what I learned as a player is that in a way the lesson that I have already learned, but it’s good to always go through it again, is that consistency is the key, sticking to the routines, and things that make you a better player and improving. Improvement is a constant process.

“So there is no stagnation and relying on what has served you well before the year before or the week before is going to serve you this week. At least in my mentality and approach, that’s not the case.”

The 36-year-old knows there are plenty of players now and in the future who are eager to stop the World No. 1.

“They are hungry, dynamic, they’re energetic, they want to win the biggest tournaments in the world, they want to beat you on the big stage. I know they are doing everything they can to improve and to figure out the way how to win against you,” Djokovic said. “So I have to do the same or even more. So I learned again that that’s going to give you the results in the end of the day.”

The 2022 Nitto ATP Finals doubles champions, Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, will return to Turin to defend their title from 12-19 November.

Ram and Salisbury have qualified as a team for the fifth consecutive year. They are guaranteed to either finish inside the Top 7 of the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, or qualify by being the highest-placed Grand Slam champions finishing the regular season between eighth and 20th.

The American-British duo won this year’s US Open, their third consecutive triumph at the season’s final major. Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler, currently 17th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, emerged victorious at the Australian Open, but cannot finish higher than Ram/Salisbury.

If Ram/Salisbury finish in the Top 7, Hijikata/Kubler will compete in Turin. If they do not, the Australians will miss out on the season finale.

Ram and Salisbury have finished their season well after an uncharacteristically slow start. All three of their 2023 titles — Lyon, the US Open and Vienna — have come since the end of May.

The five-time Nitto ATP Finals qualifiers also reached an ATP Masters 1000 final in Toronto. The defending champions own a 12-5 record at the year-end championships and did not lose a match at the Pala Alpitour last year. They also made the final in 2021.

The other teams that have already qualified are Ivan Dodig/Austin Krajicek, Wesley Koolhof/Neal Skupski and Rohan Bopanna/Matthew Ebden.

Hubert Hurkacz has continued his hot late-season form by defeating Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) Saturday to advance to the Swiss Indoors Basel final.

The win lifted the World No. 11 Pole ahead of Taylor Fritz into ninth place in the season-long Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin, leaving him just one place behind Holger Rune and the cut for the eight-man Nitto ATP Finals.

Rune will now take the court in Basel for his semi-final against Felix Auger-Aliassime as he looks to avenge his loss to the Canadian in last year’s final.

Hurkacz chose the hard path to victory. He failed to serve out the match at 5-3 in the third set and then failed to convert two match points on Humbert’s serve in the following game. He needed a further three match points in the tie-break to clinch victory.

In the quarter-finals Hurkacz dropped 23 aces on Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor but against the left-handed Humbert he managed just eight, including one on match point. He now has 958 aces for the year as he attempts to reach 1,000 in a season for the first time.

Hurkacz, who won the Rolex Shanghai Masters title earlier this month, seeks his third title of the year, second at the ATP 500 level (Halle, 2022) and eighth overall.

Matteo Berrettini announced Saturday that he has ended his partnership with long-term coach Vincenzo Santopadre.

The 27-year-old Berrettini worked with Santopadre for 13 years. The Italian won seven tour-level titles under Santopadre’s guidance, while he rose to a career-high No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

“I arrived in your “tennis arms” not yet knowing what I wanted to do of my life, you managed to make me dream far away while keeping my feet on the ground, day by day,” Berrettini wrote on Instagram.

“I don’t think I can put it down something that can really express what I feel for you. Gratitude, affection, respect, admiration, gratitude, joy and everything that is beautiful in our relationship.

“This is just a professional goodbye that probably increases our personal relationship. I’ve felt you on my side in every difficult moment faced in the last 13 years and, although there have been many hardships, I feel only joy thinking to me and you. I’m happy and grateful to the people who made us meet, and proud of us for how we have exploited this gift that has been granted to us. Without you there would have been Matteo Berrettini, but there wouldn’t have been The Hammer.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

A post shared by Matteo Berrettini (@matberrettini)

Berrettini announced on Friday he would not play again this year. The Italian has not competed since the US Open, where he retired from his second-round match with an ankle injury.

Jannik Sinner made history on Saturday when he became the first Italian man in the Open Era (since 1968) to earn 55 wins in a season, reaching the Erste Bank Open final in the process.

The 22-year-old overcame Andrey Rublev 7-5, 7-6(5) in Vienna to notch his 55th victory of 2023, surpassing Corrado Barazzutti’s 54 mark in 1978.

Sinner played front-foot tennis throughout the one-hour, 52-minute clash against Rublev. He struck 26 winners, including 10 aces, and recovered from failing to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set by raising his depth and power in the tie-break.

With his win, Sinner improved to 4-2 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, while he ended Rublev’s 100 per cent record in tour-level semi-finals in 2023. The third seed was 6-0 before facing Sinner.

Sinner, who will compete at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin in November after qualifying earlier this month, is into his sixth final of the season and 13th overall.

The second seed will meet Daniil Medvedev in the title match as he aims to win his fourth crown of the year. Earlier this year, Sinner triumphed in Montpellier and Beijing, while he clinched his first ATP Masters 1000 crown in Toronto.

Rublev had tasted success in Vienna before, winning the title at the hard-court event in 2020. The World No. 5, who will join Sinner in Turin at the prestigious year-end event, was chasing his sixth trophy at ATP 500 level.

Daniil Medvedev earned a personal-best 64th tour-level win of the season on Saturday when he defeated long-term rival Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 7-6(6) to reach the Erste Bank Open final for the second consecutive year.

The top seed played with consistency and looked comfortable for large periods against Tsitsipas, standing deep behind the baseline to control the tempo of rallies at the ATP 500 event. Medvedev committed just 10 unforced errors and saved all three break points he faced to reach his 36th tour-level final and ninth of the season after one hour and 44 minutes.

The 27-year-old, who improved to 9-4 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against the Greek, has now recorded the most victories on Tour in 2023, surpassing Carlos Alcaraz (63-9). He will aim to clinch his 65th win and sixth title of the season when he meets Jannik Sinner or Andrey Rublev in Sunday’s final.

If Medvedev successfully triumphs in Vienna, it will be his first successful title defence on the ATP Tour. He has won 20 tour-level singles crowns but has never won a single event more than once.

In a high-quality semi-final, both hit with consistent aggression. Medvedev struck 22 winners to Tsitsipas’ 29, while the World No. 3 was impressive on serve, winning 84 per cent (41/49) of points behind his first delivery. With little to separate them in the second set, two forehand errors from Tsitsipas from 6/6 in the tie-break proved decisive.

2021 – 63 victories
2023 – 6️⃣4️⃣ victories (so far 😅)

A career-best milestone for @DaniilMedwed as he pips Tsitsipas 6-4, 7-6(6) to book a final spot@ErsteBankOpen | #erstebankopen pic.twitter.com/xGtd4MRqGW

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 28, 2023

Medvedev is trying to win his third ATP 500 title of the year and third on hard courts, after clinching trophies in Rotterdam and Dubai. Earlier this week he survived three-set tests against Grigor Dimitrov and Karen Khachanov but looked close to his best against Tsitsipas.

Tsitsipas was aiming to reach his fourth final of the season, having triumphed in Los Cabos earlier this year. The Greek leaves Vienna sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin on 3,875 points, 820 points clear of ninth-placed Taylor Fritz, who is outside of the cut. The Top 8 players will qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 12-19 November. Medvedev has already stamped his ticket for Turin.