Tennis News

Ruud makes big statement with De Minaur win, levels United Cup tie

If Casper Ruud’s performance Saturday evening at the United Cup is a sign of things to come in 2026, the rest of the ATP Tour will be on notice.

The Norwegian produced a flawless performance to cruise past home star Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 34 minutes to level Norway’s tie against Australia at 1-1. 

“I’m happy to get a great start,” Ruud told ATP No. 1 Club member Jim Courier in his on-court interview. “To beat Alex here in Australia is one of the toughest challenges we have in tennis, so I’m super happy to have that on my resume now.”

Ruud played aggressively and decisively, preventing De Minaur from finding any rhythm. The former No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings saved all five break points he faced and consistently put pressure on the Australian’s serve, earning 10 break chances and converting three.

“It’s a great start a new season,” Ruud said. “I think we’ve all seen Alex in better shape than he was today. He was doing a few unforced errors that typically he doesn’t, so I got some free points here and there. You saw in the beginning he was struggling with his serve, so I got a free break and just built from there.”

The first Group D tie of the competition is down to a deciding mixed doubles after Storm Hunter staked the home side to a 1-0 lead earlier in the evening. Hunter and John-Patrick Smith will play Viktor Durasovic and Ulrikke Eikeri.

^{Photo Credit: Jason McCawley/Getty Images}
Australia opened its 2026 United Cup campaign when Hunter defeated Malene Helgo 6-2, 7-6 (3).

Hunter, 31, returned to competition last season after missing nearly a year between March 2024 and March 2025 because of an Achilles tendon injury that required surgery. She stepped in as a last-minute replacement on Saturday for Australia No. 1 Maya Joint, who was sidelined because of illness.

The experienced left hander made a fast start against the 26-year-old Helgo, who is competing in the United Cup for the fourth time. Hunter broke serve twice in the opening set to take it 6-2.

Helgo, ranked No. 532 and seeking her first WTA Tour victory, raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set before Hunter — a former world No. 1 doubles player and a Grand Slam mixed doubles champion — rallied to level the set at 5-5.

Helgo saved three break points in a crucial 11th game to hold for a 6-5 lead, but Hunter held serve to force a tie-break. The Australian then dominated the tie-break to seal a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory.

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‘What a kid I was!’ Top 10-chasing Cobolli reveals the match he watches on repeat

Two years is a long time in tennis, as Flavio Cobolli can testify.

At the 2024 Australian Open, the Italian arrived as an unheralded World No. 100 who was bidding to qualify for the main draw at a major for the first time. Cobolli did just that at Melbourne Park, before defeating Nicolas Jarry in a five-set epic to earn his maiden main draw Grand Slam triumph. It is a moment he returns to again and again.

“When I have time, I watch that match,” Cobolli told ATPTour.com in Perth, where he is preparing to compete on Australian soil once again, this time as the World No. 22 and a two-time ATP Tour champion at the United Cup. “I played great tennis in qualies, but I was new on the Tour. I played against Nico [Jarry] and there was a big crowd for him, not for me.

“It was tight. No one knew me there and I played like a new guy on the Tour, but when I remember that moment, I remember a guy that was happy on the court. Like I am now. So I’m trying to keep this feeling in the ‘new’ part of my career also.”

The ‘new’ part of his career that Cobolli refers to has seen him emerge as a consistent Top 30 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. The Italian even broke the Top 20 for a three-week stint last July and August after reaching his maiden major quarter-final at Wimbledon.

“It was only two years ago, but I feel I am now on the Tour like I wanted,” said Cobolli, comparing the video of him taking on Jarry in Melbourne to his current feeling. “When I look back, it’s always great to remember these things and I don’t want to forget where I’ve come from.

“When I watch [the video], I think what a kid I was. When I watch my matches now and I see where I am, I feel like I’m very different from two years ago.”

In 2025, Cobolli racked up a 34-27 record, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, and lifted his first two ATP Tour crowns (both on clay) in Bucharest and Hamburg, respectively. That return represented a significant turnaround for the Italian, who won his first two matches of the year at the United Cup but by late March was 2-8 at tour-level as he struggled for form and fitness.

“I know that 2025 was a great year, but it didn’t start how I wanted because [after the United Cup] I didn’t win a match until the first title in Bucharest,” said Cobolli, who this year will spearhead Team Italy’s group-stage bid alongside WTA No. 8 Jasmine Paolini. “The goal for this year is to be ready to start the season like I want, because last year I was injured also. This year I’m ready and in shape. We have practised a lot, and we are ready to start.

“The goal for me is to be ready for the first match of the year. I love to play in this competition and play with Jas and the other players in the team. I think we can have a great competition here.”

Proof that Flavio’s brother is Team Italy’s designated hype man 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/L0fkpUlbIF

— United Cup (@UnitedCupTennis) December 29, 2025

Cobolli and his team focused on several areas of his game in the offseason in the hope he can push past his career high of World No. 17 this year.

“We worked a lot on the return, because we haven’t worked a lot on it as my return has always been very good,” explained the 23-year-old. “But with this level, with these guys that serve as they do, it’s a thing you have to improve a lot. Also my serve and my volley game. These are the three things that I worked on a lot.

“The percentage of my serve [will be important] for sure, and my game when I attack. My volley is not the best shot that I have. The way I finish volleys is going to be a goal for this year.”

Cobolli hopes to use the relative stability he has found inside the Top 30 over the past seven months to play a lighter schedule with an emphasis on the Tour’s biggest events. With improved results at the majors and the ATP Masters 1000s, he believes he can make it to his next rankings goal.

“The goal for this year is to improve and to play a little bit less than last year for sure,” he said ahead of his opening singles match against Stan Wawrinka in Perth. “To be part of the big stages as much as I can. The dream is to be Top 10, but it’s tough and I know there are many players that are working for that also. So it’s going to be tough, but when I think about myself and my team, we will see what happens. For sure it’s going to be a great year.”

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Scouting Report: Musetti, Medvedev & Fonseca among stars opening 2026 in Brisbane & Hong Kong

A range of stars are set to kickstart their 2026 campaigns this week with an ATP 250 doubleheader in Brisbane and Hong Kong.

Daniil Medvedev is the top seed at the Brisbane International presented by ANZ, where defending champion Jiri Lehecka and #NextGenATP talent Joao Fonseca also compete. Top 10 star Lorenzo Musetti headlines action at the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open and is joined by former winners Andrey Rublev and Alexandre Muller.

ATPTour.com looks at five things to watch at each event.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN BRISBANE
1) Medvedev on the march: Medvedev may have endured a difficult 2025 season, but he can take confidence from his late-season surge as he begins his 2026 quest. The former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings hired coaches Thomas Johansson and Rohan Goetzke before snapping his 15-month title drought in Almaty in October. Medvedev’s best result in Brisbane came in 2019 when he reached the final.

2) Two-time winner Dimitrov: After a heartbreaking pectoral injury at Wimbledon — when he was forced to retire two sets up against Jannik Sinner in the fourth round — Grigor Dimitrov returned in Paris but withdrew ahead of his second match. Many eyes will be on the 34-year-old’s physical state when he opens his season in Brisbane, where claimed the trophy in 2017 and 2024.

3) Defending champ Lehecka: Australia has been a happy hunting ground for Lehecka. The Czech has won both of his two ATP Tour titles in the country, having triumphed in Adelaide in 2024 and Brisbane last year. The 24-year-old is entering 2026 off the back of a stellar year, rising to a career-high World No. 16 and earning 41 wins, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

4) Fonseca & Tien seeded prospects: The past two winners of the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, Joao Fonseca and Learner Tien, make their debuts at the Australian ATP 250. Both players enjoyed breakout seasons last year, with Fonseca winning titles in Buenos Aires and Basel, while Tien triumphed in Metz and Jeddah.

5) Cash/Glasspool lead doubles field: Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool won seven ATP Tour titles together last season and will try to win their first of the new campaign in Brisbane. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Lehecka also team in the doubles event.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN HONG KONG
1) Musetti top seed: After a season in which he competed at the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time and rose to a career-high World No. 6, there is heightened expectation on Musetti in 2026. The Italian top seed reached three finals last year, but he is aiming to win his first title since 2022, when he won in Hamburg and Naples.

2) Rublev resurgence? Having last year dropped outside of the Top 10 for the first time since 2022, Rublev will aim to start his season on the right foot in Hong Kong. The former World No. 5 won the title on his debut in 2024 but fell in the second round of his title defence last year.

3) More Muller magic? Muller became just the third player to win an ATP Tour title having lost the first set of every match he played in en route to the crown in Hong Kong last season. The Frenchman then reached the final at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro and jumped inside the world’s Top 40.

Watch 2025 Hong Kong Final Highlights:

4) #NextGenATP Sakamoto: Rei Sakamoto, 19, has gained entry to the ATP 250 through the Next Gen Accelerator, which offers players aged 20 and under more opportunities to compete on Tour. The Japanese player won the 2024 Australian Open boys’ title and reached No. 1 in the ITF Junior Rankings.

5) Khachanov/Rublev in doubles draw: Karen Khachanov and Rublev will team in the doubles event, with singles star Musetti also in doubles action alongside Lorenzo Sonego. Sander Arends and Romain Arneodo are the top seeds.

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Medvedev, Musetti learn Brisbane & Hong Kong paths

Daniil Medvedev, Tommy Paul and Joao Fonseca are among the stars set to kick off the 2026 season this coming week at the Brisbane International presented by ANZ, where the draw was made on Saturday.

Top seed Medvedev is competing in Brisbane for the first time since he reached the final in 2019 and will face Marton Fucsovics in his opener. The winner will meet Frances Tiafoe or Australian wild card Aleksandar Vukic.

Paul has not competed since the US Open due to a foot injury but will make his return to action against big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Paul is in the same half as second seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who begins against Brandon Nakashima.

Davidovich Fokina is the only player inside the Top 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings without a tour-level title, having reached four finals last season. He will try to change that record at the ATP 250.

Joao Fonseca starts his season at a career-high No. 24 and will play American Reilly Opelka in the first round. Opelka advanced to the final in Brisbane last year, losing to defending champion Jiri Lehecka. Third seed Lehecka starts his title defence against Tomas Machac.

The Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion Learner Tien will look to continue his impressive form when he faces Camilo Ugo Carabelli in the first round. The 20-year-old American could play good friend Alex Michelsen in the second round. Grigor Dimitrov returned to Tour in Paris in November and will continue his comeback in Brisbane, where he plays a qualifier in the first round.

At the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open, Lorenzo Musetti is the top seed and meets Tomas Martin Etcheverry or Valentin Royer in the second round following Saturday’s draw. The World No. 8 is making his third consecutive appearance at the ATP 250.

Second seed Alexander Bublik will take on Botic van de Zandschulp or a qualifier, while 2024 champion Andrey Rublev will face Wu Yibing or Fabian Marozsan. #NextGenATP star Rei Sakamoto takes on fifth seed Lorenzo Sonego, with 20-year-old Chinese lefty Shang Juncheng playing Francisco Comesana. Home favourite Coleman Wong meets Mariano Navone.

Shang reached the semi-finals in Hong Kong last season before injuries derailed his year. Wong’s best result in 2025 came at the US Open, where he advanced to the third round.

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Women's game did not need 'Battle of Sexes' – Swiatek

Iga Swiatek says tennis did not need the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ between Nick Kyrgios and Aryna Sabalenka as the women’s game “stands on its own”.

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Bencic gives Swiss early lead in Perth, Wawrinka v Rinderknech next

Switzerland couldn’t have asked for a much better start to its 2026 United Cup campaign than the one Belinda Bencic delivered Saturday in Perth.

The 28-year-old dropped the opening game against France’s Leolia Jeanjean, but never trailed again, rolling to a 6-2, 6-4 win at RAC Arena in 1 hour and 31 minutes. The victory — sealed with a backhand winner down the line — gave Switzerland a 1-0 lead in its tie against France ahead of the upcoming men’s singles match between Stan Wawrinka and Arthur Rinderknech.

Bencic controlled the matchup from the outset in the pair’s first meeting, dominating at the net, where she won 23 of 29 points, and reinforcing that edge with strong serving. She won 78 per cent of her first-serve points to stifle most of the pressure Jeanjean managed to generate.

“The last game was tricky with the Australian sun,” Bencic said after the match. “I think this is really one of the only places — to play in Australia — where you get into this situation. So I should have done better somehow. So I’m gonna find some solutions next time.”

Bencic is coming off a resurgent 2025 season in which she was named WTA Comeback Player of the Year, climbing from World No. 421 in January to No. 11 in the year-end rankings in her first full season after maternity leave.

“Last year, we didn’t expect it to go so well,” Bencic said. “Of course, I don’t think the work is done yet. I’m extremely happy to receive the Comeback Player of the Year award, and now it’s time to do more work and try to get better.”

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Fils delays injury return, withdraws from Hong Kong & Aussie swing

Arthur Fils will not compete in January while he continues his recovery from a back injury.

The Frenchman confirmed on his YouTube channel that he has withdrawn from Hong Kong, Adelaide and the Australian Open. The stress fracture first forced him to withdraw from a tournament before his third-round match at Roland Garros last May.

Fils made an initial comeback in August at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers in Toronto, but that proved to be his final event of the 2025 season after he felt ‘a warning sign’ in his back in Canada.

A three-time ATP Tour titlist, the 21-year-old Fils is the current No. 39 in the PIF ATP Rankings. He reached his career high of No. 14 last April.

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Mertens makes quick United Cup start for Belgium against China

Elise Mertens got Belgium off to a strong start on the first day of United Cup play in Sydney on Saturday by beating China’s Zhu Lin 6-2, 6-2 in Group B action.

The top-ranked player from her country on the WTA Tour, Mertens kicked off her 12th WTA tour-level season in style with a one-hour, 18-minute victory — her fourth in five career meetings with former World No. 31 Zhu.

The 31-year-old from China had a resurgent second half of 2025 after seeing her position in the PIF WTA Rankings plummet due to an elbow injury. Ranked No. 493 in August, she reached the fourth round of the WTA 1000 event in Montreal, and begins 2026 ranked No. 168. But, on the whole, Mertens proved too much for the Chinese No. 6 to handle.

She broke serve six times in victory, won five of the first six games, and four straight from 1-1 in the second set, even though she landed less than than 50 per cent of first serves in set two.

Zizou Bergs, the ATP World No. 42, will attempt to clinch the tie for Belgium next when he faces Zhang Zhizhen, who, like Zhu, is also a former World No. 31 on the comeback trail from injury.

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Zhang Zhizhen's path back from a shoulder injury & completely changing his forehand

A Chinese history maker is back at the United Cup.

The first Chinese man to crack the Top 100 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Zhang Zhizhen, is again representing his country on the global stage at the United Cup. But this edition is different for the 29-year-old righty.

Zhang is No. 410 in the world after an injury-mired 2025 season during which he struggled with a shoulder injury, which dates back to when he was 15.

“I do believe sometimes during the years, a few days, I felt the shoulder was painful, but I thought the problem was gone,” Zhang told ATPTour.com. “It seemed like that last year, I felt maybe in two weeks the problem will be gone. But it was still there and we did an MRI with an injection to see the problem.”

The former World No. 31 began feeling pain in the front of his shoulder in February when he competed in Doha and Dubai. It began to subside and then became a bigger issue the following month when he traveled to the United States for the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

The imaging showed that his injury was actually inside the shoulder and closer to the back of it rather than in the front. He would not play a competitive match for more than six months.

The next two months, Zhang did not play tennis at all. Instead, the Chinese standout did fitness every day, played on his computer and spent time with family.

“But most of the time I was running,” Zhang said with a smile.

“In those moments sometimes I was missing a bit to play tennis. I knew when the tennis would start it would get a little bit easier. To do the fitness part, the exercises, only one session of the fitness part was really tough. So I wish I had some tennis, but I could not in that moment.”

The only time Zhang left Shanghai during the period was in late April to attend the Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid. The bulk of his time was spent staying in shape, improving his conditioning and biding his time.

Zhang began playing tennis lightly in July and did not feel too comfortable on the court when he began.

“But at least I was moving all the time on the tennis court, so I didn’t really forget about the court size,” Zhang said. “It was still okay. But to play rallies was a little bit different.”

What he was able to do was change his game. Zhang believes that his forehand swing path was what caused his injury, so the time away allowed him to totally alter his swing.

“This forehand, I wanted to change already. It was even a better moment to change completely,” Zhang said. “Without this shoulder injury, I think we wouldn’t change that and make such a big difference. We would do smaller changes to help, but now we changed everything.

“Preparation, using the power, how to transfer the power and a little bit the motion of the swing, which is everything. To be more natural and more like everyone.”

Zhang, who returned for three tournaments in China in September, will try to show the progress he has made at the United Cup. China takes on Belgium Saturday in Sydney.

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The story of a successful British WWII deception operation

A mocked idea to feed false plans to the Nazis via a drowned corpse is brought to life.

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