For Dominic Thiem, Sunday's Mutua Madrid Open final against Alexander Zverev will be a chance to become a fully-fledged member of the game's current elite. Thiem, the No. 7 player in the ATP Rankings, has been in the Top 10 since June 2016, after reaching his maiden Grand Slam semi-final at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic), and he has twice qualified for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals in London (2016, 2017). But Thiem has never won an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. “A Masters 1000 title would mean a lot to me because it's obviously really tough to win one,” Thiem said. View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the championship match at the 2018 Mutua Madrid Open & vote for...
For the second straight week, a final in Portugal will feature a #NextGenATP star against a home hope named Sousa. Last week, it was Joao Sousa prevailing over Frances Tiafoe at the ATP World Tour stop in Estoril. And on Sunday, Lisbon native Pedro Sousa will battle Casper Ruud at the inaugural Braga Open. A first ATP Challenger Tour title of the year will be on the line, as Ruud and Sousa meet for the €43,000 clay-court crown. Ruud is bidding to become the first teenage winner on the Challenger circuit this year and lift the second trophy of his young career. He survived a tricky half of the draw without dropping a set, ousting fellow #NextGenATP Alex de Minaur...
Denis Shapovalov hopes in a couple of years from now he can start talking “about Top 20, Top 10” in the ATP Rankings. The #NextGenATP Canadian may have to drastically shorten that timeframe if his week at the Mutua Madrid Open is anything to go by. View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches & vote for who you think will win! Zverev vs Shapovalov | Thiem vs Anderson [GROUP POLL]138[/GROUP POLL] The 19-year-old’s only prior clay-court victory before Madrid was over World No. 181 Viktor Galovic in a Davis Cup rubber in February this year. After a 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-4 victory against Kyle Edmund on Friday – a match in which he recovered after letting match point slip in...
Rafael Nadal could soon have a chance at revenge against Dominic Thiem, who snapped the Spaniard's 50-sets and 21-match clay-court win streaks on Friday during their Mutua Madrid Open quarter-final. Nadal and Thiem could meet again next week in the Rome quarter-finals, should the seeds hold at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, the season's third and final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament on clay, which starts Monday. View Draw The top-seeded Nadal, after a first-round bye, could meet countryman Fernando Verdasco and then possibly #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who's in the Madrid quarter-finals, or 15th seed Tomas Berdych. Thiem will face either home favourite Fabio Fognini or Frenchman Gael Monfils in the second round. The sixth-seeded Austrian and 12th seed...
