Stefanos Tsitipas

ATP Rising Stars Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov Cap off 2018 With Titles
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

ATP World Tour Finals

The year end finals in London featured most of the top ATP players, and it was Alexander Zverev, the world #5, who came out the victor, upsetting #1 Novak Djokovic and handing him a second straight final defeat 6-4 6-3 as Zverev was dominant on serve and broke Djokovic when needed.

Zverev, who had previously complained of fatigue due to the length of the season, fell to Djokovic in his first match of the round robin portion of play, but came back to beat Marin Cilic, John Isner, and Roger Federer to reach the final without dropping a set in three nip and tuck matches. Djokovic beat Cilic, Isner, and Kevin Anderson largely thanks to a superior return game to reach the final. He’ll enter the 2019 season as the favorite for the Australian Open given his strong form to finish the year. Zverev will be hoping that the season ending tournament win will boost him in 2019.

Bryan/Sock defeated Herbert/Mahut in the doubles final

ATP Paris

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In the final full field ATP event of the season, Russia’s Karen Khachanov stunned Novak Djokovic for the biggest title of his young career.The 22 year old Khachanov defeated Djokovic 7-5 6-4 capping off a dominant week where he sailed past Filip Krajinovic, and Matt Ebden, edged John Isner in 3 sets, and then upset both Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem to reach the final. Khachanov had a career year in 2018 and will look ahead to 2019 to post even better results in the Grand Slams.

Djokovic beat Joao Sousa, Damir Dzumhur, Marin Cilic, and Roger Federer (in 3 sets) to reach the final, he’ll finish the season with 7 finals appearances.

Granollers/Ram defeated Rojer/Tecau in the doubles final

ATP Next Gen Finals

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The second year of the ATP Next Gen Finals in Milan saw Greek #1 Stefanos Tsitipas go undefeated in round robin play defeating Frances Tiafoe, Hubert Hurkacz, and Jaume Munar. Tsitipas then defeated Andrey Rublev and finalist Alex De Minaur in competitive contests to win the title of this exhibition style event. De Minaur was the other player to go 3-0 in round robin play, defeating Taylor Fritz, Liam Caruana, and Andrey Rublev to cap off a breakthrough 2018. His matches will be highly anticipated once the Australian swing fires up in January.

Tsitsipas, Carreno Busta, Carballes Baena, and Jarry Reach Estoril Quarterfinals
Manuel Traquete for Tennis Atlantic

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Thursday at the Estoril Open saw the quarterfinal lineup be completed, with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Pablo Carreno Busta, Roberto Carballes Baena and Nicolas Jarry booking their place in the last 8. The first match of the day pitted Cameron Norrie and Carballes Baena, with the Spaniard winning a titanic battle that lasted well over 3 hours in the 3^rd set tiebreak. Norrie had plenty of chances to win the match, including serving for the match and 3 consecutive match points on Baena’s serve, but he couldn’t finish it off and the Spaniard that will face off against the ever rising Tsitsipas tomorrow.

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Tsitsipas continued his fantastic clay run with another top 10 win, this time over Kevin Anderson. While Anderson is hardly top 10-level on this surface, it’s still another impressive win for the Greek youngster after making the final last week in Barcelona. Tsitsipas wasn’t broken at all in this match.

The night session featured two straight set matches, first a quite straightforward win for last year’s champion Carreno Busta over Kicker and then a real tussle between Jarry and Ojeda. Jarry won in 2 sets, but he had to come back from 1-5 down in the second set tiebreak to get it done in what was a very tight contest for the most part. Carreno Busta and Jarry will face each other in the quarterfinals, with the Spaniard emerging as a clear favorite.

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Going into the quarterfinals on Friday, a lot of Portuguese fans are hopeful of finally having a Portuguese champion at the tournament after Frederico Gil barely missed out on the chance back in 2010. João Sousa is still alive (somehow given how close he was to losing to Pedro Sousa) and looking at the draw he seems to have as good a chance as anyone to win it all. His match against Kyle Edmund, semifinalist in Australia, will no doubt be the most eagerly awaited one at Estoril tomorrow for the home fans.

The remaining quarterfinal will be played between Tiafoe and Bolelli, with Tiafoe the favorite, in what will on paper be a very evenly matched contest.