At the Stockholm Open, Jacob Fearnley of Britain defeated Corentin Moutet and extended his winning streak to 13 matches.
About a year ago, Fearnley had no ranking. However, after winning four straight Challenger titles, he made his way inside the top 100. The 23-year-old athlete qualified for the ATP 250 event in Sweden by winning two qualifying matches after taking a few weeks of break.
Moreover, Fearnley defeated Moutet of France 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) to advance and face the seventh seed Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor in the second round. The athlete won his maiden ATP Tour match at Wimbledon last July after receiving a wildcard. This is his second career victory.
According to the ATP records, Jacob Fearnley’s rise to being 98th in the world from 646th at the beginning of the year and 1,893rd last September 2023 is the fourth-largest move into the top since 2000.
In other news, Cameron Norrie lost to Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 6-4 as he made his comeback from an arm injury.
Cameron Norrie’s miserable season continued with a straight-set loss to Emil Ruusuvuori at Eastbourne. The athlete lost 7-6 (11-9), 6-3 to the Finnish player, who currently ranks 88th in the world.
With just 14 victories in 27 games and a drop to 44th in the world rankings, the 28-year-old has had a disappointing 2024 playing season. Moreover, Norrie will not be seeded in this year’s Wimbledon tournament.
Highlights of the play
In an attempt to improve on his previous week’s first-round loss at Queen’s, Norrie started the match steadily but failed to make the most out of the two break points while leading 3-2. After trailing 5-3 and needing to save two set points, Ruusuvuori managed to hold on and force a tie-break.
During the opening moments of the second set, Ruusuvuori improved his game to win the vital break and take a 5-3 lead, leaving Norrie disappointed once more about lost opportunities. With a British audience in his corner, Norrie tried to rally, but lost twice as his opponent sealed the victory to end a five-match losing streak.
With his win, Ruusuvuori will take on Chinese qualifier Shang Juncheng, who stunned seventh-seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina by winning 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) in straight sets.
In other related news, Britain’s Giles Hussey pulled off an incredible victory over sixth seed Mariano Navone, having only 45 minutes of the match. The 359th-ranked player in the world made the most of the game, defeating the Argentine 6-4, 6-2.
Rafael Nadal defeated Leo Borg, the son of legendary tennis player Bjorn Borg, 6-3, 6-4, in the Swedish Open singles opening round. With this win, Nadal will take on Cameron Norrie of Britain in the second round.
Tennis fans were excited by the pairing of the names of the two greatest men’s clay-court players of the Open era. Having been ranked 461, Leo received a wild card for the Bastad event and played well against his famous opponent, losing 6-3, 6-4.
In an interview, Nadal expressed how he felt: “Great feelings… For me it has been a huge honour to play against the son of one of the biggest legends in the history of our sport… I think he played quite well, he has a future in front of him so I wish him all the very best.”
Nadal’s singles comeback
After losing to Alexander Zverev in the first round of the French Open in May, Rafael Nadal was participating in his first singles encounter since then.
The 38-year-old veteran has been training to be at his peak for the Olympics in Paris later this month and chose to remain on clay rather than take a chance on more injuries by transitioning to grass.
Moreover, Cameron Norrie, ranked second in the United Kingdom and the man who defeated Jozef Kovalik in the opening round, might present a tougher challenge for Rafael Nadal.
After a string of setbacks in the form of injuries and poor performance, Monfils showed the world he still has some fight left in him by achieving a new career milestone.
Monfils: France’s all-time leader in hardcourt wins
Monfils has now achieved a total of 356 hardcourt victories, cementing his status as France’s all-time leader in hardcourt wins.
The Tennis Letter on X shared the exciting news, writing, “He passes Richard Gasquet (355) for the most hardcourt wins of any Frenchman in the Open Era. Another incredible achievement.”
Gael Monfils now has 356 hardcourt wins.
He passes Richard Gasquet (355) for the most hardcourt wins of any Frenchman in the Open Era.
It was in the 16th round of the Stockholm Open that Monfils finally reached this milestone.
He was up against Austrian player Filip Misolic. And Monfils, being back to his dominant best, served 11 aces and cruised to a straight set victory against the World No. 181 with 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.
By defeating Misolic at the ATP 250, Monfils easily overcame the four Frenchmen with the most victories on hard courts throughout history, namely Richard Gasquet with 355, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with 317, Gilles Simon with 301, and Fabrice Santoro with 246.
DID YOU KNOW❓
With his second round victory over Misolic in Stockholm today, 🇫🇷 @Gael_Monfils now has the *most* hardcourt wins of *any* Frenchman in the entire Open Era, surpassing countryman Richard Gasquet. 💥
Monfils’ year in 2022 was full of ups and downs; he had an early exit in the Madrid Masters and had to have surgery on his heel, which meant he couldn’t play in the French Open or the whole grass-court season. He also had a foot injury while playing Jack Draper at the Canadian Open.
During that time, Monfils was seen writhing in agony as he cried into his knee. Many people expressed their sympathy for the tennis aficionado at the moment for sustaining yet another injury after just coming back from a lengthy absence.
Monfils just went down on court in pain. Looked like he rolled his ankle or something.
Second pic he's sitting crying into his knee.
Sad if Monf has to withdraw. He was coming back in the match after losing the first, and he came back after a long layoff for this tournament. pic.twitter.com/V5P6FBXinR
In May of 2023, his rankings dropped to as low as 394th. Fortunately, his performance during the hard court swing has enabled him to rise to 211th in the world rankings.
In one interview, Monfils said that his ranking meant little to him, saying, “The thing is, of course, a lot of people mind the ranking in the absolute. I feel like it’s different for me. It’s getting to the end of my career. Of course, 200, whatever I am. In the well-est year, I was 15. Doesn’t really matter my ranking. It’s more about if physically I’m able to play weeks after weeks,” as per tennisuptodate.
Climbing the ATP rankings is an extremely demanding and arduous endeavor, even for those with a high level of motivation. The players must compete in events run by the ITF, ATP, and WTA in order to earn ranking points. And since everyone is almost always performing at their absolute best, winning each round of those tournaments is, of course, the most difficult part of the process. Then, according to a scoring system, they are rated based on their 18 best performances from the previous 52 weeks.
So, when French player Arthur Fils surmounted all those difficulties and climbed as many as 213 spots in just one year, it was widely praised.
Arthur Fils vs. Mark Lajal
The Frenchman was new to the ATP 250 hard court, but he cruised through all the challenges and booked a spot in the quarterfinals.
On Wednesday, 251st-ranked player Arthur Fils played against Estonian tennis player Mark Lajal at the European Open in Antwerp, Belgium. In a nail-biting bout, Fils fought off his equally strong foe on the court for one hour and fifty-nine minutes and prevailed with a 7-6(4), 7-6(2) victory.
Following his win, Fils is now set to progress to the next round, his fifth 2023 quarterfinal, where he will face the eight-seed, Peruvian tennis player Juan Pablo Rivera.
Fils’ breakthrough announced on Social Media X
After edging Lajal at the European Open, The Tennis Letter shared the news, and his improvement on the rankings on X:
Via The Tennis Letter: “Arthur Fils d. Mark Lajal 7-6(4) 7-6(2) in Antwerp. What Arthur’s been able to do this season deserves our attention. He started the year ranked #251 in the world. He’s now ranked #38.
✅5th QF of 2023. Expect a big season from him next year. This kid can play. 😮💨”
Arthur Fils d. Mark Lajal 7-6(4) 7-6(2) in Antwerp
What Arthur’s been able to do this season deserves our attention.
Fans then commented under the post to express their thoughts; one X user asked, “The next Tsonga?”, pertaining to the former world No. 5 French tennis player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who won as many as 18 singles titles. While another stated, “Prime candidate for newcomer of the year /most improved?”.
At the young age of 19, Fils has achieved remarkable success in only his second year of playing professional tennis. He managed to break through the top-50 ranking on the ATP, the list that’s widely regarded as the pinnacle of men’s tennis.
As Novak Djokovic ended his year with a bang after bagging yet another year-end No. 1 ranking for a record-extending eighth time, one other player also ended his year on a high note when he managed to skyrocket from rank 760 to 99 in just one year: Alex Michelsen.
Who is Alex Michelsen?
Alex Michelsen, an American tennis player hailing from Laguna Hills, California, is a 19-year-old kid who’s taking the tennis world by storm. Much like Ben Shelton, Michelsen also saw a massive improvement in his play this year. And his latest feat, winning his second Challenger title of the year in Knoxville, Tennessee, is what catapulted him to his current ranking of 99.
19-year-old 🇺🇸 Alex Michelsen has broken into the Top 100, rising from #114 to #99 today after winning his second Challenger title of the year in Knoxville, Tennessee. 🏆👏
On this day a year ago, the American was ranked #760—he's now the youngest player in the ATP Top 150. 🚀
Back in mid-July, the ATP tour shared the then 18-year-old Michelsen’s backstory.
In the piece, it was revealed that Michelsen followed in the footsteps of his parents, Erik and Sondra, who both played college tennis. Michelsen recounted throwing backhand strikes at his family’s garage door at the age of three, a gesture that has since become one of his most effective weapons on the court.
In his childhood, Michelsen got involved in different sports: tennis, baseball, and soccer. But as he approached his teens, he ultimately had to choose between the three.
“I chose tennis. And I find it way more enjoyable than most sports,” Michelsen said.
And this proved to be an excellent decision for Michelsen, as he dominated the scene as early as 18 years old. Even former No. 4 Brad Gilbert was left astounded when he witnessed the teen’s skills and compared him to Japan Open Champion Ben Shelton.
“He’s going to finish the year Top 100 and he’s going to be into the Aussie Open. But his game is completely different [from] Shelton, who had a big serve and kind of flies around the court.”
And just like an angel of prophecy, Gilbert back then foresaw what would happen today: Michelsen finishing the year in the Top 100.
