Next Gen ATP Finals: Battle Of Young Stars Begins In Jeddah

2024 NextGen ATP Finals ,Action Day One
2024 NextGen ATP Finals in Jeddah (photo: Next Gen ATP Finals)

JEDDAH/WASHINGTON, December 19, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

The Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF got underway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with all eight of this year’s best 20-and-under players in action on Wednesday, leading to the semifinals on Saturday and the title match on Sunday.

Jeddah’s reputation for diversity and for bringing together people and cultures was on full display at King Abdullah Sports City. Each of the four matches on Opening Day brought forth compelling storylines to Centre Court.

For instance, the Red Group’s afternoon session matched a pair of Americans, No. 2 seed Alex Michelsen against his good friend, No. 7 seed Nishesh Basavareddy, won by Michelsen. It also included a first-time battle between last year’s semifinalist Luca Van Assche of France, seeded sixth, and fourth seed Shang Juncheng of China to begin the day, in which Van Assche triumphed.

By evening, it was time for top seed and 2023 finalist Arthur Fils of France to headline the Blue Group session. He opened against No. 8 seed Joao Fonseca of Brazil in a rematch of their February Rio Open clash that Fonseca won in straight sets. This time, they went the distance and Fonseca prevailed in five sets. It followed the earlier match-up of No. 3 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic against No. 5 seed Learner Tien of the United States, which turned out to be the most exciting match on Day One. It was decided by a fifth-set tie-break, won by Tien.

Tien pulls out five-set thriller against Mensik

Learner Tien, ranked 122nd, pulled off the biggest upset on Wednesday with a dramatic 4-3 (6), 4-3 (3), 2-4, 2-4, 4-3 (8) victory over No. 48 Jakub Mensik in two hours and 17 minutes, in a meeting of 19-year-old first-timers in Jeddah.

In the longest match of the day, Tien withstood 24 aces from the young Czech star and played to his strength to pull out a five-setter that was decided by a tiebreaker. It was just the second time on a hard court at Tour level that Mensik had been beaten by an opponent ranked outside of the Top 50 this year.

Ahead two-sets-to-none, Tien weathered the storm of losing consecutive sets in the third and fourth as Mensik, the ATP Newcomer of the Year, started to dominate on his serve. Then, the American up-and-comer came back steady in the fifth – waiting patiently for his chances – and won on his third match-point opportunity after saving a match point during the tie-break. By the end, Tien played his best tennis and showed great composure.

Tien converted his only break point against Mensik and saved six of nine he faced. He overcame 34 unforced errors of his own and benefited from 44 unforced errors made by Mensik. Although Mensik won 84 percent of his first-serve points and outpointed Tien 110-96, it wasn’t enough.

“I feel great,” Tien said. “I was up two-sets-to-love and found myself down a break point in the fifth, which is tough. I though he played really well in the third and fourth [sets]. I don’t feel like I gave it to him. I accepted it and fought in the fifth. I’m just really happy to get through it.

“It was tough playing a guy that serves that well,” Tien added. “It puts a lot of pressure on your serve. When you get your chance, you have to capitalize, because you don’t know when you’re going to get more.”

Van Assche opens tournament with a solid victory

In the opening match of the tournament, No. 128 Luca Van Assche defeated 50th-ranked Shang Juncheng, 4-3 (3), 2-4, 4-1, 4-3 (5), in an hour and 56 minutes by taking advantage of his opponent’s inconsistency. The Frenchman, who was a semifinalist in last year’s event, is 1-0 in the Red Group. Shang is the first Chinese player chosen to compete in the Next Gen ATP Finals.

“I think the experience of last year helped me a lot today, because I already played with these rules,” Van Assche after during his on-court interview after securing victory in his first meeting with Shang. “For Jerry, it was his first time, so it’s difficult to be prepared to play sets of four games and all these rules. I remember my first match last year against Abdullah [Shelbayh]. It was difficult to adapt, and it was easier for me because I already played four matches last year.”

Van Assche, who served eight aces and hit 19 winners overall, added: “I think I managed to be very consistent during the whole match. He had very good ups, but also downs. Sometimes he was playing like fire and sometimes he was making mistakes.”

Indeed, although Shang struck 33 winners, he also committed 41 unforced errors. “I knew I needed to be very solid from beginning to end, so I’m very happy with the way I played today and I hope to continue like this across the next couple of days,” Van Assche said.

Michelsen wins all-American battle of good friends

After going 0-3 in the round-robin stage a year ago, 41st-ranked Alex Michelsen won an all-American battle of good friends over Nishesh Basavareddy, 2-4, 4-3 (5), 4-3 (4), 4-2, in an hour and 52 minutes to set up a Thursday showdown with Luca Van Assche. Meanwhile, Basavareddy, a former collegiate standout at Stanford University in the United States who earlier this month announced his decision to turn pro, will try to avoid elimination against Shang Juncheng.

During their Centre Court tussle, Michelsen showed his resilience in the third set by overcoming four set points that slipped by him, then pulling out the set by winning a tiebreaker. Overall, Michelsen won 83 percent of his first-serve points, hit nine aces and added 27 winners overall. He converted three of seven break points and took advantage of 32 unforced errors by Basavareddy.

After dropping the opening set, Michelsen righted himself and was the stronger player during the final three sets en route to his first Next Gen ATP Finals win in four tries.

“Considering I went 0-3 last year, winning this first one felt really good,” Michelsen said during his on-court interview. “Going 1-0 is always a good feeling. I feel really relieved that get that one done.”

Michelsen gave props to the No. 138-ranked Basavareddy, who appeared calm despite making his Next Gen ATP Finals debut. “He definitely handled it better than I did last year,” he said. “He was rushing me very quickly from the beginning – I didn’t have answers – and, then, I found my way into a couple of breakers. I was serving really well and it helped.”

Fonseca successful in his Jeddah debut

No. 145 Joao Fonseca, at age 18 the youngest competitor in the tournament, won his debut by defeating last year’s finalist and this year’s top seed, No. 20 Arthur Fils, 3-4 (9), 4-2, 4-1, 1-4, 4-1, in an hour and 50 minutes to earn his first Top-20 win.

Despite being unable to capitalize on two set points in the opener, Fonseca made a quick recovery and went the distance to earn his second career win over Fils. In February, Fonseca beat Fils at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro, which was his first tour-level win, en route to a quarterfinal finish.

“I was the underdog, so I knew I would not have any pressure to play against [Fils],” Fonseca said during his on-court interview. “I just enjoyed playing.”

Fonseca hit 18 winners to 29 unforced errors, saved three of five break points while converting four of 11 against Fils. He withstood 12 aces and 31 winners from Fils and outpointed his opponent 87-81. The Frenchman committed 41 unforced errors.

”It was a good match. I knew it was going to be hard from the first point,” Fonseca said, quoted by the ATP Tour website. “I also knew that the victory that I had against him in Rio would be part of this match. He also knows what I’m capable of. … I think in important moments, I played better. I went to the ball and played aggressively like I always play. I think that was the difference today.”

Next, Fonseca will next play lefty Learner Tien on Thursday. He beat Tien in the 2023 US Open boys’ singles final, while Fils will oppose Jakub Mensik.

Wednesday’s Next Gen ATP Finals results

Thursday’s Next Gen ATP Finals order of play

By the numbers

This is the second staging of the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after being held in Milan, Italy from 2017-2022 (with the 2020 event cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic). The sanctioned ATP Tour event is scheduled to be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through 2027.

“Quotable …”

“It’s an incredible stat. And obviously, you have previous winners like Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas. So, you have current world No. 1s that have competed and won the event as well.

“I think it’s a true testament that the players that are playing here in Jeddah, today and this week – if you look at trends and what’s happening over the last six, seven years – will be the next few top players in the world.”

– Daniel Vallverdu, co-tournament director of the Next Gen ATP Finals, in an interview with Arab News, noting that of the current Top 20 players in the ATP Rankings, 17 have qualified for previous Next Gen editions and 16 have taken part in the competitions.

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