Arthur Fils and Luca van Assche started their race for the Next Gen Finals title with victories in the preliminary phase of the tournament, which opened on Tuesday at its new headquarters in Saudi Arabia.
The first seed, the French Fils, 19, defeated Luca Nardi 2-4, 4-3 (6), 4-2, 1-4 and 4-2. The Next Gen finals are played using special rules, with a best-of-five-set format where each set goes to the player who reaches four games first, with a tiebreaker at 3-3.
Also in the green group, Flavio Cobolli defeated Dominic Stricker, 4-2, 3-4 (7), 4-1, 4-2. In the red group, Van Assche (70th) defeated Abdullah Shelbayh (wild card) by 4-3 (5), 3-4 (5), 4-1 and 4-1.
Hamad Medjedovic fought off Alex Michelsen’s comeback and won 4-2, 4-3 (3), 3-4 (3), 3-4 (5), 4-3 (4). This is the sixth edition of the tournament for the eight best players on the ATP Tour under the age of 21. It will be held in Saudi Arabia for the first time after being held in Milan since the inaugural edition in 2017.
Other changes to the standard rules of tennis include shorter swings and less time on the clock for some points. Fils is the only infielder ranked in the top 50.
Of the players ranked above him who will be age eligible, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune are exempt as they qualify for the ATP Finals, while Ben Shelton is absent for medical reasons and Lorenzo Musetti withdrew for for personal reasons.
Source: La Verdad
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