After an amazing Australian Open the month of February did not disappoint tennis wise. This blog will discuss the main tournaments and matches that occurred this month on the Men's ATP Tour.
Men's ATP Tour:
Open Sud de France:
February started in France where the Open Sud de France was held. Alexander Zverev was the top seed and heavy favourite coming into this who just had a painful loss at the Australian Open against Denis Shapovalov. He looked in great form during the tournament and he reached the final without dropping a set. On the other half of the draw, the talented Ukrainian player Alexander Bublik fought his way to the final by winning a couple of 3 set matches one of them being against the number 2 seed Bautista Agut. Many people believed that Zverev would win the final however Bublik came out to play and beat him 6-4 6-3. This tournament definitely showed us that Bublik has all the right tools to become a top 10 contender if he works on his mental game. Another player that impressed was the 23 year old Mikael Ymer who reached the semi finals by beating 3 top French players such as Moutet, Monfils and Gasquet. Fair to say the French crowd did not appreciate that.
Rotterdam Open:
This year the Rotterdam Open was stacked with great players such as Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Hubert Hurkacz and many more. It made for a very exciting tournament as there were so many potential winners. The main upsets that occurred at the very start of the tournament featured the number 5 and 7 seeds Denis Shapovalov and Aslan Karatsev who both lost in the 1st round. The 3rd seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on the other hand looked like someone who was on a mission. He started off the tournament in great fashion dominating Andy Murray and then reached the final by beating Andrey Rublev in the semi finals 6-2 in the third set. His opponent in the final was the Greek player and number 1 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. This was a big match for both players. Felix was trying to end his 8 match losing streak in the finals in order to clinch his first ever ATP singles tournament whereas Tsitsipas was 0-7 in ATP 500 finals. Tsitsipas on paper may have looked like the favourite to win however Felix played at an exceptional level and won the match 6-4 6-2.
Rio Open:
The player that most people are talking about right now Carlos Alcaraz featured in this tournament. He is only 18 years old and he managed to lift the trophy by beating top 10 player Matteo Berrettini, Fabio Fognini and Diego Schwartzman in the final. He is now officially the youngest ever player to win an ATP 500 title and with that win he is now a top 20 player. Looks like Spain are in good hands after Nadal retires.
In the next blog I will cover what happened at the Mexican Open featuring Rafael Nadal and Dubai Tennis Championships where we get to see Novak Djokovic for the first time this year!
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