Next Gen ATP Finals: Reviewing the 2018 Action

Stefanos Tsitsipas claims the crown at the second Next Gen ATP Finals after beating Alex de Minaur in a highly competitive final.

The 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals marks the end of a break-through year for 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas as well as a very successful tournament in Milan. The final saw the first and second seeds meet, with Tsitsipas taking it 2-4 4-1 4-3 4-3. Take a look at the highlights here.

For both finalists, the round robin was very successful with unbeaten records and only losing one set each in three matches. The biggest disappointment of the tournament was Frances Tiafoe, who finished bottom of his group having lost to Tsitsipas and Jaume Munar.

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Group A was extremely close as each player, apart from Tsitsipas had won one and lost two. Therefore, the number of sets won was taken into account with Munar winning six to Tiafoe’s three and Hubert Hurkacz’s four. Munar took second spot in Group A to qualify for the semi-final.

Group B was more straight-forward with the unbeaten de Minaur coming first with last year’s finalist Andrey Rublev coming second. Taylor Fritz got one win with Italian wildcard Liam Caruana struggling at times to compete at this level.

Both semi-finals were extremely close with each going to five sets. Tsitsipas edged past Rublev in a fifth set tiebreak.  The young Greek showed why he’s risen to 15 in the world with an excellent display of flair and mental toughness. This was clear in the deciding tiebreak as Tsitsipas took it 7-2. The final match score was 4-3 3-4 4-0 2-4 4-3.

The second semi-final saw a similar result with 19-year-old de Minaur scraping past the surprise of the tournament, Munar. The Spaniard will use this experience to improve his world ranking of 75. The majority of those who competed at last year’s event had very good season’s, so there is reason to be optimistic. In this case, de Minaur’s hustling play was just enough to see him over the line. The final match score was 3-4 4-1 4-1 3-4 4-2.

The deciding match at the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals was what most had hoped for and predicted. The styles of play are quite different with Tsitsipas possessing a superb one-handed backhand and great net skills match up against de Minaur’s determined, defensive play. These two should both be at the top of the sport in a few year’s time, so it’s exciting to get a glimpse into the tennis rivalries of the future.