U21 Race to Milan: Tsitsipas and Shapovalov fall. Moutet conquers Chennai
The updated U21 Race to Milan has brought some significant changes behind the three leading positions and we have some new candidates for the place at the Next Gen Masters in November. The defending Milan champion Stefanos Tsitsipas is the first player who passed the 800-point mark despite losing in the quarter-final in Sofia against Gael Monfils, standing 425 points clear of Alex de Minaur who decided to withdraw from this week's ATP 250 event in New York. The Australian Open quarter-finalist Frances Tiafoe is just 25 points behind the Aussie and he will have the opportunity to pass him in New York after receiving the last minute wild card, facing Jason Jung or a qualifier in the second round.
Just like Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov failed to make an impression last week, dropping the quarter-final Montpellier clash to Pierre-Hugues Herbert in two close sets but making a progression through the list to enter the top-four. Denis is the seeded player in Rotterdam and he could face Gilles Simon or Tomas Berdych in a tricky second-round match before the possible quarter-final match against the fellow Canadian Milos Raonic. Corentin Moutet claimed the third Challenger title in Chennai, dominating in the final against Andrew Harris to grab 80 points and gain eight places on the list and crack the top-five early in the season.
Mikael Ymer and Miomir Kecmanovic remained in the top-seven and they are the last players who would have qualified for Milan directly if this was the final countable week of the Race. Following his Davis Cup debut in Adelaide, Alexei Popyrin is in New York where he will try to qualify for the main draw and earn more points in the battle for Milan. Jeffrey John Wolf is 9th but his schedule will certainly be reduced in comparison to his rivals, being a Collegiate player who can't travel abroad that much. Ugo Humbert was a couple of points away from beating the eventual champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the opening round of Montpellier and he is the top seed at Cherbourg Challenger this week, hoping for a better run and some serious points on his tally. An 18-year-old Nicola Kuhn is the best-ranked player born in 2000, passing Rudolf Molleker with the quarter-final in Chennai (he lost to Moutet in three sets) and taking a week off before the next challenges in his Milan quest. Top-15 list of the U21 Race to Milan:
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2TS7DZW
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