U21 Race to Milan: Stefanos Tsitipas extends the gap after winning Estoril
The updates U21 Race to Milan has produced no changes at the top of the standings, with no shifts in the top-8 before Madrid. Stefanos Tsitsipas is by far the best player in the world born in 1998 or later this season, confirming his stats after conquering the third ATP title in Estoril, the first one on clay. Stefanos has won 23 matches so far this year and he is almost 1000 points clear of an 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime, the leader of 2000 generation and the rest of the field in general behind a fantastic Greek. After taking a week off, Felix kicked off Madrid campaign with a win over Denis Shapovalov, the third player on our list, securing the 11th Masters 1000 triumph and moving closer to the 900-point mark.
After that semi-final clash against Roger Federer in Miami, Shapovalov wasn't able to deliver the same level on clay, hitting the exit door in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid without a win and losing a lot of points on the ATP list after playing in the semi-final in Spain a year ago. Denis is 45 points clear of Frances Tiafoe who played in the quarter-final in Estoril and also made a good start in Madrid as well to secure his Milan ticket at the moment. After winning nine matches in January and the first ATP title, Alex de Minaur has struggled with an injury that sidelined him far away from the best form, playing only three matches after Acapulco and losing them all, the most recent ones in Estoril and Madrid.
The Aussie is still safe in that fifth place, 75 points ahead of Casper Ruud who was the finalist in Houston back in April. The Norwegian missed a chance to play in the main draw in Madrid, wasting a match point against Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the last qualifying round and a chance to fight for more big points. Indian Wells quarter-finalist Miomir Kecmanovic has lost form a little bit in the previous month and a half although he is still on that last direct position that leads to Milan, 20 points ahead of the struggling Frenchman Ugo Humbert who is yet to find his best tennis after excellent results in February.
Bordeaux Challenger finalist Mikael Ymer and Estoril semi-finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina are the remaining players in the top-10, hoping to keep a good streak and erase the deficit to their closest rivals in the following weeks.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2J9Qmdg
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