ATP/WTA: Medvedev finally repeats

Prior to last week, Medvedev had won 22 titles in 22 different events. He joked that he was “running out of cities” when he picked up a trophy in Brisbane in January. But four straight-sets victories in Dubai last week, along with a walkover in the final, have handed Medvedev his first title repeat and he is officially a two-time Dubai champion.

The former world No.1 impressed in wins over Juncheng Shang, Stan Wawrinka, Jenson Brooksby and Felix Auger-Aliassime before Tallon Griekspoor withdrew ahead of their final, citing a hamstring injury he picked up in his semi-final victory over Andrey Rublev.

“Of course it’s unfortunate. But Tallon I could see yesterday that maybe he had an injury. You never know how these injuries develop through the night. Sometimes they get easier and you can play, like with some soreness, and sometimes they get worse. I guess it got worse,” said Medvedev on Saturday.

“Look, I mean, I cannot do anything about it. I played a great tournament, the four matches I played. Of course, I wanted to play the final, but it is what it is. I played at an unbelievable level yesterday (against Auger-Aliassime). I would in a way take it as a final for me. Happy to win the tournament.”

Italian success

Over in Acapulco, Italy’s Flavio Cobolli claimed the second ATP 500 crown of his career with a 7-6(4), 6-4 performance against eighth-seeded Francis Tiafoe in the final.

The 23-year-old clinched his third title, and first on hard courts, and has risen to a career-high ranking of 15 on Monday.

“When I was a kid, I was dreaming for this moment,” Cobolli was quoted as saying by atptour.com. “For this kind of tournament, playing on the centre court with people cheering for me. I’m very proud, not only for me, but also for the people that work for me — my dad, my family, the rest of my team. They will help me a lot.”

In Santiago, world No.21 Luciano Darderi gave Italians more reason to celebrate as he continued his clay-court dominance with a 7-6(6), 7-5 victory over Yannick Hanfmann.

The Argentine-born Italian is 16-2 on clay since July and now boasts five ATP titles, all won on the red dirt.

“It's feeling really great. I didn't expect to win this week here because I never played more than the quarter-final here, so I'm very happy. It's my second final of the year, so taking a title early is very impressive and I take a lot of confidence for the rest of the year,” said Darderi, who was a runner-up in Buenos Aires two weeks ago.

The 24-year-old Darderi owns the most tour-level clay titles of any player since the start of the 2024 season.

This is the fifth time in the Open Era two Italians have won tour-level titles in the same week.

Title honours for Bucsa and Stearns

In WTA action, Spain’s Cristina Bucsa triumphed in Merida 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 against Magdalena Frech, while Peyton Stearns squeezed past fellow American Taylor Townsend 7-6(8), 7-5 in the Austin final.

Bucsa achieved the first top-10 win of her career over No.7 Jasmine Paolini in the semi-finals en route to her maiden career title. She walked away from the WTA 500 tournament in Merida with two trophies, having also taken the doubles crown Jiang Xinyu.

Meanwhile, Stearns grabbed her second WTA title in Austin, and first on hard courts.

The 24-year-old played college tennis at the University of Texas at Austin, where she became the first Longhorn to win the NCAA Division I Women s Singles National Championship.

“From the first match I played here, I said it would be nice for a Longhorn to finally win this tournament, so it’s kind of nice,” said Stearns, who has returned to the top 50 as a result of her title run.