ATP Tour

#NextGenATP Blockx captures maiden ATP Tour win in Cincinnati

Perseverance paid off for Alexander Blockx on Friday at the Cincinnati Open, where he recorded his first ATP Tour victory after five previous attempts.

The 20-year-old Belgian delivered a gutsy baseline display to outlast home favourite Marcos Giron 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round at the revamped hard-court ATP Masters 1000 event. Blockx, who won the boys’ singles title at the 2023 Australian Open, is currently fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah and in strong contention to debut at the 20-and-under Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF in December.

A standout star in the juniors, Blockx rose to No. 1 during the year that he triumphed in Melbourne. That same year, he qualified for his first ATP Tour main draw on home soil in Antwerp. Since then, he has lifted two ATP Challenger Tour trophies, and with his maiden tour-level win, he climbs to a career-high No. 113 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

Blockx hit 32 winners and converted four of seven break points against Giron, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Next up in Cincinnati is a second-round meeting with another American, 27th seed Brandon Nakashima.

Camilo Ugo Carabelli continued his standout 2025 season by edging four-time ATP Masters 1000 finalist Kei Nishikori 7-5, 6-3. The 26-year-old Argentine, who is at a career-high No. 47 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will next face a stern test against Toronto champion and World No. 6 Ben Shelton in the second round.

While 18 of Ugo Carabelli’s 21 tour-level wins have come on clay, he did reach the third round at the hard-court ATP Masters 1000 in Miami in March — his best run at that level — before falling to Novak Djokovic. Nishikori was returning to tour-level action in Cincinnati for the first time since retiring from his second-round clash in Geneva in May due to lower back pain.

In other action in the bottom half of the Cincinnati draw, Tristan Boyer prevailed in a battle between two American wild cards, winning 6-3, 7-6(3) against Brandon Holt. The 24-year-old next faces 22nd seed Jiri Lehecka.

Qualifier Emilio Nava will face fourth seed Taylor Fritz after moving past Borna Coric 6-3, 7-5. Lucky loser Luca Nardi defeated Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-4, 7-6(5) to set a second-round meeting with Denis Shapovalov.