Welcome back to the Monday tennis briefing, where Athletics Will explain the stories behind the stories of the past week on the field.
This week, the most mercurial player on the men’s tour did what he does best, there was an American shuffle at the top of the women’s ranking and the quandary of a Wimbledon champion revealed the delicate balance of tennis planning.
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An important milestone for Jessica Pegula?
The American trio just below the top of the women’s tennis ranking this week, while Jessica Pegula Coco Gauff preceded the WTA 500 title in Charleston. Pegula, who defeated Sofia Kenin 6-3, 7-5 after he has entered the second set from 1-5, is now World No. 3 and corresponds to her career-high ranking.
With a big gap between American and World No. 2 Iga świątek, and another big gap between Gauff and World No. 5 Madison Keys, it can seem as if Pegula’s first clay Court title is more important than the tight struggle between World No. 3 and World No. 4, with only 38 points they separate.
But Pegula, who missed last year’s Klei-Court Swing with injury, now comes the two WTA 1,000s in Rome and Madrid and then the French Open in Paris without points to defend, giving effectively a free hit in the coming months. This season (25) she is going to the surface -transition with most victories on the WTA Tour (25) before World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who has 23.
With Gauff who defended more than 1,200 points, and świątek on the hook for 4,195, Pegula could climb even higher without having to win big on the red dirt.
James Hansen
Who can explain the Enigma of Botic van de Zandschulp?
Is there a more intriguing player on the ATP tour than this Dutchman?
The Mercurial van de Zandschulp has become the tennis master of the unexpected, wins when he stands in line to lose and falls apart if there is no reason to do this.
Van de Zandschulp has defeated Carlos Alcaraz on the US Open in straight sets, ended Rafael Nadal’s career with a Davis Cup humiliating in Spain and beat Novak Djokovic in Indian Wells (including a 6-1 hammering of a last set) in the past eight months. All those victories were achieved with barely a flicker of nerves – remarkable for a player with a history of nods under pressure. He served three times before the match against Holger Rune in the Munich -open final of 2023 and held a total of four championship points, but in the end he lost.
A little more than a year later, in May 2024, Van de Zandschulp said that he had become so disillusioned with tennis that he is considering retiring. Instead, he defeated three of the best players in recent history about some of the greatest stages in the sport and continued to be calm under pressure as if he were knocking on a local club.
So, how would Van de Zands scoop in the first round of the Bucharest Open ATP 250-the lowest sport on the Tour-optegen Richard Gasquet, the 38-year-old Frenchman who will retire after the French this year?
He led through a set and two breaks and had a match point on his serve for a 6-4, 6-4 victory. But he missed it and eventually lost 6-1 in the decision maker, out as neutral as he had done to beat some of the best to ever do it.
Charlie Eccleshare
How did American players of the American gentlemen reach a milestone in Houston?
With an easy way, Alex Michelsen won a three-set victory over the French veteran Adrian Mannarino to reach the open quarterfinals in Houston. A fairly unobtrusive moment in itself, but with his victory on 3 April Michelsen made sure that all eight of the quarter -finalists would be American. It was the first time that had happened during an ATP Tour event since the Prudential-Bache Securities Classic in Orlando, Fla., In 1991.
Andre Agassi eventually won the tournament, while Pete Sampras lost in the semi -final. The two, plus Jim Courier, began to dominate the sport soon afterwards. Will Houston 2025 alumni do something similar?
That feels like a big piece, but in Michelsen, a 20-year-old Californian, they have one of this year’s breakout stars. After reaching the fourth round of the Australian open, Michelsen is a few hundred ranking points outside the top 30 in the world and has a bright future.
Of the other quarter-finalists, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul are founded top-20 tribal guests, while Colton Smith, 22, Brandon Nakashima, 23 and Aleksandar Kovacevic, 26, are a little further in the tennis chain. Christopher Eanks, 28, is not kicking after his breakthrough in 2023.
Jenson Brooksby, 24, started the week when it was furthest from them all at number 507, he rebuilt his ranking after a doping ban. He saved five match points about the qualification and his most important drawing matches on his way to the final, where he was relaxed along Tiafoe for his very first Tour title, which rose 335 places in the ranking in the trial.
American tennis fans hope that the event offers a springboard for the Klei-Court season for at least one of those eight quarter-finalists.
Brooksby followed a good series of competitions with a relatively routine victory in the final. (Leslie Plaza Johnson / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)
Charlie Eccleshare
What is the prize of national pride?
The Billie Jean King Cup is central to Daamestnis from 10 April to 13 April, with the final round of qualifications for the international team event. Two of the headliners planned to play –świątek from Poland and the British Emma Raducanu declared that they would not represent their countries last week, both stating the need to take advantage of an outdoors in their schedule.
Elena Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion 2022 who switched from representing Russia to representing Kazakhstan, will travel to Melbourne to represent the country against Australia and Colombia. In 2017, she became a citizen of Kazakhstan in exchange for financial support from the tennis federation of the country, which has been gave up since 2007 by billionaire-businessman and philanthropist Bulat Utemuratov in a decades-long peak that has been designed to transform a country with little preachy tennis infrastructure.
For Rybakina that means a trip to Australia – and missing the WTA 500 in Stuttgart, Germany, which starts on April 14. Rybakina is the defending champion there and will lose 500 points by not playing, so she will come out the top 10 at the best case. She can fall further if other players perform well. If Kazakhstan continues, it can make less difference – but it is a great demonstration of the push and pull of tennis competition.
James Hansen
Scot of the week
Or maybe a month, or maybe even year, from Ryan Seggerman in Houston.
Incredible
Ryan Seggerman with the shot of the year!#Usclay | @Tennistv pic.twitter.com/vaxfknayye
– Fayez Sarofim & Co. US Clay (@mensclaycourt) April 5, 2025
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The winners of the week
ATP:
Flavio Cobolli (3) def. Sebastian Baez (1) 6-4, 6-4 to the Tiriac Open (250) in Bucharest, Romania. It is the first ATP Tour title of the Italian. Luciano Darderi (7) def. Tallon Griekspoor (1) 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) to the Hassan Grand Prix II (250) in Marrakech, Morroco. It is the second ATP Tour title of the Italian. Jenson Brooksby (Q) def. Frances Tiafoe (2) 6-4, 6-2 to the Our Clay Court Championship for Men (250) in Houston. It is the first ATP Tour title of the American.
WTA:
Jessica Pegula (1) def. Sofia Kenin 6-3, 7-5 to the Charleston Open (500) In Charleston, SC, it is the first Clay-Court WTA Tour title of the American. Camila Osorio (2) def. Katarzyna Kawa (Q) 6-3, 6-3 to the Copa Colsanitas (250) In Bogotá, Colombia. Osorio has now won the event three times.
At the row
Jessica Pegula Moves one place from No. 4 to No. 3 after her victory in South Carolina. Jenson Brooksby Be at 335 places from No. 507 to No. 172 after his victory in Texas. Sofia Kenin Enter the Top 40 again after rising 10 places from No. 44 to No. 34.
Matteo Berrettini Falls seven places from no. 27 to no. 34, renounce the top 32 place that would see him sowing at major events. Maria Sakkari Drops 18 places from no. 64 to no. 82. Fabio Fognini Tuimt 14 places from no. 99 to no. 113.
Come up
ATP
Monte Carlo, Monaco: Monte Carlo Masters (1,000) with Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Jack Draper.
UK: Sky Sports; US: tennis canal 
ITF
Different locations: Billie Jean King Cup qualifications With Elena Rybakina, Victoria Mboko, Elina Svitolina, Danielle Collins.
UK: Sky Sports; US:
Tell us what you have noticed this week in the comments below while the men’s and ladies’ tours continue.
(Top photo: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images; Design: Eamonn Dalton for The athletics)