Monica Niculescu ousted top seed Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-0 to win her first title at the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open.

It was the Romanian’s third straight final in three appearances in Luxembourg after losing finals in 2011-12.

“It was my best match this year,” said Niculescu who won her first title of the year. “I felt fantastic on the court, and after I took the first set I felt even better. …

Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova has reached the No. 2 world ranking, and collected two slam titles at the U.S. and French opens. Coming into this week the veteran was told she needed to win the Kremlin Cup in her home country to qualify for the year-end WTA Finals, and she responded.

Kuznetsova qualified for her sixth year-end championships on Saturday by beating Aussie Daria Gavrilova 6-2, 6-1 in the final.

“Before the match, …

Homegrown champ Stan Wawrinka is the top seed, and players Marin Cilic and David Goffin are looking to use Basel to boost their qualifying chances for the year-end championships at the Swiss Indoors next week.

Looking to stand in their way will be the two-time Basel champ Juan Martin del Potro and veterans Mikhail Youzhny, Marcos Baghdatis and Nicolas Mahut who will pose early-round challenges to seeds.

Here is a closer look …

Andy Murray is closing on world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, and Vienna this week could be a big part of the Brit having a shot at catching the Serb at the year-end championships.

Murray faces two other Top 10 players and a slew of dangerous floaters, with almost-guaranteed testers in the second and third rounds.

Here’s a closer look at the Vienna field:

ERSTE BANK OPEN 500
Vienna, Austria; Surface: carpet

Seeds: Andy Murray, Tomas …

It’s simple, if Svetlana Kuznetsova beats Daria Gavrilova Saturday for the Moscow title, she earns the final spot in the WTA Finals in Singapore.

If Kuznetsova loses, that final spot in Singapore goes to Brit Johanna Konta who is already there ready to serve as the alternate if the Russian wins.

Earlier today, Kuznetsova had to fight off Elina Svitolina in a tough semifinal 6-1, 6-7(2), 6-4.

“I knew what I had to …

It’s a good semifinalist line-up Saturday in Stockholm with former champion Grigor Dimitrov taking on Juan Martin del Potro and then youngsters Jack Sock and Alexander Zverev lock up.

Dimitrov continued his strong second half of 2016 edging Kevin Anderson in three sets while del Potro dominated fellow big man Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4.

“I was expecting a tie-break in this match,” said del Potro. “But I’m happy to get the rest …

Rafael Nadal opened his Rafa Nadal Academy earlier this week, and to add even more star power to the event the Spaniard brought in good friend and rival Roger Federer.

Highlights:

The press conference:

The site:

More:

The WTA Finals had their draw party today in Singapore. The round robin tournanment, which begins on Sunday, will feature eight of the top nine women with Serena Williams skipping the event.

In the Red Group, 2-time Grand Slam winner and No. 1 Angelique Kerber leads the way over some tough competition in Simona Halep, Madison Keys and Dominika Cibulkova. With No. 1 wrapped, can Kerber find the energy to break …

Earlier today Rafael Nadal made it official, ending his 2016 season due to his left wrist injury. Nadal was still to play in Basel, Paris and if qualified, the ATP Finals next month which he will now miss for the fourth time in six years.

“It is no secret that I arrived to the Olympic Games short of preparation and not fully recovered, but the goal was to compete and win …

The ATP has only officially qualified five of the eight spots based on math, but reality is seven of them are taken with just one spot left.

Gael Monfils and Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem are going to get in (unless Paris is absolute mayhem) so the final spot will go down to Dominic Thiem, Tomas Berdych, David Goffin, Marin Cilic or Roberto Bautista Agut who is playing this week …

With the year-end No. 1 ranking all locked up for Angelique Kerber, the only real drama left in the women’s tour this season is who’ll earn the final berth in next week’s WTA Finals in Singapore?

If you do, it’s down to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Johanna Konta. And the scenario is simple, Kuznetsova must win Moscow otherwise the Brit Konta gets in.

Earlier today, Kuznetsova inched closer to qualifying by defeating …

So Nick Kyrgios tanked ANOTHER match last week. And the ATP hit him with a $16.5K fine thereafter then a bigger one yesterday, banning the hot-headed Australian from 8 weeks of tournament play unless he sought help.

Kyrgios responded saying he would get better and Tennis Australia added that he would get help.

If Kyrgios does get help he’ll be back in business to start 2017. So the …

After his 2-week China sweep of Beijing and Shanghai, Andy Murray stands just 915 ranking points from Novak Djokovic and the rankings race lead for No. 1.

Murray, who’s never been No. 1, will play Vienna next week and then the Paris Masters before the ATP Finals next month. Meanwhile, Djokovic is expected to only play in Paris.

Should Murray win Vienna and then outplay defending champion Djokovic in Paris, the Scot …

The ATP took their sanctions against Nick Kyrgios a step further today. Last week, after the brash Australian tanked his way out of Shanghai, the ATP slapped Kyrgios with a $16,500 fine.

Today, the tour suspended Kyrgios for eight tournament weeks and hit him with another $25,000 fine calling the 21-year-old’s actions in Shanghai a major “Conduct Contrary to the Integrity of the Game” offense.

The ATP said in a …

The ATP World Tour announced to day that Nick Kyrgios has been fined $25,000 for tanking his second-round match at the Masters Shanghai event, and is suspended from ATP events for eight weeks under the rule ‘Conduct Contrary to the Integrity of the Game.’

However, the ATP says, “the suspension will be reduced to three tournament weeks upon agreement that the player enters a plan of care under the direction …