Czechia's 12th Billie Jean King Cup, the Laver Cup back to Europe, and two 250s still unfinished

Czechia are Billie Jean King Cup champions for a 12th time, and the tie did not need a deciding doubles rubber. Karolína Muchová and Linda Nosková won both singles matches in straight sets in Shenzhen, beating Ukraine 2-0 12. At The O2 in London, Alexander Zverev closed out a 13-5 win for Team Europe over Team World, Europe's sixth Laver Cup 3. The singles tour restarted in Asia, where two WTA tournaments crowned champions in Singapore and Seoul and two ATP 250s in China were still at the semifinal stage when this issue closed. This issue covers 21–28 September 2026, closing at the Monday 10:00 UTC cutoff; no Grand Slam or 1000-level tournament fell inside the window.

Shenzhen hosted the eight-team Finals from 22 to 27 September on indoor hard courts, and each tie was settled inside a single day: two singles rubbers, then a doubles rubber only if the tie was still level. Three of the seven ties came down to that doubles match, and the eventual winner took it every time 4.

Muchová opened the final with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Anhelina Kalinina in 70 minutes, serving eight aces, winning 86% of points behind her first serve and never facing a break point 2. Nosková then held off Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6(5) in an hour and 33 minutes, converting her third championship point after Svitolina had saved two 12.

It is Czechia's first title since 2018, and the country has now won 12 of the 13 finals it has reached 1. Barbora Strýcová, who played on six of the Czech teams that won between 2011 and 2018, took the title in her first Finals as captain 1. Ukraine were playing their first final in only their second appearance at the Finals, after reaching the semifinals in 2025 1.

Semifinals. Czechia beat Spain 2-0 on 25 September, Muchová beating Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro 7-5, 6-4 and Nosková beating Cristina Bucșa 7-6(5), 6-2 4. A day later Ukraine beat Italy, the top seeds and two-time defending champions, by the same score: Kalinina beat Tyra Caterina Grant 6-3, 6-4, and Svitolina beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2 without Italy winning a rubber 24.

Quarterfinals. Czechia opened the week by beating Great Britain 2-0, Marie Bouzková coming through Sonay Kartal 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 and Nosková beating Katie Boulter 6-2, 7-6 4. Spain beat Kazakhstan 2-1; Ukraine beat Belgium 2-1, Kalinina winning both her singles and the doubles with Lyudmyla Kichenok; and Italy beat host nation China 2-1, Paolini edging Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 7-6 before she and Sara Errani won the doubles 4.

Matches were worth one point on Friday, two on Saturday and three on Sunday, and Europe's 13-5 win arrived with three scheduled matches unplayed at The O2 11.

Friday. Casper Ruud beat Francisco Cerúndolo 6-7(4), 6-4, [10-8]; Brandon Nakashima beat Jakub Mensik 6-1, 3-6, [10-7]; Rafael Jodar beat Alexander Bublik 6-2, 6-3; and Carlos Alcaraz and Mensik beat Bublik and Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 11.

Saturday. Learner Tien beat Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 2-6, [10-7]; Alex de Minaur beat Zverev 2-6, 7-6(5), [11-9]; Alcaraz beat Fritz 6-3, 4-6, [13-11]; and Ruud and Zverev beat Bublik and Nakashima 6-4, 7-6(9-7) 11.

Sunday. Flavio Cobolli and Mensik beat de Minaur and Fritz 7-5, 6-3 to put Europe 10-5 ahead, and Zverev beat Tien 7-6(3), 6-3 to reach the 13 points that win the trophy 311. Zverev had lost his doubles on Friday and let match points slip against de Minaur on Saturday; the win was his first Laver Cup singles victory since 2024, and it made Alcaraz's match against de Minaur and Jodar's against Fritz unnecessary 3. Europe have now won six of the nine editions 3.

The Asian swing's first ATP Tour main draws since the US Open ran from 23 September in Chengdu and Hangzhou, both ATP 250s that finish on Tuesday 29 September. When this issue closed, each had finished its quarterfinals and was waiting on Monday's semifinals 56.

In Chengdu, three of the top four seeds went out before the quarterfinals. Qualifier Lloyd Harris beat top seed Valentin Vacherot 6-4, 7-6(5); Adrian Mannarino beat defending champion and third seed Alejandro Tabilo 6-4, 6-4; and qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili beat fourth seed Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 7-5 512. On Sunday, Hubert Hurkacz beat Harris 7-6(10), 6-4, Denis Shapovalov beat Mannarino 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2, Basilashvili beat Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 7-6(4), and second seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat qualifier Alexandre Muller 6-1, 7-5 5. Hurkacz plays Shapovalov, and Basilashvili plays Davidovich Fokina, for a place in the final.

In Hangzhou the top two seeds are through. Daniil Medvedev beat Coleman Wong 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3 and Roman Safiullin beat Yunchaokete Bu 6-3, 6-3 in the top half; Kyrian Jacquet beat sixth seed Fábián Marozsán 7-6(12), 6-4 and second seed Andrey Rublev beat Hugo Gaston 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 6-1 in the bottom half 6. The round of 16 had cost five seeds: Jacquet beat third seed Tomás Martín Etcheverry 6-2, 6-3, Safiullin beat fourth seed Quentin Halys 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, Wong beat fifth seed Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3, Gaston beat seventh seed Jaime Faria 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, and Bu beat eighth seed Kamil Majchrzak 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-2 6. Medvedev plays Safiullin and Rublev plays Jacquet on Monday. Alexander Bublik, the 2025 champion, is not in the field, so Hangzhou will crown a new champion 13.

Leylah Fernandez won her first title of 2026 and the sixth of her career, beating first-time finalist Talia Gibson 7-5, 6-0 in an hour and 38 minutes at the Singapore Tennis Open, which is a WTA 500 for the first time 7. The sixth-seeded Canadian won the last nine games: she broke for 6-5 and served out the first set, then did not face a break point in the second, winning 82% of her first-serve points 7. Fernandez had beaten top seed and French Open champion Mirra Andreeva 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals, the 11th top-10 win of her career, and came from a set down to beat Maja Chwalinska in the semifinals, dropping one set all week 7.

Gibson reached the final without playing her semifinal. Tatiana Prozorova withdrew from it under the WTA's concussion protocol, after she was hit in the face by a ball in her doubles quarterfinal on Friday, which she and Sofya Lansere retired 14. Prozorova said a WTA physiotherapist had insisted on testing her and that she had not known she could refuse; the WTA said a player diagnosed with concussion is not permitted to compete 14.

The doubles title went to Erin Routliffe and Aldila Sutjiadi, who beat Tang Qianhui and Xu Yifan 6-3, 6-2 8.

Kimberly Birrell won her first WTA singles title in her third final, beating Maya Joint 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 23 minutes in the first all-Australian final on the tour since 2017 9. Joint broke early for 2-0 before Birrell broke twice to take the opening set, and Birrell broke once more in the last game of the match 9. Joint finished with 41 unforced errors and 12 winners; Birrell converted six of her ten break points 9.

Rain had forced Birrell to play her quarterfinal and semifinal on the same day, Saturday, and both went to three sets; she beat sixth seed Anna Bondar 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 in the semifinal 1516. Joint reached the final when Alina Korneeva retired in their semifinal with Joint leading 6-2, 1-0 17.

Chan Hao-ching and Wu Fang-hsien, the top seeds, won the doubles by beating Lee Ya-hsin and Ye Qiuyu 6-2, 6-3 10.

ATP, Monday 28 September. One place in the top 10 changed hands: Arthur Fils rose two places to No. 9, Alex de Minaur slipped one to No. 10, and Taylor Fritz fell two to No. 12 18. The only ATP ranking events inside this window were the two Chinese 250s, which had not finished, so the rest of the top 10 held still.

A dash means no change from the previous Monday. Casper Ruud dropped four places to No. 21, Hubert Hurkacz rose five to No. 41 and Denis Shapovalov four to No. 46. Inside the top 100, Roman Safiullin climbed 18 places to No. 84, Kyrian Jacquet 21 to No. 86, Hugo Gaston 10 to No. 87 and Coleman Wong eight to No. 100 18. The PIF ATP Live Race to Turin is unchanged, with Zverev on 8,650 points ahead of Sinner on 7,950; both have already qualified 19.

WTA, Monday 28 September. No position inside the top 20 changed, because the week's two WTA events could not lift anyone past the players above her 2021.

The week's movers were the players who made the Singapore and Seoul finals. Fernandez rose five places to No. 26, Gibson 26 places to a career-high No. 37, and Birrell 19 to a career-high No. 41. Gibson's run took her past Birrell as Australia's No. 1. Maja Chwalinska climbed four places to a career-high No. 21, Maya Joint rose 24 to No. 75, Maria Timofeeva 20 to No. 68 and Alina Korneeva 13 to No. 69. Tatiana Prozorova climbed 57 places to a career-high No. 123, the reward for a run that ended in the walkover 2021.

The two Chinese 250s finish on Tuesday 29 September, and then the swing moves to two ATP 500s that both begin on 30 September and run to 6 October.

China Open, Beijing. The combined event is an ATP 500 with a 32-player singles draw and a $4,089,385 prize fund, and the women's side is the first WTA 1000 of the closing stretch 322. Zverev and Djokovic are seeded to meet, and Djokovic gave a fitness update before the tournament 2324. Amanda Anisimova, the defending women's champion, is out with a wrist injury, and Jessica Pegula is not playing 20.

Japan Open, Tokyo. The other ATP 500 has a 32-player draw and a $2,342,275 prize fund. Carlos Alcaraz, the 2025 champion, opens against Alex Michelsen, and Kei Nishikori plays Frances Tiafoe in what the ATP is billing as his farewell 2526.

After those two weeks the men move on to the Shanghai Masters, 1000-level, and the women to the second of their two Chinese 1000s 22.