Seven ties, seven places: the Davis Cup Final 8 takes shape as Jovic defends Guadalajara

The United States will not be in Bologna. Czechia came from 2-1 down in Prague, Jakub Mensik and Jiri Lehecka winning both reverse singles to knock out the record 32-time Davis Cup champions 12. Alexander Zverev brought his US Open form home to Halle and closed out Germany's 3-1 win over Croatia 3. On the women's tour, Iva Jovic defended the Guadalajara Open without dropping a set, while the São Paulo final was postponed by rain and will now be played on Monday afternoon, after this issue's cutoff 45. This issue covers 14–21 September 2026, closing at the Monday 10:00 UTC cutoff.

The second round of qualifying was the men's tour's only top-level competition of the week, and it produced the field for Bologna in the space of three days. Italy, the reigning champions, were already assured of a place; the seven winners below join them 2.

Czechia 3-2 United States (Prague). Learner Tien gave the visitors a 1-0 lead on the opening day, but Ben Shelton lost his singles to Jiri Lehecka, and Christian Harrison and Austin Krajicek had to save four match points to edge Adam Pavlasek and Patrik Rikl 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(8) and put the United States 2-1 up. Jakub Mensik then rallied past Shelton 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, and Lehecka beat Tien 6-3, 7-5 in the deciding match 12.

Germany 3-1 Croatia (Halle, indoor hard). Zverev opened with a 6-4, 7-6(3) win over Matej Dodig, and Dino Prizmic levelled by beating Daniel Altmaier 6-4, 6-3. Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, the US Open doubles finalists, beat Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 7-5, 6-2 to leave Zverev to seal the tie, which he did 6-2, 6-4 without facing a break point 3. Zverev is now 55-13 for the season 3.

Great Britain 4-0 Ecuador (London, Copper Box Arena). Britain reached the Final 8 for the first time since 2023, in their first home tie in London in a decade. Toby Samuel, on debut, came from a set down to beat Andres Andrade 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, and Arthur Fery beat Alvaro Guillen Meza 7-5, 6-0. Henry Patten and Neal Skupski then won the doubles 6-3, 6-4 against Gonzalo Escobar and Diego Hidalgo, before Harry Wendelken beat Angel Veliz 6-2, 6-3 6. Cameron Norrie withdrew from the team with an injury on the eve of the tie 6.

Spain 3-0 Chile (Santiago, clay). Spain travelled without Carlos Alcaraz and still won all three rubbers. Daniel Merida beat Alejandro Tabilo 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, Rafael Jodar marked his debut by beating Cristian Garin 6-0, 6-2, and Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar took the doubles 27.

Canada 3-1 France (Quebec City). Felix Auger-Aliassime won both of his matches in three sets, following up Liam Draxl's opening-day win by beating Quentin Halys 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 and then Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, a match in which he struck 17 aces. France's only point came in the doubles, through Benjamin Bonzi and Pierre-Hugues Herbert 12.

South Korea 3-1 India (Seoul). South Korea reached the Davis Cup quarterfinals for the first time. Soonwoo Kwon, back on tour after military service, beat Dhakshineswar Suresh 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and then Sumit Nagal 6-1, 6-2 to close the tie; India's point came in the doubles through N Sriram Balaji and Suresh 12.

Austria 3-1 Belgium (Vienna). Jurij Rodionov, ranked No. 142, beat Gauthier Onclin 6-4, 6-1 on the opening day and then upset No. 38 Zizou Bergs 7-6(6), 6-3 to send Austria through, after Lucas Miedler and Neil Oberleitner won the doubles 7-6(5), 7-5 12.

The Final 8 will be played in Bologna from 23 November, with the draw still to be announced 36. Davis Cup results carry no ATP ranking points, which is why the men's standings barely moved this week.

Iva Jovic won the Guadalajara Open for the second year in a row, beating fellow American Peyton Stearns 6-4, 6-2 in 1 hour 26 minutes on Saturday night 4. The 18-year-old did not lose a set all week and is the first repeat singles champion in the tournament's short history.

The final was level at 4-4 before Jovic broke for 5-4 and served out the opening set after 46 minutes. She broke again in the first game of the second, held for 2-0, added another break for 5-2 and closed the match on her third championship point with a backhand winner down the line 4. Jovic had beaten No. 8 seed Cristina Bucsa in the semifinals, losing just five games 4.

The title lifts Jovic to a career-high No. 13 in Monday's rankings, and Stearns climbs 24 places to No. 36 8. In the doubles final, Bucsa and Nicole Melichar-Martinez beat Momoko Kobori and Peangtarn Plipuech 6-2, 5-7, [10-5], a 20th WTA doubles title for Melichar-Martinez 4.

The SP Open will finish a day late. Rain washed out both finals on Sunday, and the singles title match between Kaitlin Quevedo and Nadia Podoroska has been moved to Monday at 11:00 local time, 14:00 UTC, on the Maria Esther Bueno court 5. The doubles final was rescheduled to the same hour on Court 1 5. Both women are playing a first WTA final, and neither has a result yet.

Podoroska, a former Roland Garros semifinalist, produced the week's biggest upset by beating second seed Paula Badosa 6-3, 6-4 and becoming the first Argentinian woman to reach a WTA final since 2013 9. She broke early for 4-1 in the first set and took her first match point on the Badosa serve 10. Quevedo, the No. 7 seed, beat No. 4 seed Anna Blinkova 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the other semifinal 10. Badosa's run to the last four takes her up 14 places to No. 56 10.

ATP, Monday 21 September. The top 10 is unchanged, and most of the top 40 moved either not at all or by a place or two, because Davis Cup play offers no ranking points 11.

A dash means no change from the previous Monday. Casper Ruud (17th), Tommy Paul (18th), Valentin Vacherot (19th) and Luciano Darderi (20th) each gained one or two places, while Alexander Bublik fell four to No. 21 as his Hangzhou title points expired. Jiri Lehecka rose one place to No. 23 and Lorenzo Musetti dropped four to No. 24, continuing a season disrupted by injury. Further down, Corentin Moutet fell 11 places to No. 70 and Jan Choinski 15 to No. 89 1112.

The PIF ATP Live Race to Turin is also unchanged, with Zverev on 8,650 points ahead of Sinner on 7,950; both have already qualified 13.

WTA, Monday 21 September. Rybakina holds No. 1, and Jovic's defence of her Guadalajara points takes her three places higher without adding to her tally, because players above her shed points 814.

Diana Shnaider, Victoria Mboko and Sorana Cirstea each slip a place behind Jovic. Below the top 20, the week's movers were mostly Guadalajara and São Paulo players: Bucsa up nine to No. 35, Stearns up 24 to No. 36, Magdalena Frech up 12 to No. 45, and Kaitlin Quevedo up 14 to a career-high No. 91. Ekaterina Alexandrova dropped six places to No. 27. At the other end of the list, Maya Joint fell 31 places to No. 99, with Emma Raducanu 98th and Eva Lys 100th, all three now close to the top-100 boundary 8.

Billie Jean King Cup Finals, Shenzhen. The quarterfinals begin on Tuesday 22 September with Italy against China; Ukraine plays Belgium, Czechia meets Great Britain, and Kazakhstan faces Spain 15. Both teams in the opening tie are affected by withdrawals. World No. 1 Elena Rybakina stood down on Friday to recover from the left ankle injury she suffered in Cincinnati, and Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk withdrew to rest an injured wrist 15.

WTA. Two events run from 21 to 27 September. The Singapore Tennis Open is a WTA 500 for the first time, upgraded from the 250 event staged in 2025, and carries a 28-player singles draw; main-draw play began on Monday 1617. The Korea Open in Seoul is a WTA 250 18. Singapore and Seoul are the tune-up events before the season's final two WTA 1000 tournaments, in Beijing and Wuhan 17. The China Open in Beijing opens on 30 September 19.

ATP. The Asian swing opens on 23 September with the Chengdu Open and the AITO Hangzhou Open, both ATP 250s running to 29 September and the first ATP Tour main-draw events since the US Open 2021. Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev lead the Hangzhou field 22. The Laver Cup follows at The O2 in London from 25 to 27 September, the ninth edition, with Team World defending the title they won in 2025 23.