JEDDAH/WASHINGTON, December 20, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)
As the final day of group stage play at the Next Gen ATP Finals unfolded Friday inside King Abdullah Sports City, only No. 2 seed Alexander Blockx of Belgium could breathe easy. That’s because he had already clinched a berth in the semifinals by winning his first two matches with the right combination of power and confidence.
Meanwhile, the remaining three spots were on offer with any number of scenarios possible that would fill each of the positions. As the day unfolded, Americans Ninesh Basavareddy and Learner Tien earned their way into the last four with their respective victories, while the final semifinal berth went to Norway’s Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, who lost to Tien after winning his first two group stage matches earlier this week.
In Saturday’s semifinal round, which pairs the winners of each group against the second-place finishers of the other group, Blockx (3-0, first place in Red Group) will face Budkov Kjaer (2-1, second place in Blue Group) in the first match, followed by an all-American showdown between Tien (2-1, first place in Blue Group) and Basavareddy (2-1, second place in Red Group).
Basavareddy beats Engel, advances with help from Blockx
First, during the afternoon session, No. 6 seed Nishesh Basavareddy of the United States eased past winless No. 8 seed Justin Engel of Germany, 4-3 (3), 4-2, 4-3 (5), in 70 minutes to remain hopeful of being the second qualifier to advance from the Red Group after Blockx. It was important that the 167th-ranked, 20-year-old American won in straight sets because that would give him the easiest path to qualify for the semifinals, needing Blockx to win just one set against No. 3 seed Dino Prizmic of Croatia, which the 20-year-old Belgian did by garnering his opening set in tie-break fashion. Once that happened, Basavareddy was locked into the last four.
That winning feeling for Basavareddy #NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/p3YNjYKtll
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 19, 2025
As it happened, Blockx went on to beat the 20-year-old, 128th-ranked Prizmic in four sets, 4-3 (4), 2-4, 4-2, 4-0, in an hour and 34 minutes. Blockx finished group play 3-0 and Prizmic was 1-2. The 116th-ranked Antwerp native hit five aces, saved seven of nine break points and outpointed Prizmic 78-64.
What a way to finish undefeated in the Red Group for Alexander Blockx #NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/GBQTck2aVX
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 19, 2025
Meanwhile, Basavareddy, who went 1-2 a year ago in Jeddah, earned his second win of this year’s tournament under the guidance of new coach Gilles Cervara. He hit 20 winners and took advantage of 31 unforced errors by the 18-year-old Engel, ranked 187th.
Afterward, during his on-court interview, Basavareddy said he didn’t look at the advancement scenarios before taking the court against Engel. However, “in the third set,” he admitted, “I was thinking maybe if I win this in straight sets it would be better for my cause. But before the match, I was just trying to prepare the best I could for this match.”
Basava-reddy for the semi-finals #NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/rzRY8zNegt
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 19, 2025
Jodar wins but edged out by Tien, Budkov Kjaer
With the remaining two spots to be filled from the Blue Group during the evening session, No. 7 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain needed a straight-set win to have any real chance of advancing. He beat his friend and fellow Spaniard, No. 4 seed Martin Landaluce, 4-3 (7), 4-1, 4-3 (2), in one hour and 23 minutes, behind an offensive outburst that produced nine aces and a 79-percent efficiency rate of winning points on his serve, and by outpointing his opponent 68-50. It was Jodar’s second tour-level win this week after saving four match points to upset top-seeded Learner Tien of the United States.
Leaving it all out there #NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/X9KFoDDH8s
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 19, 2025
“I’m very happy how I handled the important moments and the pressure moments in this match,” the 19-year-old Jodar said during his on-court interview. “Super happy to get the win here. I’ve been playing against [Martin] for a long time. We are very good friends. We are from the same tennis club, Club de Tenis Chamartin.”
VAMOS #NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/gzwVzM32KS
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 19, 2025
With Jodar in the running, it was up to Tien to win at least one set to remain in contention for one of the two remaining semifinal berths. If he was pushed to five sets – even if he won – he would not advance. As it turned out, Tien put together his best performance all week against No. 5 seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer – and won, 3-4 (2), 4-1, 4-2, 4-2, in one hour and 19 minutes to move on. The consolation for the 19-year-old Budkov Kjaer, despite firing 17 aces and finishing with 25 overall winners, was advancing second out of the Blue Group behind Tien. He’s the first Norwegian semifinalist in tournament history.
Tien, who reached last year’s Jeddah final, hit 29 winners – including nine aces – and saved both break points he faced. He broke his opponent three times in seven tries. Tien outpointed the 136th-ranked Budkov Kjaer 73-61.
Tien downs Budkov Kjaer (2)3-4 4-1 4-2 4-2 to win the Blue Group!#NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/rWf6YS9k9z
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 19, 2025
During his on-court interview, Tien was asked if he felt any pressuring after dropping the opening set. “Not really,” he said. “It’s a longer format, three out of five, the sets can go by quick. … I thought I served pretty well the whole match, I didn’t get broken in the first set and he played a good tie-break. I didn’t feel like I played a bad set, so I wasn’t super worried.
The 20-year-old Tien, the only competitor in this year’s Next Gen ATP Finals field ranked in the Top 100 at World No. 28, said he’s adjusting to the conditions, “getting a little bit better day by day. So I’m happy with that. This is my last year here, so I’m really trying to make the most out of it.”
Around the Next Gen ATP Finals
Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who is in Jeddah this weekend as a Saudi Tennis Federation (STF) ambassador, attended Friday evening’s all-Spanish clash between No. 168 Rafael Jodar and No. 134 Martin Landaluce, which Jodar won 4-3 (7), 4-1, 4-3 (2), in an hour and 23 minutes.
“Rafa has been my idol for a long time, since I was very young,” Jodar said of the 14-time French Open champion who retired earlier this season. “I used to watch all of his matches. He was my role model in tennis. I’m super happy that he was here. It means a lot that he came to Saudi Arabia to watch this tournament.”
The 22-time Grand Slam champion taking in the action #NextGenATPFinals | @RafaelNadal pic.twitter.com/L3y7pqpwDD
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 19, 2025
Friday’s Next Gen ATP Finals results
Saturday’s Next Gen ATP Finals order of play
By the numbers
By reaching back-to-back semifinals, American Learner Tien became the sixth player in Next Gen ATP Finals history to achieve the feat. The others are: Andrey Rublev of Russia (2017-18), Alex de Minaur of Australia (2018-19), Brandon Nakashima of the United States (2021-22), Dominic Stricker of Switzerland (2022-23), Luca van Assche of France (2023-24).
“Quotable …”
“In the short time we have been together, we have already made some improvements, him and my fitness coach. I think we have progressed a lot physically and I think my serve today was a lot better than it normally is.”
– No. 6 seed Nishesh Basavareddy of the United States, during his post-match interview Friday, speaking about his new coach Gilles Cervara, who formerly coached Daniil Medvedev.
