The top two seeds across three tournaments included the champion and runner-up, marking a historic week for men's tennis after 44 years.

Did men's tennis get overshadowed by women's tennis last week? No! Instead, everyone witnessed a historic week belonging to the ATP, with fans and netizens absolutely thrilled!

When Moutet and Mchova reached the final of the Doha 1000 tournament, with the Czech girl winning the title and the Canadian young star finishing runner-up, both became creators of personal or new women's tennis history, at a time when women's tennis topics were dominating over the simultaneous ATP events in Rotterdam, Dallas, and Buenos Aires.

Consider this: while everyone was talking extensively about Mchova finally winning her first 1000-level title after years of effort, becoming the oldest player since 1996 to win such a championship at age 29 by defeating the then-28-year-old Novotna and setting a new women's tennis record, and Moutet becoming the third player since 1985 to reach the top ten in the shortest time after entering the top 100, these topics swept through public opinion like a storm, somewhat overshadowing the ATP events happening concurrently.

However, no one expected the young ATP players to hold back their big moves. After the Rotterdam and Dallas 500 tournaments and the Buenos Aires 250 event concluded, a new ATP record was born, making everyone take a fresh look at the men's players last week.

Top seed Deminal and second seed Aliassime met in the Rotterdam final, fully fueling the buzz around this 500-level tournament.

At the time, as the spotlight was on this key matchup, people admitted that although having the top two seeds in the final was exciting, there was uncertainty whether Deminal could defeat Aliassime to claim his first title of the season.

Concerns about the Australian "Little Rabbit" mainly stemmed from Deminal's unlucky history in Rotterdam, where he had reached the final three times before but always ended up as the runner-up, a fate considered quite unfortunate.

Now, facing the same familiar stage again, no one knew if this time Deminal could break the curse and finally open a new chapter in his career by winning Rotterdam and wiping away his previous misfortunes.

This time, Deminal achieved his wish, sweeping Aliassime 6-3, 6-2 to claim the title, transforming from a perennial runner-up into the new champion.

Interestingly, the final lineup at the Dallas 500 tournament was identical to Rotterdam’s, with top seed Fritz and second seed Shelton facing off in the final.

Fans and netizens joked that the ATP tournaments this week seemed to have top two seeds unwilling to be outdone, both eager to defend their top seed status and make the championship battles more intense.

Before the Dallas 500 final, the main question everyone cared about was: between Fritz and Shelton, who would end up disappointed?

After this key match, the champion and runner-up did not follow Rotterdam’s script; the winner was not top seed Fritz but second seed Shelton, reversing the previous outcome.

After the match, congratulations went to Shelton, while Fritz became the focus of sympathy.

In the deciding set, Fritz held three championship points, including two consecutive ones, but failed to convert any, resulting in a heartbreaking loss.

Of course, Fritz’s missed opportunities didn’t mean a poor performance; he even saved two championship points against Shelton but ultimately lost on Shelton’s third, making for a dramatic and intense finish despite the defeat.

As for the other tournament last week, Buenos Aires, being only a 250-level event, it was probably the least noticed and rarely mentioned.

However, this 250 tournament had the confidence to challenge the two 500-level events in Rotterdam and Dallas, with its final also featuring the top two seeds: top seed Cerundolo and second seed Darderi, with the former winning the title in straight sets.

The reason these three tournaments caused such a stir in the media is that for the ATP, it is extremely rare for the top two seeds to claim the champion and runner-up positions in three consecutive events within a single week.

Records show that this last happened only once in October 1981, at tournaments in Tokyo, Melbourne, and Narna, which was 44 years ago.

It was thought that such an ATP spectacle would be hard to see again, but 44 years later, this historic week for men’s tennis has reoccurred, prompting some netizens to say that no amount of applause would be too much for these six male warriors — they truly deserve it!(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Moonlit River Starry Sky)