Tecnifibre star Daniil Medvedev has graduated this year from ITF Futures tournaments to ATP Challenger Tour events and it may not be long before he becomes a regular fixture on the ATP World Tour.

Medvedev is currently at a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 136 and is still in a position to crack the Top 100 by the end of the season. Competing at this week’s $125,000+H ATP Challenger Tour event in Orleans, France, the 20 year old Russian defeated fourth seed and defending champion Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany in the opening round.

“A lot of the guys told me how good this tournament is, but it’s my first time here and I’m very impressed,” said Medvedev. “It looks a lot like an ATP World Tour event to me.“

Starting out 2016 at No. 329 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Medvedev began the year playing ITF Futures events. But as his game has continued to flourish, so have the surroundings he has found himself competing in.

“It’s definitely a difference to be playing Challengers now,” said Medvedev. “The level of the players is stronger and the organisation is better. Everything is just bigger and better now.”

Medvedev has won 10 of his past 11 ATP Challenger Tour matches. After reaching the finals in August at the $50,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Portoroz, Slovenia, he broke through last month with his first Challenger title at the $50,000 tournament in St. Remy, France.

“It was a big moment for me,” said Medvedev. “Anytime you win your first tournament, whether it’s in juniors or ITF Futures, it’s a very strong moment. I’d be trying to do that for awhile, so I was very happy to finally achieve it.”

But while Medvedev has already created a season that he’s happy with, he’s still not completely content yet.

“It’s been a very good year. My [Emirates ATP] ranking has gone up a lot,” he said. “I have no points to defend now, so I hope to finish inside the Top 100 by the end of the season.”

Third seed Richard Gasquet tore through his Shenzhen Open second round on Wednesday, dismissing qualifier Andrew Whittington 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes.

The Frenchman lost only eight points on serve and broke Whittington five times as he sealed his 27^th win of the season. The 30-year-old Gasquet is looking to get back on track after a disappointing recent stretch, which saw him forced out of Toronto with a rib injury and suffer a first-round exit to Kyle Edmund at the US Open.

Next up for Gasquet will be Mischa Zverev, who reached his first ATP World Tour quarter-final in almost a year on Wednesday as he upset seventh seed Fabio Fognini 7-6(3), 6-4.

Zverev, who came through qualifying, fired 10 aces and won 79 per cent of his service points as he claimed victory in 81 minutes. His last quarter-final showing came in Valencia last year, where he also defeated Fognini before falling to Roberto Bautista Agut.

Mischa’s younger brother, 19-year-old Alexander Zverev, was forced to withdraw from this ATP World Tour 250 tournament, citing fatigue after arriving late from St. Petersburg, where he won his first ATP World Tour title on Sunday (d. Wawrinka).

Thomas Fabbiano was the lucky loser to replace Zverev and the Italian made good on his opportunity as he defeated Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in just under two hours in the first round.

Fognini was not the only seed to exit on Wednesday. Malek Jaziri ousted second seed David Goffin 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-2 in just over two hours. The Tunisian is through to his second ATP World Tour quarter-final in as many weeks after reaching the last eight in Metz (l. to Simon).

Goffin was coming off a semi-final showing in Metz (l. to Pouille) and dropped to a 38-19 match record on the season.

Second Seeds Reach Semis

Second seeds Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin reached the Shenzhen semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Mikhail Kukushkin and Stephane Robert. The Austrian/French duo are 15^th in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London and are chasing their third title of the season after victories in Chennai and Delray Beach.

Elsewhere, third seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus opened their bid with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Chinese pairing Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang.

After a breakthrough week on the ATP Challenger Tour, Renzo Olivo is on the verge of achieving yet another milestone: reaching the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

The 24 year old from Argentina won his first Challenger at last week’s $40,000 event in Santos, Brazil. Having started the year at No. 173 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Olivo now sits at a career-high standing of No. 102.

“It’s very important to me. I’ve been fighting for a Challenger title for a long time,” said Olivo. “I’ve reached a few finals and many semi-finals in the past three years and it’s been a barrier that I’ve had to overcome. I’m very happy.”

Another strong result at this week’s $50,000 event in Medellin, Colombia, would put him inside the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. Olivo is off to a strong start after recording an opening-round win over local favourite Orlando Luz.

His recent Challenger success was inevitable after having his best results this season on the ATP World Tour. He reached the semi-finals in July at the German Tennis Championships 2016 and produced a quarter-final finish in February at the Ecuador Open Quito. But while some fans may have been surprised with those results, Olivo always knew he was capable of achieving them.

“I wouldn’t say that I exceeded my expectations, but I took my opportunities and played at the right level to do it,” he said. “And mentally, I managed it well.”

Olivo is now hoping to use another opportunity in Medellin to crack the Top 100. But while the achievement would be the fruition of years of hard work, the Argentine is making it a point to not put pressure on himself.

“The Top 100 is a big goal. The truth is you need to play well consistently and stay strong physically to reach it. To finish the year there is the objective,” said Olivo. “[But] I have no pressure… If I play my game and stay strong, I will have many chances to go far.”

Fresh off his first ATP World Tour title at the St. Petersburg Open, Alexander Zverev arrived in Shenzhen on Tuesday following an overnight flight to Hong Kong. Zverev opens his Shenzhen Open campaign Wednesday against fellow NextGen rival Yoshihito Nishioka, who celebrated his 21st birthday Tuesday.

WEDNESDAY PREVIEW: Three days after the biggest win of his budding career, Alexander Zverev will play a tour-level match in China for the first time against fellow #NextGen player Yoshihito Nishioka. Zverev stunned US Open champion and World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka at St. Petersburg on Sunday, capturing his first ATP World Tour title by ending the Swiss’ 11-match win streak in finals. The 19-year-old German is the youngest ATP World Tour champion since Kei Nishikori at Delray Beach in February 2008 and the first teenager to win a title since Marin Cilic at New Haven in August 2008. Zverev is now No. 19 in the Emirates ATP Race To London and could become the youngest player to end a year in the Top 20 since Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray in 2006. 

Zverev vs. Nishioka is the final first-round match of the Shenzhen Open, with four second-rounders also on Wednesday’s schedule. Among the men seeking quarter-final spots is qualifier Mischa Zverev, Alexander’s 29-year-old brother. The elder Zverev defeated Zhicheng Zhu and Henri Laaksonen over the weekend to qualify for the eighth time on tour in 2016, tying him for the lead with Chengdu Open qualifier Radek Stepanek. Mischa Zverev, who hasn’t reached an ATP World Tour quarter-final since Valencia in 2015, meets No. 7 seed Fabio Fognini.

On Centre Court, No. 2 seed David Goffin meets Jaziri in a match with Emirates ATP Race To London implications. Goffin is 11th in the race for eight berths at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, but he needs to reach the Shenzhen semi-finals to gain any points this week. Jaziri, meanwhile, is enjoying his best season as a pro, earning a career-high 15 tour-level wins and three titles on the ATP Challenger Tour.

Following that match, Australian qualifier Andrew Whittington meets No. 3 seed Richard Gasquet. The 23-year-old Whittington made a memorable ATP World Tour debut on Monday, saving four match points against fellow qualifier Luca Vanni. In the final match of the day, No. 6 seed Benoit Paire takes on 224th-ranked Tipsarevic. After struggling with foot and knee injuries for much of the last three seasons, Tipsarevic hopes to end a stretch of 22 tour-level events since his last quarter-final at Bogota in 2013. The former World No. 8 has not won back-to-back matches since reaching the 2013 US Open fourth round. 

If Alexander Zverev finishes the 2016 season in the Top 20, he will join elite company. Five of the last 10 teens to end a year in the Top 20 have gone on to become World No. 1, while three others peaked at No. 2.