Dominic Thiem ended a memorable run by one of China’s top-ranked players at the Chengdu Open on Thursday. The top seed dismissed Di Wu 6-4, 6-4 in 67 minutes to move into the quarter-finals.

Wu was going for more personal history at his home tournament. The Chinese No. 2 celebrated his first ATP World Tour or Grand Slam main draw match win during his 14^th try on Tuesday (d. Kravchuk). Against Thiem, Wu was trying to earn his first Top 10 victory.

But the Austrian won almost 80 per cent of his first-serve points and broke Wu four times to reach his 13^th ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season. Wu fell to 0-10 against Top 10 foes.

“He was playing very well. My coach knew him so he gave me some very good tips,” Thiem said. “He was serving better than expected… He played a really good match.”

Thiem, who was a finalist in Metz last week (l. to Pouille), is trying to make his seventh final of the season. He’s also looking to bolster his chances of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the first time. The 23 year old is currently in seventh place in the Emirates ATP Race To London. The top eight qualify for the year-end championships, to be held 13-20 Nov. at The O2 in London.

If Thiem wins the Chengdu title, he would add 70 points to his haul. Right now, sixth-placed Gael Monfils leads him by 150 points.

In the quarter-finals, Thiem will face fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas for the first time. The Spaniard beat 33-year-old Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4.

“He’s a great player, and I had to run a lot. The match was so close,” Ramos-Vinolas said. “Very happy [with the win]. It’s not easy to play Lu in Asia.”

Who’s Close To Qualifying For The Year-End Championships? View The Emirates ATP Race To London

Defending champion Tomas Berdych stayed undefeated at the Shenzhen Open on Thursday. The top-seeded Czech delivered 16 aces and withstood a tight contest from Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin to move into the quarter-finals 7-6(7), 7-6(4) in about two hours.

Berdych and Kukushkin both won exactly 84 points during their second-round match but the Czech was more clutch when the match was on the line. Serving at 5/4 in the second-set tie-break, Berdych delivered his 16^th ace. Kukushkin netted a backhand on match point to give Berdych his fifth consecutive win in Shenzhen.

“It wasn’t easy at all,” said Berdych.

The 31-year-old right-hander is trying to reach his first final of the season. The nine-month drought is the longest Berdych has gone without a final to start a season since 2011, when he won Beijing on 9 Oct. (d. Cilic). The 6’5” right-hander is also attempting to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the seventh consecutive season.

Berdych is currently No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, 580 points behind eighth-placed Rafael Nadal. The top eight qualify. But Berdych could cut the Spaniard’s lead to 330 points if he repeats in Shenzhen and claims the 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points up for grabs this week.

Berdych will next face countryman Jiri Vesely, who beat Spaniard Inigo Cervantes 7-6(2), 6-3 during Thursday’s final match on Centre Court. Berdych leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0, including a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the Shenzhen quarter-finals last year.

Who’s Ahead Of Berdych? View The Emirates ATP Race To London Standings

Some Monday mornings are better than others.

Take, for example, 2 February, 2004. On this particular Monday morning, Roger Federer, aged 22, woke up for the first time in his life with the No. 1 ranking beside his name. It was day one at the top of the global tennis tree, courtesy of defeating Marat Safin 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Australian Open the day before.

The Swiss legend would go on to hold the coveted year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2004 – the first of five times he would earn that distinction. He held the top spot four straight years, from 2004-2007, and again in 2009.

The 2004 season was a coming out party for Federer. He won three majors, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and three Masters 1000s among an 11-title haul and a 74-6 match record. In many ways, 2004 was as good a body of work as he has ever put together.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Federer’s 2004 season showed he elevated his serving and returning and at pivotal moments during matches. The new year-end Infosys No. 1 LEADERBOARD spans 25 years back to 1991, allowing a comparison of the No. 1 player from each year in the categories of serve, return and under pressure.

See the all-new No. 1s ATP Stats LEADERBOARDS

Holding Serve

Federer’s prowess holding serve in 2004 was without peer, and amazingly his average was higher against Top 10 opponents. In 2004 he won 91.6 per cent of his service games, and that bumped up to 92.5 per cent when facing Top 10 opponents. (Fans can filter the LEADERBOARDS by performances against Top 10, Top 20 and Top 50 opponents.)

Service Games Won: Top 5 Years Since 1991

Returning Serve

On the returning side of the equation, Federer had his best year of returning first serves in 2004, winning 34.8 per cent of first-serve return points. (He achieved the same percentage in 2006). Federer trails category leader Novak Djokovic, 35.7 per cent in 2011, by less than one percentage point. Remarkably, Federer’s return prowess against first serves in 2004 was superior to other notable year-end No. 1 returners, such as Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Djokovic in 2014 and 2015.

Under Pressure

Federer’s remarkable level of play in 2004 directly helped him save more break points than any year-end No 1 player. Federer saved 72.6 per cent of break points, edging Pete Sampras’ 1996 season, 72.3 per cent.

Tie-breaks were another key area that helped Federer put together an unparalleled season. He won 80 per cent of the end-of-set shootouts, best among the year-end No. 1s. Dominating tie-breaks has been a calling card of the Swiss. During all five years he finished No. 1, he won at least 70 per cent of the tie-breaks he played.

Federer’s career continues to evolve some 12 years later, but his 2004 season was one for the ages.

Despite an ace count half his opponent’s, Bernard Tomic delivered a composed performance at crucial moments to end qualifier Ryan Harrison’s three-match Shenzhen Open winning streak on Thursday. The Australian No. 4 seed broke in the final game of the match to emerge with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory in just over two hours.

It marks the 23 year old’s eighth ATP World Tour quarter-final this season and sets up a clash with Brazilian lefty Thomaz Bellucci, an earlier winner over lucky loser Thomas Fabbiano. Tomic withstood 20 aces from Harrison and won fewer first-serve points than the American, 68 per cent to 81 per cent. But the Aussie made bigger inroad’s on his opponent’s second serve to extend his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Harrison to 2-0. It was the pair’s first clash since 2012.

Bellucci, meanwhile, has yet to drop a set after winning through to the quarter-finals with a narrow 7-6(2), 7-6(4) victory over Fabbiano. The unseeded lefty prevailed on the back of 13 aces to reach the last eight at an ATP World Tour event for the first time this season. He has split two previous FedEx Head2Head meetings with Tomic.

Fabbiano had replaced fifth seed and #NextGen star Alexander Zverev as a lucky loser on Wednesday only minutes before taking the court to defeat Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. The 27-year-old Fabbiano fell short of reaching his second quarter-final of the season against Bellucci, who backed up his first-round dismissal of Gastao Elias.

In doubles, third seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jonathan Erlich and Santiago Gonzalez. They will take on Fabio Fognini and Robert Lindstedt after the unseeded pair routed Pablo Andujar and Richard Gasquet 6-0, 6-1.

Welcome to the 2016 ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon, where we recognise outstanding players and tournaments. Vote for your favourite players now and come back 17 October to view the nominees for the player-voted categories.

Voting for the ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon closes at 11.59pm GMT on Monday, 7 November.

Voted By Fans

Note: Fans’ Favourite candidates are the Top 20 players in the Emirates ATP Race To London and Top 15 teams in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London as of 12 September 2016.

Welcome to the 2016 ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon, where we recognise outstanding players and tournaments. Nominees for the player-voted categories and the new ATP Coach of the Year award will be revealed 17 October.

Voted By Fans

ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite presented by Moët & Chandon (Singles, Doubles): The singles player and doubles team receiving the highest number of votes from ATPWorldTour.com fans from now through 7 November.

Determined By Emirates ATP Rankings

ATP World Tour No. 1 Presented by Emirates: The player who ends the year as World No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

ATP World Tour No. 1 Doubles Team Presented by Emirates: The team that ends the year as World No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings.

ATP Star Of Tomorrow Presented by Emirates: The youngest player in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings as of 7 November 2016.

Voted By Players

Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award: The player who, throughout the year, conducted himself at the highest level of professionalism and integrity, who competed with his fellow players with the utmost spirit of fairness and who promoted the game through his off-court activities.

Most Improved Player of the Year: The player who reached a significantly higher Emirates ATP Ranking by year’s end and who demonstrated an increasingly improved level of performance through the year.

Comeback Player of the Year: The player who has overcome injury/illness in reestablishing himself as one of the top players on the ATP World Tour.

Tournaments of the Year: The tournament in its category that operated at the highest level of professionalism and integrity and which provided the best conditions and atmosphere for participating players.

Categories:

ATP World Tour Masters 1000

ATP World Tour 500

ATP World Tour 250

Note: Tournament awards will be announced in 2017

Voted By Coaches

(New for 2016) ATP Coach of the Year: Voted on by fellow ATP coach members, this award goes to the ATP coach who helped guide his players to a higher level of performance during the year.

Chosen By ATP

Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award: The person who has made outstanding humanitarian contributions. Previous winners include James Blake, Roger Federer, Carlos Moya, former South African President Nelson Mandela and Arthur Ashe.

Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award: The journalist who has made significant contributions to the game of tennis.

In the midst of a resurgent 2016 campaign, Marco Chiudinelli is pushing towards a return to the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. The 35-year-old Swiss, who has soared more than 150 spots to World No. 125, has amassed 25 wins this year on the ATP Challenger Tour and owes much of his success to a dominant run in tie-breaks.

Calm under pressure, Chiudinelli established an impressive streak of 13 consecutive Challenger tie-breaks won from January to September. Despite dropping the first set 7-6(3) to eventual champion Marsel Ilhan at last week’s event in Izmir, Turkey, it will go down as the second-longest streak on the circuit since 2000. Only South Africa’s Wesley Moodie has won more tie-breaks in a row, when he strung together 14 straight from 2002-03.

“I have a lot of runs,” Chiudinelli told ATPWorldTour.com. “Last year, I had a negative one and this was a pretty positive one. It obviously helps me to stay calm in the tie-breaks. They have gone so well for me this year.

“I lost a pretty big one in Davis Cup, but knowing that I won many this year does help. You just keep believing and it definitely gives me confidence knowing that I’ve had such a good tie-break run. It doesn’t give you any guarantees, but this year it’s been good for me.”

Chiudinelli, runner-up in Manila in January and titlist on the hard courts of Wroclaw, Poland, a month later, continues to turn back the clock as the season progresses. After reaching the US Open second round as a qualifier, the Swiss carried the momentum into Istanbul, advancing to his fourth Challenger semi-final of the year (l. to Sela). He will look to start a new tie-break streak at this week’s prestigious indoor event in Orleans, France.