If the ending of last year’s Grand Prix Hassan II is any sign of what is to come this week in Marrakech, fans will be in for an absolute treat.

Philipp Kohlschreiber, who held five championship points against Borna Coric in last year’s epic final at the tournament, will get another chance to claim glory in Morocco. The third-seeded German will begin his title assault against local wild card Lamine Ouahab.

Top seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas pursues his second ATP World Tour title on his beloved red clay. According to the FedEx ATP Performance Zone, the left-handed Spaniard ranks fifth on the Tour in the past 52 weeks with 19 victories on the surface. The 30-year-old advanced to the final at the Ecuador Open in Quito earlier this year before losing to compatriot Roberto Carballes Baena.

Ramos-Vinolas will face a tricky test in Moroccan wild card Amine Ahouda. The World No. 718, who is 20 years old, won his only tour-level match earlier this year in Davis Cup against Top 100 player Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia. Kyle Edmund, the second seed who broke through with a run to the semi-finals at the Australian Open, will look to kick off his clay-court campaign on a high note against left-handed Czech Jiri Vesely.

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Two unseeded 2018 ATP World Tour titlists have been drawn against seeded players in the first round of the only African tour-level event.

Frenchman Gilles Simon, who triumphed at the Tata Open Maharashtra in the first week of the season, takes on sixth-seeded compatriot Benoit Paire. And while Paire is placed 24 spots higher in the ATP Rankings, Simon leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-3, with their past five matches coming at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level (Simon leads 4-1). It will be their first clash since the 2015 Rolex Paris Masters.

Past Five Champions

Simon won this tournament in 2008 when it was held at Casablanca. The only other former champion also in the draw is Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (2014).

Mirza Basic, who earned his maiden ATP World Tour title at the Diema Xtra Sofia Open in February, will face fifth seed Robin Haase in the first round. The pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series is knotted at 1-1.

Haase is the only player who is seeded in both the singles and doubles draws. The Dutchman is No. 5 in singles and part of the fourth-seeded team with compatriot Matwe Middelkoop — the team, like Basic, won in Sofia, and also triumphed alongside Simon in Pune to begin 2018.

Another player to look out for is fourth seed Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman, who is six tour-level wins away from No. 500, will begin his efforts in Marrakech against Italian Thomas Fabbiano. The 31-year-old, who hasn’t claimed glory since 2016 Antwerp, will attempt to win his 15th ATP World Tour title.

ITALY 1, FRANCE 2
Venue: Valletta Cambiaso ASD, Genoa, ITA (clay – outdoor)

Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut moved defending champion France to within one win of the Davis Cup World Group semi-finals after beating Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 on Saturday.

The Frenchmen broke their Italian opponents on seven occasions in the one-hour, 54-minute encounter to give France a 2-1 lead heading into Sunday’s reverse singles rubbers. A change of nomination for Italy, which replaced Paolo Lorenzi with Fognini, could not inspire the home side to victory, with the French pair improving their Davis Cup record as a team to 5-1.

“It’s very satisfying winning that match for the team,” Herbert told DavisCup.com. “We’re obviously very happy to get the point and hopefully the boys can get the job done in the singles. It’s going to be a great match with Lucas (Pouille) and (Fabio) Fognini.”

Herbert and Mahut’s victory gives teammate Pouille the opportunity to book France’s place in the next round when he faces Fognini on Sunday. Despite the 2-1 advantage, Mahut was well aware of the threat the Italian No. 1, who recently won the title in Sao Paulo, poses on Sunday. “There is a long way to go and Fognini played unbelievable in the singles,” said Mahut.

CROATIA 2, KAZAKHSTAN 1
Venue: Varazdin Arena, Varazdin, CRO (clay – indoor)

Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic secured a vital point for Croatia, defeating Kazakhstan’s Timur Khabibulin and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 after exactly three hours of play.

Dodig and Mektic won 74 per cent of points behind their first serves to put Croatia 2-1 ahead in the tie, coming from a set down to delight the home fans in attendance at the Varazdin Arena. The result hands World No. 3 Marin Cilic the opportunity to clinch the tie in the opening match on Sunday, when he faces Kazakh No. 1 Mikhail Kukushkin. Cilic leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1, winning their most recent meeting in the 2015 US Open third round in five sets.

Leander Paes continues to span the sport’s generations, entertaining with the same youthful enthusiasm and passion that he first showcased 29 seasons ago. The evergreen Indian, a feisty competitor with a familar smile never far away, has today become the sixth player in ATP World Tour history (since 1973) to record 750 doubles match wins (750-433).

It is perhaps apt, that the 44-year-old hit the milestone on Davis Cup duty by recording his 43rd victory for India since his debut in March 1990, to break the long-standing match wins record of Italy’s Nicola Pietrangeli. In tandem with Rohan Bopanna, the duo has kept India in its Asia/Oceania Group I tie versus China on Saturday.

Only five other players – Mike Bryan, 45-year-old Daniel Nestor, who is in his final year as a pro, Bob Bryan, Todd Woodbridge and Max Mirnyi – have compiled a greater number of doubles victories than one of Asia’s finest sportsmen.

DOUBLES MATCH WINS LEADERS (Since 1973)
Paes is the sixth player in ATP World Tour history to attain 750 doubles match wins (as of 7 April 2018).

Paes has nothing to prove in his 45th year, but has no intention of stopping. The sport fascinates him.

“As crazy as it sounds, I am still learning and recently picked up a few things about the return of serve,” Paes told ATPWorldTour.com. “The sport is so dynamic that it changes so fast. I feel as if I have had to reinvent myself over the years. The trick is to stay young, to stay fast and to stay injury free in order to stay potent on the tennis court. After all these years, I take pride in commanding the court and leading the play. It’s something that pushes me, even on the hard days.”

Incredibly, there are 43 players in the current Top 100 of the ATP Rankings and 21 players in the Top 100 of the ATP Doubles Rankings who weren’t born when Paes first began his journey from being the world’s best teenager, a winner of the 1990 Wimbledon and 1991 US Open junior crowns, to perennial elite performer.

His rise to No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings on 21 June 1999, his 55 doubles crowns (including eight men’s Grand Slam championships), one singles title (1998 Newport, d. Neville Godwin), the singles bronze medallist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and the suspected brain tumour that cut short his 2003 season, are all part of his remarkable life and tennis career. They are also the very reason why he keeps competing, because Paes continues to strive to achieve something new in a sport that he loves and considers fun.

“I’m training very differently now than when I was in my 20s,” said Paes. “When I was in my 20s, I was spending eight or nine-hour days in repetition, creating muscle memory. But now, I feel like I’ve got the muscle memory. The quality of the practice, rather than the quantity is more important. Getting out there and being more match specific in training is important. I also feel that now my training is all about injury prevention, staying healthy and fresh over a long year.”

Having partnered 120 different players since his Davis Cup debut with Zeeshan Ali in March 1990, Paes has time and again showcased his lightning reflexes and hand-eye coordination, his deft touch from the baseline or the net, and his swift movement. “Lee is just a one-of-a-kind type of guy,” Mark Knowles told ATPWorldTour.com. “He has a unique ability to empower his partners and make them reach heights that maybe they didn’t believe they could attain.”

His longevity — let alone his drive and hunger to train, to practice and to compete — is mind boggling.

So did Paes think back in 1990 that he’d still be globe trotting? “I’d think you’re crazy!

“Coaching one day would be a natural transition for me, but at this moment I’d like to win a couple more Grand Slams before I get there!”

John Isner is fresh off the biggest title of his career, as the 32-year-old became the oldest first-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 champion when he triumphed at the Miami Open presented by Itau last weekend.

Now, it’s on to the next challenge for the American — Isner will have to immediately dig into the red clay of the River Oaks Country Club as he seeks his second tour-level clay-court title, and his second in Houston at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.

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“It’s up to me now to keep pushing forward,” Isner said after his Miami victory. “This is a big hurdle for me, mentally more than anything, to get over the hump in a tournament like this.”

And it may not be long until the top seed faces a stern challenge in Houston, which is the right-hander’s home event — he now resides in Dallas. The World No. 9 will face German Dustin Brown or Swiss Henri Laaksonen in the second round. Isner lost against Brown in a third-set tie-break in Houston four years ago when he was attempting to defend his 2013 title.

Past Five Houston Champions

But Isner is not the only American seeded at the only ATP World Tour clay-court event in North America. He is projected to face sixth-seeded compatriot Steve Johnson in the quarter-finals for the right to potentially play No. 3 Jack Sock or No. 7 Ryan Harrison in the semi-finals.

Harrison became the youngest player — and remains so — to win an ATP World Tour Match since Rafael Nadal (2002 Mallorca) at 15 years old in Houston 10 years ago, qualifying before defeating Pablo Cuevas. The American, who advanced to the Brisbane final earlier this year, makes his return to Houston for the first time since that breakthrough when he faces a qualifier in the first round.

No. 2 Sam Querrey, a runner-up at this event in 2010 and 2015, will open his campaign against Argentine Guido Pella or a qualifier. No. 8 Tennys Sandgren joins Querrey on the other half of the draw.

One of Querrey’s potential semi-final opponents is making his debut in Houston — third seed Nick Kyrgios. The Australian, who is one of two players to have beaten Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings (Lleyton Hewitt), will open against compatriot Jordan Thompson or American Bjorn Fratangelo.

Read: After Three Months, Americans Top ATP Race To Milan

Two #NextGenATP Americans who have gotten off to fast starts in 2018 will look to continue their good form. Frances Tiafoe, who at the Delray Beach Open became the youngest American to win an ATP World Tour title since Andy Roddick at 2002 Houston, will look to back up his Round of 16 appearance in Miami with a first-round win against wild card Mackenzie McDonald. Taylor Fritz, 20, who achieved his best Masters 1000 result by reaching the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open, takes on compatriot Tim Smyczek.