Fabrice Martin and Gilles Simon arrived in Tokyo having played doubles together just once before, a first-round loss in Paris two years ago. But after winning two qualifying matches, they shocked top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers 3-6, 7-6(4), 10-7 on Monday evening to reach the second round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2018.

“First of all I’m very happy to be playing with Gilles,” Martin said. “We had some good matches in qualies and today, I played them actually in the US Open and won with Jeremy Chardy so we had a plan coming onto the court and it kind of worked. It was really close at the end, but we’re very happy to go through this match.”

The Frenchmen did well to protect their serves, not double-faulting throughout the whole match. While they were broken twice — including once in the second set — they did well to force a Match Tie-break. Once there, Kontinen double-faulted twice and Peers did so once, putting the favoured team in too much difficulty to overcome.

What makes the victory even more impressive is that Simon does not play much doubles. In fact, he had done so only twice this year. But he loves competing with friends, making the victory even sweeter.

“It’s a lot of pressure also on my side because it’s his job, he’s a doubles player and he wants to perform,” Simon said. “I focus on singles, but I still want to do very good for him and I am so happy that we were able to win and go through to the second round. That’s amazing.”

The No. 2 seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who reached last year’s final, ousted Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak 6-3, 7-5. The British-Brazilian duo won 77 per cent of their service points en route to a 68-minute victory.

Since the introduction of the China Open in 2004, Beijing and Tokyo’s Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships – both ATP World Tour 500 tournaments – have regularly attracted the biggest names on the ATP World Tour.

Each of the China Open’s previous 14 champions have featured inside the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings and reached a Grand Slam final. Tokyo has also been blessed with consistent success by its top attendees, with Roger Federer’s triumph in 2006 marking the first of ten consecutive editions to be won by a player who has achieved a Top 5 career-high ATP Ranking.

With a rich blend of tradition, culture and modern innovation, the capitals of China and Japan have consistently proven to be popular destinations for players as the season looks ahead to the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals in November. With 500 points on offer to the tournament champion, both Beijing and Tokyo provide huge opportunities for those yet to qualify, or those looking to boost their chances of finishing the season as the year-end World No. 1, to make a move up the ATP Race To London standings.

PAST TEN CHAMPIONS IN BEIJING AND TOKYO

Not only has it proven tough for players to finish these events with the champions trophy, reaching the final itself has been a unenviable task for many. Of the 20 men to finish runner-up at the two events over the past decade, 16 have featured inside the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings throughout their careers so far. This season, US Open finalist Juan Martin del Potro and World No. 5 Alexander Zverev lead the way in Beijing, with No. 6-ranked Marin Cilic and World No. 9 Kevin Anderson occupying the top two seeding positions in Tokyo.

Seven members of the Top 20 will be in attendance at The Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center, with four of the nine ATP World Tour 500 series champions this year all keen to add a second trophy at the level to their 2018 resume. Dubai champion Roberto Bautista Agut and Washington, D.C. titlist Zverev will clash in the first round, with Halle winner Borna Coric and Hamburg champion also featuring in the 32-man draw.

Six Top 20 stars will appear in a Tokyo field which also includes four of the Top 5-placed players in the ATP Race To Milan. Stefanos Tsitispas, Denis Shapovalov, Alex de Minaur and Frances Tiafoe will all enter the event determined to add more points to their names as they bid to solidify their positions ahead of the Next Gen ATP Finals; an added dynamic to an already invaluable week in the Asian Swing.