Eighth seed Kyle Edmund opened his week in style at the New York Open, holding the lead throughout his 7-5, 6-4 victory on Tuesday against Japanese Yasutaka Uchiyama.

The Brit won 86 per cent (30/35) of his first-serve points en route to prevailing in one hour and 44 minutes. Awaiting Edmund in the second round is German Dominik Koepfer, who defeated Canadian Brayden Schnur 7-5, 6-4. Schnur finished runner-up last year in New York (l. to Opelka).

Aussie Jordan Thompson weathered a dangerous test by moving past big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 7-6(2) to reach the second round. Next up for Thompson is another gentle giant on Tour when he meets top-seeded American John Isner, who defeated him in the quarter-finals last year at this event. 

Trailing by a set and 1-4, Italian Paolo Lorenzi rallied to win the last 11 games and prevail 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 in his all-qualifier battle with Serbian Danilo Petrovic. The 38-year-old will face another Serbian when he takes on #NextGenATP star and sixth seed Miomir Kecmanovic for a place in the quarter-finals.

South Korean Soonwoo Kwon prevailed in a lengthy 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3 first-round battle with Japanese qualifier Go Soeda. His reward is a clash with second-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic. Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka started his week with a 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 win over Swiss Henri Laaksonen. The 24-year-old earned the right to meet third-seeded American and defending champion Reilly Opelka in the next round.

Some players look at their draws, and others don’t pay much attention to it. But for Jordan Thompson, his New York Open draw was tough to miss, literally and figuratively. The World No. 63 beat 6’11” Ivo Karlovic on Tuesday 6-3, 7-6(2) and next, he will face 6’10” John Isner, the top seed.

“When I saw the draw I was like ‘Oof, that’s a tough one,’” Thompson told ATPTour.com. “It’s pretty funny when you play a guy 6’11″ and then play a guy 6’10″. It doesn’t happen too often.”

Karlovic and Isner are No. 1 and No. 2 in career aces, respectively. So inevitably, Thompson knew that it would be tough to earn many breaks. He earned five break points against Karlovic, and converted once in his win.

“Serve and return are the biggest parts of tennis, so when you’re playing someone that big, I think you focus just a little bit harder just because it’s the best part of their game and you’ve got to try to diffuse it,” Thompson said. “Against those sort of guys, I’m just trying to focus on making them play and trying to build pressure because building pressure against those types of guys is incredibly tough. So just try to make as many balls as possible… any return in is a good one.”

The obvious challenge is trying to find a way into the service games of players like Karlovic and Isner. But Thompson said that knowing he won’t get many opportunities also adds a small burden during his own service games.

“When you play those sorts of guys you do feel a little bit more pressure because they can race through service games and I’m about a foot smaller than those boys, so I guess there’s a little bit of pressure,” Thompson said. “I’m an all-around player, so I don’t put too much pressure on my own serve because I can try to win points other ways.”

Just because Karlovic and Isner lead the ATP Tour in career aces doesn’t mean they play exactly similar games. According to Thompson, outside of the serve, those men use different strategies.

“Ivo is more of a serve-and-volleyer. John tries to stay back and hunt for forehands. I’d say John is better from the back of the court,” Thompson said. “Both have got a great serve. John is a little bit younger. I don’t know what the difference is between them. I’d say between the serve and volleying and staying back, that’s the only difference.

“It’s coming down from such a height, they’re basically the same height. They’re close to seven-feet tall. I don’t really know if there’s that much of a difference. Maybe Isner has a little bit more spin on his. They’re both pretty similar.”

Thompson will hope that his win against Karlovic will help propel him to victory against Isner, who defeated him in last year’s New York Open. In the quarter-finals, the American struck 16 aces en route to a 6-4, 6-1 triumph against the Aussie.

“I had a pretty tough day at the office because it is indoors and there’s no outside factors that can [affect anything],” Thompson said. “Maybe if there’s a bit of wind it’s a little bit harder to serve but there’s none of that in here. It’s perfect conditions in here, so I guess it’s a little bit tougher to break serve.”

Tennys Sandgren may not have won his opening-round match on Monday against Steve Johnson at the New York Open, but his outrageous tweener winner earned top honours on Tuesday as the No. 1 play on ESPN’s flagship program ‘SportsCenter’.

With Sandgren serving at 4-4, 30/30 in the final set, Johnson tracked down a drop volley and flicked a lob over Sandgren’s head, prompting the Tennessee native to sprint back and hit a tweener passing shot. Sandgren stood in stunned disbelief at his winner as the crowd roared its approval.

The 28-year-old has soared up the FedEx ATP Rankings in the past month, jumping from No. 101 to No. 53. Sandgren kicked off this year by reaching his second Australian Open quarter-final, scoring upset victories against Matteo Berrettini and Fabio Fognini before falling to Roger Federer in a five-set thriller.

Jamie Murray/Neal Skupski were pushed to the limit on Tuesday at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, but reached the quarter-finals in Rotterdam with a 7-6(4), 5-7, 10-7 win over Jurgen Melzer/Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Murray/Skupski held the lead throughout the Match Tie-break to advance in one hour and 54 minutes. The British pair will now face Henri Kontinen/Jan-Lennard Struff.

Rohan Bopanna/Denis Shapovalov prevailed in a tight 7-6(0), 6-7(5), 10-8 battle against John Peers/Michael Venus. Bopanna/Shapovalov couldn’t convert a match point at 5-4 in the second set, but regrouped to win the last three points of the Match Tie-break. Awaiting them in the last eight are fourth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau.

At the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires, top seeds Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos converted their fifth match point to move past Ariel Behar/Gonzalo Escobar 7-6(3), 7-5. Third seeds Sander Gille/Joran Vliegen rallied to defeat Andrea Collarini/Federico Coria 4-6, 6-1, 10-2. Jaume Munar/Casper Ruud also reached the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Facundo Bagnis/Federico Delbonis.

Doubles action at the New York Open saw Steve Johnson/Reilly Opelka outlast Ugo Humbert/Jackson Withrow 6-4, 2-6, 10-8. Nicholas Monroe/Jack Sock scored the lone break of the match in the final game of their 7-6(4), 7-5 upset over fourth seeds Luke Bambridge/Ben McLachlan. Robert Lindstedt/Tennys Sandgren rounded out the first-round matches on Tuesday. by powering past Shawn Jackson/Ostap Kovalenko 6-1, 6-0 in 52 minutes.

Roberto Caraballes Baena ended Marco Cecchinato’s Argentina Open title defence in the first round on Tuesday, beating the Italian 6-4, 7-6(3) at the ATP 250 event.

In a repeat of last year’s quarter-final in Buenos Aires, the 26-year-old levelled his ATP Head2Head record against Cecchinato at 1-1 after one hour and 39 minutes. Carballes Baena saved five of six break points to book his place in the second round and record his third victory in five matches in the Argentine capital.

Carballes Baena will attempt to reach his second straight quarter-final in Buenos Aires when he faces eighth seed Casper Ruud. Ruud needed just 72 minutes to win his first-round match on Monday, cruising past Pablo Andujar 6-2, 6-3.

Facundo Bagnis broke Andrej Martin’s serve on four occasions to secure a 6-4, 6-1 win and a place in the second round. The qualifier will meet countryman and second seed Guido Pella for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Fellow qualifier Jozef Kovalik also made it through on Tuesday, saving seven of eight break points en route to a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory against Corentin Moutet. Kovalik will face lucky loser Pedro Sousa in the second round. Sousa needed one hour and 50 minutes to defeat Argentine wild card Facundo Diaz Acosta 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Juan Ignacio Londero delighted the home crowd with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over Slovak qualifier Filip Horansky. The Argentine will look for revenge in the second round when he meets sixth-seeded Serbian Laslo Djere, who held off Argentine wild card Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Djere defeated Londero last week in a three-hour quarter-final marathon at the Cordoba Open.

Seventh-seeded Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas hung tough to defeat local favourite Leonardo Mayer 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Ramos-Vinolas secured the lone break of the deciding set at 5-5 before advancing in two hours and 15 minutes. He’ll take on Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas in the second round and look to improve on his 1-7 record in their ATP Head2Head series.

Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez continued his push towards the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings with a tight 7-6(0), 7-5 victory against Portuguese lucky loser Joao Domingues. Martinez let slip two set points on his serve at 5-3 in the first set, but recovered to prevail in two hours and 15 minutes. Next up for the 22-year-old is third-seeded Serbian Dusan Lajovic.

Andrey Rublev recorded his 12th win in 13 matches this year, racing past Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2, 6-3 at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Tuesday.

The four-time ATP Tour titlist needed just 55 minutes to advance to the second round, dropping only two points behind his first serve (20/22). Rublev levels his ATP Head2Head series against Basilashvili at 2-2, adding to his previous victory against the Georgian at last year’s Western & Southern Open.

Rublev is bidding to capture his maiden ATP 500 trophy this week. The 22-year-old, competing at a career-high No. 15 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, has already lifted trophies at ATP 250-level in Doha and Adelaide this year. Rublev currently sits in fifth position in the ATP Race To London, only trailing the four men to reach this year’s Australian Open semi-finals: Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem, Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev.

Attempting to reach his second quarter-final at the opening ATP 500 event of the season (2018), Rublev will face Alexander Bublik in the second round. The Kazakh saved both break points he faced in a 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4 victory against French qualifier Gregoire Barrere.

Aljaz Bedene also reached the second round in Rotterdam, beating Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-4 in 63 minutes. The 30-year-old awaits the winner of this evening’s match between second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and Hubert Hurkacz.

His name is Christopher Rungkat, but everybody calls him The Bandit.

For Rungkat, it must have felt like he was on Redemption Road when he and partner Andre Goransson lifted the trophy at the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune. The very long and endless doubt-filled journey was finally over. The promise of a doubles prodigy finally redeemed. Rungkat’s doubles skills and ability to get the best out of any player he partners have for years often been compared to those of Leander Paes. Yet, despite all the ITF Futures titles, Davis Cup wins, Asian Games and SEA Games gold medals, Rungkat had yet to make his mark on the ATP Tour.

“I remember back in 2007 at the ATP event at Queen’s Club when Mahesh Bhupathi told me that talent means nothing until you back it up with ATP trophies,” said Rungkat. “I was still a junior then and a hitting partner for Tour players. His words hurt my feelings a bit as I had just won the French Open Junior Doubles. I never forgot what Mahesh said either.”

I first met Indonesia’s Christopher Rungkat when he was a 17-year-old promising junior player ranked in the ITF Top 10 of singles. At the time, I was on the ATP Tour with the Ratiwatana brothers of Thailand. It was agreed by the Indonesian Tennis Association that Rungkat would travel with us full-time as a hitting partner for the twins and at the same time he would play select ITF Junior events and the Grand Slams.

That year, he practised and warmed up many top players at ATP Tour events while also winning the French Open Junior Doubles with Henri Kontinen. It was during that time that he earned his nickname: The Bandit.

Players that Rungkat played with and against started commenting on how at least once or twice a match he was able to snatch a point away from his opponent just as all looked lost. Rungkat had the uncanny ability to come up with some incredible pick-up or cheeky poach at the most crucial times in a match. For this unique talent, his peers gave him his nickname. The name has stuck.

Since he was a 17-year-old junior, Rungkat has been his country’s No. 1 singles and doubles player. That was both a blessing and a curse. Being No. 1 in a country of nearly 300 million people has certain benefits when it comes to media and support. However, on the developmental side, not having an active older player to show the road ahead — where the dangers and pitfalls are located — is a detriment.

“I give so much credit to Sonchat Ratiwatana and Sanchai Ratiwatana for teaching me not only how to play doubles, but also how to be a professional,” said Rungkat. “It was like having two big brothers who were also my coaches.”

Throughout the past 13 years, he has watched many of his former partners go on to have success on the ATP Tour while he seemed to be stuck at the lower levels. It hurt and after bouts with injuries and lost sponsorships, he considered quitting tennis more than once. But he was able to channel the pain and frustration into a greater commitment to his craft.

The hard work started to pay off in 2018 and 2019 with ATP Challenger titles alongside Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Sanchai Ratiwatana and Cheng Peng Hsieh. Despite reaching a career-high ATP Tour doubles ranking of No. 68 in June last year, the second half of 2019 was cruel as Rungkat and partner Cheng-Peng Hsieh lost nine consecutive first-round matches. He failed to defend his FedEx ATP Doubles Rankings points from 2018 and fell outside the Top 100.

“I made some life changes,” said Rungkat. “The emotional rollercoaster was taking a toll on me. I could not sleep and the frustration was maddening. I decided to change my priorities. I put God first, starting a family second and tennis third. Before, it was tennis first, second and third.

”Since I made those changes, I have discovered an inner-peace that allows me to rest better and accept that there are some things I cannot control. I got married in January which gave my life balance and meaning. And tennis is fun again, even when I don’t win.”

For Rungkat, the long wait for an ATP Tour title is finally over. It is also validation for those select people who never waivered over the many years in their faith that one day, The Bandit’s achievements would equal his abilities.

Milos Raonic’s serve may be even better than we thought.

An Infosys ATP Insights deep dive into first- and second-serve performance only when players win their matches over the past two seasons identifies Raonic at the top of the tree in both categories. The data set is comprised of all players who had a minimum of 20 wins on Tour in the past two seasons combined.

Raonic has won 51 tour-level matches the past two seasons and accumulated win percentages behind first and second serves that simply have no peer.

2018/19: First-Serve Win Percentage When Winning The Match

The average first-serve win percentage when players won their match was 76.39 per cent (172,615/225,974). That metric is eight percentage points higher than the average when they lose their match.

Average First-Serve Points Won/Lost
Winning the match = 76.9%
Losing the match = 68.9%
Gap = 8 percentage points

Raonic’s tour-leading numbers also extend to second-serve points when winning the match, where he sits at 61.78 per cent (826/1337).

2018/19: Second-Serve Win Percentage When Winning The Match

The average second-serve win percentage when players won their match was 55.61 per cent (75,097/135,032). That metric is 8.7 percentage points higher than the average when they lose their match.

Average Second-Serve Points Won/Lost
Winning the match = 55.6%
Losing the match = 46.9%
Gap = 8.7 percentage points

Raonic had a strong run to the quarter-finals of the 2020 Australian Open, defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas and Marin Cilic along the way. He is currently No. 32 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, and most importantly, is healthy once again.

Where will he end 2020? With a serve like his, anything is possible.

Cristian Garin is here to stay.

The 23-year-old Chilean is on the rise on the ATP Tour and last week at the Cordoba Open, he left no room for doubt. He continues to write his own success-filled story after beating Diego Schwartzman to lift his third title in four ATP Tour finals.

Garin’s performance in Cordoba was epic for many reasons. Not only did he have to dig deep to finish off a close match that he trailed early on, he was also facing a home player and the tournament’s top seed, which undoubtedly make his latest crown even more valuable. Earlier in the week, after winning his opener, he came back from a set down in three consecutive matches to take the title.

“I won’t rest on my laurels, I have a lot to improve on, and that’s the good thing. I can’t see it any other way. Regardless of whether the results are good, I have thousands of things to improve,” said Garin.

“Cristian is a streaky player… there aren’t many like him, he is hugely aggressive and he can look for the lines all the time,” said Schwartzman. “He can always recover from a bad situation to end up finding his moment in matches. He has the capacity to pick himself up and in Cordoba he did that to perfection.”

“Winning in Argentina is special… I always have good things to say about this country”, said Garin. “Whatever the circumstance, I think I can win and that gives me a confidence boost.”

Meanwhile, Garin’s path continues onwards and upwards and it seems to know no limits. Just a year ago, before his victory in the first round of the Argentina Open against Felix Auger-Aliassime, Garin had just one ATP victory. After earning his first tour-level win at the age of 16, it took Garin six years to win on the ATP Tour again. Plenty happened in the lead-up to this change in fortunes, but in the past eleven months, the Chilean has picked up three tour-level crowns and dozens of victories. But what changed?

“I was working well two years ago, in tennis and fitness, above all on court,” said Garin. “But maybe the difference was starting to dedicate myself 100 per cent to my career and to tennis, which I didn’t do before. The changes were significant and the results amazing.”

Encouraged by his success, Garin is keen to push for more.

“Personally, I really like working, learning and dedicating myself to this and now I’m focused… I’ve only just got started,” said Garin.

New and better chapters are yet to be written as Garin continues on his path to success. Keep an eye out for him.