On the first day of the inaugural edition of the Cordoba Open, Argentines, rightfully, stole the show. Two of the three home favourites in action on Monday advanced as qualifier Pedro Cachin and eighth seed Guido Pella advanced.

Cachin earned his first tour-level victory 6-4, 6-4 against Brit Cameron Norrie, who reached the ASB Classic final in Auckland (l. to Sandgren) to start the year. Cachin had been 0-2 in tour-level matches, but won 92 per cent of his first-serve points (23/25) and stayed steady as Norrie grew frustrated.

The 23-year-old will face fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain for a place in the quarter-finals.

Pella broke Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi four times, including thrice in the second set, to improve to 2-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 6-1, 6-3. The 28-year-old Argentine awaits the winner of Chile’s Christian Garin and Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain.

Tunisian Malek Jaziri won nearly half of his first-serve return points (46%) against Carlos Berlocq to keep the Argentines from going unbeaten, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4). Jaziri will next meet Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas or Argenine qualifier Facundo Bagnis.

In other singles action, Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene setup a second-round meeting with top seed Fabio Fognini by dismissing German Maximilian Marterer 6-3, 6-4. Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego saved all three break points and beat Spaniard Pablo Andujar, a four-time clay-court ATP Tour titlist, 6-3, 6-2.

Three-time semi-finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame France’s brightest #NextGenATP hope on Monday at the Open Sud de France.

Tsonga came back from a set down to eliminate 20-year-old Ugo Humbert 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in Montpellier. Tsonga broke Humbert at 5/5 in the second-set tie-break before evening the first-round contest.

The 33-year-old, who’s still on the comeback from knee surgery last April, broke in the opening game of the decider as well. Tsonga, No. 210 in the ATP Rankings, improved to 5-2 on the young season and will next meet fourth-seeded countryman Gilles Simon, who received a first-round bye.

Although Tsonga has reached three semi-finals in Montpellier, he has never played for the ATP Tour 250 title. Each time – in 2010, 2017 and 2018 – he’s fallen in the semi-finals to the eventual champion.

Countryman and sixth seed Jeremy Chardy routed lucky loser Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain 6-1, 6-1 in only 47 minutes. Chardy will meet French qualifier Antoine Hoang or Belgian Steve Darcis in round two.

Marcel Granollers prevailed after three tie-break sets against Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who turns 40 on 28 February, 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 7-6(5). The Barcelona native next meets #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

One year after reaching his first ATP Tour final at the Sofia Open, Marius Copil returned to the Bulgarian capital with an impressive victory on Monday.

The 2018 runner-up (l. to Basic) rallied from a set down to beat Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in one hour and 47 minutes, landing 11 aces to overcome the former World No. 3 for the first time in three FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. Copil, who did not drop a set en route to the 2018 championship match, will meet sixth seed Fernando Verdasco or Bulgarian qualifier Alexandar Lazarov for a quarter-final spot. The 28-year-old is yet to meet Verdasco or Lazarov at tour-level.

Last year’s semi-finalist Wawrinka (l. to Basic) drops to 3-3 at tour-level this season, following his run to the Qatar ExxonMobil Open quarter-finals (l. to Bautista Agut) and a second-round loss to Milos Raonic at the Australian Open. Wawrinka will now travel to Rotterdam ahead of next week’s ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament; the first ATP 500 event of the season.

Wawrinka looked secure on serve throughout the first set, winning four of his five service games to love to place pressure on his opponent. The 33-year-old Swiss secured the only break of serve in the sixth game, breaking to love with a driven cross-court backhand before clinching the set after just 23 minutes.

Both Copil and Wawrinka failed to convert multiple break-point chances early in the second set, with a tie-break required to decide the outcome of the set. At 5/5, Copil capitalised on a mistimed backhand from his opponent to earn set point, before forcing Wawrinka into a forehand error to level the match.

Copil soon earned his first service break of the match at 1-1 in the third set, capitalising on another loose backhand error from Wawrinka to take the lead for the first time. The Romanian held his nerve throughout the third set, converting his third match point with a powerful serve out wide to claim victory.

Matthew Ebden needed a final-set tie-break to join Copil in the second round. The World No. 45 defeated 17-year-old Bulgarian wild card Adrian Andreev 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5) in two hours and 19 minutes to book a meeting with 2016 champion Roberto Bautista Agut.

Did You Know?
Copil earned the two biggest wins of his career to reach the Swiss Indoors final (l. to Federer) last year. Ranked No. 93 in the ATP Rankings, Copil defeated Top 10 players Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev en route to the championship match, becoming the lowest-ranked Basel finalist since No. 100 Patrick McEnroe in 1994.

One year ago, Lloyd Harris was hovering outside the Top 300 and fighting to climb the ATP Rankings on the former Futures circuit.

What a difference a year makes. On Sunday, Harris blasted to his third ATP Challenger Tour title, dominating the field in Launceston, Australia. The 21-year-old did not drop a set all week and would secure a 6-2, 6-2 win over Lorenzo Giustino in the final.

With the victory, Harris made his big breakthrough, surging into the Top 100 for the first time. It was a historic achievement, as the Cape Town native joined World No. 5 Kevin Anderson in the elite club, marking the first time multiple South Africans are in the Top 100 in 15 years.

“I am obviously super happy to break into the Top 100,” said Harris. “I think this is a huge milestone for any professional tennis player. I am really excited to see what I can achieve in the near future.”

Harris makes his debut on Monday at a career-high No. 100 in the ATP Rankings. The last time two players from South Africa featured in the Top 100 was 23 February 2004, when Wayne Ferreira was at No. 47 and Wesley Moodie at No. 88.

“This win definitely helps to get one step closer to where I want to be: a Top 100 player consistently. I want to break into the Top 50 next. That’s my new goal. I’ll be working hard for that this year.”

Another ?? in the Top 100 ? Congrats @lloydharris63 https://t.co/cNaXU7GgKz

— Kevin Anderson (@KAndersonATP) February 4, 2019

Akin to Anderson, Harris boasts a big game predicated on an imposing serve and giant groundstrokes. Just six months ago, he cracked the Top 200 with his maiden title in Lexington, USA, and would inch further ahead with a second crown in Stockton in October. 

The 21-year-old capped his 2018 season with a successful stint on the ATP Tour, earning his first tour-level match win over Gael Monfils at the Chengdu Open. He concluded his campaign with a trip to Milan for the Next Gen ATP Finals, appearing as the first alternate.

Harris returns to the ATP Tour in February, competing in qualifying at both the New York Open and Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com.

The ATP Tour heads into the sixth week of its 2019 season with three ATP 250 events on deck. Lucas Pouille is the top seed at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, Karen Khachanov headlines at the Sofia Open and Fabio Fognini leads the way at the Cordoba Open.

Draws: Cordoba | Montpellier | Sofia

10 THINGS TO WATCH IN CORDOBA

1) Brand New Start: The inaugural Cordoba Open takes its place as the first ATP Tour clay-court event of the 2019 season and the opening leg of the month-long “Golden Swing” through Latin America. Argentina has the most players in the field, with nine athletes competing in their home country, but Italy boasts the top two seeds in Fabio Fognini and Marco Cecchinato.

2) Banner Year: World No. 15 Fognini posted a career year in 2018. Fognini set career-highs in 2018 with three titles, 46 wins, and a year-end ranking of No. 13. The Italian earned his 300th win overall on home soil at Rome. Fognini picked up his first title of last year during the Golden Swing, in Sao Paulo. Also, his third title of the year, at Los Cabos, was the first of his 8 titles to be won off of clay.

3) Check Him Out: World No. 19 Cecchinato is hot on Fognini’s heels in the rankings. Last year, Cecchinato won his first ATP Tour title at Budapest as a lucky loser, picked up a second title at Umag, and shocked Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of Roland Garros. That specific win made him the first Italian Grand Slam semi-finalist since Corrado Barazzutti at 1978 Roland Garros.

4) Homeland Hero: On 11 June 2018, 5-foot-7 Argentine Diego Schwartzman rose to a career-high No. 11 in the ATP Rankings, but could only muster up 11 more match wins during the rest of the season. However, Schwartzman, who comes into Cordoba as the highest-ranked Argentine in the draw, has already posted a semi-final result in his first event of 2019, at Sydney.

5) Reign in Spain: Five Spaniards are playing the Cordoba Open main draw, led by No. 4 seed Pablo Carreno Busta. The World No. 23 retired from his second-round US Open match and withdrew from a number of events at the end of last year due to injuries. So far this year, he made the fourth round at the Australian Open before losing to Kei Nishikori in the new extended fifth-set tie-break.

6) One Year Removed: At this time last year, another Spaniard, Roberto Carballes Baena, was winning his first ATP Tour singles title in Quito. It was one of the eight titles which went to qualifiers last season, which made Carballes Baena the first Spanish qualifier to win a title in 12 years. He also became, at 24, the youngest Spanish titlist since Rafael Nadal at Barcelona in 2011.

7) Feats of Clay: A more seasoned Spaniard, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, lost to Carballes Baena in that Quito final. However, the former Top 20 player has made five career clay-court finals, including ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo in 2017. He has the 15th-most clay-court match wins in the Top 100.

8) Final Exams: Each of the players seeded 5th through 8th at Cordoba made one clay-court final in 2018 – Nicolas Jarry at Sao Paulo, Malek Jaziri at Istanbul, Leonardo Mayer at Hamburg, and Guido Pella at Umag. However, none of them were able to emerge victorious in those matches.

9) Young Folks: In 2019, players born in 1998 or later are considered #NextGenATP, so Jaume Munar, who finished 4th at last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals, will not be back at Milan. The only player in the Cordoba draw who was born in 1998 or later is Brazilian wild card Thiago Seyboth Wild. The 18-year-old, born in 2000, won the US Open boys’ singles title last year.

10) Double the Argentines: The all-Argentine team of Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos are the top seeds in the Cordoba Open doubles draw. This is just their fifth time playing as a duo, but they won a Challenger title in Santiago, CHI, in 2011, and made the semi-finals at Moscow in 2010.

10 THINGS TO WATCH IN MONTPELLIER

1) French Twist: Defending champion and World No. 17 Lucas Pouille heads the field at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier. Pouille, who won his only singles title of last year here, is one of seven Frenchmen competing in their home country, five of whom are in the seeded player list.

2) Leaping Lucas: After winning three titles in 2017, Pouille cracked the Top 10 for the first time on 19 March of last year. His run was short-lived, as he stayed at No. 10 for only two weeks, and he ended 2018 outside of the Top 30. 2019 has started with a rebound for the top-ranked Frenchman, as he made his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open and is back in the Top 20.

3) Homeland Heroes: Gilles Simon, Jeremy Chardy, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and Benoit Paire are Pouille’s seeded compatriots. Of the four, Paire has come the closest to success at this event, having made the final in 2013 and reaching at least the quarter-finals in the last two years.

4) Strong Return: Wild card Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has also been successful at Montpellier, as the former World No. 5 has made the semi-finals each time he has entered, in 2010, 2017, and 2018. But each time, he fell in that round to the eventual champion; last year he did not convert two match points against Pouille before retiring due to a left hamstring injury. On the comeback trail after knee surgery in April 2018, Tsonga opens against the other French wild card, 20-year-old Ugo Humbert.

5) Belgium’s Best: After ending 2017 at a career-high No. 7, David Goffin missed four weeks due to an eye injury and five weeks due to a right elbow injury last season. The top-ranked Belgian is 2-2 this year after missing the last two months of last season, and currently sits just outside the Top 20.

6) O Canada: Denis Shapovalov accepted a wild card into the Montpellier field, as the 19-year-old still seeks his first ATP Tour final and title. World No. 25 Shapovalov is the second-highest-ranked #NextGenATP player behind World No. 12 Stefanos Tsitsipas, and the Canadian is the highest-ranked teenager on tour, three spots ahead of fellow 19-year-old Alex de Minaur of Australia.

7) Berd is the Word: Former World No. 4 Tomas Berdych is the only previous champion in the field other than Pouille. The Czech missed the second half of last year due to a back injury and has fallen to World No. 79, his lowest ranking in 15 years. But he has compiled an excellent 7-2 record in 2019, making the Doha final, as well as an 11th second-week showing at the Australian Open.

8) Happy at Home: No. 4 seed Simon has put together a hefty collection of titles in his home country. The former World No. 6 has won five of his 14 titles in France – twice at Marseille and three times at Metz, including last year. However, he is still looking for his first Open Sud de France final appearance. Simon is 7-7 at Montpellier, with his best showing being a 2012 semi-final.

9) 40-Love: Six-foot-11 Ivo Karlovic makes his Montpellier debut having set some recent records. The Croat, who turns 40 on 28 February, became the oldest champion in ATP Challenger Tour history when he won at Calgary, CAN in October. He made the Pune final in January to become the oldest player to reach a tour-level final since 43-year-old Ken Rosewall won at Hong Kong in 1977.

10) British Brothers: Siblings Ken and Neal Skupski will attempt to defend their Open Sud de France doubles title. Ken had won three titles previously, but it was younger brother Neal’s first ATP Tour doubles trophy. Neal then went on to win a second title in 2018, at Vienna with Joe Salisbury.

10 THINGS TO WATCH IN SOFIA

1) Top-20 Quartet: Three players aged 22 or under – World No. 11 Karen Khachanov, World No. 12 Stefanos Tsitsipas, and World No. 16 Daniil Medvedev – join 2016 champion and World No. 18 Roberto Bautista Agut as the Top 20 players heading the fourth edition of the Sofia Open.

2) Top of the Heap: No. 1 seed Khachanov posted 46 match victories and won three ATP Tour singles titles in 2018, including notching four Top 10 wins during his title run at ATP Masters 1000 Paris. The 22-year-old also picked up trophies at Marseille and in his birthplace of Moscow.

3) Greece is the Word: Last year, Tsitsipas became the first Greek player to be ranked in the Top 20, win an ATP Tour title (Stockholm), and play an ATP Masters 1000 final (Toronto). The 20-year-old’s rise has continued in 2019, as he made his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open. This result made him the youngest Grand Slam semi-finalist since Novak Djokovic at 2007 US Open.

4) Triple Crown: Medvedev, like his fellow 22-year-old Russian Khachanov, had a breakthrough season in 2018. Medvedev won his first three singles titles last year, and out of the eight times titles were won by qualifiers in 2018, he was the victor in two of those instances, in Sydney and Tokyo. He made the Brisbane final in the first week of this season before losing to Kei Nishikori.

5) Hot Streak: Inaugural Sofia champion Bautista Agut is 9-1 to start 2019. He opened the season by picking up his ninth ATP Tour singles title at Doha, ousting Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals for his second career victory over a World No.1. The Spaniard then made his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open, having lost his previous nine fourth-round matches at majors.

6) The Champ Returns: Bosnian Mirza Basic came into Sofia last year ranked World No. 129 and had to navigate the qualifying to enter the main draw. He left Sofia as a first-time ATP Tour finalist and champion, becoming one of the eight qualifiers to win an ATP Tour singles title last year. Basic beat top seed and then-World No. 15 Stan Wawrinka for his career-best victory en route to the title.

7) Finals Countdown: Basic defeated fellow first-time ATP Tour finalist Marius Copil in last year’s championship match. Copil, who is also back in Sofia this year, advanced to a second final later in 2018, when he beat Top 10 players Alexander Zverev and Marin Cilic on the way to the Basel final. The Romanian then lost to Roger Federer as the Swiss star claimed his ninth Basel title.

8) Stan the Man: Wawrinka underwent two knee surgeries at the end of 2017, and his ranking dipped from the Top 10 at the start of 2018 to a low of No. 263 after the French Open. From that point forward, the former World No. 3 raised his ranking nearly 200 spots in the second half of last year. In Doha this year, Wawrinka beat Khachanov before losing to Bautista Agut in the quarter-finals.

9) Going Wild: 25-year-old Dimitar Kuzmanov and 17-year-old Adrian Andreev are Bulgarian wild cards making their fourth and second consecutive main draw appearances respectively in their home event. The third wild card went to former World No. 12 Viktor Troicki, who has made at least the quarter-finals in all three prior editions of the Sofia Open, including a finalist showing in 2016.

10) Dutch Treat: Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop are back to defend their doubles title, which was one of three titles the Dutchmen won together in 2018. Middelkoop has compiled an 8-1 record overall in Sofia, having also won the title in 2016 with another of his compatriots, Wesley Koolhof.