Americans Taylor Fritz and Tennys Sandgren swapped their racquets for chef hats on Monday before starting their Chengdu Open campaigns, celebrating the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival by testing their culinary skills.

Under the guidance of chef Rodrigo Martinez Munoz, the ATP World Tour competitors tried their hand at making tang yuen, a dessert dumpling, at the Yan Ting restaurant in the St. Regis Hotel Chengdu.

“It was quite difficult making this specialty dessert dish, but really a lot of fun,” Sandgren said. “Cooking is interesting, but I don’t think I’m very good at it. Besides I travel a lot, so I usually just order take-out.”

Yet when the compatriots — who used fillings like custard, black sesame, sweet potato and matcha — were challenged to a contest to see who could create the sweet dumplings quicker, it was the 27-year-old who came out on top.

“I don’t have much time to learn cooking but I think, maybe, I might be good at it,” Fritz said. “They said Tennys won but I really think it’s up for discussion.”

After a fun session, the players will return their focus to the tennis court, where they might get a rematch in a setting they’re more familiar with. If No. 8 seed Sandgren beats Mikhail Kukushkin and Fritz defeats Chun Hsin Tseng, the pair will battle again, but on the court rather than in the kitchen.

No. 7 Dominic Thiem, +1
Dominic Thiem improved his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 11-18 November, after capturing his first hard-court title in over two and a half years at the St. Petersburg Open. Read More & Watch Highlights

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Thiem dropped only one set en route to his first indoor tour-level trophy, defeating Jan-Lennard Struff, Daniil Medvedev, Roberto Bautista Agut and Martin Klizan en route to the title. This year’s Roland Garros runner-up, who leads the ATP World Tour with 48 victories this season (48-15), has picked up three trophies in 2018, having previously triumphed on clay in Buenos Aires and Lyon.

Thiem is attempting to qualify for the third straight year and join Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer at the season finale.

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No. 28 Gilles Simon, +11
After two seasons on the ATP World Tour without a title run in 2016 and 2017, Gilles Simon captured his second crown of the season at the Moselle Open. The Frenchman, who lifted the Tata Open Maharashtra title in the opening week of the season, conceded just one set all week as he clinched his third title in Metz. The 33-year-old has now won multiple tour-level trophies in a season for the first time since 2011 and owns 28 victories from 46 matches on the ATP World Tour this year. Read More

No. 40 Martin Klizan, +10
Despite falling short of becoming the first man since the ATP World Tour began in 1990 to win his first seven title matches, Martin Klizan enjoyed a stellar week at the St. Petersburg Open. The Generali Open titlist defeated second seed Fabio Fognini, #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov and former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in consecutive matches before falling to Thiem in the championship match.

No. 59 Stan Wawrinka, +12
The 16-time tour-level titlist reached his second semi-final of the season in St. Petersburg as he continues to rediscover his best form, following a six-month absence, due to knee injury, in 2017. The Swiss won three consecutive matches in straight sets to reach the final four, where he was edged by Klizan in three sets.

Other Notable Top 100 Movers This Week
No. 30 Gael Monfils, +4
No. 54 Malek Jaziri, +4
No. 72 Mikhail Kukushkin, +4
No. 77 Laslo Djere, +6
No. 86 Federico Delbonis, +11
No. 95 Filip Krajinovic, +4
No. 99 Jordan Thompson, +8

A LOOK BACK
Columbus Challenger (Columbus, Ohio, USA): Three years, three titles. Michael Mmoh secured his third ATP Challenger Tour crown on Sunday, triumphing on the indoor hard courts of Columbus. The #NextGenATP American was a dominant force on the campus of Ohio State University, reeling off 10 sets in a row to lift the trophy.

Mmoh ousted top seed Jordan Thompson 6-3, 7-6(4) in one hour and 46 minutes to take the title. He has now emerged victorious in three consecutive seasons, having reigned in Knoxville in 2016 and in Lexington in 2017. The 20-year-old rises 16 spots to a career-high No. 108 in the ATP Rankings and is up to 11th place in the ATP Race To Milan.

The youth movement is thriving on the Challenger circuit, with Mmoh becoming the 17th different #NextGenATP winner this year. He joins Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka and Ulises Blanch as American titlists aged 21 & under.

Back in titletown ➡️ @MichaelMmoh

The #NextGenATP ?? is your champion in Columbus, d. Thompson 63 76(4). pic.twitter.com/GH1vqIg5Mq

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) September 23, 2018

OEC Open (Kaohsiung, Taiwan): Gael Monfils became the fifth player to triumph on both the ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour this year, winning the title in Kaohsiung on Sunday. Learn more about the Frenchman’s victory…

Sibiu Open (Sibiu, Romania): How about this for a story. Dragos Dima had won just two matches on the ATP Challenger Tour since making his debut in 2014. But this week, he put everything together in clinching his maiden title on home soil in Sibiu. He scored significant upsets of second seed Dennis Novak and seventh seed Pedro Martinez, before routing Dutch qualifier Jelle Sels 6-3, 6-2 in the championship match.

Dima entered the week at No. 394 in the ATP Rankings and would rise a total of 115 spots to a career-high of No. 279. He is the first Romanian to triumph on the circuit in two years.

Thindown Challenger (Biella, Italy): Second seed Federico Delbonis streaked to his 10th Challenger crown, prevailing on the clay of Biella. He defeated home hope Stefano Napolitano 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday, completing a strong finish to the tournament which saw him not drop a set in his last four matches.

Delbonis is back inside the Top 100, moving up to No. 91 in the ATP Rankings. He joins Guido Andreozzi (3), Juan Ignacio Londero (2), Carlos Berlocq (1), Marco Trungelliti (1) and Facundo Bagnis (1) as Argentine winners this year.

A LOOK AHEAD
There are two tournaments on tap this week: the prestigious Open d’Orleans in Orleans, France, and the $100,000 event in Tiburon, California, USA.

In Orleans, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will appear in his second tournament in his comeback from a knee injury. He missed the last seven months of the season, before returning at the Moselle Open last week. The top seed in Orleans, it will be Tsonga’s first Challenger appearance since 2007. Two former champions – Norbert Gombos (2017) and Sergiy Stakhovsky (2014) – are in the field.

In Tiburon, the three-week Northern California swing kicks off with the 10th edition of the Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger. Mmoh, seeded fifth, looks to go back-to-back, while Marcel Granollers is the top seed. Mmoh will face Darian King in a rematch of the 2016 final, which was won by the Barbadan.