Fifth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares are through to the quarter-finals at The Championships, Wimbledon, after dismissing British brothers Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Monday.

Great Britain’s Murray and Soares of Brazil are chasing their second major title together after victory at the Australian Open in 2016. They came into Wimbledon on the strength of a runner-up showing at The Queen’s Club (l. to Peers/Kontinen) and have cruised into the last eight at the All England Club without dropping a set.

Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff also advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over recent Stuttgart champions Philipp Petzschner and Tim Puetz.

The Japanese/German duo of McLachlan and Struff made an instant impact when they joined forces with a semi-final showing at the Australian Open in January. Semi-finals in Miami and Budapest have since propelled them to 12^th in the ATP Doubles Race To London.

McLachlan and Struff will next face Frederik Nielsen and Joe Salisbury, who upset sixth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-3, 7-6(1). World No. 139 Nielsen received a wild card into the doubles draw, alongside Great Britain’s Salisbury, having won the doubles title in 2012 with another Brit, Jonathan Marray (d. Lindstedt/Tecau).

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A LOOK BACK
Guzzini Challenger (Recanati, Italy): Daniel Brands is back! Five years after ascending to a career-high World No. 51 in the ATP Rankings, the big-hitting German is plotting his return to the Top 100. 

Brands claimed the title at the hard-court event in Recanati, Italy on Sunday, defeating Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 23 minutes. It was his first ATP Challenger Tour crown since 2012. Competing with a protected ranking after undergoing knee surgery last year, Brands did not drop a set all week in the Italian city. 

“With this victory, I hope to get closer to a more appropriate [ATP Ranking], since I had stopped playing for some time,” said Brands. “It was a great tournament with a very challenging draw, but I believed in myself to the end. I congratulate Adrian, who put me in serious trouble especially in the first set.”

First #ATPChallenger title in six years! Daniel Brands is the champion in Recanati, returning to the winners’ circle without dropping a set all week. pic.twitter.com/1q9NDyPgmg

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) July 8, 2018

Brands is playing some of the best tennis of his career, having also turned in a strong performance at the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne last week. His defeat of Jack Sock in qualifying marked his first Top 20 win in five years, and the 30-year-old would nearly upset Cameron Norrie in the first round.

After kicking off his comeback outside the Top 400, he is projected to return to the Top 250 when the new ATP Rankings are released in a week.

Marburg Open (Marburg, Germany): Less than three months ago, Hugo Dellien got the better of Juan Ignacio Londero in the Sarasota semi-finals, en route to his maiden Challenger title. On Saturday, revenge never tasted so sweet for Londero.

The 24-year-old Argentine stormed back from a set down to dismiss Dellien 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 on the clay of Marburg. He secured his second crown of 2018 (also Mexico City), also scoring impressive wins over home hope Dustin Brown, top seed Jurgen Zopp, countryman Carlos Berlocq and #NextGenATP star Felix Auger-Aliassime along the way.

Londero, who started the year outside the Top 350, is projected to break into the Top 150 for the first time in one week.

A LOOK AHEAD
The action heats up this week with five impressive tournaments. The 2017 Tournament of the Year in Braunschweig, Germany, features another strong draw, headlined by defending champion Nicola Kuhn, top seed Pablo Cuevas and home hope Florian Mayer. Mayer lifted the trophy in 2013.

Meanwhile, the U.S. summer kicks off in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, where Tim Smyczek – finalist in 2009 & ’10 – is the top seed. Tommy Paul makes his first Challenger appearance since February, in his return from injury, while Reilly Opelka, Ernesto Escobedo and Bjorn Fratangelo also feature in the draw.

The three-week Canadian swing kicks off in Winnipeg, where 2017 runner-up Peter Polansky leads the field. He is joined by second seed Marcel Granollers and #NextGenATP star Michael Mmoh.

In beautiful Bastad, Sweden, Elias Ymer and Mikael Ymer lead the home charge and are joined by top seed Guido Andreozzi and teens Corentin Moutet and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Finally, in Perugia, Italy, Gerald Melzer leads the pack, along with second seed Pablo Andujar and wild card Nicolas Almagro.

For Juan Martin del Potro, it’s almost as if it’s 2013 all over again. That season, the Argentine’s ninth on Tour, he returned to the Top 5 of the ATP Rankings for the first time since 2009, won four ATP World Tour titles and, at Wimbledon, recorded his best finish, making the semi-finals (l. to Djokovic).

This year, Del Potro, No. 4 in the ATP Rankings, has already re-entered the Top 5; he’s halfway to matching his four titles (Indian Wells and Acapulco); and, on Monday, he can come within a round of tying his best Wimbledon finish.

The fifth seed faces Frenchman Gilles Simon for the eighth time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series (Del Potro leads 4-3). The two have played three times at grass, including twice at the All England Club, once during the 2011 championships and again the following year during the London Olympics. Del Potro won all three grass-court contests.

“I know my game, it’s adapting well for this surface. I had my chances to win here a few years ago when I lost against Djokovic in the semi-finals. But [he was] playing so good. I don’t know how far I will be in this tournament, but I’m confident with my game at this time,” Del Potro said after being Benoit Paire in the third round.

Simon is looking to make his third Grand Slam quarter-final and his second at Wimbledon (2009 Australian Open, 2015 Wimbledon). The 33-year-old Frenchman has already turned around his grass-court season, having gone 1-3 at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, the Gerry Weber Open in Halle and the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne before The Championships.

Beat Del Potro and Simon, with some help from his compatriots, could make French tennis history. If Simon, Adrian Mannarino (vs. Federer) and Gael Monfils (vs. Anderson) all win on Monday, it will mark the first time a trio of Frenchmen have reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Mannarino, however, will likely have the biggest challenge among the Frenchmen, or of anyone when “Manic Monday” commences. The left-hander, who’s trying to make his first Grand Slam quarter-final, is 0-5 against Federer in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, and Federer, an eight-time champion, has looked at his Wimbledon finest.

The Swiss has won 29 consecutive sets at SW19, his second-longest consecutive sets won streak at Wimbledon. His best – 34 – came in between the 2005 third round and the 2006 final.

What’s more, the top-seeded Federer hasn’t even faced a break point this fortnight. The 36-year-old has won 67 consecutive games on serve at Wimbledon. The last time he lost his serve at SW19 was during the eighth game of his 2017 semi-final against Tomas Berdych. Federer hasn’t had to erase a break point at the All England Club since the fourth game of last year’s final against Marin Cilic.

On Saturday, two-time champion Rafael Nadal ensured that he’ll stay No. 1 when the new ATP Rankings are released on 16 July. On Monday, the Spaniard will try to return to the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time since 2011, when he made the final (l. to Djokovic).

Nadal faces Czech Jiri Vesely, who’s trying to make his first Grand Slam quarter-final and become the seventh Czech man in the Open Era to reach the last eight at Wimbledon.

Twelfth seed Novak Djokovic, who knocked out top Brit Kyle Edmund to make the fourth round, will meet Karen Khachanov for the first time. The 22-year-old Moscow native came back from two sets down against #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe to post his best Wimbledon result. Djokovic, a three-time Wimbledon champion, is looking to make his 10^th quarter-final at SW19.

Japan’s Kei Nishikori has reached at least the quarter-finals at the three other Grand Slams but never at Wimbledon. The 24^th seed can change that against Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis, who upset fourth seed Alexander Zverev in five sets to make the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time.

Nishikori won their only FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, but it came on Barcelona clay four years ago. Gulbis, No. 138 in the ATP Rankings, last made a Grand Slam quarter-final in 2014 en route to the Roland Garros semi-finals (l. to Djokovic).

Eighth seed Kevin Anderson will try to beat France’s Gael Monfils for the first time (0-5) and make his third Grand Slam quarter-final (2015, 2017 US Open). Monfils, playing in his first Wimbledon fourth-rounder, will attempt to join Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as the only two Frenchmen in the Open Era to make the quarter-finals at all four Grand Slams.

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Both American John Isner and his opponent, Greece’s #NextGenATP star Stefanos Tsitsipas, are making their Wimbledon second-week debuts. The ninth-seeded Isner will try to match his best Grand Slam showing (2011 US Open QF), while Tsitsipas, 19, will try to prolong the best Grand Slam run of his young career.

Canada’s Milos Raonic has been here – and much deeper – before, having reached the 2016 Wimbledon final (l. to Murray). The 13^th seed will go for his eighth Grand Slam quarter-final, and fourth at Wimbledon, against American Mackenzie McDonald, who’s playing in his first Grand Slam fourth-round match.

Read More: 10 Things To Know About McDonald