Mikhail Kukushkin recorded one of the biggest wins of his career on Monday to reach the Roland Garros second round for the first time since 2017.

The Kazakhstani held his nerve to beat No. 14 seed Fabio Fognini 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-0 in two hours and 52 minutes. Fognini has now lost in the first round at the clay-court major on four occasions (also 2007, 2009 and 2016).

Kukushkin recovered from 3-5 down in the third set by winning 24 of 32 points, then ran through the 22-minute fourth set for the loss of six points. Both players hit 42 winners, but Kukushkin was stronger on serve and converted seven of his 12 break point opportunities.

The 32-year-old Kukushkin will now challenge Pedro Martinez, who recorded just his second Grand Slam championship victory with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-0 win over fellow qualifier Aleksandar Vukic in two hours and 12 minutes. Martinez saved two set points on serve at 4-5, 15/40 in the first set.

No. 12 Andrey Rublev, +2 (joint Career High)
The Russian, who captured a third ATP Tour trophy of 2020 by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Hamburg European Open final, returns to his career-high of No. 12 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. After winning one of his first three ATP Tour finals, Rublev has claimed victory in his past four championship matches. The 22-year-old won his home tournament, the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow last year, before lifting back-to-back trophies at the start of 2020 at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha and at the Adelaide International. Read Final Report & Watch Hamburg Final Highlights 

No. 25 Casper Ruud, +5 (Career High)
The Norwegian, who started the season at No. 54 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, is now up to a career-high No. 25 after reaching the Hamburg semi-finals (l. to Tsitsipas). The 21-year-old is 9-4 since the ATP Tour resumption, including his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (l. to Djokovic).

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Other Notable Top 100 Movers
No. 38 Ugo Humbert, +3 (Career High)
No. 49 Alexander Bublik, +7
No. 60 Pablo Cuevas, +3
No. 61 Dominik Koepfer, +5 (Career High)
No. 68 Jiri Vesely, +7
No. 84 Thiago Monteiro, +5
No. 90 Lloyd Harris, +6
No. 97 Yannick Hanfmann, +6

Before playing Marin Cilic in the third round of the US Open, Dominic Thiem said he didn’t want to face the Croatian that early in the tournament because of how dangerous the 2014 Flushing Meadows champion was. On Monday, the Austrian will face the former World No. 3 in the first round at Roland Garros.

“He’s one of the big champions of the last decade, one of the very few active players who has won a Grand Slam tournament,” Thiem said in New York. “On a good day he can beat anybody.”

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For a large chunk of their US Open match, Thiem controlled the action as Cilic sprayed groundstrokes. But once Cilic found his rhythm, Thiem needed to dig deep to earn a 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory.

“He raised his level a lot in sets three and four. Good tennis, very close. Probably would have gone to a fifth [if] I didn’t save these break points [in the fourth set],” Thiem said. “It was a good, close match.”

Thiem leads their ATP Head2Head series 3-0 and he has enjoyed better results on clay. The Austrian has made at least the semi-finals at Roland Garros the past four years (final in 2018-19) and the Croatian has never advanced past the quarter-finals.

Rafael Nadal is attempting to capture a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam title at Roland Garros.” />

Twelve-time champion Rafael Nadal begins his pursuit of a 13th Coupe de Mousquetaires against Belarusian Egor Gerasimov. The Spaniard is 93-2 at Roland Garros, while his opponent has only played 10 tour-level clay-court matches.

“I am here to fight and to play with the highest intensity possible,” Nadal said. “That’s the main goal for me: be competitive on Monday… Just [taking it] day-by-day. I know very well this place. It’s about being patient, being positive, just trying to find the positive vibes every single day.”

Gerasimov owns one Top 10 win, defeating David Goffin in Marseille earlier this year. But the World No. 83 has never played a main draw match at Roland Garros. He did not win a match in three attempts to qualify for the tournament.

Nadal has been ruthless in his first-round matches at the clay-court major, winning 13 of his 15 openers without losing a set. The lefty has won 22 sets in the first round at Roland Garros by a margin of 6-2 or greater.

Daniil Medvedev will face Marton Fucsovics in the first round at Roland Garros.” />

Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev will try to win his first match at this event when he plays Hungarian Marton Fucsovics. The Russian has won both of the pair’s previous tour-level clashes, including a three-set triumph at the 2018 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Medvedev feels the heavy conditions might play into his hands.

“Maybe it can help me that it’s a bit colder, so the balls don’t fly as much, don’t go as spinny,” Medvedev said. “I think it can be an opportunity for me actually, an advantage.”

Also beginning his campaign on Day Two is French No. 1 Gael Monfils. The eighth seed will have to be on top of his game against another entertaining player in Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik. The World No. 49 is not afraid of playing unorthodox tennis, from using his underarm serve to carving drop shots.

Fourteenth seed Fabio Fognini, 15th seed Karen Khachanov, US Open semi-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta, Rome semi-finalist Casper Ruud and #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime are among the other stars beginning their tournament on Monday.

With Roland Garros beginning in late September instead of May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are inevitable differences at the tournament this year, one of them being the weather.

In the cold and wet Paris conditions — it was less than 60 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday — players are doing their best to put themselves in the best position to play well on court. Alexander Zverev, competing in his first tournament since making the US Open final on hard courts, has adjusted his equipment for the cooler clay.

“I’m stringing three kilos less than I did in New York,” Zverev said, referencing his racquet’s string tension. “That’s quite a lot.”

That is nearly a seven-pound difference in tension, making the stringbed looser to create a “trampoline effect”. The looser a racquet’s strings, the more power a player gets. The tighter the stringbed, the more control and spin a player has.

Alexander Zverev” />
^{Alexander Zverev wore a long-sleeve shirt under his match kit on Sunday. Photo Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour}
The German, who defeated Austrian Dennis Novak in straight sets, is not the only one stringing looser. Big-serving American John Isner strung his racquets between 38 and 39 pounds at the US Open. He has dropped that range to between 29 and 32 pounds in Paris. The heavier conditions at Roland Garros might seem detrimental to the 21st seed’s powerful game, but Isner said that’s not necessarily the case.

“With how the clay is now, I think it almost helps me in the sense that the really good movers can’t really slide around like they normally can because the clay is really damp. It kind of played like a slow hard court,” said Isner, who beat home favourite Elliot Benchetrit. “There wasn’t much sliding. I’m not the best slider. It’s tough conditions. I really don’t mind it.”

There are also players who are able to adapt their game to the heavier conditions. Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 champion, had no problems hitting through the court in his straight-sets triumph against former World No. 1 Andy Murray. His strength allowed him to power through regardless. After the match, Wawrinka put on a sweatshirt for his on-court interview. The Swiss was one of many players to wear a shirt under his match kit, while Murray wore leggings.

“For sure it’s tough conditions here. Heavy, slow, cold, completely different than normally at that time of the year. But again, I think I’m playing well,” Wawrinka said later on in his press conference. “Happy [that in] those conditions I can still play heavy with my game from both sides. So I use those tough conditions, heavy conditions, slow conditions to still play powerful tennis.”

Andy Murray” />
^{Andy Murray sported leggings to stay warm during his first-round loss in Paris. Photo Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour}
Another effect the current weather has is reducing how much the ball bounces off the surface. Some players hit with heavy topspin to force opponents to hit the ball higher than their typical strike zone. But according to former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori, who beat 32nd seed Daniel Evans, the ball is not shooting off the court like it normally does.

“For my tennis, I think it’s better balls are flying because I like to play quicker, finish the point a little bit quicker than other guys. But for sure there’s less bounce. Especially today it didn’t bounce,” said Nishikori, who noted how that low bounce helped Evans’ slice backhand. “[It was] almost half bounces [compared to] playing in the summer… maybe you want a little more power when you’re playing in heavy conditions.”

Diego Schwartzman played in similar conditions in an evening match at last week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia against Rafael Nadal, upsetting the Spaniard in Rome. The

“For me, playing at night, similar to Rome under the rain, under the lights, [it] was similar to last week, so I felt great on court today,” said Schwartzman, who cruised past Kitzbuhel champion Miomir Kecmanovic. “For me, the conditions today were really, really good.”

Regardless of who enjoys the conditions and who doesn’t, all players have to deal with the same circumstances. Many who competed Sunday echoed the same sentiment: they simply need to make the most of it.

Schwartzman said: “We have to adapt to these conditions and try to do our best.”