Another match for Andy Murray, and another positive sign for the Scot’s comeback. The three-time Rolex Shanghai Masters champion fought past a persistent Juan Ignacio Londero 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Monday to reach the second round of the season’s penultimate ATP Masters 1000 tournament.

“The court is by far the fastest conditions that I have played in since I came back. I really struggled with that early on. I was mistiming the ball. I felt quite slow on the court, and he was pretty much dictating all of the points,” said Murray, who returned to singles in August at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

“I managed kind of early on in the second set to start putting a bit more on my ball, going for my shots a little bit more and just trying to hit through the court a bit more, get him on the defensive, which I did pretty well.”

It was an up-and-down match for both players as 23 break points in all were seen, but Murray was more locked in during the final set, breaking Londero in the sixth game with a forehand that was followed by a roar. The former World No. 1 then erased two break points while serving out the match to set up a second-round meeting against 10^th seed Fabio Fognini, who’s looking to bolster his Nitto ATP Finals bid in China.

Fognini beat American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-2 to add 45 points to his ATP Race To London tally. The Italian, with 2,100 points, trails eighth-placed Alexander Zverev (2,255) by 155 points. Zverev, the reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion, currently holds the eighth and final qualification spot for the season finale, to be held 10-17 November at The O2 in London.

“I have always had tough matches with him,” said Murray, who leads the Italian 4-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. “He’s not an easy guy to play against. Unbelievably talented guy. Good hand skills. Moves well. A little bit up and down sometimes in his matches, but he’s playing really well.”

Murray, who underwent a second hip surgery on 28 January, is competing in Shanghai for the first time since his title run in 2016, when he won the tournament en route to finishing year-end No. 1. The Scot also claimed the Shanghai title in 2010 and 2011. At the China Open in Beijing last week, he won back-to-back matches for the first time since September 2018.

“I think each week I have been feeling good, better. In the beginning I didn’t necessarily feel good. But last couple of weeks have been, I think, much improved,” Murray said. “My movement overall has been very good in comparison to what it was over in the States, and I’m hoping that’s something that can get a little bit better.”

Juan Sebastian Cabal recorded the 300th doubles match win of his career on Monday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters in partnership with fellow Colombian Robert Farah.

Top seeds Cabal and Farah opened their campaigns at the Qi Zhong Stadium by beating Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-3 in 72 minutes. The Nitto ATP Finals qualifiers, with a 5-2 record in 2019 title matches, will next challenge Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey in the second round.

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who are bidding to join Cabal and Farah at the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November, overcame Jan-Lennard Struff and Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3. Ram and Salisbury are currently eighth in the 2019 ATP Doubles Race To London on 2,660 points — 160 points behind seventh-placed Henri Kontinen and John Peers (2,820).

Elsewhere, Horacio Zeballos moved to 199 doubles match wins after teaming up with Marcel Granollers to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Radu Albot and Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Ninth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils booked his place in the Rolex Shanghai Masters second round on Monday with a 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-3 victory over Lorenzo Sonego of Italy in two hours and 38 minutes. He will next face Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.

Watch Hot Shot: Monfils Scrambles To Finish In Style

Monfils added 45 points to his 2019 ATP Race To London tally and moved to within 10 points of 11th-placed Japanese Kei Nishikori (2,180), who remains sidelined due to injury. There are three remaining singles berths left up for grabs at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November. Monfils competed at the season finale in 2016, but remains 85 points behind eighth-placed Alexander Zverev (2,255). Buy Your London Tickets

Elsewhere, Monfils’ compatriot, Benoit Paire, set up a second-round clash against Georgian No. 15 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, after beating Marco Cecchinato of Italy 6-2, 7-5. French qualifier Jeremy Chardy broke a two-match losing streak against Briton Kyle Edmund with a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory. Edmund drops to 12-20 on the season, while Chardy goes on to meet fourth-seeded German Zverev.

No. 8, Alexander Zverev, +3
The 22-year-old German improved his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, where he won the 2018 title, by rising from 11th to eighth position in the 2019 ATP Race To London. He beat Frances Tiafoe, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sam Querrey, prior to losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the China Open semi-finals. Zverev is now 140 points behind seventh-placed Roberto Bautista Agut (2,395).

View ATP Race To London

No. 9, David Goffin, +3
The 28-year-old Belgian continued his fine form at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships by reaching the semi-finals (or better) for the third time. Goffin, who finished as runner-up to Grigor Dimitrov in the championship match at the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals, fell to Novak Djokovic in Tokyo. He rises three places to ninth, 20 points behind eighth-placed Zverev (2,255).

No. 17, Karen Khachanov, +4
The 23-year-old Russian moved up four spots to 17th place (1,605 points) by advancing to his second ATP Tour semi-final of the season (also Coupe Rogers in Montreal) at the China Open (l. to Thiem).

Other Notable Top 100 Movers
No. 16, John Isner, +1
No. 30, Denis Shapovalov, +3
No. 35, Reilly Opelka, +7

Denis Shapovalov booked a blockbuster second-round clash against Novak Djokovic at the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Monday, following a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Frances Tiafoe.

The World No. 36, competing in his 50th tour-level encounter of the year, dropped only two points behind his first serve (27/29) to improve to 27-23 this season. This is Shapovalov’s first victory at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, following first-round losses in 2017 and 2018.

The 20-year-old Canadian will attempt to beat Tokyo champion Djokovic for the first time in their third FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. Shapovalov took a set off the Serbian at the Australian Open in January, before a straight-sets loss to the World No. 1 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in May.

Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters winner Fabio Fognini recorded his second FedEx ATP Head2Head win in as many matches against Sam Querrey to advance to the second round. The Italian, who is currently 13th in the 2019 ATP Race To London, did not face a break point en route to a 6-4, 6-2 triumph. He  will next face three-time Shanghai titlist Andy Murray or Juan Ignacio Londero of Argentina.

Albert Ramos-Vinolas will also face a high-profile opponent in the second round after denying Marin Cilic his 500th tour-level victory. The Spaniard defeated the 2017 semi-finalist 6-4, 6-4 and will meet two-time champion Roger Federer in his next match.

Qualifier Cameron Norrie marked his main draw debut with an impressive win, beating 2014 runner-up Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-2. Norrie broke serve on five occasions to advance after one hour and 35 minutes. The Brit will face third seed Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

A LOOK BACK
Campeonato Internacional de Tenis (Campinas, Brazil): Tennis in South America is on the rise. The continent is steadily making progress on the professional scene, with Nicolas Jarry and Cristian Garin bringing Chile back into the spotlight and Hugo Dellien putting Bolivia on the map. On Sunday, it was Peru’s turn to enter the fray.

Juan Pablo Varillas secured his nation’s first Challenger crown in 11 years with his maiden title on the clay of Campinas. Appearing in his first final, he completed a dramatic 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 comeback over another first-time finalist – Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina. Varillas did not drop a set in five matches to reach the Campinas championship.

It was a very happy 24th birthday for Varillas, who became the first Peruvian champion since Luis Horna in Lugano in 2008. The Lima native is the fifth player from his country to lift a trophy, joining Horna, Ivan Miranda, Jose-Luis Noriega and Pablo Arraya.

Peruvian Challenger Champions

“Before the match, I talked to my coach and remembered that the first time I came to Brazil, I was playing Challenger qualifying,” said Varillas. “The matches were very hard and I never saw myself playing at this level. Four years later, winning a Challenger here is a result of hard work and continuing to fight even when things are not going well. I am very happy.

“My first set was really, really bad. I was nervous. I was hitting the ball hard all week, but today I was pushing it. Juan Pablo was really solid from the baseline and running a lot. It was a completely different match from the second set.”

Sitting at No. 332 in the ATP Rankings entering the week, Varillas is projected to soar 94 spots to a career-high No. 238 on Monday.

Nur-Sultan Challenger (Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan): In 2016, Illya Marchenko was playing the best tennis of his career. The Ukrainian earned his biggest win over David Ferrer at the ATP 250 in Doha, followed by a Top 50 breakthrough later in the year. He peaked at a career-high No. 49 in the ATP Rankings. But a shoulder ailment would cut his momentum short and Marchenko was forced to undergo surgery prior to his 2018 campaign. Starting from scratch, he fell outside the Top 1,000 exactly one year ago.

Now, Marchenko is on the rise once again. This week, the charismatic 32-year-old captured his seventh ATP Challenger Tour title – and perhaps his most gratifying. He rallied past Yannick Maden 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 12 minutes in the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan. It was his first crown in more than two years, rising 103 spots to No. 275 in the ATP Rankings.

Sanchez-Casal Head By NH Hotel Group (Barcelona, Spain): Salvatore Caruso reigned in Barcelona on Sunday, defeating Jozef Kovalik 6-4, 6-2 for his second Challenger title. The Italian, who lifted his maiden trophy on home soil in Como last year, returned to the winners’ circle.

Caruso will make his Top 100 debut with the victory, rising to a career-high No. 98 in the ATP Rankings. It has been a breakthrough season for the 26-year-old, who scored his biggest win over David Goffin in Phoenix in March, followed by a first ATP Tour semi-final in Umag in July. He also reached the third round at Roland Garros as a qualifier.

The week will also be remembered for Kovalik’s magical run. One month after becoming a father and lifting the trophy in Szczecin, he saved a combined six match points to reach the final.

A LOOK AHEAD
The biggest tournament in Latin American returns to Santo Domingo, where it will be a party once again in the Dominican Republic. Victor Estrella Burgos will bid farewell, competing in his final professional tournament. Last year’s runner-up Federico Delbonis is the top seed.

On the indoor hard courts of Mouilleron le Captif, Ugo Humbert and Gregoire Barrere lead the home charge on French soil. Mikael Ymer, champion a week ago in Orleans, looks to add another title to his growing resume.

And in northern California, Steve Johnson is the top seed in Fairfield. Countrymen Denis Kudla and Marcos Giron are seeded second and third, respectively.

Former World No. 1 Andy Murray will look to add another positive week to his already impressive comeback at the Rolex Shanghai Masters this week.

Murray, who underwent a second hip surgery on 28 January, won back-to-back matches for the first time in more than 12 months last week at the China Open in Beijing. The Scot lost to the eventual champion, Dominic Thiem, for the second tournament in a row (Alex de Minaur, Zhuhai).

But Murray left the ATP 500 event with more positive momentum to take with him to the season’s penultimate ATP Masters 1000 event in China, which Murray has won three times: 2016, 2011 and 2010.

“I think this was maybe the best in terms of how I played since I came back. It was great for me. I played three matches in four days, which is quite a lot. Actually I felt better than I expected today,” Murray said after falling to Thiem on Friday.

“It was just another step for me. I wasn’t expecting to go from here to my highest level or winning tournaments straightaway. Everything has kind of been a pretty gradual progress for me. This week was another step, I think, in the right direction.”

The 32-year-old wild card will face Argentine qualifier Juan Ignacio Londero, No. 59 in the ATP Rankings, for the first time on Monday. Londero won his maiden ATP Tour title in February at the clay-court Cordoba Open in Argentina, but the 26-year-old is 3-4 on hard court this season.

Nitto ATP Finals hopefuls Gael Monfils and Fabio Fognini will try to pad their ATP Race To London tallies. Monfils, 12^th in the Race with 2,125 points, meets Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, and Fognini, 13^th in the Race and only 70 points behind Monfils, will play American Sam Querrey, who made the Beijing quarter-finals last week (l. to Zverev).

Both Monfils and Fognini are chasing 2018 Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev, who holds the eighth and final qualification spot with 2,255 points, 130 points ahead of Monfils and 200 ahead of Fognini. The top eight in the Race will compete at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 10-17 November at The O2 in London.

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Former Next Gen ATP Finals qualifiers Frances Tiafoe of the U.S. and Denis Shapovalov of Canada will renew their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry to kick off play on Centre Court. Shapovalov leads their series 2-1, which includes his three-set win in the Miami Open presented by Itau quarter-finals in March.

Both remain in contention for to qualify for the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 5-9 November in Milan. Shapovalov is in fourth place in the ATP Race To Milan, with 1,210 points, and Tiafoe is right behind him in fifth place, with 960 points.

#NextGenATP Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic is in seventh place in the Race To Milan (883 points) and will meet Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin in round one. In other action, 14^th seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina will face Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil, and top doubles seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah open against Austrians Oliver Marach/Jurgen Melzer.

SCHEDULE – MONDAY 7 OCTOBER 2019
CENTRE COURT 1 start 12:30 pm
Frances Tiafoe (USA) vs Denis Shapovalov (CAN)
[10] Fabio Fognini (ITA) vs Sam Querrey (USA)
Not Before 6:30 pm
[WC] Andy Murray (GBR) vs [Q] Juan Ignacio Londero (ARG)
[WC] Ze Zhang (CHN) vs [Q] Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)

SHOW COURT 3 start 12:30 pm
Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) vs Marin Cilic (CRO)
[Q] Vasek Pospisil (CAN) vs [14] Diego Schwartzman (ARG)
[9] Gael Monfils (FRA) vs Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)
Not Before 5:30 pm
Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) vs Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB)

View The Remainder Of Monday’s Schedule