Two-time champion Philipp Kohlschreiber snapped a five-match tour-level losing streak on Tuesday, beating Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-2 at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel.

The Kitzbuhel resident, who lifted the trophy in 2015 and 2017, claimed his first win since Roland Garros after 66 minutes, breaking the Frenchman’s serve on five occasions. Kohlschreiber now leads Gasquet for the first time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-2.

Kohlschreiber will be aiming to secure his 20th win at the ATP 250 clay-court event (19-9) when he meets Pablo Andujar in the second round. The Spaniard continued his fine run of form to eliminate sixth seed Leonardo Mayer 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Last week, Andujar reached the semi-finals in Gstaad before falling to eventual champion Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

#NextGenATP Norwegian Casper Ruud defeated eighth seed and Hamburg European Open semi-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. The 20-year-old saved four of five break points to earn his 15th tour-level win of the season (15-9). Ruud will meet Matthias Bachinger of Germany for a spot in the quarter-finals.

John Isner was among several players who sampled some of the best food Washington has to offer at the Citi Taste of Tennis on Monday at The Hamilton Live on Monday night, marking the event’s second year in the nation’s capital.

Isner joined fellow Top 10 Russian Daniil Medvedev and more than 25 other Citi Open players, including former doubles World No. 1 Marcelo Melo, who earlier in the day celebrated his 500^th career match win.

At the event, guests enjoyed an evening sampling fine food, sipping signature cocktails, mingling with their favourite players, live music and a cooking demonstration. A portion of proceeds raised at the Citi Taste of Tennis benefits the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation.

Citi Taste of Tennis ambassador Isner said, “These events are so much fun. You meet so many cool people and you eat a lot of great food. As a guy who likes to eat, this is a perfect venue for me tonight. There really aren’t any foods I don’t like.”

Medvedev said, “This is my first Citi Taste of Tennis. It’ a lot of fun. Many players told me I should come and try the great food prepared by so many leading chefs. I’m glad I’m here.

“As tennis players we travel to many countries and we try many foods. We burn a lot of calories on the court, so we like to eat.”

Executive chef Jerome Grant of Sweet Home Café said, “We have players from all over the world coming here to play and we’ve got folks from all these restaurants with different backgrounds, so it all goes hand in hand. Importantly, a lot of the proceeds from these nights go into building our tennis centres.”

Pro Tennis Players who attended: John Isner, Sloane Stephens, Chris Eubanks, Marcelo Melo, Jan-Lennard Struff, Matthew Ebden, Medvedev Daniil, Treat Huey, Shelby Rogers, Monica Puig, Kevin Krawietz, Rohan Bopanna, Denis Kudla, Francessca Di Lorenzo, Rosalie Vanderhoek, Alison Bal, Beatrice Gumulya, Jessy Rompies, Elixane Lechamie, Ingrid Neal, Quinn Gleason, Nikola Mektic, Mate Pavic, Franko Skugor, Denis Kudla, Brayden Schnur, and more.

The line-up of chef’s included: Jerome Grant (Sweet Home Café), Erik Bruner-Yang (Spoken English), John Mooney (Bidwell), Jaspratrap “Jassie” Bindra (Punjab Grill), Leo Harvey (Ocean Prime), Neil Cline & Brent Lettsome (British Virgin Islands), Paola Velez (Kith and Kin DC), Chris Kombou (Compass Rose), Gianluigi Dellaccio (Dolce Gelati), Dan Kennedy (Estuary), Michael Rafidi (Albi), Victor Albisu (Taco Bamba), Zach Smith (The Hamilton Live), and Adam Greenberg (Coconut Club).

The Citi Taste of Tennis series is produced by AYS Sports Marketing and was the brainchild of AYS’ founders Judi and Penny Lerner. Back in 2001 Judi and Penny, both longtime tennis fans, dreamed of creating an event that combined the international appeal of fine food and professional tennis. The Citi Taste of Tennis was born, and now 20 years later it has become one of the most anticipated “off the court” event at tennis tournaments nationwide.

ATP Tour stars, including Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios, paid tribute to the late Peter McNamara on Monday evening at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

McNamara, a former Top 10 singles player who, along with fellow Aussie Paul McNamee, formed one of the best doubles teams in the early 1980s, died on 20 July aged 64 after a long fight with prostate cancer.

Aussie Rennae Stubbs, a former WTA player, emceed the on-court ceremony that followed the evening doubles match between Kyrgios/Tsitsipas and Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah.

“He was one of my idols,” Stubbs told ATPTour.com in an interview before the ceremony. “Peter was always such a great athlete, great competitor, great looking guy. He personified what Australian sports are all about.

“Watching him coach, he was always so hard working and professional.

“He was the epitome of just an incredibly good man and kind, and he always had a good word to say about everybody. He was honest. He’s really going to be missed.”

For the past four years, until February 2019, McNamara worked with China’s Wang Qiang. When they started working together, in 2015, Qiang was ranked just inside the Top 100. She finished 2018 at No. 20, becoming the first Chinese woman to finish the year inside the Top 20 since Li Na retired in 2014.

Stubbs coached against McNamara and would see him around the WTA. But she had no idea he was battling prostate cancer. Aussie Matthew Ebden, who had McNamara as a coach about five years ago, remembered his countryman as never one to complain.

“He was very disciplined and hard working, two things I really got from him. He was honest and genuine,” Ebden said. “He was really respectful and had really sound manners and ethics.”

All roads to the top are created differently. Few players take a linear path up the ATP Rankings, as they plot their ascent. Injuries, a loss of confidence and the struggle to maintain that winning formula all play a significant role. For Ernesto Escobedo, it was a long and trying journey, but one that the American had to endure to emerge with a trophy once again.

On Sunday, as he watched his opponent’s return sail long, Escobedo bent over and exhaled. A quick glance to his coach Jan-Michael Gambill confirmed it. After three years, he was a Challenger champion once again. While it was a muted celebration for the American, the victory certainly meant more than any other.

Escobedo reeled off six wins in seven days to lift the trophy at the Challenger Banque Nationale de Granby, culminating in a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Yasutaka Uchiyama on Sunday. A native of Los Angeles, he initially broke through with a pair of Challenger titles in Lexington and Monterrey in 2016, cracking the Top 100 at No. 67. He was just 20 years old at the time and Escobedo is the first to admit that he wasn’t ready for the sudden surge of success.

Now, three years later, with new coach and former Top 20 star Gambill at the helm, he is thriving with a renewed mentality and approach. Most importantly, the 23-year-old they call ‘Neto’ is having fun again on the court.

He spoke to ATPChallengerTour.com following his victory in Granby…

After all these years, how did it feel to get that winning feeling back and lift the trophy?
I wasn’t thinking it was three years. I knew it was a long time since I won a Challenger, but at the same time I wanted to stay in the moment and enjoy the tournament. I was just having a good time out there. I knew for the past three months that I’ve been practising really hard, so it was just me being patient and waiting for the right time.

You’ve been making steady progress this year. Did you feel this moment was coming?
The last three tournaments I played, I did pretty well. They were really close matches I lost, so I wasn’t dwelling on them. I knew that I was playing well. I just told myself to stay patient and it’s going to happen. I knew that one of these weeks I was going to have a big breakthrough and it was this week in Granby.

Talk about the week in Granby. What was the key to put it all together?
When you have six matches in seven days, it doesn’t matter if it’s the Challenger Tour or the ATP Tour. It’s so tough. And it was hot and humid conditions out there. But at the same time I knew that I’m super fit, so there wasn’t an issue there. I just felt like I had to compete 100 per cent every point, no matter the situation.

Welcome back to titletown, @netoescobedo!

Ernesto Escobedo has his first ? in three years, surging to the title in Granby. A third #ATPChallenger crown in total for the ??. pic.twitter.com/reanGHyluU

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) July 28, 2019

How has Jan-Michael Gambill made a difference with your game and your mental approach?
I didn’t play much during the clay and grass seasons. I was just training hard and practising a lot back home with my coach. He was really tough with me, just training morning til night on and off the court. There was a lot of mental training as well. By this week, I felt like I was in a really good position to win.

How did the partnership come about and what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from him?
We teamed up right after Monterrey, so around late March. He’s helped me so much, but the biggest thing is to just keep things simple. I’m a very simple guy. He’s kept things very basic and in that way, it was very easy for me to understand him and respond to his way of coaching. I just trust him a lot. He’s a great coach and has been up there in the Top 20, so he knows his stuff.

What was the toughest part of your struggles over the past few years? Was there ever a moment when you didn’t think you’d get back here?
There were more downs than ups, for sure. I always knew that I had the game to win and be at the top, but I didn’t have the right team around me. It was getting to the point where it felt like a 9-5 job and it wasn’t something that I really enjoyed. Ever since Jan has been with me, it’s been great. It’s been fun again and enjoyable. I feel like I’m back there again. I’m still so far away with my ranking, but my game is definitely there.

Are you setting any goals for yourself or just taking it one step at a time?
One step at a time. I’m going day-by-day pretty much. I’m playing Aptos next, then Vancouver. I’m not looking too far ahead.

And your win in Granby put you into US Open qualifying. Were you aware going into the final?
I had no idea! And I’m leading the US Open wild card challenge. I had no idea of that either. Still two more weeks to go with that, but it feels good. I was hoping to at least get into qualies, so I’m pretty pumped.

Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis picked up his first tour-level win in 16 months on Monday at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex in Los Cabos.

The 23-year-old wild card saved eight of nine break points and swept past France’s Maxime Janvier 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round in Mexico. Kokkinakis upset defending champion Roger Federer at the 2018 Miami Open presented by Itau in March, but didn’t win a tour-level match the rest of the year and started 0-2 this season.

“It was very tricky, tricky conditions, very windy out there, and my opponent was trying to hit every ball as he hard as he could so I had to just try and stay patient, stay calm,” Kokkinakis said. “It got a bit yucky through the match, towards the end, but I found a way to win, which is good.”

The talented right-hander has struggled with injuries throughout his young career. In January, Kokkinakis had to retire during the first round of the Australian Open because of a right shoulder injury that forced him to sit out until April. A right pectoral injury forced Kokkinakis to miss qualifying at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. He has played only five events this year.

“Hopefully I can stay healthy and put together some good runs, whether it’s this week or not. Hopefully for the rest of the year [I can] stay healthy,” Kokkinakis said.

He will next face fourth seed Lucas Pouille, who reached the Australian Open semi-finals but is 12-13 on the season. The two have never met at tour-level.

“We’ve been practising a lot this week. Lucas and I are pretty good friends… We know each other pretty well,” Kokkinakis said. “It’s going to be a very tough match, but I’ve been practising pretty well against him, so we’ll see what happens.”

Eighth seed Mikhail Kukushkin continued where he left off at Wimbledon when he made his second fourth round at a Grand Slam (l. to Nishikori). The 31-year-old right-hander beat Damir Dzumhur 7-5, 6-2 and will next face the winner between Brit Cameron Norrie and France’s Gregoire Barrere.

India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran fought through an up-and-down match against Aussie John Millman to advance 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. He will next meet fifth seed and Atlanta finalist Taylor Fritz or German qualifier Dominik Koepfer.

Reilly Opelka is at the ATP 250 tournament in Lyon, France, in the week before Roland Garros. A fan approaches with a photo to sign.

The only problem? It’s a photo of fellow American giant John Isner.

“The guy asks me how my foot was,” says Opelka with a smile. “I was like, ‘He’s a big enough Isner fan to know that he has a broken foot, he’s got a picture of him, but he’s not a big enough Isner fan to know that we look nothing alike.’

“I thought it was really funny. So I had to follow through and sign the picture. I mixed it up, though, signing it ‘Jon’.” 

Such cases of mistaken identity may soon be a thing of the past. Opelka comes into this week’s Citi Open, the ATP 500 tennis tournament in Washington, D.C., in the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings for the first time in his career… and with no points to defend through the US Open, where last year he fell in the first round of qualifying.

His new mark is 43 and he’s already one of the most-feared servers in the game. Leveraging his 6’ 11” frame, Opelka has fired a tour-best 653 aces this season at an average of 21 a match. He is fourth on the list of most service games won (90.3%) and also fourth for most first-serve points won (81%).

But Opelka is far from one dimensional. His court coverage for a man his size is excellent, his forehand return from the deuce court is capable of producing searing winners at big moments and he can dig in for a fight on the baseline when circumstances require.

“He’s probably a little ahead of schedule,” Opelka’s coach of 19 months, Jay Berger, says of his progress. “Getting stronger in the body is going to be a big part of the next stage of his development.

“He’s got great hands. He’s a really good ball striker and people underestimate his athleticism and speed. His forward movement is incredible for someone of his size.”

That’s not by accident. Although Opelka says that his height has never diminished his athleticism, he doesn’t take it for granted. He does a lot of footwork drills involving ladders and beach workouts and recently began working with a device using flashing lights to improve explosive movement and reaction times.

With a 17-14 record in 2019, which includes his first title at the New York Open, it’s noteworthy that Opelka played just four tour-level matches last season for a modest 2-2 record. Despite a mid-season battle with mono, his 12-month rise up the rankings from 229 to 99 at the end of 2018 was built at the ATP Challenger Tour, where he won three titles from five finals, including back-to-back crowns in Knoxville and Champaign to end his year.

“It was part of the plan,” the Michigan native says. “Last year I wanted to play on the Challenger Tour and try to play and win as many matches as I could and learn a lot.

“I’ve always been confident and believed in myself that I could get to where I wanted to be. I’ve put in a lot of hard work and I’ve been patient.”

A side benefit of playing most of 2018 at the Challenger level is that competitors who haven’t seen much of him on the ATP Tour are still figuring out what game plan to deploy when they meet Opelka.

“The first time I play guys I think they almost underestimate my speed and ability from the baseline,” he says. “I play aggressively and make plenty of unforced errors, but when I need to stay in the point by scrapping and running balls down, I have no trouble doing that.

“I think a lot of guys are surprised by that and it’s won me a lot of matches this year because guys haven’t played me the right way. They’ve made balls thinking I would beat myself. I have a good record against those type of players.”

One player who knows Opelka better than most is the 6′ 10″ Isner, who has gone 0-3 against his young rival in 2019 meetings despite winning more points in two of those three matches. In total this year they have played 10 sets, all of which have gone to tie-breaks.

Last week in Atlanta, in a match featuring a combined 64 aces, Opelka edged Isner 7-6(2), 6-7(5), 7-6(5) after saving three break points deep in the decider. Earlier in the match he dug himself out of trouble on serve with some hyper-aggressive groundstroke winners in big moments.

“Sometimes I’ll step off the gas pedal if there is a time I need to make some balls, but my go-to instinct is to be aggressive,” Opelka says. “At big moments in a match it’s not too hard for me to do that, because it’s part of my game.

“When you look at the great players, at the big moments in matches, they play their brand of tennis.”

Despite the similarities with Isner and the respect he has for his countryman, Opelka did not fashion his game on the 2018 Miami Open champion, or anyone for that matter.

“When I was young I looked up to Roddick and Blake and I loved Ferrer, but I didn’t model my game on anyone. I have a ton of respect for Isner and I still look up to John. He’s an unbelievable guy and a great competitor.”

Opelka attributes much of his success to the roles played by Berger, the former Top 10 American player, and his day-to-day travelling coach Jean-Yves Aubone. “JY is terrific to have on the road with me and Jay has been an unbelievable coach and mentor. I was 225 in the world when we started and he’s always believed in me. When we started I was kind of in a slump and lacking belief in myself.”

Berger is similarly complimentary about his charge. “He comes from a great family, he’s been raised the right way. Combine that with great mentoring from Tom Gullikson, Brian Gottfried, Michael Sell and Diego Moyano and you can see why he’s a really, really good kid.

“He’s extremely coachable. He brings different topics to the table, he’s very interested in developing into the best player he can be.”

For a man who serves from the heavens, the sky is the limit.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in his 16^th year as a professional tennis player, picked up his first win at the Citi Open on Monday. The 34-year-old Frenchman halted Canadian Brayden Schnur, finalist at the New York Open in February, 6-4, 7-6(2) to reach the second round.

Tsonga, who improved to 22-12 on the year, lost his only other match in Washington, D.C., in 2009. He will next meet second seed Karen Khachanov.

American Tommy Paul beat countryman Denis Kudla for the first time 6-0, 6-4 to set up a second-round showdown with top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. Paul and Kudla had never met at tour-level, but Kudla had won all four of their other meetings.

The 22-year-old Paul, who made the 2016 Washington quarter-finals, earned his first tour-level win of the season. He has never faced #NextGenATP Tsitsipas, No. 6 in the ATP Rankings.

American wild card Bjorn Fratangelo escaped past 2016 finalist Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-7(14), 7-6(5). The 26-year-old Fratangelo withstood 31 aces and saved all four break points. He will next meet third seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia.

In other action, Frenchman Adrian Mannarino will meet fourth seed Kevin Anderson after beating Belarusian Ilya Ivashka 7-6(3), 6-3, and Romanian Marius Copil fought past Danish qualifier Mikael Torpegaard 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 and will meet sixth seed Marin Cilic.

Newport finalist Alexander Bublik beat American Bradley Klahn 7-6(5), 6-3 to set up a meeting against 16^th seed Frances Tiafoe of the U.S., and South African Lloyd Harris will face 13^th seed Kyle Edmund after beating Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Andy Murray could potentially begin his singles comeback in just a few weeks’ time at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, an ATP Masters 1000 event that begins 11 August.

Murray, who’s playing doubles this week with his brother Jamie at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., told reporters that he’s been practising singles the past few weeks and has been feeling good. After Wimbledon, where the Scot played doubles with Pierre-Hugues Herbert and mixed doubles with Serena Williams, Murray practised a few singles drills. In Washington, he played a set on Sunday and about eight games on Monday.

Spotted on the @CitiOpen practice courts ?@andy_murray | #CitiOpen pic.twitter.com/ryxGJVhWf9

— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) July 28, 2019

“In terms of how I’m moving and feeling and pulling up the next day from these practices, I’m really happy with where I’m at. I think I’m quite close,” he said. “If I was to play a tournament in a few weeks’ time, I could do it. But it’s just to get to maybe where I want to get to, I’ll need to play matches and get a little bit more work done in the gym on my cardio.”

Murray underwent a resurfacing surgery on his right hip in January, and in turn spent hours in the gym, strengthening his hip and improving its flexibility. But his cardio suffered.

“My cardio isn’t great,” he said.

His recent doubles success, which includes winning the Fever-Tree Championships title with Feliciano Lopez at The Queen’s Club in June, has helped. But the Scot feels he’s still a bit away from feeling comfortable by himself in a match.

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“What I’m doing here is, for the most part, I’m going to practise singles and play doubles to compete and then just each week I’m just going to see. If I keep progressing and I feel good in three weeks’ time, then I’ll play singles as soon as I’m ready. I’m not quite ready at this week, but I hope at some stage soon I will be,” Murray said.

If he isn’t able to make his singles return in Cincinnati, Murray will most likely wait until after the US Open to return to play singles and will continue to play doubles, including in New York. He’s currently scheduled to play doubles with Lopez at next week’s Coupe Rogers, a Masters 1000 event in Montreal.

“Best-case scenario probably would be Cincinnati, and then if I wasn’t able to play in Cincinnati, there’s a good chance I would probably wait until after New York because I wouldn’t want my first tournament to be playing best of five [sets],” Murray said.

Compared to last year, however, everything has been good news for Murray, who has drastically improved physically since 12 months ago. Last year, Murray played singles in Washington and made the quarter-finals (withdrawal). His run featured a three-set win against countryman Kyle Edmund, who was ranked No. 18 at the time.

But, because of pain in his right hip, Murray couldn’t serve properly nor could he use his right leg the correct way. It was also an emotional time for him. He finished his third-round match against Romanian Marius Copil at 3:02 a.m. local time, and afterwards broke down in tears.

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“I actually saw the end of that match a couple of weeks ago. I couldn’t walk. I was watching myself walk, and I was like ‘Wow’. It was really bad. I was struggling a lot. I don’t know how I really got through the match in the end. I was upset because my hip was really, really painful,” Murray said.

This year, however, he’s pain free, and he’s enjoying his tennis. “It’s brilliant,” he said.

The 32-year-old has leaned on Bob Bryan along the way. Murray peppered him with questions, beginning 12 months ago, when Bryan, then 40, underwent a hip surface replacement with an artificial joint, also on his right hip.

“He was like my guinea pig. I was messaging him two, three times a week, asking how he was getting on, trying to find out if it was potentially an option for me to give it a go. We’re not unbelievably close, but I communicated with him loads over that period,” Murray said.

In January 2018, the former World No. 1 first underwent surgery on his right hip. But because of severe pain, Murray was contemplating retirement in January at the Australian Open before he underwent a second operation six months ago.

Bryan has resumed a full-time doubles schedule in 2019 with his twin brother, Mike Bryan. The legendary combination have won two ATP Tour titles, including the Masters 1000 in Miami.

“He’s done extremely well to get back to the level that he’s playing at,” Murray said, “and I’m glad he did it, because if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have maybe given it a go even.”

All eyes were on Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday evening at the Citi Open, where the singles stars teamed for the first time on the doubles court. But top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah stole the show, eliminating the Greek-Australian duo 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 in a 66-minute first-round encounter.

The Wimbledon champions have shone brightly this year, as Cabal and Farah are leading the ATP Doubles Race To London by 2,410 points over second-placed Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan. And their level showed against Kyrgios and Tsitsipas, winning 92 per cent (34/37) of their first-serve points en route to the second round.

View ATP Doubles Race To London

Although Kyrgios and Tsitsipas showed flashes of their shotmaking abilities, it was the Colombians who consistently were in the right place at the right time, putting themselves in perfect positions to poach at the net, and also placing returns back at the server’s feet instead of in the vicinity of the net player.

Cabal and Farah had few issues in the opening set, not facing break point. And it appeared everything was going their way after a highlight-reel moment on the first point at 1-1, when Cabal fell to the court right in front of the net to avoid getting hit by a Tsitsipas forehand. Instead of completely ducking out of the way, he poked his racquet above the net and somehow reflexed an incredible volley into the court, eventually allowing his team to win the point.

The pair’s only slip came while Farah served at 2-3 in the second set. Even though he served well throughout the match, he double faulted on the only break point his team faced, allowing Kyrgios and Tsitsipas to take the advantage and force a Match Tie-break.

Once there, though, the Colombians dominated with their serves, winning all seven of their service points and earning three of four second-serve return points to come out on top. Cabal finished it off with a forehand volley winner.

In the other doubles match of the day in Washington, second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo beat Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 4-6, 6-3, 10-5, giving Melo his 500th tour-level win. He is the first Brazilian to accomplish the feat in doubles.

It was a match between two teams inside the Top 10 of the ATP Doubles Race To London, and the key was that Kubot and Melo won four of seven return points in the Match Tie-break.