After all of his injury troubles, it could be said that Andy Murray deserves a bit of luck.

Pairing with Feliciano Lopez at the Fever-Tree Championships, the Brit hit two consecutive netcord winners to clinch the opening set and rode the momentum to defeat top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-6(5), 6-3. Murray was competing in his first match since undergoing hip surgery after the Australian Open.

“I expected to enjoy the match because I told myself I was going to regardless of what happened,” said Murray. “To feel as well as I did there — not perfect in terms of everything like my movement, but pain-free…I enjoyed it. I feel like I’m going to continue to progress.”

More On Murray
* ‘I’ve Been Rejected So Far’: Murray Seeking Mixed Doubles Partner
* On Hip Surgery: ‘It’s Been Brilliant, Completely Life-Changing’
* Murray Optimistic About Return To Singles Action This Season

The victory gave Murray his first ATP Tour grass-court doubles win since reaching the quarter-finals here in 2010. Next up for Lopez/Murray are the British pair of Daniel Evans and Ken Skupski or the #NextGenATP duo of Alex de Minaur and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

An all-Murray match is also still in the cards. Should Murray/Lopez and the British pair of Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski win their next matches on Friday, the brothers will face off in the semi-finals. 

Murray also confirmed he will team up with Pierre-Hugues Herbert at Wimbledon. The Frenchman has focused on singles since completing the career doubles Grand Slam with Nicolas Mahut this year in Melbourne, but the opportunity to team up with the former World No. 1 was too good to pass up.

“He had said to my coach that he wasn’t going to be playing doubles at Wimbledon,” said Murray. “A couple of weeks ago, [he] got in touch, said maybe [he] would like to play. I’m asssuming he spoke with his team and thought it might be a nice thing to do.”

There were no break points in the opening set of Murray’s comeback match on Thursday. An incredible behind-the-back lob from Cabal helped bring the Colombian duo to 5/5 in the first-set tie-break, but Murray’s volley and forehand netcord winners in the next two points wrapped up the opening set.

The Brit grew in confidence as the match progressed. He ripped a pair of forehand return winners to secure the first break of the match at 3-2 in the second set. The slight advantage was all Lopez/Murray needed. Aggressive volleying from Lopez as he served for the match at 5-3 helped seal the win in 75 minutes.

The other seeded teams in action on Thursday had better fortune. Second seeds Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares rallied to defeat Lucas Pouille and Stan Wawrinka 5-7, 6-3, 10-5. They’ll play Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury for a place in the last four.

Third seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers hung tough to defeat Robert Lindstedt and Artem Sitak 7-6(5), 3-6, 10-3. Next up for them are Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski, who delighted the home crowd by moving past French pair Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6(5), 1-6, 10-7.

Roger Federer held off some of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s best hitting to reach his 17^thNOVENTI OPEN quarter-final on Thursday and keep alive his hopes for a record-extending 10^th title in Halle.

Federer advanced past Tsonga 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-5 in another high-octane contest between the two veterans who both hit their full strides at times inside Gerry Weber Stadion. Federer now leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 12-6.

Tsonga had beaten Federer during their only prior grass-court meeting, coming back from two sets down in the 2011 Wimbledon quarter-finals. But the Swiss started well and looked to be en route to another straight-sets win in Germany after he converted his third set point in the opener and broke to start the second.

The top seed ran around a Tsonga second serve and belted an inside-in forehand winner down the line to gain the set and break lead. He was at his aggressive best all match, coming forward often and ending the point with swinging volleys. Federer won 16 of his 27 trips to the net (59%).

But Tsonga found his characteristic big groundstrokes in time to break in the sixth and 10^th games of the second set, punishing forehands that Federer couldn’t handle at net. The two were on serve until the 11^th game of the deciding set, when Federer, as the fans screamed for the nine-time champion, raised his level to break once more. He ended their 18^th contest with his seventh ace.

The Swiss will next meet Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, who beat two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist (2007, 2015) Richard Gasquet of France 6-1, 6-4. Federer is 8-0 against Bautista Agut, which includes a straight-sets win at 2015 Wimbledon, their only grass-court encounter. Bautista Agut has won only one of their 19 sets.

Did You Know?
Only 23 men in 20 years have beaten Federer on grass and only two have done so from two sets down at Wimbledon (2-78). Tsonga belongs to both of those clubs.

Karen Khachanov has been rewarded for his outstanding form in more ways than one. The 23-year-old Russian cracked the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings this month and now has the award to go with it.

The World No. 9 received the ATP Award for reaching the Top 10 on Thursday at the NOVENTI OPEN. Khachanov, seeded third, is through to the quarter-finals in Halle after wins over Miomir Kecmanovic and Jan-Lennard Struff.

Khachanov’s outstanding finish to 2018 included his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Paris Masters (d. Djokovic) and a title on home soil at the VTB Kremlin Cup (d. Mannarino). He has continued to excel in Masters 1000 events, reaching the semi-finals last year at the Rogers Cup and quarter-finals this March at the BNP Paribas Open. Khachanov also advanced to his first Grand Slam quarter-final this month at Roland Garros.

Juan Martin del Potro will undergo yet another surgery. The Argentine announced on Thursday that he has again fractured his right patella, the same injury that made the 6’6″ right-hander miss the last four weeks of the 2018 season and has limited him to only five tournaments so far this year.

Del Potro slipped near the net in the eighth game of the second set of his first-round match with Denis Shapovalov at the Fever-Tree Championships on Wednesday. Although the Argentine went on to advance in straight sets, he underwent medical exams after noticing pain and swelling in his right knee.

Watch: Up Close & Personal With Delpo

Further tests on Wednesday night in a London clinic showed that Del Potro had again fractured his right kneecap.

He originally broke his patella last October at the Rolex Shanghai Masters and had to miss the final three weeks of the season, as well as the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals in London.

Del Potro, however, rehabbed his knee, as seen in the exclusive video above, and returned close to top form this year. He had match points against No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the Rome quarter-finals and made the fourth round at Roland Garros (l. to Khachanov).

After the further tests in London, though, Del Potro consulted with his doctor, Angel Cotorro, and they determined that he will need surgery, which will take place in the next couple of days with a date and location to be determined.

Del Potro has undergone four wrist surgeries – three on his left wrist (24 March 2014, joint; 20 January 2015, ligament; 18 June 2015, tendon), as well as a surgery on his right wrist on 4 May 2010. All four surgeries were performed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.A.

It has occurred only 21 times in the past 20 years, and Matteo Berrettini has now struck twice. Winning an ATP Tour title while not dropping serve is one of the toughest tasks to accomplish, but the 22-year-old Italian won the ATP 250 event in Stuttgart last week doing just that.

He held serve 50 straight times to take the title and improve to a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 22 this week. The only two break points Berrettini faced at the MercedesCup were in the same game, serving at 1-2 in the opening set of the semi-final against Jan-Lennard Struff.

Stuttgart Semi-Final: Berrettini Break Points Saved vs. Struff
1-2, 30/40: Second serve / Berrettini hit a slice backhand down the line that forced a Struff forehand error (seven-shot rally).
1-2, Ad Out: Second serve / Struff committed a backhand return error long (one-shot rally).

Berrettini also won the ATP 250 event in Gstaad last year on clay without dropping serve. The Italian held 49 straight times while saving nine break points along the way.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of this rare feat reveals that just 13 players have combined to win 21 tournaments without dropping serve since 1999, which is when break points for all rounds of a tournament were officially recorded.

Unbroken To Win The Title (in order of most recent)
Matteo Berrettini (twice)
Novak Djokovic
Alexander Zverev
John Isner
Nick Kyrgios
Roger Federer (four times)
Ivo Karlovic (twice)
Milos Raonic (twice)
Andy Roddick (twice)
Mark Philippoussis
Ivan Ljubicic (twice)
Jonas Bjorkman
Kenneth Carlsen

John Isner is the only player since 1999 to win an ATP Tour title without facing a break point, which he accomplished at the ATP 250 event in Newport in 2017. He fired 65 aces along the way.

Ivan Ljubicic impressively won back-to-back titles in Vienna in 2005 and 2006 without dropping serve either year. He saved 17 break points in 2005 and five in 2006. Roger Federer, who is now coached by Ljubicic, has won the most ATP events since 1999 without dropping serve, with four titles.

Federer: ATP Titles Won Without Dropping Serve
2015 Cincinnati
2012 Cincinnati
2008 Halle
2005 Doha

Berrettini has now risen up to the 10th spot in the Infosys ATP Stats Serve LEADERBOARD, with a 285.4 rating in the past 52 weeks. An Italian player has never tasted ultimate glory on the grass courts at Wimbledon. Berrettini is ticking all the right boxes to be a legitimate dark horse this year.

See Who Berrettini Is Chasing On The Infosys ATP Stats Serve LEADERBOARD

1999-2019: Players Winning An ATP Title Without Dropping Serve

Last year’s champion Borna Coric has never defended more ATP Rankings points than he is this week at the NOVENTI OPEN, an ATP 500 event in Halle.

So Coric will be especially pleased to have squeaked past Portugal’s Joao Sousa 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-6(4) in two hours, 55 minutes on Wednesday to return to the quarter-finals at the grass-court event. The Croatian beat nine-time champion Roger Federer in last year’s final for the biggest title of his career.

“I’m just very happy… It was not an easy match, but I got the win, that’s what’s most important,” Coric said.

The 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals semi-finalist had to overcome a rough ending to the second set – he was broken in the 11th game – to stay alive in Halle. The 22-year-old underwent a medical timeout for a rib injury after the third game in the deciding set, but he recovered from that as well and pulled away in the tie-break. Sousa, who was 0/4 on break points in the final set and led 4/2 in the third-set tie-break, fell to 11-18 on the year. 

“I was losing 4/2 in the tie-break. I was feeling like I’m actually losing the match. So now to turn it around, I must be very, very happy,” Coric said.

He will next meet Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who made his fourth ATP Tour quarter-final of 2019 by beating qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4. Herbert hit nine aces for the match and didn’t face a break point in the deciding set.

Read More: Herbert Narrows His Vision For Singles Success

In doubles, top seeds and two-time defending champions Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo ousted Dutchmen Wesley Koolhof/Matwe Middelkoop 6-3, 6-2 and will next face David Goffin/Herbert.

Second seeds Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus edged Dominic Inglot/Austin Krajicek 7-6(4), 7-6(6) and will meet the Austrian team of Oliver Marach/Jurgen Melzer. In the only other doubles match of the day, Matteo Berrettini/Jean-Julien Rojer swept Radu Albot/Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4.

Did You Know?
Herbert improved to 12-11 on grass. He’s 47-58 on hard and 14-16 on clay.