Juan Martin del Potro’s goals upon returning to competition in early 2016 were understandably modest. After a string of wrist surgeries, the Argentine entered the Delray Beach Open ranked No. 1042 in the ATP Rankings.

That return went better than expected with a run to the semi-finals. Two and a half years later, the Tower from Tandil has risen to a career-high of No. 3 in the ATP Rankings. It is a return the Argentine could not have imagined, hitting the practice courts ahead of his Delray Beach return in 2016. 

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the Rogers Cup & vote for who you think will win! 
Nishikori vs Wawrinka | Kyrgios vs Coric | Del Potro vs Chung

Del Potro skipped last week’s Rogers Cup in Toronto to rest a sore left wrist so the new ATP Ranking is more cause for cautious optimism than outright celebration. He makes his return to the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday when he faces the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung in the second round. 

Chung handed Jack Sock his eighth straight first-round defeat on Tuesday to set the clash. He and del Potro have never played. The winner will face 2017 Western & Southern Open runner-up, Nick Kyrgios, or Croat Borna Coric in the third round.

Tenth seed Novak Djokovic has won all ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events except the Western & Southern Open and on Tuesday, took the first steps towards adding a trophy from Cincinnati to his collection with a straight-sets triumph over American Steve Johnson. The 31-year-old has not looked as sharp on the North American hard courts since winning his fourth Wimbledon title. 

After a surprise third-round defeat to #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Rogers Cup last week, the Serb conceded he was “not really satisfied” with his opening-round victory – a match in which he needed nine match points to close out. 

“Obviously it takes a little bit of time now to get used to the hard courts and get to that top level of performance,” Djokovic said. “I don’t think I’m there yet, but hopefully I can get as many matches this week as possible. This has been the tournament that I have never won out of all the Masters events, and I have been trying (smiling). I have another shot. We’ll see.”

Djokovic will have the chance to build that momentum when he meets Adrian Mannarino on Wednesday. The Frenchman defeated Djokovic’s Roland-Garros conqueror Marco Cecchinato in the first round. Djokovic leads the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-0.

Former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka knows there are no easy matches when your ranking has plummeted after two knee surgeries. But the Swiss is finally showing signs he is well on his way back in the second half of 2018.

After a narrow three-set triumph over Nick Kyrgios and a match-points-saving epic against Marton Fucsovics at the Rogers Cup last week, Wawrinka fell to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in two tight sets. He carried his form to Cincinnati, where on Monday, he defeated No. 12 seed Diego Schwartzman to set a second-round clash with a fellow former Top 10 player, Kei Nishikori.

The pair has split eight FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, with seven of those matches coming on hard courts. Nishikori scored a solid win over #NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev in the first round.

Roger Federer’s first outing in the American Midwest in three years is off to a flying start with the Swiss seeing off Peter Gojowzcyk in the second round of the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday. In his first ATP World Tour event since turning 37 on 8 August, the seven-time champion needed just 72 minutes to defeat the German, 6-4, 6-4.

The No. 2 seed had not played since squandering a match point in his Wimbledon quarter-final defeat to Kevin Anderson a month ago and admitted to feeling anxious about his US summer hard-court return. But despite a rusty opening service game, in which he rolled down two double faults to face a break point, the Swiss soon hit his straps to build a 4-2 lead. 

He served out the opening set 6-4 with a sublime serve-volley reaping the backhand volley winner. When Federer broke in the opening game of the second set he looked to be cruising, with a touch-volley winner edging him to 4-2.

Saving his best point for the brink of defeat, Gojowzyck – who had defeated Joao Sousa in the first round – pulled off a smash passing shot on his way to holding for 3-4 but it would not distract Federer from the job at hand. He served it out to love to set a third-round meeting with Argentine Leonardo Mayer, an earlier 7-6(7), 6-4 winner over Andy Murray’s conqueror, Lucas Pouille.

Did You Know?
Roger Federer has now won his past 11 matches in Cincinnati. The last man to defeat him was Rafael Nadal in the 2013 quarter-finals.

The ATP World Tour doubles stars, including Jamie Murray, didn’t see it coming. Not only were the fans who participated in the fifth annual Western & Southern Open Doubles Showdown on Monday enthusiastic in their support of the craft, but they also played some decent tennis.

“They were some good players that came out and showed us up a little bit. We weren’t quite expecting that,” Murray said.

The pros and the recreational players had another good time in Cincinnati, promoting doubles and practising drills and tactics on court together. Wayne Bryan led the activities, and the rec players were alongside the players for much of the two-hour showdown.

“We got to get up close and personal with them so it was very, very awesome,” said Zakiya Kelly, 28, of metro Detroit, who was one of the participants.

The pros enjoyed themselves, too. “Some of the best players in the world showing off their skills, so a good day for doubles, and we’ll be back next year,” Mike Bryan said.

Most recreational players are doubles players, Horia Tecau reminded, so it’s important for the pros to reach out to them.

“It’s nice for them to see us all on the same court, doing some drills, some tricks. At this tournament, there are a lot of people coming to watch the doubles matches so it’s nice to give them an experience to be close to us, play some drills with us. It’s nice for them to see the skills that we do on the court, then appreciate it and to come and watch us more,” Tecau said.

Justin Hoyte of FC Cincinnati and ATP World Tour doubles players Murray, Bryan, Tecau, Jean-Julien Rojer, Nikola Mektic, Oliver Marach, Mate Pavic, Artem Sitak, Rajeev Ram, Robert Farah, Bruno Soares, Lukasz Kubot, Marcelo Melo and Juan Sebastian Cabal participated.

After failing to convert three match points at 6/3 in a final-set tie-break, 2017 finalist Nick Kyrgios was faced with the prospect of a disappointing defeat on his return to the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday.

But, after missing his first serve down match point at 7/8, the Aussie produced fearless tennis to navigate his way out of danger. Kyrgios hit a 133mph second serve ace to extend the match and followed it up with a 137mph ace on the following point, before closing out a 6-7(2), 7-5, 7-6(9) win over Denis Kudla, on his sixth match point, after one hour and 58 minutes.

The Brisbane International presented by Suncorp titlist improved to 20-9 at tour-level in 2018, avoiding a defeat which would have seen him drop 590 ATP Rankings points on 20 August. Kyrgios defeated David Goffin, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer en route to his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final last year in Cincinnati.

Despite struggling with his movement at times during the first-round encounter, Kyrgios hit 61 winners, including 39 aces, to record his seventh win in 10 matches at the Ohio-based event. The World No. 18 improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Kudla to 2-0, having also won their only previous encounter at the 2015 BNP Paribas Open.

Kyrgios will face Gerry Weber Open titlist Borna Coric for a place in the third round. Coric won 83 per cent of service points and saved both break points he faced to cruise past Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-2, 6-3 in 70 minutes.

Coric and Kyrgios are tied at 1-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, which includes their most recent encounter in Cincinnati. Two years ago, Coric defeated Kyrgios 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-6(6) in the Round of 32.

Did You Know?
After reaching his maiden tour-level final on clay at the 2015 Millennium Estoril Open, each of Nick Kyrgios’ six tour-level final appearances have come at hard-court events.