Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus picked up crucial points in the ATP Doubles Race To London on Tuesday, beating New Zealand’s Artem Sitak and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Klaasen/Venus are in sixth place in the Race with the top eight teams qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 11-18 November at The O2 in London. The South African/Kiwi pairing will next face fifth seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo.

Elsewhere, Croatian Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya of Austria dropped only four games against Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Aussie Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-2, and Americans Sam Querrey/Rajeev Ram didn’t face a break point during their 7-6(4), 6-3 victory against Italian Marco Cecchinato/Bosnian Damir Dzumhur.

After a four-year absence, Juan Martin del Potro made his return to Rogers Cup action in 2017 ranked just outside the Top 30 in the ATP Rankings. One year on from his second-round loss to #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the Argentine makes just his second appearance in Toronto, as World No. 4, in fine form.

But three years ago, Del Potro was not sure if he would ever return to Toronto after considering retirement as he struggled to deal with a serious wrist injury. The Tower of Tandil contested just four tour-level matches in 2015 before injury forced him to miss almost a year of competition.

”I considered [retirement] three years ago… because I had been suffering a lot… I was depressed for a couple of months because I couldn’t find a way to fix the wrist problems,” said Del Potro. “But now you can imagine how happy I am playing tennis again, being in the Top 5 again, after a long time, winning titles and playing my best tennis ever, maybe.

”I’m having one of my best seasons this year and it’s amazing. I never expected to be in this moment again after all my problems, so I just want to keep enjoying this second chance of the tennis life.”

Despite early losses in recent campaigns, Del Potro knows what it takes to make a deep run at the Canadian event. One month prior to lifting the US Open title in 2009, the Argentine defeated two Top 5 players en route to the championship match in Montreal.

”It was one of the best tournaments I’ve played in my career,” said Del Potro. “I remember that I beat Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal, and then I lost against [Andy] Murray in the final, which is a tough draw.

”But now, the situation is completely different. I’m playing good. I’m No. 4 in the [ATP Rankings] and I have a chance to keep improving my ranking this week, but, if not, I will be happy anyway.”

There are signs that the 29-year-old may be ready to replicate his form of nine years ago this week. Del Potro, who occupies the No. 4 spot in both the ATP Rankings and ATP Race to London, arrives in Toronto after contesting his fourth tour-level championship match of the season in Los Cabos (l. to Fognini).

”I think I did well [in Los Cabos],” said Del Potro. “I reached another final in the season, which is good for my year. Fabio played much better than me. He deserved to win.

”But now it is a different tournament, different expectations. I’m looking forward to playing at the same level and see if I can still have good results.”

In his first match since winning his 13th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic began his bid for a fifth Rogers Cup crown with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Mirza Basic.

Djokovic hit nine aces and converted three of five break points to overcome the lucky loser in 90 minutes. The Serbian was originally due to face reigning Next Gen ATP Finals titlist Hyeon Chung. But Basic, who fell in the final round of qualifying to American Bradley Klahn, entered the draw after Chung’s withdrawal (back pain).

Djokovic improved to 36-6 at the event and will face wild card Peter Polansky for a place in the third round. The Canadian beat Matthew Ebden of Australia 7-6(3), 6-4 on Monday.

The former World No. 1 looked solid on serve in the opening set, winning 75 per cent of service points to establish a one-set lead. But, despite earning the first break of the second set at 3-3, Djokovic ran into trouble closing out the match.

In the following game, back-to-back double faults opened the door for Basic, who earned his first break of the match with a ripped backhand winner down the line. The pair traded breaks once more at 5-5, after a series of loose errors, to force a tie-break. It was there that Djokovic re-established control and charged to victory.

#NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas also progressed to the second round by exactly the same scoreline as Djokovic, beating Turkish Airlines Open Antalya champion Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 7-6(3).

“I was serving unbelievably today. I felt very comfortable with my serve from the beginning of the match and it played a big role in my game today,” said Tsitsipas. “I managed to win lots of easy points with my serve.”

Tsitsipas landed 11 aces and dropped only five points behind his first serve to book a second-round clash against seventh seed Dominic Thiem. The Austrian and Tsitsipas have already met on four occasions this season, with the Thiem leading their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-1.

“I feel pretty high with my [level],” said Tsitsipas. “I feel like I’m around 80-90 per cent. I feel there’s 10 per cent more which I can for sure improve and beat even higher-ranked players.”

Did You Know?
In 2007, Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in successive matches to win his maiden Rogers Cup title.

“7/29/18 my best win yet!” Bradley Klahn shared on Instagram ahead of the Rogers Cup, announcing his engagement to Abbie Hageman.

Eight days later, from the beach in Malibu to the tennis courts of Toronto, the 27-year-old American qualifier celebrated another big win. Klahn upset former World No. 3 David Ferrer 7-6(5), 6-4 to record his first main draw win at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.

“It’s my first tournament as a fiancé,” he told ATPWorldTour.com after his match. “It’s been going pretty well.”

By virtue of his victory, Klahn also won the USTA’s US Open Wild Card Challenge, ensuring his place in the main draw of his home Grand Slam for the first time since 2014.

The Stanford graduate had done the maths and knew he had a chance to clinch the US Open wild card during the Rogers Cup. When rain halted play with Klahn leading 6-3 in the first-set tie-break, he killed some time by scrolling through Instagram and saw a comment confirming that a first-round win would be enough to do it.

Facing extra pressure once the match resumed a few hours later, Klahn maintained his composure to go up a set and a break. Though Ferrer got back on serve, Klahn immediately broke back, and two games later, found himself with two match points. Ferrer, the 2012 Rolex Paris Masters champion, saved both chances and a third match point on Klahn’s serve before the American pulled through to complete the 92-minute triumph.

“It was a huge win for me today, beating a guy of his calibre,” said Klahn. “It’s a big step for me, just the career he’s had. I have so much respect and admiration for the way he goes about it and his tenacity and making you earn every ball from first to last.

“For me to stay with it, especially losing the break there in the second, weathering literally a rain delay and battling through some nerves a little bit there and closing it out, I was really pleased.”

Klahn had reached a high of No. 63 in the ATP Rankings in 2014, but sat on the sidelines from February 2015 to November 2016 as he underwent numerous back surgeries. The California native rose back into the Top 200 in January when he reached the Newport Beach final (l. to Fritz) on the ATP Challenger Tour, and continued his steady climb to enter Toronto at No. 116.

Last month, he qualified for Wimbledon and won his first tour-level match in four years when he beat Yuichi Sugita in the first round. In his next tournament, he won the Challenger title in Gatineau, Canada. Now, Klahn will have a chance to take on No. 2 seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev in the Rogers Cup second round.

“It’s another great opportunity for me,” said Klahn. “I’ve been out on tour for a while, but still some amazing experiences are new for me, playing at this level, feeling more comfortable and getting wins under my belt. I’m really excited to test myself against the best, and Sascha has proven he’s one of the best one now.

“When I was lying in bed, not being able to really do much and wondering if I would play tennis again, these are the moments I kept in mind; to kind of keep that cherry out there to work towards.”