Martin Klizan continued his strong run of form at the BMW Open by FWU on Monday, beating 2011 finalist Florian Mayer 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The 2014 champion (d. Fognini) converted six of his 15 break point opportunities en route to victory in a match lasting just over two hours. Klizan improves to 8-1 in the Bavarian capital and sends Mayer to his 10th consecutive loss at tour-level.

Klizan, who defeated Novak Djokovic in Barcelona and became the first man to win five games in a set against Rafael Nadal on clay since the 2017 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, will meet Mirza Basic or seventh seed Gael Monfils in the second round.

Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann scored his first win of the 2018 ATP World Tour season, defeating two-time Munich semi-finalist Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-4. The 2017 quarter-finalist hit six aces and dropped just one point on his second serve (7/8) to advance to the second round after 59 minutes. The Munich resident will face top seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev for a place in the quarter-finals.

Matthias Bachinger also secured his first win of the season at his home event, defeating Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-3. The Munich-born World No. 163 hit 10 aces in the two-hour, 42-minute win and will meet reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung in the second round.

Did You Know?
Martin Klizan has only lost one main-draw match at the BMW Open by FWU. Klizan won eight matches from qualifying on his main-draw debut in 2014 to win the title, before falling in the quarter-finals last year to Hyeon Chung.

A day after Kyle Edmund and Joao Sousa enjoyed a thrilling surfing lesson in Estoril from one of the highest-ranked professionals in the world, Daniil Medvedev and Leonardo Mayer got taken for a wild ride — literally — of their own on Monday ahead of the Millennium Estoril Open.

The two seeded players in this week’s event (Mayer No. 7 and Medvedev No. 8) were driven around a track built on Cascais Marina by Portuguese racecar driver Rafael Lobato.

“It’s incredible! You realize how hard it is to drive these kind of cars. The drivers go really fast and that’s amazing,” Mayer said. “You feel a bit scared because of the chance of crashing. But it is impossible, because the drivers are really good… the control was incredible. They are able to stay one metre away from the wall.”

And while the ATP World Tour players are used to getting adrenaline rushes during the excitement of their matches, Medvedev was surprised by the experience in the rally car.

“It was amazing. I didn’t expect so much adrenaline. I just thought it would be a little bit fast and a little bit cool, but once he started to push the engine it was going like crazy,” Medvedev said. “He was drifting, it was turning. I was so scared but it was so cool. Now I know what to expect from experiences like this.

“It was so loud in the car and the vibrations inside the car are like crazy. You have to be quite strong in the car because on the first lap my head was going right and left all the time.”

It was a great experience for Medvedev, who will compete against Portugal’s Joao Sousa — who seeks his first victory at his home event (0-3) — in the first round.

“It’s my first time in Estoril, and it’s pretty cool,” Medvedev said. “I went to Lisbon for two days first and it’s also amazing. I always thought it’d be cool to come here.”

Mayer will begin his campaign against in-form Chilean Nicolas Jarry. The Argentine leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 1-0.

“It is nice to play here, there are plenty of great players and the city is beautiful,” Mayer said. “I’m always happy to be back.”

No. 6 seed Viktor Troicki came from a set down to beat Australia’s Bernard Tomic 3-6, 6-0, 7-5 at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open on Monday.

The Serbian, who reached the semi-finals in 2017 (l. to Raonic), hit 13 aces and broke Tomic on five occasions to emerge victorious after one hour and 49 minutes. Competing for the first time on the ATP World Tour since the 2017 Erste Bank Open 500 (l. Herbert), Tomic served for the match at 5-4 in the final set, but Troicki won four straight games to reach the second round.

Troicki takes a 3-2 lead in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Tomic and moves into a second-round encounter against Moldova’s Radu Albot or Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil.

Serbian Laslo Djere snapped a 10-match losing streak to upset Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 7-6(5), 7-6(6). The 22-year-old saved a set point at 5/6 in the second-set tie-break before booking his place in the second round after two hours and four minutes. The 2017 quarter-finalist (l. to Troicki), will meet Gazprom Hungarian Open semi-finalist Andreas Seppi for a place in the quarter-finals.

Did You Know?
Viktor Troicki and Bernard Tomic’s only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter on a clay court also went to three sets, with Troicki defeating the Australian 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 7-6(4) at the 2015 Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

No. 59 (Career-high) Marco Cecchinato, +33
Having lost to Jurgen Zopp in the Gazprom Hungarian Open qualifying round, the Italian gained a lucky loser spot and bounced back to capture his first ATP World Tour trophy after beating fellow first-time finalist, John Millman, 7-5, 6-4. As a result, the 25-year-old Cecchinato jumped 33 places to a career-high No. 59 in the ATP Rankings. He began the year at No. 109. Read & Watch Highlights

No. 44 (Career-high) Stefanos Tsitsipas, +19
The Greek rose 19 places to a career-high No. 44 in the ATP Rankings after becoming the first player from his country to reach an ATP World Tour final since Nicholas Kalogeropoulos at Des Moines, Iowa on 4 February 1973 (l. to Clark Graebner). In beating Dominic Thiem in the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell semi-final, it was his second Top 10 victory of his career (d. No. 10 David Goffin at 2017 European Open). Coming into last week’s ATP World Tour 500-level tournament, Tsitsipas had won only one clay-court match. Read & Watch Highlights

View Latest ATP Rankings

No. 48 Andreas Seppi, +7
Former World No. 18 Andreas Seppi continued his run of form by advancing to Gazprom Hungarian Open semi-finals, losing to fellow Italian Marco Cecchinato. The 34-year-old broke back into the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings (at No. 48), with a seven-place rise, for his highest position since 27 June 2017 (No. 45).

No. 69 John Millman, +25
The Australian earned the biggest win of his career by beating World No. 14 and defending champion Lucas Pouille in the Gazprom Hungarian Open second round and used that confidence to progress to his first ATP World Tour final. In moving up 25 spots to No. 69, Millman is now nine positions off his career-high (No. 60 on 16 May 2016). The 28-year-old was ranked as low as No. 235 (on 28 August 2017), but won an ATP Challenger Tour title in Hua Hin, Thailand, last November and another in Kyoto, Japan earlier this year.

Learn More About ATP Challenger Tour

Other Notables Top 100 Movers This Week
No. 35 Borna Coric, +3
No. 75 Nikoloz Basilashvili, +4
No. 78 Malek Jaziri, +10
No. 94 Jordan Thompson, +4