ITALY 1, FRANCE 1
Venue: Valletta Cambiaso ASD, Genoa, ITA (clay – outdoor)

Lucas Pouille withstood a strong comeback effort to beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1 in Genoa.

The World No. 11 began well, breaking six times en route to a two-set lead, but Seppi fought back in front of his home fans to force a decider. Not to be denied, Pouille re-established control and raced to victory in the fifth set to secure defending champion France a 1-0 lead.

“The emotions are the maximum,” Pouille told DavisCup.com. “It’s great to win that type of match. I was two sets up, he came back; that was so tough for me in the fourth set. I tried to fight as hard as possible and in the end I decided to be more aggressive and I was very happy at the finish.”

Fabio Fognini levelled the tie at 1-1 going into Saturday’s doubles rubber, coming from a set down to beat Jeremy Chardy 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

The Italian won 70 per cent of points behind his first serve in the three-hour, 31-minute encounter to improve to 15-2 in Davis Cup singles rubbers on clay. Simone Bolelli and Paolo Lorenzi are scheduled to meet Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut on Saturday.

CROATIA 1, KAZAKHSTAN 0
Venue: Varazdin Arena, Varazdin, CRO (clay – indoor)

Marin Cilic began Croatia’s bid for a second Davis Cup World Group semi-finals appearance in three years with a dominant 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 win over Dmitry Popko.

The World No. 3 looked in fine form throughout the one-hour, 41-minute contest hitting 32 winners past the Kazakh to seal the first rubber in emphatic style. Cilic, who led Croatia to the Davis Cup final in 2016 (l. to Argentina), improves his Davis Cup singles record to 25-10.

Kazakh No. 1 Mikhail Kukushkin upset in-form Borna Coric 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2 to end Day One with the teams tied at 1-1. Kukushkin broke the BNP Paribas Open semi-finalist on five occasions on his way to victory after three hours and 32 minutes. Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic are slated to meet Timur Khabibulin and Aleksandr Nedovyesov in the third rubber doubles on Saturday

With 33 tournaments in the books, the ATP Challenger Tour season is already off to a flying start in 2018. Storylines abound on the circuit, as new names and fresh faces fight for position in the ATP Rankings, while the Next Generation of stars look to make early statements in the ATP Race To Milan. 

Players eyeing coveted berths in the Next Gen ATP Finals lifted trophies, a superstar kicked off his comeback, a trio of emerging stars tasted victory for the first time, the Aussie contingent made an early statement, a 37-year-old veteran earned a historic crown, and a fan-favourite tournament celebrated a milestone anniversary. And of course, there were Hot Shots. Your jaws might still be on the floor.

In case you missed a moment or just need a refresher, here are the eight biggest storylines from the first quarter of the 2018 season on the ATP Challenger Tour…

The Youth Movement Continues
Two #NextGenATP champions, two teen finalists and four players aged 21 & under among the Top 10 in match wins… It has been a strong first quarter of 2018 for the future of pro tennis, as the stars of tomorrow continue to make strides.

Taylor Fritz and Marc Polmans, both aged 20, led the #NextGenATP contingent with titles on home soil in Newport Beach and Launceston, respectively. For Fritz, it was a long-awaited return to the winners’ circle. The former World No. 53 returned to the Top 100 with a vengeance, claiming his first title in two years. Polmans, meanwhile, lifted his first Challenger trophy. The Aussie is currently eighth in the ATP Race to Milan.

Germany’s Daniel Altmaier and Spain’s Nicola Kuhn turned in the best results among teenagers. Altmaier reached his first final in Burnie, Australia, while Kuhn finished runner-up on the indoor hard courts of Budapest. The 18-year-old has since notched his first ATP World Tour victory at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Other emerging stars include 21-year-olds Hubert Hurkacz, Matteo Berrettini and Christian Garin, who, along with Fritz, are Top 10 in Challenger match wins.

Five Things To Know About Hubert

Mats Moraing, Ladies and Gentlemen…
Not even Mats Moraing could have believed what he’d accomplish in the first three months of 2018. 

After starting the year at No. 274 in the ATP Rankings – with just six Challenger match wins to his name – the 25-year-old made a massive splash with a 19-7 start. He would claim his maiden Challenger title at home in Koblenz, Germany, just weeks after reaching his first final in Bangkok as a qualifier. Moraing also made a major statement with an upset of former World No. 6 Gilles Simon in Cherbourg, France. 

Up to No. 156 in the ATP Rankings, the German joins Polmans and Gregoire Barrere as first-time winners this year. As he makes the transition to full-time status on the ATP Challenger Tour, Moraing is one to watch as the year progresses.

Five Things To Know About Mats

Kei’s Comeback: Nishikori Returns In Newport Beach & Dallas
In an era where big stadiums and mammoth arenas dominate the sporting landscape, witnessing the greatness of a superstar in an smaller, more intimate setting still holds a special charm. That’s exactly what fans in Newport Beach, California and Dallas, Texas experienced when former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori kicked off his comeback from a wrist injury at the Challenger events. 

In arguably one of the biggest player appearances in the history of the ATP Challenger Tour, fans came out in droves to witness the Japanese superstar in action. After falling in his opener in Newport Beach, he would drop one set en route to the title at the T Bar M Racquet Club in Dallas. 

Aussie Contingent Makes Early Statement
The nation of Australia has dominated the early stages of the 2018 season, with five different players lifting five trophies. Marc Polmans was the lone first-time and #NextGenATP winner of the group on home soil in Launceston. Jason Kubler’s comeback campaign continued, as the Brisbane native returned to the Top 200 for the first time since 2015, on the heels of his victory in Playford. 

Another Brisbane native also continued his comeback from injury, as John Millman triumphed in Kyoto, Japan, less than one year removed from undergoing groin surgery. He is back in the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings at No. 89. After stepping away from tennis for nearly a year, Alex Bolt made a splash in his return, emerging victorious in Zhuhai, China. And Sydney native Jordan Thompson also returned to the winners’ circle with his win in Chennai, India. 

With teen sensation Alex de Minaur also surging up the ATP Rankings and Alexei Popyrin making the transition from juniors, Aussie tennis is enjoying a wealth of success on the ATP Challenger Tour.

Taking The Next Step
Making the transition to the ATP World Tour is the goal of every player competing on the ATP Challenger Tour. For some, it comes faster than others. With just one year of Challenger experience, De Minaur made a splash at both the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp and Sydney International, reaching his first ATP World Tour semi-final and final.

He joined Nicolas Jarry and Felix Auger-Aliassime as emerging stars enjoying initial success at the tour-level this year. After claiming three Challenger titles in 2017, 22-year-old Jarry streaked to the semis in Rio de Janeiro and also reached his first ATP World Tour final a week later in Sao Paulo, en route to a career-high No. 61 in the ATP Rankings. Meanwhile, after winning a pair of titles last year, Auger-Aliassime qualified for his first Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells and reached the second round. The 17-year-old became the youngest to win a match at the BNP Paribas Open since Michael Chang in 1989.

In addition, Matteo Berrettini and Mirza Basic became the lone players to make Top 100 debuts in 2018. Basic and Roberto Carballes Baena are Challenger stalwarts who lifted their first ATP World Tour trophies, in Sofia and Quito, respectively. American Tennys Sandgren enjoyed a dream run to the Australian Open quarter-finals after battling in Challengers for nearly seven years. 

Dallas Celebrates 20th Anniversary; Oracle Series Debuts
It was a dream week for the RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas, as Kei Nishikori helped celebrate the tournament’s 20th anniversary. One of the longest-running indoor tournaments on the ATP Challenger Tour, the T Bar M Racquet Club first opened its doors to the tournament in 1998. 

Meanwhile, the Oracle Challenger Series debuted to rave reviews in Newport Beach and Indian Wells. The $150,000 events in Southern California were a hit among players and fans. With a total of eight tournaments on four continents making their debuts, others included Punta del Este, Uruguay; Lille, France; Marbella, Spain and Qujing, China.

Robert Joins An Exclusive Club
As the saying goes, ‘You are only as old as you feel’. In that case, Stephane Robert feels pretty amazing. At 37 years and eight months, the French veteran became the second-oldest champion in ATP Challenger Tour history when he lifted the trophy in Burnie, Australia in early February. Only a 38-year-old Dick Norman was older when he triumphed in Mexico City in 2009. Moreover, the victory made Robert the only player to win multiple titles over the age of 37, having also prevailed in Kobe, Japan last year.

Hot Shots, Oddities & Marathon Rallies
The #NextGenATP contingent turned in some of the most jaw-dropping and mesmerising ‘Hot Shots’ from the first quarter. From Alexei Popyrin’s tweener pass to Hubert Hurkacz’s tweener lob, as well as Corentin Moutet’s rifled forehand in Saint-Brieuc, Alex de Minaur’s stunning dig in Irving and Mikael Ymer’s stab volley in Rennes, the teens were well represented. 

Filip Peliwo, Roberto Quiroz and Christian Garin earned top honours for January, Feburary and March, respectively, while Aliaksandr Bury and Hsien-Yin Peng earned the most improbable of Hot Shots with a winner off the post in their Qujing doubles final.

ATPWorldTour.com previews this week’s four Davis Cup quarter-finals, which feature three of the Top 4 players in the ATP Rankings.

SPAIN v GERMANY
Venue: Plaza de Toros de Valencia – Valencia, Spain
Surface: Clay (outdoors)

Five-time champion Spain welcomes back World No. 1 Rafael Nadal for the first time in the competition since September 2016 in its 17th meeting against Germany, the 1988-89, ’93 titlist. Germany leads Spain 10-6 overall, but the two nations are 4-4 in clay-court ties. Spain has won 26 straight home Davis Cup ties, with its last defeat at home coming against Brazil in 1999.

Nadal, who has not played since falling to Marin Cilic in the Australian Open quarter-finals more than two months ago, has won 22 consecutive singles rubbers since losing on debut in 2004 against Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic. The lefty is joined by Pablo Carreno Busta, Roberto Bautista Agut, David Ferrer and Lopez.

As Spain looks to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2012, Germany’s last semi-final came in 2007. World No. 4 Alexander Zverev, the recent Miami Open finalist, contests his fourth tie alongside Philipp Kohlschreiber, Jan-Lennard Struff, Tim Puetz and Maximilian Marterer.

The winning nation meets Italy or France.

ITALY v FRANCE
Venue: Valletta Cambiaso ASD – Genoa, Italy
Surface: Clay (outdoors)

Italy, the 1976 champion, contests its 250th Davis Cup tie this week, against defending champion and 10-time titlist France for the first time since the 1996 World Group semi-finals. The two nations are tied at 5-5, having first met in 1911.

Fabio Fognini, who has competed for Italy every year since 2008, plays alongside Paolo Lorenzi, Andreas Seppi, Simone Bolelli and Matteo Berrettini. Lucas Pouille, who won the decisive fifth rubber in the 2017 final against Belgium, headlines for France alongside Adrian Mannarino, Richard Gasquet, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.

Italy has lost just one of its past seven home ties, while France has won its past five ties. France’s best winning streak was eight consecutive ties between 2000-2002.

UNITED STATES v BELGIUM
Venue: Curb Event Center – Nashville, TN, United States
Surface: Hard (indoors)

United States, the 32-time winner, aims to extend its 4-0 record against Belgium, the 1904, 2015 and 2017 finalist, and one of the most competitive nations in recent years. It will be first clash between the two nations since the United States recorded a 4-1 victory in 1998 at Indianapolis.

John Isner, currently a career-high No. 9 in the ATP Rankings, competes straight off from winning his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown at the Miami Open. With a 14-11 record in ties, Isner is joined by Jack Sock, Sam Querrey, Ryan Harrison and Steve Johnson as the United States attempts to advance to the semi-finals for the first time since 2012.

Belgium, without its leading player David Goffin, bids to reach the semi-finals for the third time in four years with Ruben Bemelmans, Joris De Loore, Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen. The nation has lost just one of its past eight hard-court ties.

The winning nation meets Croatia or Kazakhstan.

CROATIA v KAZAKHSTAN
Venue: Varazdin Arena – Varazdin, Croatia
Surface: Clay (indoors)

Croatia, led by World No. 3 Marin Cilic, bids to reach the semi-finals for the second time in the past three years in a first-time meeting against Kazakhstan.

Cilic, Borna Coric, Viktor Galovic, Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic will look to extend Croatia’s five-match winning streak on clay, but the 2005 champion has lost five of its past seven ties.

Kazakhstan, competing in the World Group for the seventh time in the past eight years, will look to Mikhail Kukushkin in its attempt to advance to the semi-finals for the first time. Kukushkin, with a 22-13 event record, is joined by Aleksandr Nedovyesov, Dmitry Popko, Timur Khabibulin and Denis Yevseyev.

Rafael Nadal is essentially the same server on clay courts and hard courts. It’s the returning side of the game on clay where beast mode kicks in for the Spaniard.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Nadal identifies that his serve metrics remarkably stay similar when he switches surfaces, from hard to clay. Our impression is that everything dramatically improves on clay, but that’s simply not the case.

Nadal Serving
The following serve metrics show just how close his career serve numbers are between hard and clay.

Nadal’s Career Serve Metrics: Hard Court vs Clay Court

What’s fascinating is that Nadal’s Service Games Won drops less than one percentage point (85.48% to 84.53%) when he moves from hard court to clay court.

It’s impressive to note that the Spaniard is the best in our sport at winning second-serve points on both hard court and clay court. That is due to his heavy slice delivery, and his ability to back it up with a potent Serve +1 forehand that immediately puts the returner on defence.

Nadal Returning
This is where the move from hard courts to clay courts has the most dramatic effect on Nadal’s game.

Nadal is spectacularly ranked first in three of the four return metrics on clay. He is second to Andrei Chesnokov in Break Points Converted, narrowly trailing 48.81 per cent to 48.60 per cent.

Nadal enjoys a massive leap in Return Games Won on clay, jumping more than 13 percentage points all the way up from 29.26 per cent to 42.74 per cent. For every 10 return games he plays on clay, the server wins about six, while Nadal wins four. This is the engine room of his clay-court dominance.

Overall, there is not one serve or return metric that Nadal has a superior career ranking on hard courts over clay courts. Step one for the Spaniard is to keep the serving side of the equation on clay as close as possible to his serving on hard. He has certainly achieved that. Step two is to put up unprecedented numbers when he returns serve.

When returning on clay, Nadal typically stands way back to let the speed of the serve slow down for greater return consistency and also to allow more time to deliver a full-blooded swing at the ball. He then looks to improve his court position up closer to the baseline as the point unfolds, looking to crush his forehand from locations all over the court.

Serving against Nadal on hard court is always challenging. Serving against him on clay is downright formidable.

Novak Djokovic has officially confirmed that he has ended his coaching partnerships with both Radek Stepanek and Andre Agassi.

A statement posted on Djokovic’s official website announced, “After Miami, Novak Djokovic and his tennis coach Radek Stepanek decided to end their co-operation.

“The private relationship with Stepanek was and will remain great, and Novak has enjoyed working with him and learning from him. He remains grateful and appreciative of all the support he has received from Radek during the last period.

“Novak remains focused and eager to come back stronger and more resilient from [a] long injury break that has affected his confidence and game. He is continuously and passionately looking for new and different ways to regain [his] winning form.

“The co-operation between Novak and Andre Agassi has also ended.”

Former World No. 1 Agassi came on board in May 2017 and Stepanek joined Djokovic’s team in December 2017.

The 30-year-old Djokovic missed the final six months of 2017 and returned in January to reach the Australian Open fourth round (l. to Chung). He then underwent a “small medical intervention” on right elbow.

The Serbian is next scheduled to compete at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, which begins on 15 April.

Does the past predict the future? In the case of the ATP Race To London, a position among the Top 10 after the first quarter of the season greatly enhances a player’s chances of claiming a spot at the elite Nitto ATP Finals.

Seven players among the Top 10 of the ATP Race To London, the year-to-date standings, on 4 April 2014 qualified for that year’s season finale. Eight qualifiers were already in the Top 10 on 6 April 2015; there were seven on 4 April 2016 and seven Top 8 finishers, with one playing alternate, on 3 April last year.

If 2018 is anything to go by, The O2 on the Greenwich peninsula in east London will welcome a mix of established stars, new participants and young talent from 11-18 November.

View Latest ATP Race To London

As things currently stand, six-time former Nitto ATP Finals champion Roger Federer is the current Race leader with 3,110 points, with titles at the Australian Open (d. Cilic) and the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament (d. Dimitrov).

A resurgent Juan Martin Del Potro, at No. 2 with 2,120 points, will be looking to make a welcome return to The O2 for the first time since 2013. En route to building a 15-match winning streak this year, he captured the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC (d. Anderson) and won his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown at the BNP Paribas Open (d. Federer).

Just as the experienced Marin Cilic (1,470) is going for his fourth qualification at the season finale (2014, ‘16-17), there is a tantalising prospect that Hyeon Chung, the Next Gen ATP Finals champion in November 2017, may go on to secure his place at the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. At No. 4 in the Race on 1,280 points with an 18-7 season record, Chung may well compete in London alongside fellow young star Alexander Zverev (925).

Kevin Anderson, one of the sport’s hardest workers, has a 1-2 record in ATP World Tour finals this year and is No. 5 (1,070). Known for solid performances during the summer North American swing, the 2017 US Open finalist may well erase memories of a near qualification miss in 2015 and 2017.

Last week, John Isner kick-started his 2018 campaign with the Miami Open presented by Itau crown and sits in sixth position — one place higher than Zverev, the player he beat in a thrilling final — on 1,040 points. The diminutive Diego Schwartzman rounds out the Top 8 on 825 points.

FLast year’s champion Grigor Dimitrov (2017), is in contention at No. 10 in the ATP Race To London (805 points) through the first quarter of the year. But the Bulgarian has work to do, much like former World No. 1 Novak Djokovic (the 2008, 2012-14, 2016 titlist), who has yet to hit top form on his comeback from injury (No. 85). On the eve of the European clay swing, just like Isner’s 288-place rise with the Indian Wells title, World No. 1 Rafael Nadal will be sure to move up from his current position of No. 39.

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