Dominic Thiem entered his semi-final at the Rio Open presented by Claro 30-5 on clay since the beginning of last season. Those losses came against Rafael Nadal (3), Novak Djokovic and David Goffin. It didn’t hurt that he was the defending champion in Rio de Janeiro, either, as well as last week’s winner in Buenos Aires.

But the Austrian was shocked by eighth seed Fernando Verdasco, who delivered a blistering performance to oust the second seed 6-4 6-0 on Friday evening. The Spaniard moves into his first ATP World Tour semi-final since 2017 Stockholm as he pursues his first final since losing to Andy Murray last year in Dubai.

It was just the third time that Thiem has lost a set 0-6 on clay at the tour-level, with both of those instances coming last year against Djokovic (Rome) and Nadal (Roland Garros).

Verdasco, who has now won six consecutive sets against Thiem, extends his FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against the World No. 6 to 3-0. The left-hander next plays the winner between fifth seed Fabio Fognini and Aljaz Bedene.

Based on the results so far this week it appeared Friday’s second quarter-final at the Rio Open presented by Claro would be a thriller. But sixth seed Diego Schwartzman moved past the dangerous Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-4 in just 83 minutes.

“Against Gael it’s never easy,” Schwartzman said. “The match was weird. Sometimes we played bad points, sometimes we played good points. He was a break up both sets and then I came back and I am really happy for that because after that I started to play well in both sets.”

The Argentine is into his first tour-level semi-final since 2017 Antwerp a week after advancing to his first quarter-final of the season in Buenos Aires. Schwartzman is pursuing his second ATP World Tour title (2016 Istanbul).

It was still a strong week for Monfils, who saved a match point in the first round against Horacio Zeballos before moving past top seed and World No. 3 Marin Cilic in a rain-delayed second-round encounter. The Frenchman has made at least the quarter-finals at four of the five events he has played this season, with his lone loss before that stage coming against former World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Australian Open.

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Schwarztman will face Chilean Nicolas Jarry, who upset seventh seed Pablo Cuevas 7-5, 6-3 to make the first tour-level semi-final of his career. The 22-year-old advanced to his first quarter-final two weeks ago at the Ecuador Open in Quito, where he lost to eventual champion Roberto Carballes Baena.

“This is a great victory for me,” Jarry said. “I played very solid. I stayed very strong with my head…. I’m very happy with the way that I served this match. It’s better than the other ones, so I hope to continue serving like this.”

Jarry saved all four break points he faced in the match, breaking once per set to move past the 2016 champion. It will be his first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against Schwartzman.

(1) Mats Moraing is the ATP Challenger Tour’s breakout star in 2018
The World No. 155 won his maiden Challenger title at home in Koblenz, Germany last month after reaching the final in Bangkok as a qualifier to open his 2018 season. After the biggest win of his career over former World No. 6 Gilles Simon in Cherbourg last week, Moraing took a moment to address the reasons behind his success, and how he feels about his early form in 2018.

“I have been playing without injury since last year and practising hard. I think that has been the big difference and I’m playing consistently now. It was very special for me to win in Koblenz. It was my first big title and it came on home soil. I will always remember it,” said Moraing.

The first player to win his maiden #ATPChallenger title in 2018 is ?? Mats Moraing. The 25-year-old downs Kenny de Schepper 62 61 at home in Koblenz. Congrats Mats! pic.twitter.com/agoumFilSb

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) January 21, 2018

(2) The 25-year-old is making the transition look easy
The Koblenz champion, who only turned professional four years ago, aged 21, won 46 matches and three titles at the Futures level in 2017. Moraing has continued his progression this year, rising 119 spots in the ATP Rankings already to a career-high No. 155. The Mulheim-native has compiled a formidable 16-5 record on the ATP Challenger Tour in 2018, but was keen to stress the difficulty of success at the Challenger level.

“I think it’s tougher on the Challenger Tour because everyone plays more consistent here. You have to fight for every point and no one is giving you any gifts on court,” added Moraing.

Photo: Andreas Walz

(3) He has a standout weapon
The 6’6” German has a massive serve. En route to the title in Koblenz, Moraing won 83 per cent of all points behind his first serve. The Challenger circuit star navigated a tough path to the trophy, which included Marco Cecchinato, Sergiy Stakhovsky and Kenny De Schepper, hitting 69 aces in 11 sets.

“My biggest weapon of course is my serve. I think it’s dangerous on every surface. And, also, my forehand. I like to play on any surface, especially if it is fast.”

(4) He is inspired by the recent success of his countrymen
A citizen of one of the most famous nations in tennis history, Moraing has many compatriots to turn to for inspiration. After a 2017 season which saw Maximilian Marterer, Oscar Otte and Yannick Hanfmann all break into the Top 150 of the ATP Rankings, the German has plenty of reason to believe he can follow in their footsteps and continue rising further.

“They are all good friends of mine,” revealed Moraing. “I know them from playing Futures. We always talk and when I saw that they did so well last year, I thought that if they could do it, I could do the same. It has helped me a lot.”

(5) The Top 100 is in sight in 2018
In fact, it may be time for Moraing to re-assess his goals. After finding himself outside the Top 400 of the ATP Rankings just one year ago, the World No. 155 is already on the verge of achieving his initial goal for 2018: breaking into the Top 150.

“I wasn’t expecting this great of a start,” admitted Moraing. “My initial goals were to be on the Challenger Tour full time by the end of the year, and be in the Top 150 or close to that. I’m already not far from that now, so maybe I can get to the Top 100. We’ll see how it goes.”

Karen Khachanov advanced to his first ATP World Tour semi-final for eight months on Friday when he defeated France’s Julien Benneteau, the 2010 runner-up, 6-4, 6-4 in 84 minutes at the Open 13 Provence. “It was quite a solid match,” said Khachanov. “I didn’t make many first serves in the first couple of games, getting broken in my first service game, but then I got stronger.”

The 21-year-old Russian, who struck 16 aces past Benneteau (for 35 aces overall in three matches this week), reached the Gerry Weber Open semi-finals (l. to Federer) in June 2017. The last Russian to contest the Marseille final was Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a former No. 1 in the ATP Rankings, who beat Sebastian Grosjean of France for the 2001 title.

Khachanov will next face fourth-seeded Czech and 2013 finalist Tomas Berdych, who led seventh seed Damir Dzumhur 7-6(4) when the Bosnia & Herzegovina player retired after 56 minutes of play.

Berdych has a 13-18 record in ATP World Tour finals, with his last championship match coming in May 2017 at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon (l. to Tsonga). In their only FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, Khachanov beat Berdych 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 in the Roland Garros second round last year.

Two Frenchmen will compete during the night session in Marseille on Friday. Third seed and last year’s finalist Lucas Pouille, a recent titlist at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, faces eighth-seeded Serbian Filip Krajinovic and Nicolas Mahut meets qualifier Ilya Ivashka of Belarus.

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#NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe has landed a breakthrough victory over childhood idol and No. 2 seed Juan Martin del Potro to reach the Delray Beach Open quarter-finals on Thursday. The 20-year-old needed four match points to eke out a 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-5 win – his first in three FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with the Argentine.

It sets up a showdown with reigning #NextGenATP Finals champion and No. 8 seed Hyeon Chung after the South Korean’s earlier defeat of qualifier Franko Skugor. It means Chung is the only seed to reach the quarter-finals, marking just the second time in the tournament’s history that only one seed has reached the last eight (No. 8 seed Sanguinetti in 1998). 

Del Potro, the 2011 champion and a semi-finalist for the past two years, had posted a straight-sets victory over Tiafoe in their most recent outing in the first round of this year’s Australian Open. It followed a narrow third-set tie-break triumph in Acapulco last season.

And after a return to the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings in January for the first time since August 2014, del Potro again started favourite in the match against the World No. 91. This was, after all, a tournament he won on debut in 2011 and reached the semi-finals the past two years.

This time, though, it was the American who capitalised on his opponent’s missed opportunities, with Del Potro letting an early 3-0 lead and four set points dissipate to concede the opening set in a tie-break, 8/6.

Spurred into action at the frustration of having let the first set slide from his grasp, del Potro broke immediately and carried the momentum to serve out the second set 6-4. With the match going to a deciding set, both players were rock-solid on serve with the only sniff of an early break for either coming when the Argentine saved a break point for 1-1.

Serving to stay in the match at 4-5, del Potro saved a first match point before saving two more at 5-6. On his fourth chance, Tiafoe secured just the second Top 10 win of his career to reach back-to-back quarter-finals (l. Anderson in New York) for the first time.

“It’s unbelievable definitely. Two weeks in a row in the quarters,” Tiafoe said. “I really wanted that win to make a statement. I’ve had a tonne of tough losses against top guys.

“Just wanted to get over the line. This is just my second or third win [over a Top 10 opponent]. I feel like this is going to be a good year for me. I feel like I’m playing well.” 

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The win sets a first-time showdown with last year’s #NextGenATP Finals champion and Australian Open semi-finalist Hyeon Chung. The 21-year-old South Korean held steady to defeat Croatian qualifier Franko Skugor in the second round 6-4, 7-6(4).

Chung’s win over the World No. 303 in the ATP Rankings puts him through to his third quarter-final of the season after losing to David Ferrer at the same stage in Auckland and following it up with a win over Tenny Sandgren to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open.

“We’re good friends. We’ve practised together a tonne, but we’ve never played a match,” Tiafoe said. “I’m really happy to play against him. He’s hot right now, coming off an unbelievable Australian Open. Tough conditions will even the playing field pretty good. If I can start well and hit my forehand good I’ll have a good chance.”

Kei Nishikori didn’t want to play the 2008 Delray Beach Open for fear of being outclassed, even embarrassed. At 18 years of age, he didn’t think he belonged at tour-level at all.

Two weeks earlier, the Japanese teenager had lost in the third round of qualifying at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Dallas against KJ Hippensteel, who won a single tour-level match in his career. So how would Nishikori, World No. 244, make it through qualifying at an ATP World Tour event?

“I told my coach I didn’t want to play in Delray because it’s a different level and [there’s] no way I’m going to win those tournaments,” Nishikori told ATPWorldTour.com. “But my coach pushed me to play.”

It’s a good thing Nishikori listened to his coach. The rest, as they say, is history.

Ten years ago this week, Nishikori would go on one of the most memorable runs at an ATP World Tour event in recent memory. The teenager won eight matches — saving 12 of 12 break points faced in a three-set second-round win, saving four match points in the semi-finals against Sam Querrey, and finally, shocking World No. 12 James Blake 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to win his first ATP World Tour crown.

“I remember in my head I thought, ‘Well, James is probably going to win this tournament’,” Querrey said, recalling his loss.

“I thought, ‘Oh, wow. This is a big opportunity. I’m getting to play a qualifier in the final’,” Blake remembered.

But instead, Nishikori became the first Japanese tour-level titlist since Shuzo Matsuoka at 1992 Seoul and the youngest player to win a title, period, since former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt captured 1998 Adelaide as a 16-year-old.

Youngest ATP World Tour Champions Since 2000

‘Project 45’ — the mission touting Nishikori’s pursuit of Matsuoka’s Japanese-best mark of No. 46 in the ATP Rankings, was underway. Yet, before the week started, the spotlight seemed distant.

“At that time, it was really hard to believe [in myself],” Nishikori admitted. “I was losing to guys ranked like 300 and I wasn’t playing well. I don’t know what happened.”

Well, it certainly worked. Knowing what we know today — Nishikori has ascended as high as No. 4 in the ATP Rankings, won 11 tour-level titles and earned 32 Top 10 victories — it is easy to look back and understand how the superstar triumphed that week in Delray Beach. But it was not that obvious a decade ago.

“That was amazing, amazing for sure,” said Dante Bottini, Nishikori’s coach since December 2010, who worked at the IMG Academy (where Nishikori has trained since coming to the United States at 13) starting in 2007. “Being such a young kid, I remember he wasn’t that big. He was very skinny, playing with all these big guys. That was very, very impressive. Very impressve.”

Becoming the first Japanese player since Matsuoka (1995 Beijing) to advance to a tour-level semi-final was worthy of commendation. But Nishikori faced four match points against Querrey. The magical run, it seemed, was one big shot from coming to an end.

Somehow, Nishikori survived.

“I was the Challenger guy,” Nishikori said. “He was a much better player. I had no pressure and I was just playing with nothing to lose, so I think I was more free to play those points and maybe I had more guts to play aggressively.”

“He came out and beat James the next day. A little bit of a shock then, but now looking back, it wasn’t so much of a shock,” Querrey said. “He’s had such a great career.”

The thing is, at that point, Nishikori never believed he would beat Blake. And neither did the top seed.

“I’d seen a little bit of the match. But I knew the way I was playing, I felt like I could be overpowering. I would be able to be aggressive,” Blake said. “And also, [I thought] he might be nervous. It was his first final.”

And whether it was because of nerves or not, Nishikori still did not believe he would win while serving at 5-4, 40/0 in the third set, three championship points on his racquet. Blake was a full-fledged star. Nishikori was just a teenager, playing someone who he had only watched on television.

“I wasn’t believing that I could win the match. I was still thinking I might lose this game, even though I had match points,” Nishikori said. “It was really tough to believe in myself, especially against James, who was almost Top 10. And I was watching him on TV at that time, so it wasn’t easy.”

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A Blake forehand error sealed the up-and-comer’s victory — Nishikori was no longer ‘The Challenger Guy’.

“I played pretty well and he just beat me,” Blake said. “I remember coming back and my brother and my coach were there and my brother said, ‘That kid is going to be really, really good’.

“Normally my brother might make an excuse like, ‘Oh, you had a rough day’ or whatever. He just said, ‘That kid is going to be good. You didn’t do anything wrong today’,” Blake remembered. “I felt like that was the case and it was so surprising to have a qualifier ranked 200 and something in the world come in and just outplay me and beat me when I was near the Top 10 in the world.”

Later that year, the teenager would become the first Japanese player to reach the fourth round at the US Open since Jiro Yamagishi in 1937. By the end of 2008, Nishikori would soar to No. 63 in the world. And while injuries set him back, the right-hander would break Matsuoka’s record ATP Ranking for a Japanese player at 2011 Shanghai.

But all of that success stems from one magical week in Delray Beach, Florida. Not bad for a guy who didn’t want to be there, saying he’d “rather play a Challenger and win a couple matches”.

“I was coming from almost nothing before [Delray Beach],” Nishikori said. “That was the start of my career.”

#NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov doesn’t want to leave the Delray Beach Open and its hundreds of Canadian tennis fans just yet.

The 18-year-old left-hander advanced to his first quarter-final of the season on Thursday, beating 21-year-old Jared Donaldson 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 25 minutes.

Shapovalov, the youngest player in the draw, has toughed his way through two tricky matches in Delray Beach. The Canadian prevailed past the big-serving Ivo Karlovic in his opener.

“I definitely picked up my serve in the second and third set… It was an really even match. We were both playing extremely well,” Shapovalov said. “I’ve been in this position before. Last year I was coming up with a lot of ‘W’s in late third sets but it’s definitely a big confidence booster for me. I’m starting to get a little bit of momentum, getting a lot of matches under my belt so I’m happy.”

Shapovalov will next meet #NextGenATP Taylor Fritz of the U.S., who prevailed past Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. Fritz hit 13 aces and won 77 per cent of his first-serve points.