Denis Kudla came out on top against fellow American Mitchell Krueger on Monday at the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open, advancing to the second round with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 win.

Next up for Kudla is second seed and defending champion Ivo Karlovic. Kudla leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head against the Croatian 2-1, including an opening-round win in Newport in 2011.

Dennis Novikov defeated last year’s Newport quarter-finalist Marco Chiudinelli 6-1, 6-3, for his first ATP World Tour main draw win of 2017. The American will play seventh seed Tennys Sandgren or qualifier Frank Dancevic in the next round.

Peter Gojowczyk moved past reigning NCAA champion Thai-Son Kwiatkowski 6-3, 6-3. Kwiatkowski was making his ATP World Tour main draw debut. Next up for Gojowczyk is fifth seed Victor Estrella Burgos or Konstantin Kravchuk.

Two #NextGenATP Americans, Taylor Fritz and Stefan Kozlov, fell in their first-round matches. Fritz lost to Tobias Kamke 6-3, 6-3, while Kozlov was defeated by Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 6-2, 7-6(5).

Qureshi/Ram Sprint To Victory

Top seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Rajeev Ram needed just 33 minutes to ease past Estrella Burgos and Roberto Maytin 6-0, 6-0. Qureshi/Ram lost 14 points in the match, which was the shortest win not to end in a retirement since the 2015 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (Haase/Klaasen d. Mannarino/Rosol in 28 minutes).

Marco Cecchinato recorded the first upset of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag, defeating fifth seed Gilles Simon in the opening round 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 on Monday.

“I’m very happy for this match because it was against one of the best players in the tournament,” said Cecchinato. “My forehand was good and I was very focused, which you have to be against Gilles.”

Cecchinato accumulated 11 break points throughout the match, converting on six to advance in one hour and 38 minutes. The 24 year old picked up his first ATP World Tour main draw win since reaching the Budapest quarter-finals in April 2016.

The Italian will next play wild card Ivan Dodig, who delighted the home crowd by defeating Marius Copil 6-4, 7-6(4). Dodig is currently No. 412 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, but moved back into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings this year due to the success of his partnership with Marcel Granollers.

“It’s great to be in Croatia again and to win my first singles match in a long time,” said Dodig. “It’s always a good crowd here and I always have a great time.”

Attila Balazs, Marco Trungelliti, Miljan Zekic and Kenny De Schepper all won their final-round qualifying matches on Monday.

Nestor Closes In On Milestone Win

Daniel Nestor moved within one victory of his 1050th match win, as he teamed up with Max Mirnyi to clinch their first-round match Monday. The top seeds finished strongly to defeat Aliaksandr Bury and Damir Dzumhur 7-6(2), 6-0 in 68 minutes. Nestor, 44, holds the record for most doubles match wins – currently nine more than Mike Bryan’s 1040. 

Henri Laaksonen is the first main draw winner at the SkiStar Swedish Open after defeating local favourite and #NextGenATP player Mikael Ymer 7-6(5), 7-5 on Monday.

Ymer served for the opening set twice and was unable to convert on a set point at 5-4. Laaksonen grabbed the lone break of the second set at 5-5 and ultimately prevailed in two hours and 24 minutes. The Swiss player broke into the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time this week. He’ll take on third seed Pablo Cuevas in the next round.

Federico Delbonis, Arthur De Greef, Leonardo Mayer and Maximilian Marterer all won their final-round qualifying matches on Monday.

Brown/Khachanov Save 4 M.P. For Victory

Dustin Brown and #NextGenATP player Karen Khachanov prevailed in an epic 6-2, 5-7, 17-15 first-round win over Jonathan Erlich and Diego Schwartzman. Brown/Khachanov saved match points at 9/10, 11/12, 13/14 and 14/15 before converting on their fifth match point.

Next up for Brown/Khachanov are the Brazilian pair of Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa, who upset top seeds Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos 6-3, 7-6(6) in one hour and 29 minutes.

Third seeds Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner also advanced to the last eight by dashing the hopes of local wild cards Johan Brunstrom and Andreas Siljestrom 6-1, 6-7(10), 10-8.

After celebrating with his friends and family until 5am, a weary but beaming Roger Federer returned to the All England Club at 10am on Monday morning to spend another 90 minutes talking to the media.

The Swiss star had spent two and a half hours in press on Sunday, following his straight-sets win over Marin Cilic that earned him a record-breaking eighth Wimbledon crown and 19^th Grand Slam championship.

After a 20-minute press conference in English and Swiss German, the 35-year-old Federer conducted six TV interviews on the competitors’ lawn, including live crosses with BBC and NBC, before returning to Centre Court for a photo with the AELTC staff, keeping his trophy close by at all times.

“My head’s ringing, I don’t know what I did last night. I drank too many different types of drinks I guess!” joked Federer in his press conference. “After the ball we went to a bar and there was about 30 or 40 of my friends there. We had a great time. I got to bed at 5am, woke up and didn’t feel good! The last hour, finally, I’m feeling somewhat OK again. But we had a good time,” smiled the Swiss.

Federer also confirmed he did not have the opportunity to dance with women’s singles champion, Garbine Muguruza, at the Champions’ Ball after she had proposed it on Twitter. “There was no music,” laughed the Basel native. “It was a great dinner, but we arrived so late. There’s so much press to do that by the time I got there they were already on the main course. I was happy to be there again, it never grows old.

“The occasion [to dance with Muguruza] never really came. We were up on stage, but there was no music so it’s hard to get going! It was more just a photo shoot.”

Asked what his goals are going forward, Federer responded, “The target now is to enjoy being Wimbledon champion for a year and Australian Open champion. I haven’t set my sights on a [specific] number of Grand Slams that I want to achieve. I’ve never really had that. I was very content with 17, so of course I was going to be happy with 18 and I’m even happier with 19.

“I think for me it’s really just about enjoying myself, staying healthy. I’m playing for big titles at this stage. If you win bigger tournaments and beat the best players, you will be rewarded [in the Emirates ATP Rankings]. So I need to be clever with my body.”

No. 3 Roger Federer, +2
The Swiss superstar captured a record-breaking eighth title at The Championships, Wimbledon, to break back into the Top 3 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time since 15 August 2016. Read & Watch Report

With a straight sets win over Marin Cilic in the final, it marked his fifth tour-level title of the season and his 19th Grand Slam championship crown. It was Federer’s second major title without dropping a set (also 2008 Australian Open) and moves him firmly into contention for year-end No. 1 honours. Read Update

The ATP also announced today that Federer has qualified for a record 15th time for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November. Read & Buy Tickets

No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov, +1
The Bulgarian returned to the Top 10 at No. 10 by virtue of reaching the Wimbledon fourth round (l. to Federer). This season he has won two ATP World Tour titles at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp (d. Nishikori) and the Garanti Koza Sofia Open (d. Goffin). He reached a career-high of No. 8 on 4 August 2014 and has spent a total of 14 weeks in the Top 10.

No. 22 Gilles Muller, +4
The Luxembourg veteran, enjoying an Indian summer to his 16-season pro career, continues to break new ground by moving up to a career-high No. 22. With a 15-13 fifth set victory over Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon fourth round, Muller fell to Cilic in his second Grand Slam quarter-final (also 2008 US Open) to complete the grass-court swing with an 11-2 match record. He captured his second ATP World Tour title at the Ricoh Open (d. Karlovic) on 18 June.

No. 23 Sam Querrey, +5
The American is now six spots shy of his career-high No. 17, attained on 31 January 2011. Querrey won three straight five-setters over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Kevin Anderson and World No. 1 Andy Murray en route to his first major semi-final at Wimbledon, where he lost to Cilic in four sets.

No. 35 Kevin Anderson, +7
The South African, who ranked No. 80 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on 16 January, continues to work hard in his comeback from a series of injury. Jumping seven spots to No. 35, as a result of his fourth Last 16 run (also 2014-15) at Wimbledon, Anderson lost to Querrey in five sets.

Other Top 100 Movers This Week
No. 37 Benoit Paire, + 9
No. 41 Adrian Mannarino, +10
No. 48 Aljaz Bedene, +10
No. 53 Steve Darcis, +8
No. 58 Jared Donaldson, +9
No. 61 Dusan Lajovic, +18
No. 73 Dudi Sela, +17
No. 74 Andrey Rublev, +21
No. 96 Ruben Bemelmans, +28
No. 98 Blaz Kavcic, +12
No. 99 Marton Fucsovics, +10