Joao Domingues is eager to lift more trophies on the ATP Challenger Tour now that he has a taste for the top prizes. The Portuguese clinched his first title with a 7-6(4), 6-4 triumph over Sebastian Ofner in Mestre, Italy, on Sunday.

Two years removed from his last Challenger main draw in Barranquilla, Colombia, the 23 year old was making just his third appearance on the circuit. Having enjoyed the majority of his success at the ITF Futures level, claiming seven titles from 18 finals, he is eager to take the leap to the next level.

“I’m very happy with this win, it’s my first title on the ATP Challenger Tour,” said Domingues. “I’m playing very well this year, so I couldn’t be happier right now. It makes me feel proud and motivated to get better and better.”

Domingues was made to fight for the trophy, prevailing in a trio of tight three-set matches to open his account in Mestre. He became the eighth first-time winner on the ATP Challenger Tour this year and second from Portugal. Pedro Sousa also claimed victory on the Italian clay, prevailing in Francavilla del Mare last month. Domingues admits the title was on his mind over the weekend.

“I played my game, it was very solid. I felt comfortable all week,” added the Portuguese. “I tried not to think about it (winning the trophy). Sometimes it is impossible because it is normal to be nervous, especially in your first Challenger final. I won, so I did a good job.”

Riding a wave of confidence after a breakthrough week at the Millennium Estoril Open, his home ATP World Tour event, Domingues’ maiden triumph on the ATP Challenger Tour comes as no surprise. Less than a month ago, he turned in a stunning run to the second round in Estoril, scoring his first tour-level match win over World No. 41 Kyle Edmund after emerging from qualifying. 

Domingues had never beaten a Top 200 player entering the week and nearly notched back-to-back signature victories, falling 7-5 in the third set to Kevin Anderson in the second round. It proved to be the catalyst for his success in Mestre.

“It was a big confidence boost for me,” said the Porto resident. “It was a great tournament for me.”

A year ago, he was at No. 542 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. However, as a reward for his Estoril exploits and breaking new Challenger ground in Mestre, Domingues climbs to a career-high No. 176, making his debut in the Top 200.

Despite such a rapid rise, Domingues remains focused on his goals for the remainder of the 2017 season. He will look to carry the momentum into this week’s Challenger stop in Vicenza, Italy, where he opens against Uladzimir Ignatik of Belarus.

“I must keep working, keep trying to do my best and to play better tennis.”

#NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev evened his first-round contest against Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-3 before darkness suspended play on Monday evening at Roland Garros.

The ninth-seeded Zverev is fresh off his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome earlier this month (d. Djokovic). The win catapulted the 20-year-old German to No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, the first time he’s joined the elite group.

In Paris, Zverev, who reached the Roland Garros junior boys’ final just four years ago, is looking to get past the third round and achieve his best showing at a Grand Slam. The 6’6” right-hander reached the third round last year during his Roland Garros debut (l. to Thiem), at 2016 Wimbledon (l. to Berdych) and at the Australian Open earlier this year (l. to Nadal).

The 33-year-old Verdasco, meanwhile, is making his 14^th consecutive appearance at Roland Garros and his 56^th consecutive Grand Slam showing. He’s 12-1 in first round contests, with his only opening loss coming in 2005 to Robin Soderling.

Zverev beat Verdasco earlier this month on clay at the Mutua Madrid Open, but it was the Spaniard who started better on Monday, breaking Zverev twice in the first set and clinching the opener with a service winner. Zverev, however, bounced back in the second, recovering from an early break to even the contest after 80 minutes. They will resume their contest after a WTA match begins play on Tuesday on Philippe-Chatrier Court.

In other action, 10^th seed David Goffin needed only one hour and 50 minutes to beat 35-year-old French qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. Last year, Goffin marked his best Grand Slam result by reaching the last eight at Roland Garros (l. to Thiem). Goffin will next play Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky, who beat Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4).

“I wanted to be aggressive. I wanted to be involved in the match from the start. There was an early break in the first and second sets, so I put a lot of pressure on him and I made him move quite a lot,” Goffin said. “I served well when it mattered. I was quite accurate and precise. So, on the whole, three straight sets that were quite solid.”

Richard Gasquet, the 24^th seed, broke Belgian qualifier Arthur De Greef, who was making his Grand Slam debut, seven times to advance 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. Gasquet moves into the second round for the seventh consecutive time. “I’m happy I decided to hang on and stay there, I did my best,” Gasquet said.

The 30-year-old Frenchman, though, surely has his sights set on matching his career-best run of a year ago in Paris, when he advanced to the Roland Garros quarter-finals before losing to eventual finalist Andy Murray.

Gasquet, who’s playing in his 14^th Roland Garros, will next face Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic. Estrella Burgos came back from two sets down to beat Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-7(11), 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-2.

Read More: Nadal Starts Quest For History

Spaniard David Ferrer battled American Donald Young for nearly four and a half hours before coming through 5-7, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 13-11. Ferrer, who recently celebrated his 700^th match win, hit 13 aces and won 80 per cent of his first-serve points (86/108).

He will next face countryman Feliciano Lopez, who also prevailed past an American. Lopez beat Pittsburgh native Bjorn Fratangelo 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3. Lopez is playing in his 61^st consecutive Grand Slam, the longest streak amongst active players.

Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.

How does a player get a hot hand? A study of the past two Roland Garros champions, Novak Djokovic (2016) and Stan Wawrinka (2015), identifies obscure yet fascinating areas of their games that they improved in Paris to capture the sport’s prized clay-court Grand Slam title.

Visit Infosys ATP Scores & Stats Landing

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Djokovic at Roland Garros in 2016, and Wawrinka in 2015, uncovers 10 areas that saw them perform much better than their season average in each year.

Roland Garros 2016 – Novak Djokovic

1. Serving at 0/15 (73% won)
Djokovic fell behind 0/15 30 times on serve at Roland Garros in 2016. He won the 0/15 point 73 per cent (22/30) of the time, which was higher than his 2016 season average of 69 per cent. The eight times he did fall behind 0/30 at Roland Garros, he won his serve on only one occasion.

2. First Serve Percentage Down Break Point (70%)
Djokovic faced 43 break points at Roland Garros in 2016. He made 70 per cent (30/43) first serves, which was five percentage points (65 per cent) higher than his season average. At Roland Garros, he made 73 per cent (8/11) in the deuce court, and 69 per cent (22/32) in the ad court.

3. Second Serve Points Won (60%)
Djokovic won a dominant 60 per cent (120/199) of his second-serve points in Paris last year. His career average in this specific area on clay is 54 per cent (3,073/5,669), while his 2016 season all-surfaces average was 56 per cent. The career leader of second-serve points won on clay is Rafael Nadal, at 56 per cent (4,358/7,765).

4. Total Return Points Won (49%)
Djokovic actually won fewer service points (67 per cent to 66 per cent) at Roland Garros compared to his season average. But on the return side, he improved from a season average of 44 per cent (2,498/5,657) to a mind-blowing 49 per cent (335/689).

5. First Serve Return Points Won (42%)
Djokovic is 19th in the career averages list of first-serve return points won at 36 per cent (3,807/10,517). Overall in the 2016 season he was at 35 per cent (1,185/3,413). This part of his game caught fire at Roland Garros last year, winning a staggering 42 per cent (175/418) of first-serve return points.

Roland Garros 2015 – Stan Wawrinka

1. Break Points Saved (82%)
Wawrinka found himself down break point 51 times at Roland Garros in 2015. He saved an astounding 82 per cent (42/51) of them, which was way up from his 2015 season average of 68 per cent (288/426).

2. Holding After Breaking Serve (97%)
When Wawrinka broke serve, he did an excellent job of holding serve in the following game. Wawrinka held serve 30 of 31 times (97 per cent) in this specific situation, which was up from his 2015 season average of 90 per cent (179/198).

3. Receiving With New Balls (42%)
Serving with fresh balls always seems to be a psychological advantage for the server. In the 2015 season, Wawrinka broke serve 20 per cent of the time (21/106) when facing new balls. But that percentage more than doubled at Roland Garros, as he broke serve 42 per cent (5/12) when facing new balls.

4. Breaking After Losing Serve (56%)
The disappointment of losing serve can make it tough to break straight back. In 2015, Wawrinka broke straight back after losing serve 24 per cent (31/130) of the time. At Roland Garros, he got straight back on the horse, breaking 56 per cent (5/9) of the time.

5. Breaking from 0/40 (100%)
Wawrinka finished what he started when returning at Roland Garros in 2015. Ten times he got his opponent to 0/40 on serve, and 10 times he broke. In the 2016 season he was at 90 per cent (45/50), and from the start of the 2015 season up to Madrid earlier this month, he broke serve just 76 per cent (105/139) of the time after building a 0/40 lead returning.

Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.

Rafael Nadal began his quest for the Paris edition of “La Décima” with relative ease on Monday at Roland Garros, dismissing Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 in just under two hours.

“For me, it’s important to serve a little bit better than what I did today… I feel that some moments I was not serving that well. The rest of the things I am happy with,” Nadal said.

The nine-time Roland Garros champion is again looking to make history during this European clay-court swing as he seeks a record 10^th Roland Garros title. No man or woman has won a Grand Slam event 10 times in the Open Era (since April 1968).

Most titles at the same Grand Slam tournament (men and women)

*Known as Australian Championships before 1969

The 30-year-old Nadal has already won his 10^th Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, his 10^th Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and his fifth Mutua Madrid Open during the past two months. With his win on Monday, he improves to 18-1 during this year’s clay-court swing and 73-2 lifetime at Roland Garros.

Nadal’s clay-court losses by season, *also won Roland Garros

The Mallorca native broke Paire eight times and was challenged by the World No. 45 only in the second set, when Paire twice broke Nadal and led 3-1. But Nadal marched back into the set, breaking in the fifth game, then at 3-4, he erased two break points and held during a nine-point game to level the second-set scoreline at 4-4.

The Spaniard then broke Paire to love, striking a forehand return service winner to lead 5-4. He’d hold to 15 for a two-sets-to-zero lead.

“Every time I play against Rafa, the games are not good. The only times when I can sort of identify the ball, I just see it and I’m just trying to put it back onto the court,” said Paire, who fell to 0-3 against Nadal in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. “He’s exceptional. He moves really fast. He hits really hard.”

No suprise @rafaelnadal is right at home on clay. Match point is worth a ?#RG17 pic.twitter.com/Kp2DaODuX8

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 29, 2017

The fourth-seeded Nadal will next face Dutchman Robin Haase. Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0.

“I know him very well and he knows me very well. He’s a dangerous opponent. He hits the ball very hard. So I need to be very focused on the serve because returning him can be tough,” Nadal said. “I’ll do my utmost, which is always what I do when I practise, when I play a match. I put out my best tennis… I’m not particularly obsessed about anything in particular, except that I have to play my best tennis. Then we’ll see what’s going to happen.”

Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.