Marin Cilic began his 2017 grass-court swing with a hard-fought 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4 victory over former World No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic on Thursday for a place in the Ricoh Open quarter-finals.

Cilic, who hit 17 aces, could not convert three set point opportunities from 6/3 in the first set tie-break. But he regrouped to win four straight games from 2-2 in the second set and then broke Tipsarevic in the third game of the decider in the one-hour and 58-minute encounter. He is competing at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the first time since 2006.

“It’s never easy, especially the first match on grass,” said Cilic. “Janko has been at the top of the tennis game and is a quality player. I had a difficult time coming back and although I was unfortunate to lose the first set tie-break, I kept my cool and served well. I got a break point at 2-2 [in the second set], then I started to play better.”

Cilic is one match win away from recording his 50th grass-court match win of his career. He captured the 2012 Aegon Championships crown (d. Nalbandian) and finished runner-up at The Queen’s Club the following year (l. to Murray).

“I’m playing way, way better than at the start of the year and my clay-court game helped me to get into the right hitting zone,” said Cilic. “Having strong mental toughness, that you need on clay, also gives me confidence.”

Top seed Cilic will now face Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, who led 7-6(2), 4-2 when Alexandr Dolgopolov retired after 82 minutes of play. Pospisil is through to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final since October 2015 at Valencia, where he reached the semi-finals.

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Ivo Karlovic lost just eight of his service points to knock out wild card Stefan Kozlov 6-4, 6-1. The third seed hit nine aces and won 28 of his 31 first-service points.

“It was good as I was here preparing here for the past seven days,” Karlovic told ATPWorldTour.com. “It was difficult in the beginning as he was playing well, then I began to relax more. I’m happy with the way I performed.”

Karlovic has a 3-3 record in grass-court finals, including title triumphs at 2007-2008 Nottingham and the 2016 Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open in Newport.

He’ll next face Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, who beat fellow 21-year-old #NextGenATP Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 7-6(3) in 80 minutes. Medvedev is eighth in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, one spot below the cut-off for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in November.

“Thanasi always plays well, but unfortunately he had something with his wrist today,” Medvedev told ATPWorldTour.com. “The second set was tight, so I am happy to get through a match like this.”

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Rapid reactions on the tennis court can be the difference between winning and losing. For John-Patrick Smith, a diving drop shot off a net cord was all instinct.

“A shot like that is always pure instinct,” Smith told ATPWorldTour.com. “It was a high-level match, so it was great to get through with the win.”

“Up close and in person, that was easily the best shot I’ve seen live,” Smith’s coach Jacob Meyer exclaimed.

The Aussie hit one of the shots of the year on the ATP Challenger Tour on Tuesday, en route to saving six match points in a 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(1) win over Luca Vanni at the Aegon Open Nottingham. Facing break point at 1-0 in the third set, he reacted swiftly as a Vanni forehand struck the top of the net, clinging to the tape before softly dropping to the grass. Smith promptly left his feet, scooping a sublime drop shot winner.

“JP hit a good jamming first serve to set up an aggressive approach shot down the line, but Vanni’s forehand clipped off the tape and landed less than a racquet length from the net,” Meyer added. “JP somehow changed direction, dove head-first, managed to avoid smashing into the net and struck a full swinging drop shot that landed so short, it spun into the middle of the net where Vanni had no play on it.

“Vanni’s reaction was priceless. To his credit, he continued with a ‘Bravo JP’ and went back to smashing aces and chasing down every volley. JP would finish the day saving six match points, but that shot should count as the seventh. It was inspiring to witness.”

Smith would later concede the break, but fought back for the victory, saving a match point while serving down 5-4 and five more while serving to force a deciding tie-break at 6-5. He will face countryman John Millman in a second round affair on Thursday.

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Smith wasn’t the only player to hit the deck in Nottingham, with Sergiy Stakhovsky also producing a pair of diving hot shots…

If one diving hot shot isn’t enough, how about two, @Stako_tennis? Your turn, @DreddyTennis.

Watch double dive: https://t.co/2CW6gYbLMT pic.twitter.com/iV86C2MzVM

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) June 14, 2017

After nearly eight months out with a groin injury. John Millman is back and looks to restore his winning ways at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Nottingham.

The Aussie, celebrating his 28^th birthday on Wednesday (June 14), returned to competition last month and has been getting better with each tournament. Millman lost in the opening round of his first two events, but won a match last week at the Surbiton Challenger and is now through to the second round in Nottingham after a win on Tuesday over Hiroki Moriya of Japan.

“Coming back from injury is brutal, but I’m progressing pretty well. I was out for so long, so it’s just about trying to stay patient and getting a little bit better each time,” said Millman. “I’m not expecting to light it up just now, but as long as I keep improving and getting matches, it’s only a matter of time before I start emulating where I was at this time last year.”

Millman’s injury woes couldn’t have come at a worse time. He reached a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 60 in May 2016 and recorded his first ATP World Tour semi-final last August in Winston-Salem. But the groin problem that had been a niggling injury for months worsened dramatically in the latter part of the year, forcing him to cut his season short in October.

After finally getting a correct diagnosis in the beginning of 2017, Millman underwent surgery and began the necessary rehab to get back on tour.

Frustrating few months but back on track after successful surgery. Special thanks to Dr Garvey and the Duckworth’s for looking after me. pic.twitter.com/QFRY6x9PG5

— John Millman (@johnhmillman) March 2, 2017

Millman will take comfort in knowing he’s bounced back once before after going under the knife. After having shoulder surgery in 2014, he won back-to-back Challengers on his return in Traralgon and Yokohama, both of which came without losing a set. He went from outside the Top 1,000 to inside the Top 100 in less than a year.

“Any injury is a frustrating one. I’ve had two shoulder surgeries previously, so I’m not new to what it takes to come back after this,” sad Millman. “What made it a little more frustrating is that I was putting together a pretty good year, winning matches week in and week out at ATP World Tour events and competing against some of the world’s best players. But knowing there are major tournaments around the corner makes doing all the rehab and hard work a little bit easier.”

The Aussie has enjoyed success on the grass before, reaching the third round at Wimbledon last year before losing an entertaining match to World No. 1 Andy Murray. He said the amenities in Nottingham have provided everything he needs to continue building his game in the hopes of another big grass-court season.

“I’ve competed in a lot of Challenger events and this has to be right up there as one of the best I’ve played,” said Millman. “The four extra practice courts are a nice addition this year. It’s a great city and venue. There are great crowds that come out to watch and everything that goes on behind the scenes in terms of the organisation is at a very high level.”

It’s not often that a 39 year old beats the World No. 5, but that’s precisely what happened when former World No. 2 Tommy Haas upset Roger Federer 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 on Wednesday during the second round of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.

The win, Haas’ fourth over the all-time great in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, also marks the German’s second victory against Federer on grass in as many matches. Haas also beat Federer in the 2012 Gerry Weber Open final.

Want to know more? Here are seven more things to know about the unexpected result, which Haas called, “obviously one of my career highlights.”

1. Haas is the third player to beat Federer twice on grass, joining Novak Djokovic and Lleyton Hewitt. Haas beat Federer in the 2012 Gerry Weber Open final.

2. Haas is the oldest player to beat a Top 5 opponent since Jimmy Connors, 39 years and 5 months, defeated No. 3 Michael Stich in the second round of the 1992 Memphis Open.

3. Federer has held match point in both of his losses in 2017, falling to No. 116 Evgeny Donskoy at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and No. 302 Tommy Haas at the Mercedes Cup.

4. Federer falls to 15-2 lifetime against players outside the Top 300 and suffers first opening-match loss on grass since 2002 Wimbledon vs. Mario Ancic.

5. No. 302 Haas is lowest-ranked player to beat Federer since No. 407 Bjorn Phau at the 1999 Citi Open and oldest quarter-finalist since Jimmy Connors, 42, at 1995 Halle.

6. The second-round match between 39-year-old Haas and 35-year-old Federer was the oldest ATP World Tour match since 1982 Vina del Mar, when Ricardo Cano, 30, beat Luis Ayala, 49.

7. Next, Haas will try to become the oldest player to reach an ATP World Tour semi-final since Connors, 40, in 1993 in San Francisco (ret. vs. Gilbert).