Russian #NextGen star Karen Khachanov is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final after taking down his second seeded opponent at the Chengdu Open on Friday. The 20-year-old Muscovite defeated fourth seed Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4.

In the first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting between the pair, it was the young Russian who outshone the Spaniard on serve, sending down 10 aces and conceding just six points on his first serve. He did not face a break point throughout.

Lopez, a winner in Gstaad this season, was attempting to reach his fifth ATP World Tour semi-final of the season. He was broken once in each set and it was enough for the player 15 years his junior to close it out in one hour and 14 minutes.

It was only Khachanov’s third ATP World Tour quarter-final, the second of the season after Kitzbuhel. He had taken down seventh seed Joao Sousa and Frenchman Adrian Mannarino en route and awaits sixth seed Viktor Troicki.

Troicki was a 6-3, 7-6(4) winner over Kevin Anderson, advancing in one hour and 31 minutes as he struck 12 aces and lost only nine points on serve.

“He beat me last time so I’m happy to tie things up between us,” said Troicki. “He’s a good player and he was in the Top 10 last year. It was a big game, but today I had my day, I played really good, I am happy. I returned his serve and in general, I am happy overall.”

Looking ahead to the clash with Khachanov, Troicki added, “I have never played him but he’s a talented young player. He proved that he can play big tennis, big games. I watched his match against Lopez. He really deserved to win. He played really aggressive tennis. I have to play really good to beat him and it’s not going to be easy. Hopefully I’ll give my best, enough to win the match.”

The 30-year-old Troicki is chasing his second title of the season after hoisting the trophy in Sydney at the start of the year. He was also runner-up in Sofia (l. to Bautista Agut) and has a 29-23 record on the season.

Top Seeds Reach Doubles Final

Top seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram reached their fourth ATP World Tour final of the season as they defeated Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak 6-4, 7-6(5). The South African/American duo, winners already this year in Halle, are currently seventh in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London and bidding to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the first time.

“One of the things that we’re trying to improve on is our record in finals,” said Ram. “We only won one out of three this year, so we will try to play better. No matter who our opponents are, it is going to be a tough match.”

Dominic Thiem ended a memorable run by one of China’s top-ranked players at the Chengdu Open on Thursday. The top seed dismissed Di Wu 6-4, 6-4 in 67 minutes to move into the quarter-finals.

Wu was going for more personal history at his home tournament. The Chinese No. 2 celebrated his first ATP World Tour or Grand Slam main draw match win during his 14^th try on Tuesday (d. Kravchuk). Against Thiem, Wu was trying to earn his first Top 10 victory.

But the Austrian won almost 80 per cent of his first-serve points and broke Wu four times to reach his 13^th ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season. Wu fell to 0-10 against Top 10 foes.

“He was playing very well. My coach knew him so he gave me some very good tips,” Thiem said. “He was serving better than expected… He played a really good match.”

Thiem, who was a finalist in Metz last week (l. to Pouille), is trying to make his seventh final of the season. He’s also looking to bolster his chances of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the first time. The 23 year old is currently in seventh place in the Emirates ATP Race To London. The top eight qualify for the year-end championships, to be held 13-20 Nov. at The O2 in London.

If Thiem wins the Chengdu title, he would add 70 points to his haul. Right now, sixth-placed Gael Monfils leads him by 150 points.

In the quarter-finals, Thiem will face fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas for the first time. The Spaniard beat 33-year-old Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4.

“He’s a great player, and I had to run a lot. The match was so close,” Ramos-Vinolas said. “Very happy [with the win]. It’s not easy to play Lu in Asia.”

Who’s Close To Qualifying For The Year-End Championships? View The Emirates ATP Race To London

Defending champion Tomas Berdych stayed undefeated at the Shenzhen Open on Thursday. The top-seeded Czech delivered 16 aces and withstood a tight contest from Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin to move into the quarter-finals 7-6(7), 7-6(4) in about two hours.

Berdych and Kukushkin both won exactly 84 points during their second-round match but the Czech was more clutch when the match was on the line. Serving at 5/4 in the second-set tie-break, Berdych delivered his 16^th ace. Kukushkin netted a backhand on match point to give Berdych his fifth consecutive win in Shenzhen.

“It wasn’t easy at all,” said Berdych.

The 31-year-old right-hander is trying to reach his first final of the season. The nine-month drought is the longest Berdych has gone without a final to start a season since 2011, when he won Beijing on 9 Oct. (d. Cilic). The 6’5” right-hander is also attempting to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the seventh consecutive season.

Berdych is currently No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, 580 points behind eighth-placed Rafael Nadal. The top eight qualify. But Berdych could cut the Spaniard’s lead to 330 points if he repeats in Shenzhen and claims the 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points up for grabs this week.

Berdych will next face countryman Jiri Vesely, who beat Spaniard Inigo Cervantes 7-6(2), 6-3 during Thursday’s final match on Centre Court. Berdych leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0, including a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the Shenzhen quarter-finals last year.

Who’s Ahead Of Berdych? View The Emirates ATP Race To London Standings

Some Monday mornings are better than others.

Take, for example, 2 February, 2004. On this particular Monday morning, Roger Federer, aged 22, woke up for the first time in his life with the No. 1 ranking beside his name. It was day one at the top of the global tennis tree, courtesy of defeating Marat Safin 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Australian Open the day before.

The Swiss legend would go on to hold the coveted year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2004 – the first of five times he would earn that distinction. He held the top spot four straight years, from 2004-2007, and again in 2009.

The 2004 season was a coming out party for Federer. He won three majors, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and three Masters 1000s among an 11-title haul and a 74-6 match record. In many ways, 2004 was as good a body of work as he has ever put together.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Federer’s 2004 season showed he elevated his serving and returning and at pivotal moments during matches. The new year-end Infosys No. 1 LEADERBOARD spans 25 years back to 1991, allowing a comparison of the No. 1 player from each year in the categories of serve, return and under pressure.

See the all-new No. 1s ATP Stats LEADERBOARDS

Holding Serve

Federer’s prowess holding serve in 2004 was without peer, and amazingly his average was higher against Top 10 opponents. In 2004 he won 91.6 per cent of his service games, and that bumped up to 92.5 per cent when facing Top 10 opponents. (Fans can filter the LEADERBOARDS by performances against Top 10, Top 20 and Top 50 opponents.)

Service Games Won: Top 5 Years Since 1991

Returning Serve

On the returning side of the equation, Federer had his best year of returning first serves in 2004, winning 34.8 per cent of first-serve return points. (He achieved the same percentage in 2006). Federer trails category leader Novak Djokovic, 35.7 per cent in 2011, by less than one percentage point. Remarkably, Federer’s return prowess against first serves in 2004 was superior to other notable year-end No. 1 returners, such as Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Djokovic in 2014 and 2015.

Under Pressure

Federer’s remarkable level of play in 2004 directly helped him save more break points than any year-end No 1 player. Federer saved 72.6 per cent of break points, edging Pete Sampras’ 1996 season, 72.3 per cent.

Tie-breaks were another key area that helped Federer put together an unparalleled season. He won 80 per cent of the end-of-set shootouts, best among the year-end No. 1s. Dominating tie-breaks has been a calling card of the Swiss. During all five years he finished No. 1, he won at least 70 per cent of the tie-breaks he played.

Federer’s career continues to evolve some 12 years later, but his 2004 season was one for the ages.

Despite an ace count half his opponent’s, Bernard Tomic delivered a composed performance at crucial moments to end qualifier Ryan Harrison’s three-match Shenzhen Open winning streak on Thursday. The Australian No. 4 seed broke in the final game of the match to emerge with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory in just over two hours.

It marks the 23 year old’s eighth ATP World Tour quarter-final this season and sets up a clash with Brazilian lefty Thomaz Bellucci, an earlier winner over lucky loser Thomas Fabbiano. Tomic withstood 20 aces from Harrison and won fewer first-serve points than the American, 68 per cent to 81 per cent. But the Aussie made bigger inroad’s on his opponent’s second serve to extend his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Harrison to 2-0. It was the pair’s first clash since 2012.

Bellucci, meanwhile, has yet to drop a set after winning through to the quarter-finals with a narrow 7-6(2), 7-6(4) victory over Fabbiano. The unseeded lefty prevailed on the back of 13 aces to reach the last eight at an ATP World Tour event for the first time this season. He has split two previous FedEx Head2Head meetings with Tomic.

Fabbiano had replaced fifth seed and #NextGen star Alexander Zverev as a lucky loser on Wednesday only minutes before taking the court to defeat Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. The 27-year-old Fabbiano fell short of reaching his second quarter-final of the season against Bellucci, who backed up his first-round dismissal of Gastao Elias.

In doubles, third seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jonathan Erlich and Santiago Gonzalez. They will take on Fabio Fognini and Robert Lindstedt after the unseeded pair routed Pablo Andujar and Richard Gasquet 6-0, 6-1.