In 2018, Jordan Thompson enjoyed a historic season. The Aussie won 52 matches on the ATP Challenger Tour, the second-most in history. He lifted three trophies at that level last year, and is now up to a career-high No. 60 in the ATP Rankings.

“I’m very happy. I’m at a career-high. Obviously looking to push forward from there, but I’m taking it one match at a time,” said Thompson, who on Monday won his first-round clash at the New York Open against home favourite Noah Rubin. “Hopefully I can get inside the Top 50, but there’s a long way to go still.”

Thompson has proven he is capable of competing against some of the best players in the world on a big stage. Two years ago, he defeated then-World No. 1 Andy Murray at the Fever-Tree Championships, a tournament the Brit has won five times. 

“I think playing at this level every week is the key. In 2017 I won a lot of matches on Tour. Last year wasn’t the case, I didn’t do so well and went back to the Challenger level to try to get match fit,” Thompson said. “I feel comfortable in every situation and I think it helped.”

Most ATP Challenger Tour Match Wins In A Season

Last year, the 24-year-old was just 1-11 at tour-level. But not only did he win 14 of 15 ATP Challenger Tour matches to close the season, he has already triumphed in four tour-level matches this year.

“I think confidence goes a long way in tennis and when you lose a bit of confidence, it really shows. Going back and getting a lot of matches, I got my confidence up again,” Thompson said. “The last few tournaments of 2018 really helped. I made a final and won two Challengers in Australia… Most of those matches I got better and better and played a couple of my best matches of the year. The last few weeks of the year really helped.”

Now it’s about Thompson maintaining his momentum. While his 52-win Challenger campaign put him in the history books, the Aussie would rather not add his name under the same category again. Thompson aims to continue his climb and make his mark at ATP Tour events.

“I’d like to be playing every week at tour-level. I want to stay at this level, to be playing these events and Grand Slams year-round and try to play the least number of Challengers as possible,” Thompson said. “I don’t think anyone wants to be seen as the Challenger guy. I think everyone wants to be on the main Tour. That’s why we play tennis, to be the best. But a lot of guys have had great Challenger success like Dudi Sela and Yen-Hsun Lu. They’ve won an incredible number of titles at the Challenger level and have both gotten to around 30th in the world, so there’s no shame in that, either.”

Against Rubin, who had the entire crowd on his side on Long Island, Thompson missed out on eight set points in the opener before settling down and slowly turning the match around, winning in three sets. For many players, losing those opportunities would have been a major mental hurdle to overcome.

“It’s been like that my whole career. I pride myself on competing my [behind] off, really,” Thompson said. “A lot of guys would have had about seven or eight set points in the first set and I think a lot of guys would go away [mentally] if they were in my position. But I hung tough and scraped out a win.”

Thompson, with confidence and momentum on his side, will hope to battle to another victory on Wednesday against American qualifier Christopher Eubanks.

David Ferrer showed on Tuesday at the Argentina Open that his final ATP Tour events won’t be a mere nostalgia moment.

After accepting hugs on court from players past and present, including Diego Schwartzman, Guillermo Coria and Gabriela Sabatini, Ferrer got down to business for his first-round clash against Malek Jaziri of Tunisia. The Spaniard showed his trademark grit in saving six set points during a wild first-set tie-break before rolling to a 7-6(13), 6-3 victory.

Ferrer is competing in a handful of ATP Tour events before finishing his epic 19-year career this May at the Mutua Madrid Open. Having won the Argentina Open three times (2012-2014), it was clear why Buenos Aires would be a part of his farewell tour.

The Spaniard missed a set point opportunity on Jaziri’s serve at 5-4, then squandered two set points at 6/4 in the tie-break. With the crowd urging Ferrer on, he dug deep to save six set points before earning another opportunity at 13/12. Jaziri erased a fourth set point with a strong serve, but pushed a forehand wide at 14/13 to end the set after 74 minutes.

Perhaps still ruminating over his missed opportunities, Jaziri’s level dropped and Ferrer quickly raced to a double break advantage in the second set. Although he couldn’t convert on three match points on his serve at 5-2, Ferrer regrouped in the next game to break Jaziri and raised his arms in triumph.

Ferrer will look to continue his Buenos Aires swan song as he next faces fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Ferrer leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head 6-1, but Ramos-Vinolas won their most recent match three years ago on the red clay of Bastad.

Other first-round matches saw fifth seed Joao Sousa of Portugal end the winning streak of local favourite and Cordoba Open titlist Juan Ignacio Londero with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. He’ll take on Pablo Cuevas in the second round, with the Uruguayan needing just 65 minutes to record a 6-2, 6-1 win over qualifier Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador.

Roberto Carballes Baena scored the most dominant result of the day, requiring exactly one hour to beat Taro Daniel of Japan 6-1, 6-0. The Spaniard will face qualifier Lorenzo Sonego of Italy in the next round.

Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia put together the biggest comeback of Tuesday’s play, fighting back from down a set and 2-4 to defeat local favorite Guido Andreozzi 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-2. His reward is another Argentine battle in the second round against No. 4 seed Diego Schwartzman.

Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer improved to 4-4 on the young season with a 6-3, 7-6(3) win against seventh seed Dusan Lajovic of Serbia. Mayer will next meet countryman and Cordoba Open finalist Guido Pella, a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victor over local wild card Francisco Cerundolo.

Spain’s Jaume Munar overcame a mid-match surge against two-time ATP Tour titlist Federico Delbonis to prevail 6-2, 2-6, 6-1. The 21-year-old Munar, who reached the semi-finals of the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, saved six of eight break points and will play second seed Fabio Fognini of Italy for a place in the quarter-finals. Fognini beat Munar earlier this year at the Australian Open.

Ryan Harrison has always had a soft spot for this part of the season. His biggest ATP Challenger Tour title (Dallas) and lone ATP Tour singles title (Memphis) both came in February 2017, and the American consistently brings his best on home soil.

The 26-year-old took his first step towards another big run stateside on Tuesday at the New York Open, winning all but three of his first-serve points (25/28) to sprint past Peter Polansky 6-3, 6-4. Harrison needed just 65 minutes to complete the win and set up a second-round clash with Paolo Lorenzi.

“No matter how hard you think you worked in the off-season, getting the wins at tournaments is the telltale sign,” said Harrison. “I’ve had mostly good matches so far this year. I feel like I’m in a good spot with my game and want to capitalise on this U.S. stretch because it’s fun to play in front of a home crowd.

Joining Harrison in the second round is fellow American Reilly Opelka, who found himself two points from defeat in the tie-break before rallying to defeat Adrian Mannarino 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. Mannarino won more points on the day (99 to 97), but Opelka only needed a lone break of serve at 1-1 in the final set to advance in one hour and 57 minutes.

Next up for Opelka is the winner between Mackenzie McDonald of the United States and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.

Other first-round matches on Tuesday saw Christopher Eubanks of the United States prevail 6-4, 7-6(4) in an all-qualifier battle against Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain. Jason Jung of Chinese Taipei withstood a mid-match surge from qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan of India to prevail 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, while veteran Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez rallied from 3/6 in the first-set tie-break to defeat Alexei Popyrin of Australia 7-6(6), 6-3.

The evening session saw qualifier Brayden Schnur defeat wild card Jack Mingjie Lin in an all-Canadian battle 6-1, 6-3. The victory gave Schnur his first-ever ATP Tour main draw win.

“Jack used to live in Montreal, where I live and train now, so we used to practise together quite a bit,” said Schnur. “I thought he played a good match and he made me work hard for the win.”

The final match on Tuesday’s schedule saw No. 6 seed Sam Querrey fire 13 aces to defeat South African Lloyd Harris 7-6(2), 6-2. The American will next play the winner between Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and Radu Albot of Moldova. 

Kei Nishikori recovered from a set down to record his first victory at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Tuesday, beating in-form Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

The Rotterdam debutant, who captured his 12th ATP Tour title at the Brisbane International last month (d. Medvedev), won 84 per cent of first-serve points (37/44) to advance after two hours and 11 minutes. Nishikori improves to 9-1 at tour-level this season and 2-0 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Herbert. Last week, Herbert reached his third ATP Tour singles final, falling in straight-sets to countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Open Sud de France.  

“It wasn’t easy, as he was playing good tennis and serving well,” said Nishikori. “I had a little bit of trouble with my return game and couldn’t convert the important points. I just tried to play steady, as I wasn’t playing bad, and I tried to stay aggressive.”

Nishikori will meet Ernests Gulbis for a spot in the quarter-finals. The 30-year-old Latvian defeated fellow lucky loser Marius Copil 6-2, 6-4 in 72 minutes. Nishikori is unbeaten in two FedEx ATP Head2Head clashes against Gulbis.

“[Gulbis] is not easy, especially indoors where he uses his great serve and aggressive play really well,” said Nishikori. “I just need to stay focused and get used to the conditions a little bit more.”

After saving five break points in a 13-minute game at 3-3, with aggression behind his serve and forehand, Herbert made a crucial breakthrough. The Frenchman stepped into the court, rushing his opponent into a series of errors to claim eight of the next 10 points and a one-set lead.

Nishikori raised his level early in the second set after failing to convert two break points, in a marathon 15-minute game, for a 2-0 lead. The Japanese No. 1 showcased remarkable court coverage en route to his first break of the match and won five straight games from 1-1 to force a decider. Nishikori rode the momentum into the third set, breaking for a 2-1 lead with back-to-back forehand winners before claiming victory after an unforced backhand error from Herbert.

If only Tallon Griekspoor played in Rotterdam every week. The home favourite pulled off an upset for the second year in a row at his home tournament, stunning Rolex Paris Masters champion Karen Khachanov 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to stroll into the second round. Griekspoor, No. 211 in the ATP Rankings, never backed down against the 6’6″ Russian, winning 13 of his 21 net points (62%) and nearly matching Khachanov’s winner tally (19 to 20).

“It’s unbelievable,” Griekspoor said of the home environment. “It’s so nice to play in this court. The evening matches are amazing.”

Both of Griekspoor’s tour-level wins have come at the ATP 500 event. Last year, he beat Swiss Stan Wawrinka for his first tour-level victory. The 22-year-old Dutchman will face Montpellier champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Italian qualifier Thomas Fabbiano for a place in the quarter-finals.

Did You Know?
Nishikori has won his opening match at each of his past 11 tour-level events. The World No. 7’s most recent opening-match loss came against Robin Haase at the Rogers Cup in August 2018.