Jeremy Chardy saved two set points in the opening set on Monday before eliminating Italian Alessandro Giannessi, 7-6(6), 6-4 in one hour, 53 minutes at the Shenzhen Open. The Frenchman will attempt to reach his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season against the winner of fifth-seeded Donald Young and the youngest player in the draw, #NextGenATP 17-year-old Nicola Kuhn.

ATP World Tour veteran Steve Darcis ended the hometown hopes of Ze Zhang 7-5, 7-6(3). The 27-year-old Zhang, who captured his first ATP Challenger Tour title earlier this year in San Francisco, broke the Belgian immediately and earned four more break points in Darcis’ second service game. From 1-4 down, World No. 77 won six of the next seven games, saving four set points on his serve at 4-5, to claim the opening set.

While Darcis earned the first break of the second set and held for a 4-2 lead, Zhang fought back and forced a tie-break. But from 2-2, the third-oldest player to debut in the Top 40 of the Emirates ATP Rankings (No. 38 in May 2017) won five of the final six points to clinch the victory against the wild card.

In the only other singles contest of the day in Shenzhen, Dudi Sela used an 18-minute opening set to catapult past qualifier Matthew Ebden, 6-0, 7-6(8), in their second career meeting. The Israeli saved four set points in the second set tie-break to squeak past the Australian.

Three seeded players will begin their campaigns at the event on Tuesday.

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Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis and #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric explored some Sichuan culinary treats on Monday, during time out from the Chengdu Open. The duo, closely guided by Nelson Ong, the Executive Chef at the St. Regis Chengdu, tried their hands at making traditional Chinese meat dumplings.

Coric said, “The chef told us that we were very good for our first time – I doubt it, but if he says so, I believe him! I’m not really a big fan of spicy food, but I don’t mind having this for lunch today.”

“At the beginning it was tough,” said former World No. 8 Baghdatis. “I didn’t realise you needed to put some water so that the dough sticks together, but once the chef helped us out and told us his little secrets it became easier. Personally, I like trying different kinds of food so it’s a pleasure to be here cooking something different. I enjoyed my time here. I love this tournament actually, I like the people that organise it – they provide very good facilities for the players and do everything for us.”

Baghdatis opens his Chengdu Open campaign against Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, while Coric starts against Guido Pella of Argentina.

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American Jared Donaldson fought hard on Monday, weathering a late comeback from fellow #NextGenATP and Greek qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Chengdu Open for a 6-7(2), 7-5, 7-5 victory over two hours and 25 minutes.

World No. 58 Donaldson, now 19-17 on the year, led 5-2 in the deciding set, before losing 10 of the next 13 points to ensure a tense end to the pair’s first meeting. Tsitsipas, 19, dropped to 0-7 lifetime in tour-level matches, while Donaldson will next face sixth-seeded Briton Kyle Edmund or Bernard Tomic of Australia.

“I think the entire match was very close and Stefanos played a great match,” said Donaldson. “Obviously, at 5-2 in the third set I didn’t play a great service game. It happens sometimes. I gave myself an opportunity to win, I just didn’t take it and I also thought I got a little unlucky.”

Elsewhere, fifth-seeded Japanese Yuichi Sugita was leading 6-1 when Croatian qualifier Mate Pavic after 22 minutes of play. This year’s Antalya Open titlist (d. Mannarino, who is now 16-10 in a career-best year, awaits the winner of Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro or Chinese wild card Yibing Wu.

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Australian Akira Santillan has forged a memorable 2017 – and as a bonus, he’s picked up a few pointers as to how to make his 2018 season on the ATP World Tour even more constructive. At just 20 years old, the #NextGenATP star is still learning how to balance his training regimen with tournament play.

If the 2017 season has taught him something, it’s to pace himself, and to put in the time on the practice courts. “I’ve played too many tournaments in a row this year and it doesn’t suit me,” Santillan said.

“I usually play better when I go practise, play my first tournament and get a good result. I’ll learn from that and go and play three or four tournaments, practise, do the same thing over and over, instead of playing many tournaments in a row.”

Currently No. 20 in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan, Santillan enters this week’s Shenzhen Open event well rested and with hopes of maintaining his form. He is coming off a busy and productive summer run – he won the Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship Challenger in July, then claimed his first ATP World Tour match win a week later at the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island.

And despite falling in the third round of the US Open qualifying, Santillan hardly considers the loss a setback. In that match, Santillan battled back from a set down to force a third set before ultimately falling to American JC Aragone 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

“It was a bit of a tough loss, but it was also a good result,” Santillan said. “It was also a confidence [booster] for the rest of the season.”

The Australian opens his Asian swing campaign as a wild card and plays Evgeny Donskoy in the first round in Shenzhen. Taking his own advice, Santillan decided to take a break from tournament action after the US Open in an effort to be at full strength to close out the year.

“I had a good three-week break before coming to Shenzhen,” Santillan said. “Just to recover, practise and have some time off to be ready for the next swing in Asia.”

When it comes to ending the year, Santillan has a target but is also careful not to look too far ahead. “I still haven’t made my goals for next season; I’m focusing on now,” Santillan said.

“My goal [for this season] is to break the Top 100 [in the Emirates ATP Rankings]. If I achieve my goals for this season, I’ll focus on a Top-50 finish next season.”