Fernando Verdasco entered his match on Monday evening at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. Clay Court Championship with a fine pedigree — both overall and on clay. The left-hander was just two tour-level wins away from No. 500 in his career, and he arrived in Houston with 213 victories on clay. His opponent, American Denis Kudla, had played just nine tour-level clay-court matches, winning only two. 

But that proved inconsequential as day turned to night on Centre Court, as the World No. 122 defeated 2014 Houston champion Verdasco, the World No. 36, 6-4, 7-6(4) to claim his best victory of the season by ATP Ranking.

“I thought it was a great performance by me on the clay. I honestly did not think I really had a high chance of winning this match. I just wanted to go out there and make him earn it and kind of blow me off the court,” Kudla said. “I executed my game plan. I moved well and I came up with good serves to set up a good first ball in big moments.”

Kudla had earned only one tour-level triumph in 2018, with his ATP Ranking slipping as low as No. 207 last November. But the 25-year-old found his form early in the year on the ATP Challenger Tour, going 13-4 at that level. The right-hander won the Challenger Banque Nationale de Drummondville in March before reaching the final at the Open Region Guadeloupe two weeks ago (l. to Lajovic). That momentum carried into Houston, as Kudla won his first clay-court match since 2016 Rome. 

It appeared Verdasco had found his footing on the clay as he gained a 4-1 lead and later held set point at 5-4 on the American’s serve, but Kudla hit a deep inside-in forehand that the Spaniard sliced into the net, and that was the best opportunity he would get. The 34-year-old lost his first three service points in the tie-break to give his opponent the only advantage he needed.

Verdasco arrived at the only North American clay-court ATP World Tour event with plenty of momentum himself, winning two matches at both the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open presented by Itaú, including a victory against reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov at Indian Wells. But instead of moving within a match up victory No. 500, Verdasco falls to 11-9 on the season. 

Kudla will next face Ivo Karlovic, who he beat at 2016 Rome, or Taro Daniel, who defeated Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells. 

But he was far from the only American who impressed on the opening day of play. #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe, who won his maiden ATP World Tour title at the Delray Beach Open, got his clay campaign off to a good start with a straightforward win against wild card Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-3 in 64 minutes. 

It is the 20-year-old’s first victory in Houston after losing in the first round the past two years. It is also Tiafoe’s first tour-level clay-court victory, after losing the first five matches of his career on the surface. But that early record is not indicative of how he feels about clay. 

“I really like it. I really enjoy it. Ton of clay courts where I grew up in College Park in Maryland, so I think it’s my best surface,” Tiafoe said. “I think it’s more fun playing [on clay]. You can really see who has intangibles, moving and sliding and playing. But I played really well tonight.” 

Eighth-seeded American Tennys Sandgren earned his seventh tour-level win of the season (7-7) after winning just twice prior to this year, by defeating Blaz Kavcic 6-2, 6-2 in one hour, four minutes. Another American, Bjorn Fratangelo, was also impressive. The 24-year-old beat Australian Jordan Thompson 6-1, 6-1 in just over an hour to set a second-round match against fourth seed Nick Kyrgios. 

Kyrgios Falls In Doubles
Kyrgios, who is making his debut in Houston, partnered compatriot and close friend Matt Reid at the River Oaks Country Club Monday, thrilling the crowd with jaw-dropping forehands and flashy between-the-legs volleys. But veterans Karlovic and Daniel Nestor were too solid in the key moments, ousting the Australians 7-6(6), 6-4 in one hour, 16 minutes. 

Nestor, 45, had not played in Houston since 2007. But the Canadian teamed with Mark Knowles to win the title twice previously (2003, 2005) and the pair reached the final once (2007). Karlovic won the singles title at the tournament in 2007, and reached the semi-finals in 2012 with Frank Moser (l. to Blake and Querrey).

Did You Know?
Kudla had played only nine tour-level matches on clay, winning just two (2-7) of those matches. He may face the player whom he beat for one of those victories, Karlovic, in the second round, should the Croatian defeat Taro Daniel Tuesday.

Forget any house or condo, any racquet or any vehicle John Isner has bought with the more than $1.5 million he’s earned in prize money during his 12-year ATP World Tour career.

The best financial decision the 6’10” American has made involves a person who travels with him every week: his chiropractor, Clint Cordial. Isner started traveling with Cordial in 2012, and he credits the Missoula, Montana, professional for helping him stay healthy and allowing Isner to play some of the best tennis of his career as he nears 33 years old.

Earlier this month, Isner won his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Miami Open presented by Itau and matched his career-high in the ATP Rankings at No. 9.

“That’s the smartest investment I’ve ever made, is working with him and making that investment into my body. Because without being healthy, I can’t go out there, I can’t perform, I can’t do what I do,” Isner said on Monday during his pre-tournament press conference in Houston.

Isner also does a fair amount of work on his own, when he’s back home in Dallas or at a tournament and out of eyesight of Cordial.

“I’m extremely diligent with how I eat, and how I take care of myself. Lifting weights is a huge part of that for me, keeping myself strong, especially my lower body,” he said.

The work is clearly paying off. Isner is the top seed again this week at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston, the only clay-court event in North America. He won the Houston title in 2013, and a year prior, he first reached No. 9 in the ATP Rankings after making the 2012 final. Isner has played at the River Oaks Country Club in Houston every year of his career.

At first glance, you might think the big American – 6’10”, 240 pounds – would struggle on clay. Think of a clay-court stalwart and you likely think of a Spaniard or South American sliding to and retrieving every ball. But the red dirt can also favour a big man like Isner, who turns 33 on 26 April, depending on the conditions.

“If it’s a warm day, the clay is a little bit fast, but it’s also bouncing up high. That’s perfect for me. I want a fast court for my serve, but I want a high-bouncing court for the rest of my game. So it’s something that the more you play on, the more comfortable you are moving on clay,” Isner said.

“I’m very much looking forward to this clay-court season, of course, starting here in Houston then I’ll have some time off, which I do think I need to work on my body, to get myself mentally and physically fit for the clay-court tournaments ahead.”

On Top Again: Top Seeds In Houston

Cordial isn’t the only explanation for Isner’s success. The American married Madison McKinley last December, and his personal life has never been better.

“There are a lot more important things going on in my life than tennis. I mean tennis is something that has provided me such a unique experience for a job for the last 11 years of my life… I’ve been playing a sport for a living. So I’m very very lucky in that regard, but it’s also not the most important thing in my life by any means,” Isner said.

Another secret to Isner’s success: SoulCycle. Isner attends classes in his home Dallas four or five times a week. He loves it.

“When I condition I think it’s important to take the pounding off of my body, and I like to condition on the bike a lot,” he said. “At the end of the class, I’m drenched in sweat and completely exhausted. It’s a great workout.”

It all happened so fast for Ernesto Escobedo, maybe too fast. At the start of 2017, the American was No. 141 in the ATP Rankings.

But after he reached his maiden ATP World Tour semi-final in Houston last April, he rose to No. 73, with his eyes peering toward the Top 50.

Brad Gilbert, a former Top 5 player who coached Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, predicted Escobedo would qualify for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, where eight of the world’s best 21-and-under players competed last November.

But Escobedo didn’t reach the Top 50 or Milan. High expectations and a lack of focus caused the right-hander to finish outside the Top 100 of the 2017 year-end ATP Rankings.

“I just had a lot of distractions around me, on and off the court, and I didn’t really handle them well, and that was a life lesson for me, to go through that,” Escobedo told ATPWorldTour.com.

Now, however, the 21-year-old considers that lesson learned. He’s back at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship a year after the best run of his career and intent on making a similar push this clay-court season.

“I’m in a much better place right now,” Escobedo said. “I just have to be more patient with myself. It’s a long process, getting back into the Top 100 again, but I’m just focused on having a good week here, having fun.”

Any professional can relate to Escobedo’s struggle. You have a few great days at work, and you think, “Why isn’t every week like that?” Especially when you have as good of a week as Escobedo had last year.

Before 2017 Houston, he had never reached an ATP World Tour quarter-final. But Escobedo beat countryman and 2013 Houston titlist John Isner 7-6(6), 6-7(6), 7-6(5) in three hours and three minutes to make his maiden ATP World Tour semi-final last April.

“Before that I never had any taste of success in my life,” Escobedo said.

Read More: Escobedo Relishing Indian Wells Moment

He thought the results and his bigger dreams – the Top 10 and winning “Big Titles” – would be around the corner. But pressure from himself and others distracted him. Later in Halle, Escobedo also suffered a bone bruise on his right foot that further derailed his 2017. He didn’t reach another quarter-final all of last year.

This year, however, Escobedo’s coach has seen a maturing player. In 2017, Peter Lucassen had to encourage Escobedo to stay on court longer and work on his weapons – his serve and his forehand – or on transitioning from defence to offence.

But this year, it’s Escobedo who’s volunteering to grind, and it has shown in his results. He picked up his first Top 10 win in Acapulco (d. No. 10 Sock) and beat Delray Beach Open champion Frances Tiafoe at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

“Now he’s back with a full 100 per cent mental engagement. He’s excited about practising. He’s excited about getting better. He wants to do some extra stuff, day in and day out,” Lucassen told ATPWorldTour.com.

“He’s understanding what his job is going to be for the next 10 years.”

In other words, Escobedo is again showing the traits of his teenaged years, when Lucassen met him. Lucassen was a collegiate tennis player at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and Escobedo was a 14-year-old living in the area and looking for hitting partners.

A friend of Lucassen’s had told him about Escobedo. Lucassen remembers meeting “a really, really nice and shy kid. He would listen to every word. Really humble. Really hard-working. A really cool kid.”

One key detail has changed since they first met, though. At the time, Lucassen was near the prime of his playing career, having helped the USC Trojans win the 2011 NCAA Team Championship. Escobedo, meanwhile, was a teenager still honing his game.

These days, however, Lucassen hasn’t played a collegiate or professional match for seven years, and Escobedo is improving every day.

“He got way better than me,” Lucassen said before laughing.