Two-time finalist Jack Sock snapped a five-match losing streak on Wednesday at the Intrum Stockholm Open. The third seed won 78 per cent of his service points and erased the lone break point faced to beat Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-4 and improve to 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

Sock improved to 12-4 in Stockholm and reached his eighth quarter-final (or better) of the season. The 25-year-old American will next face Italian Fabio Fognini, who drew on his big-match experience to save one match point in a thrilling end to a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7) victory over top Swede and #NextGenATP Elias Ymer.

The 21-year-old Ymer had come within two points of winning when serving at 5-4 in the deciding set. He then saved three match points from 0/40 at 5-6, before holding a 6/5 lead in the tie-break.

Fognini, who is through to his seventh ATP World Tour quarter-final (or better) in 2017, is now 35-21 on the season that includes a run to the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad title (d. Hanfmann). He also finished runner-up at the St. Petersburg Open (l. to Dzumhur).

Ymer’s young brother, 19-year-old Mikael Ymer, also fell just short in an upset bid. Ymer led by a break in the third set but couldn’t put away German veteran Mischa Zverev, who advanced to the second round with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 win. The fifth-seeded Zverev will next play Serbian Viktor Troicki.

Eighth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco advanced to the quarter-finals for the fourth time (also 2004, 2013-14) after he knocked out lucky loser Jurgen Zopp of Estonia 6-4, 6-2 in 73 minutes. It was his 25th match win of the year, which includes a run to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final (l. to Murray) in February. He awaits the winner of second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, who is attempting to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, or South Korean Hyeon Chung, who is battling to book a spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals.

In other action, Polish qualifier Jerzy Janowicz beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in 87 minutes to set up a clash against fourth-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro. German Jan-Lennard Struff saved three match points in beating Marius Copil of Romania for a meeting against top seed and Nitto ATP Finals contender Grigor Dimitrov. Struff triumphed 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(12) in two hours and 11 minutes, saving match points at 4-5, 30/40 and at 6/7 and 10/11 in the deciding set tie-break.

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Nitto ATP Finals Contenders Start Doubles Campaign
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, who are currently No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London added 45 points for their 6-3, 6-4 first-round win over Jonathan Eysseric and Franko Skugor. The Austrian-Croatian team, now on 2,715 points are 305 points behind eighth-placed Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram. The pair will next face Jonathon Erlich and Nikola Mektic.

France’s Julien Benneteau swept past Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-1, 6-1 in 54 minutes to reach his second ATP World Tour quarter-final of the year (also ‘s-Hertogenbosch) on Wednesday at the European Open in Antwerp. The 35-year-old Benneteau will next play a compatriot, second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or qualifier Kenny De Schepper.

Portugal’s Joao Sousa withstood 18 aces and lost just seven of his first-service points (45/52) to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. He awaits the winner of third-seeded Australian Nick Kyrgios or Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium.

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Bryans Open Doubles Title Bid

Top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan saved all five break points they faced in a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Belgian wild card Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen for a place in the quarter-finals against Santiago Gonzalez and Julio Peralta. The American twins, who are looking to capture their 115th team crown this week, have already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.

One out of a hundred.

Ninety-nine players out of the Top 100 have a losing record holding serve in 2017 when falling behind 15/40. Only one player has won more than 50 per cent of his service games from this perilous point score.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the Top 100 players this week reveals that one player is World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. It’s an amazing achievement, considering the Spaniard does not possess a flame-thrower of a serve, or routinely ace his way out trouble. Nadal is ranked 33rd on tour this season in total aces hit at 278 from 75 matches – averaging 3.7 aces per match. 

He is not the fastest server, and he does not enjoy as many free points on serve as other players. But Nadal has been mentally and strategically the best this season at dealing with the adversity and pressure of overcoming 15/40.

The Spaniard holds serve 50.7 per cent (37/73) of the time from that scoreline. Second place goes to Grigor Dimitrov, who is back to his career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 8 this week and has a 40-17 record in 2017. Dimitrov has held serve 47.9 per cent (35/73) of the time from 15/40, just two service games back from Nadal.

2017: Top 10 of the Top 100 at Holding Serve from 15/40

Infosys Nia Data found correlation with where a player is ranked in the Top 100 and how well he holds serve from 15/40.

Four Top 100 Groups: Holding Serve from 15/40

Players Ranked 1-25 = Held 33%

Players Ranked 26-50 = Held 28%

Players Ranked 51-75 = Held 27%

Players Ranked 76-100 = Held 24%

On average, the Top 100 have held serve from 15/40 28 per cent of the time this year. That immediately creates a drill for the practice court, where the server starts 10 service games from 15/40. If you can win three of them, then that’s right at the Top 100 average. If you can win half, then you know what it feels like to be the No. 1 player in the world.

Diego Schwartzman has faced 15/40 115 times this season, which is more than anyone else in the Top 100. He has held 24 times (20.9 per cent), which puts him in the bottom quarter of the Top 100.

Dominic Thiem has come back from 15/40 more than anyone else in the Top 100 so far in 2017, winning 47 out of 110 games. That places the Austrian at fourth best in the Top 100 at holding from 15/40.

The point score of 15/40 is all about overcoming adversity. Staying positive, being aggressive, and looking for a Serve +1 forehand to hit right after the serve are all hallmarks of Nadal’s prowess in this precarious position.

Fifth seed David Ferrer saved a match point and fought for more than two hours and 20 minutes on Tuesday to advance at the European Open. The Spaniard beat 25-year-old Italian Stefano Travaglia 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) to move into the second round in Antwerp.

Ferrer was down 30/40 while serving at 4-5 in the third set but won three consecutive points to hold. The 35-year-old Ferrer, a titlist in Bastad earlier this year, will next face German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe or Belgian Steve Darcis.

#NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe bolstered his chances of reaching the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals next month in Milan by beating German Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4. Tiafoe won 47 per cent (28/60) of his return points in the 58-minute victory.

The 19 year old is currently in 10^th place in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan. The top seven in the Race will qualify for the eight-player tournament, to be held 7-11 November. The eighth spot is reserved for the winner of an Italian 21-and-under tournament.

Tiafoe has 662 Race points, 98 behind seventh-placed Hyeon Chung of South Korea. Tiafoe faces top seed David Goffin in the second round. The right-hander held two match points against Goffin in their only prior FedEx Head2Head meeting before losing at 2016 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Two other #NextGenATP players with their hopes set on Milan also advanced in Antwerp. American Ernesto Escobedo, who reached the semi-finals earlier this year in Houston, beat Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in a #NextGenATP battle, 7-6(5), 6-4.

#NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas upset sixth seed Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 6-4. Cuevas has now lost nine consecutive matches.

Both Escobedo and Tsitsipas still could qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals. Escobedo is in 11^th place with 497 points, 263 behind seventh-placed Chung. Tsitsipas sits in 13^th place with 477 points, 283 behind Chung.

Escobedo next faces fourth seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina. Tsitsipas will meet Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Players from the Balkans ruled Tuesday at the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina continued the best stretch of his career with a 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 win against Italian Thomas Fabbiano. The Sarajevo native went 18-3 from 31 July to 29 September, a stretch that included a number of milestones for the 25-year-old right-hander.

Dzumhur reached his first ATP World Tour final at the Winston-Salem Open. He won his maiden title at the St. Petersburg Open. And in late September, he gained his second Top 10 win of the season, knocking off then-World No. 4 Alexander Zverev in the Shenzhen Open quarter-finals. Dzumhur, No. 38 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will next meet Indian qualifier Yuki Bhambri.

Serbian Filip Krajinovic upset home favourite and fifth seed Andrey Rublev in a tight opener, 7-5, 7-6(6). Rublev, who joined Zverev on Monday as qualifiers for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals, led the second-set tie-break 5/2 but was unable to put away the 25-year-old qualifier, who picked up his first tour-level win of the year.

Krajinovic, No. 77, is 47-15 on the ATP Challenger Tour with five titles this season. He will next play Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, who beat Krajinovic’s countryman Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 7-6(2).

Lajovic’s countryman Laslo Djere played big under pressure to pull off an upset and move into the second round of the ATP World Tour 250. Djere saved a match point at 5/6 in the second-set tie-break to beat seventh seed Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 4-6, 7-6(9), 6-4 in two hours and 49 minutes. Djere will next face Bosnian qualifier Mirza Basic or Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia.

Portugal’s Joao Sousa recorded a historic milestone four years ago in Kuala Lumpur, when he became the first player from his country to win an ATP World Tour title. The 28 year old explains the importance of that moment and also shares various ‘firsts’ in this exclusive Q&A with ATPWorldTour.com.

First moment I realised I love tennis
That’s a tough one. Probably when I decided to go to Barcelona when I was 15. I realised that I really wanted to be a professional tennis player, that was my big dream, so I think it was that moment. 

First coach and most important lesson he taught me
First coach was in my birth city, in Guimaraes, his name was Luis Coutinho. What I learned from him is to be humble and to work as much as I can to try to reach my goals.

First pinch-me moment on the ATP World Tour
My first title. Absolutely. Not only for me, but for my country it was a great moment in my career. Of course it will always be in my mind the moment that I won. 

First time I was recognised
I think after winning my first title. After that people started to know me very well. On the street, they would say, ‘Oh that’s Sousa there.’ 

First time I travelled abroad
Probably I was 11. I think I went to France. That was my first trip. I was very young and I have a very bad memory, but I remember it was a great experience. Everything was new.  

First thing I bought with prize money
I don’t buy a lot of things for myself, I buy for another person. I bought a watch for my mother. That was the biggest I’ve given to a person. 

First autograph I gave
I was pretty young actually, about 10 years old. I did a newspaper interview. The girl asked me for an autograph, and said maybe one day he’s going to be very important. 

First idol
Juan Carlos Ferrero was my idol when I was growing up and playing tennis. 

First pet
Momo, my Labrador. It’s always good when I come back home and play with him.

Rafael Nadal has been forced to withdraw from next week’s Swiss Indoors Basel with knee soreness. The World No. 1 had reached back-to-back hard-court finals at the China Open (d. Kyrgios) and the Shanghai Rolex Masters (l. Federer) as part of a 16-match winning streak dating back to his 16^th Grand Slam title at the US Open.

The ATP World Tour 500 tournament released a statement Tuesday confirming the withdrawal: “After seeing his team doctor in Barcelona, the World No. 1 sadly had to pull out of the Swiss Indoors Basel. According to his doctors the Spaniard suffers from overstressing of the knee. The problems were already present at the tournament in Shanghai… His spot as top seed in Basel will now be taken by Roger Federer, the other dominant player of the 2017 tennis season.”

Nadal remains a strong favourite to finish year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the fourth time in his career. However, should Federer win Basel for the eighth time, he will earn 500 points and cut Nadal’s current lead to 1,460 points ahead of the Rolex Paris Masters, where 1000 points await the winner.

The final event Nadal and Federer will play this season is the Nitto ATP Finals at The O2 arena in London, from 12-19 November. The world’s biggest indoor tennis tournament offers 1,500 points to an undefeated champion.

The Swiss Indoors Basel still boasts an impressive player field including Federer, Marin Cilic, Juan Martin del Potro, David Goffin, Nick Kyrgios and Roberto Bautista Agut.