With one eye already on 2018, Evgeny Donskoy has picked the right time to regain his form. After toppling Roger Federer, then earning an ATP Challenger Tour title in back-to-back weeks earlier in the year, Donskoy made a return to the winners’ circle by defeating Marius Copil 7-6(0), 7-5 in the Kaohsiung OEC Open final on Sunday.

Despite not dropping his serve against Copil, Donskoy credits his baseline game as the key to victory.

“My game from the baseline worked best for me last week,” Donskoy said. “I tried to play with good speed. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. I didn’t serve unbelievably, but it was my baseline game that was pretty good for me here; that was the key to winning.”

With the victory, Donskoy jumped 15 spots in the Emirates ATP Rankings (highest since No. 69 in August 2016), bumped his total number of Challenger titles to 11 and successfully navigated his way past a host of contenders. He also managed to enjoy the overall experience in the process.

“This is a big Challenger; I think I’ve only won two or three of these at the $125,000 prize money level,” Donskoy said. “There were really good players here in Kaohsiung.

“This week is my first in Taiwan in general and I enjoyed it here. It’s nice that many people came out to watch, even when the Taiwanese guys aren’t playing. That’s good that they are really fans of the sport.”

It’s the Emirates ATP Rankings points, however, that the 27-year-old Russian coveted most. Now at No. 74, Donskoy is just nine spots off his career-high of 65 (July 2013) and is eager to enter bigger events next year.

“Winning this tournament means a lot for me, especially now toward the end of the season,” Donskoy said. “It’s good to have these [Emirates ATP Rankings] points going into next season and I can use them to enter big tournaments in 2018.”

Donskoy’s 2017 campaign kicked off impressively. He earned the biggest victory of his career when, as a qualifier, he reached his first ATP World Tour 500 quarter-final by defeating Federer 6-3, 7-6(7), 7-6(5) at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Donskoy, No. 116 in the Emirates ATP Rankings at the time, staved off three match points against Federer, who was playing in his second match since capturing the Australian Open in January. It marked just the third time since 2007 that Federer was defeated by a qualifier (2013 Hamburg vs Delbonis; 2015 Shanghai vs Ramos). A week later, he earned his first Challenger title of the season by defeating Thomas Fabbiano 6-3, 6-4 in Zhuhai, China.

The intent was to parlay those results into more success throughout the year, but illness nearly derailed those plans. 

In August, Donskoy was a finalist at the Chengdu Challenger and a week later, he lost in the semi-finals of the Jinan Challenger in a walkover after falling ill. Donskoy is relieved the illness didn’t keep him sidelined for long and that he was able to find his form before the year’s end.

“I was playing at a Challenger in Jinan before the US Open and I got sick pretty badly,” Donskoy said. “But I’m happy that I recovered fast and winning this tournament in Taiwan gives me a lot of confidence. We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks.”

The Top five players in the Emirates ATP Race To London will be in second-round action at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Wednesday. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are the headliners with year-end No. 1 on the line beginning this week. If Nadal wins his first Shanghai title and Federer fails to reach the semi-finals, the Spaniard will finish 2017 at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup for Day 4 of the Shanghai Rolex Masters and vote for who you think will win!
Federer vs. Schwartzman | Nadal vs. Donaldson | Goffin vs. Simon

Nadal meets #NextGenATP player Jared Donaldson at 6 pm, followed by Federer against Diego Schwartzman at 8 pm. Donaldson and Schwartzman are both bidding for the biggest wins of their respective careers. As is Aljaz Bedene, who faces No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev earlier on Stadium Court. Play begins at 1 pm with No. 6 seed Grigor Dimitrov taking on Ryan Harrison.

Following Pablo Carreno Busta’s loss on Tuesday, No. 10 seed Sam Querrey and No. 11 seed Kevin Anderson could gain ground in the race with wins on Wednesday. It’s also a big day for wild card Wu Di, who is playing second-round matches in singles and doubles. No Chinese player has reached the singles third round or doubles quarter-finals at the Shanghai Rolex Masters (est. 2009).

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Two doubles teams looking to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in London next month made strides on Tuesday at the Shanghai Rolex Masters in China. Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez (no relation), in 10^th place in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, advanced to the second round at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event by walkover.

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Defending champions John Isner and Jack Sock didn’t compete because Sock was suffering from dehydration. Lopez/Lopez are in 10^th place in the Doubles Race, 185 points behind eighth-placed Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram. The top eight doubles teams qualify for the prestigious season-ending tournament, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November. Lopez/Lopez will face second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo in the second round.

Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, alternates at the Nitto ATP Finals a year ago, escaped a tight opener 6-7(8), 7-6(7), 10-8 against Nikola Mektic and Nicholas Monroe. Cabal/Farah are in 11^th place in the Doubles Race, 70 points behind Lopez/Lopez. Cabal/Farah will next meet third seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.

Nitto ATP Finals hopeful Marin Cilic improved his chances of returning to The O2 in London for the prestigious season-ending tournament as he opened his Shanghai Rolex Masters title bid Tuesday with a 6-3, 7-6(5) win over Brit Kyle Edmund.

The Croatian will guarantee his spot at the Nitto ATP Finals if he wins the Shanghai title, which would be his second Masters 1000 crown (Cincinnati 2016). Cilic, who is currently sixth in the Emirates ATP Race To London, previously qualified in 2014 and ’16.

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Cilic saved all three break points against the 22-year-old Edmund, prevailing in one hour and 38 minutes to move into the third round. The fourth seed will next face Chinese wild card Di Wu or American Steve Johnson.

Johnson, a quarter-finalist last week in Tokyo, advanced to the second round after No. 13 seed Nick Kyrgios retired after dropping the first set. The Australian had opened up a 4/2 lead in the opening set tie-break before Johnson reeled off five of the last six points to take it 7-6(5), before Kygrios called time.

Experience and composure kept Juan Martin del Potro rolling on Tuesday as the 2013 runner-up saw off #NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev in the second round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters. The No. 16 seed prevailed 6-3, 6-4 in his first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting with the 19 year old.

The Argentine put the foot down early to break for 2-0 and was dominant on serve throughout. He never faced a break point in either set and finished with 14 aces to set a third-round showdown with either No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev or Aljaz Bedene, an earlier 6-1, 6-4 winner over Paolo Lorenzi.

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Rublev, currently No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan, let his frustrations show when he dropped serve to open the second set, having worked hard to save three break points. He showed momentary glimpses of his best when he saved a match point at 3-5, serving to stay in the second. Despite a thumping forehand winner down the line to fend off a second match point on del Potro’s serve, it was momentary reprieve as the Argentine closed the match out a point later.

Fabio Fognini also advanced to the third round after a 7-6(7), 6-3 upset of No. 15 seed Lucas Pouille of France. Both players finished with nine aces but it was Fognini who was more effective on break points, fending off all three faced.

The Italian’s win nudged up his FedEx ATP Head2Head ledger with Pouille to 2-1. He awaits the winner of top seed Rafael Nadal and #NextGenATP American Jared Donaldson.