In a battle of the 19-year-olds, American #NextGenATP member Taylor Fritz saved the lone break point he faced in a 6-4, 6-4 win against Japan’s Akira Santillan at the Delray Beach Open Monday night. Fritz claimed his second tour-level win of the year and next meets the winner of countryman Donald Young and second seed Ivo Karlovic.

On playing Santillan, Fritz said, “We go way back, we’re both born in ’97. So we played juniors together. We’ve played together, practised together. We’re good friends… I definitely went in knowing I’m more experienced, just I’ve played more on tour. I was thinking about that before the match, maybe that could make a difference but I was just focused on playing tennis and I thought I played a really solid match.”

American Sam Querrey began his title defence, holding a 6-2, 2-1 lead when Israeli Dudi Sela retired from their first-round match with a back injury.

The No. 4 seed, making his fifth straight appearance at the tournament, improved his match record in Delray Beach to 14-7. Querrey, currently No. 35 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will face the winner of Jared Donaldson and Mikhail Kukushkin.

Yen-Hsun Lu, 2015 Delray Beach Open quarter-finalist, fought back from a set and 0-3 down to prevail 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 over American Bjorn Fratangelo.

“It was a tough feeling in this moment. I just tried other things. I changed the game plan, trying to come into the net more and put the pressure on him,” said Lu. “In this moment, I had nothing to lose. I just tried to play a different way and see how he reacts. It worked pretty well after that.”

World No. 63 Lu will face 22-year-old Kyle Edmund for the first time. The eighth-seeded Brit, making his debut at Delray Beach, struck five aces and conceded just one break point to post a commanding 6-3, 6-0 victory against France’s Adrian Mannarino.

Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka ended qualifier Kimmer Coppejan’s run with a 6-3, 6-3 win to set-up a match with fifth seed Steve Johnson or wild card Stefan Kozlov.

Tommy Haas, making his comeback following surgery last April, teamed up with Canadian Vasek Pospisil for a 6-4, 6-3 win over Steve Darcis and Adrian Mannarino on the doubles court. 

“Happy to be back out there on the court,” said the 38-year-old Haas. “Obviously that’s the most important thing. I feel sort of fit. A lot of work still to do to play some of my tennis that I would like to play again. But to get out here and play doubles with such a nice guy that Vasek is and a good doubles player as well, it worked out great. And also giving me a chance to play a match before my singles I think is also important, because that’s really what I need.”

A LOOK BACK

Tempe Challenger (Tempe, Arizona): American Tennys Sandgren picked up his first ATP Challenger Tour title in more than three years by defeating Serbian Nikola Milojevic 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. A rain-filled weekend pushed the semi-finals to Sunday and the final to Monday. Sandgren’s last Challenger win came in November 2013 in Champaign, Illinois.

Milojevic still seeks his first Challenger title, dropping to 0-2 in Challenger finals after finishing runner-up last month in Noumea (l. Mannarino).

Challenger La Manche Cherbourg (Cherbourg, France): Frenchman Mathias Bourgue delighted the local crowd by taking the title with a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over Maximilian Marterer of Germany. Bourgue earned his second ATP Challenger Tour crown, with the previous one also coming in France when he prevailed in Blois in June 2015. He improves to 11-3 in Challengers in 2017.

Marterer was seeking his third ATP Challenger Tour title, having won back-to-back events last September in Morocco.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Sandgren: “It’s been a beautiful place to play and I’ve really enjoyed it. Thankfully the tournament was gracious enough to extend to a Monday family. I think I’ve played some really good tennis this week and the competition was really strong, so I got a little lucky today and just hung in there.”

A LOOK AHEAD

There are three tournaments on the calendar this week, with the $75,000 event in Bergamo, Italy, taking top billing as it returns for the 12^th consecutive year. Local favourite Andreas Seppi is the top seed and Lukas Lacko of Slovakia is the second seed. Other notable names in the draw are seventh seed #NextGenATP star Quentin Halys of France, eighth seed Marterer looking for another big run and former Top 15 player Jerzy Janowicz of Poland.

The long-standing $50,000 event in Kyoto, Japan, celebrates its 21^st year. Local favourite Yuichi Sugita is the top seed and Grega Zemlja of Slovenia is the second seed. Ze Zhang of China looks to build on his win earlier this month in San Francisco as the fourth seed.

The $50,000 Challenger in Morelos, Mexico, is back for the fourth straight year. Jordan Thompson of Australia is the top seed and Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia is the second seed. #NextGenATP star Alexander Bublik of Russia is the third seed and Novikov aims to build on his Tempe form as the fourth seed.

View Draws & Watch Free Live Streams

ATP CHALLENGER TOUR ON TWITTER: The ATP Challenger Tour has launched a dedicated Twitter account for the latest news and information about players and events. Follow @ATPChallengerTour at twitter.com/ATPChallengerTour.

1. Akira Santillan is going for his first tour-level win on Monday evening at the Delray Beach Open.

The 19-year-old right-hander has played in two other ATP World Tour main draws – 2016 Shenzhen Open and the 2016 Generali Open in Kitzbuhel. Santillan received wild cards into both main draws and lost his openers. This is the first time he’s qualified for an ATP World Tour main draw.

“Qualifying is a better feeling because you’ve earned yourself into the main draw… Wild card, you’ve earned it into the main draw because somebody is trusting you, somebody is giving you the chance to play in the main draw because they believe in you,” Santillan told ATPWorldTour.com. “Two different feelings but for me qualifying obviously feels better.”

2. He has mixed heritage.

His father, Dean Santillan, is from South Africa. His mother, Harumi, is Japanese. But the family moved to Gold Coast, Australia, for tennis when Akira Santillan was about 7 years old. He lived in Australia until he was about 18. He currently plays under the Japanese flag.

“I would say I’m from Australia but I would say that I’m half Japanese,” Akira Santillan said.

3. Tennis runs in the family.

His father played tennis and coached him from the age of 5 to 14. Tennis was everywhere in their house, including posters of Andy Roddick, Xavier Malisse, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer. “All the old guys,” said the 19 year old. “It’s not surprising why I got into tennis.”

4. He’s a six-time titlist.

Santillan has won six ITF Futures titles. The 2015 season was his first full year of playing professional tennis, and he transitioned to the ATP Challenger Tour last July. He’s still searching for his first ATP Challenger Tour Title.

5. Don’t ask him about his weakness.

“My serve is one of my strengths, and my forehand and my speed. I get to a lot of balls. Sometimes I catch them off guard… Weakness? I don’t know. I don’t really have a weakness. I’d prefer not to say,” he said and then laughed.

6. Santillan knows his first-round opponent well.

It will be a battle of #NextGenATP stars when Santillan meets fellow #NextGenATP star Taylor Fritz on Monday during the final match on Stadium Court. The two have known each other since juniors. They’ve never played as professionals, but Santillan recalls playing him once years ago.

“I played him once in Belgium I think. He killed me. He plays good. Big serve. Big forehand. Goes for shots. It will be interesting,” Santillan said. “I feel confident. Obviously it’s his home. It’s in America and the crowd will be behind him but we’ll see what happens.”

Read More: Raonic Aims For Unpredictability In Delray Beach

American Ryan Harrison is continuing his charge up the Emirates ATP Rankings – moving up 47 spots since the start of the 2017 season.

The 24-year-old Texas resident, who started the year at No. 90 has today equalled his career-high of No. 43 – first attained on 16 July 2012 – by virtue of lifting his first ATP World Tour trophy at the Memphis Open (d. Nikoloz Basilashvili) on Sunday. Basilashvili moved 14 places to a career-high No. 53 as a result of contesting his second final (also 2016 Kitzbühel). Read Report

Harrison became the first first-time winner in Memphis since Sweden’s Joachim Johansson in 2004 and second first-time winner on the ATP World Tour this season, joining Gilles Muller – the Apia International Sydney titlist. Read Harrison First-Time Winners’ Spotlight

Two weeks ago, Harrison was also named the Top 100 Mover of the Week as a result of capturing his fourth ATP Challenger Tour title in Dallas (d. Taylor Fritz), moving from No. 78 to No. 62 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Read Update

France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga picked up the first ATP World Tour 500 tournament title of 2017, representing his first trophy for 18 months (since the Moselle Open in Metz) by beating David Goffin in the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament final in Rotterdam. Tsonga, now up three spots to No. 11 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is at his highest placing since 29 August 2016 with his 13th ATP World Tour crown. Read Report & Watch Highlights

The 26-year-old Goffin, who was contesting the third ATP World Tour 500 final of his career (also 2014 Basel, 2016 Tokyo), became the first Belgian to break into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings by rising one place to No. 10.

Alexandr Dolgopolov recorded his 10th Top 10 victory over No. 5-ranked Kei Nishikori 7-6(4), 6-4 at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires for his first ATP World Tour crown since July 2012 at the Citi Open in Washington D.C. The Ukrainian jumped 16 spots to No. 50 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, his highest position since being No. 37 on 15 August 2016. Read Report

Rotterdam qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert surged 41 spots to rank a career-high No. 68 as a result of beating No. 8-ranked Dominic Thiem en route to the semi-finals (l. to Goffin) in the Netherlands. Kazakhstani Mikhail Kukushkin, a semi-finalist in Memphis (l. to Basilashvili), moved up 25 places to No. 78.

Only one ATP World Tour tournament is played in Juan Martin del Potro’s home country of Argentina. But for the affable Argentine, every stop can feel like home. Much like Roger Federer, del Potro draws cheers from all over the world.

“It means a lot to have this support because many players can’t feel that sensation,” del Potro told ATP World Tour Uncovered. “When I go around the U.S. or Europe or Asia, it feels like a hometown tournament because people are coming to watch me play. They don’t care if I win or lose. They just want to see me play tennis and that’s important for me.”

The 28 year old must feel especially welcome at the Delray Beach Open in south Florida. He started his award-winning 2016 comeback season here by reaching the semi-finals, and he’ll begin his 2017 campaign at the ATP World Tour 250 this week. Del Potro was also a titlist in Delray Beach in 2011.

“It’s a really good tournament to be my first tournament of the season. I’m so happy to be playing here. I have great memories from winning the title in 2011, and it was a special memory for me reaching the semi-finals here last year, so I’m looking forward to a good tournament this year,” he said.

Del Potro skipped the ATP World Tour tournaments Down Under and the Australian Open last month to extend his off-season and improve his fitness. His 2016 lasted longer than usual because he helped Argentina win its first Davis Cup title on 27 November.

But the right-hander starts the 2017 season in a much different place than he did the 2016 campaign. Twelve months ago, del Potro was coming back from another wrist injury – his third in two years – and had played only two tournaments in the prior year.

This season, del Potro can look back on a season that saw him win his first title in 33 months (If Stockholm Open), notch wins against Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, and reach No. 38 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

“I’m very happy with how last year went. I only played 12 tournaments and I finished in the Top 40. This year is a big challenge for me because if I can play 20 tournaments, I can move up more in the rankings and get closer to playing the top guys,” del Potro said.

Del Potro also remained healthy throughout the season, which has allowed him to be optimistic with his 2017 schedule.

“This pre-season is completely different from the last one. I know 80 to 90 per cent of my schedule for the whole year, which is important. I worked hard in my pre-season in Tandil and came to Miami to finish the training. I did everything I can do before a tournament. I’m starting to do yoga every morning before practise and some exercises for my wrist and my body, All of these things help you to get into form,” del Potro said.

He’s not looking too far ahead, though. On Tuesday, del Potro faces former Top 10 player Kevin Anderson of South Africa. Del Potro leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 5-0, but Anderson is also a Delray Beach titlist, having won the title in 2012.

“I don’t know where my game is yet. In the first tournament, the first match, the sensations are pretty different compared to the last match of the year. I have a tough first-round ahead,” del Potro said. “But I love to play here. The atmosphere on the court is great. Many fans come to support me, so that gives me a special energy to play.”

Read More: Harrison Storms To Maiden Title In Memphis