Two-time champion Nicolas Mahut got the better of his friend Paul-Henri Mathieu for the first time in their fourth meeting, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in one hour and 46 minutes on Wednesday at the Ricoh Open. He is now into the quarter-finals. The pair had dined out together on Saturday, when Mahut learned he had become the new No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings. Read Tribute

However, an unforced error months prior had nearly cost Mahut an opportunity to play singles this week.

“I almost had to play qualies because I forgot to enter the tournament before the six-week deadline,” Mahut revealed. “I’ve only forgotten to do this twice in my career. The last time was 2000. I went online to check the entry list and could not believe I was not on it. So I called the tournament director and I am really happy I got a wild card.”

The Frenchman was also a winner on the doubles court on Wednesday. Mahut partnered Rohan Bopanna to a 6-1, 6-4 win over wild card Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Robin Haase after recovering from his singles match.

Second seed Bernard Tomic earned his first ATP World Tour win on Dutch soil after dismissing Brit Aljaz Bedene 6-4, 6-3 in the second round. The Aussie saved three break points and landed 67 per cent of first serves.

“It’s a beautiful tournament,” Tomic said. “There’s a lot of green, it’s very relaxing and I am happy to be here. I’ve had my best results on grass and it is probably best suited to my game.”

Elsewhere, fifth seed Sam Querrey knocked out Tatsuma Ito 6-3, 6-4 in 57 minutes to move into the quarter-finals. Querrey has a 1-2 record in ATP World Tour grass-court finals.

Taylor Fritz called Juan Martin del Potro his dream doubles partner in a Fantasy Doubles feature a few weeks ago on ATPWorldTour.com. 

“I’d play with del Potro. Hands down,” he said at the time. “We’d be unstoppable. He has a few inches on me, but I like to think we have pretty similar games. His forehand is still one of the biggest weapons on the ATP World Tour. I’ll never forget I was 11 when he won the US Open and broke into the Top 5. He was dominating everyone in his path. Ruthless on the court, but so humble off it. That’s what I’ve admired most about delPo. He always has a smile on his face, no matter what he’s gone through. He’s a fighter. I’m a fighter. We’ll click.”

On Tuesday at the MercedesCup, Fritz saw the dream become a reality. And though they both made winning starts in singles action earlier in the day, they came up short on the doubles court as they lost to another new pair, Florian Mayer and Philipp Oswald 7-6(5), 6-3.

Fritz, who next meets Roger Federer in second-round singles action Wednesday, said: “I never thought that at the same tournament I’d be playing against Federer and playing doubles with del Potro.” 

Mayer and Oswald go on to face No. 2 seeds Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau. Mergea won the Stuttgart doubles title last year alongside Rohan Bopanna.

Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin, winners of two ATP World Tour titles this season, also advanced to the quarter-finals as they defeated Andrey Kuznetsov and Gilles Simon 6-3, 7-6(2). Meanwhile, Sam Groth and Robert Lindstedt closed out a 6-4, 7-6(4) win over Croatians Marin Cilic and Antonio Sancic.

At the Ricoh Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, second seeds Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram rallied for a 6-7(9), 6-4, 10-7 victory over Aliaksandr Bury and Igor Zelenay. Third seeds Dominic Inglot and Raven Klaasen also needed a Match Tie-break to get by the Dutch duo of Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop 3-6, 6-3, 10-8.

Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, teaming up for the first time since their triumph last month at the Geneva Open, bowed out against Chris Guccione and Andre Sa, 6-2, 3-6, 10-6. 

Many will remember the time Juan Martin del Potro and Novak Djokovic battled over five sets for a place in the 2013 Wimbledon final. After prevailing in four hours and 43 minutes, making it the longest Wimbledon semi-final in history, Djokovic remarked, “It was one of the best matches I’ve been a part of.” Meanwhile, del Potro referred to it as “the best tennis I ever played on grass”.

The match also happened to be the Argentine’s last on the surface prior his first-round match Tuesday at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart. His long-awaited return did not disappoint. Del Potro opened his campaign with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Grigor Dimitrov, also a former Wimbledon semi-finalist and a Queen’s Club champion.

“It’s a big victory for me after three years of not playing on this surface,” said del Potro. “I beat one guy who was playing great on grass court and I didn’t expect this kind of level to be my first match on grass, but I’m looking forward to keep going. I served well, my forehand is working good. My backhand is starting to come back in my game and that gives me motivation for the future.”

Del Potro began his comeback in February with a semi-final run at the Delray Beach Open (l. to Querrey) and compiled an 8-5 record through the Mutua Madrid Open, where he upset a 14th-ranked Dominic Thiem, before electing to skip Roland Garros to prepare for the grass swing.

“We will see if I did a good choice after Wimbledon, but I’m happy to be in this tournament once again,” he said. “The tournament is improving year by year, and I have great memories from Stuttgart when I won the title in 2008. Could be a good idea to do a comeback on grass-court season and come back in Stuttgart.”

In 2008, a couple months shy of his 20th birthday, the Argentine claimed his first ATP World Tour title on the clay courts of the MercedesCup with victory over Richard Gasquet in the final. It provided the springboard for an incredible 23-match winning streak that resulted in three more titles and finished with a quarter-final showing at the US Open (l. to Murray), lifting him from No. 65 to No. 13 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Eight years later, the former World No. 4 is back at the MercedesCup – reincarnated as a grass-court tournament last season – with a No. 223 Emirates ATP Ranking and hopes of sparking his comeback from his third wrist surgery in as many years.

“It’s not easy for me, but I’m surviving on this for the last six months of my life,” he said. “I’m dealing with the pain and my wrist is getting better, so this is good. Hopefully in the end of the season I can see I’m completely ready to try to go for the top guys.”

Gilles Muller upset the home crowd on Tuesday in ‘s-Hertogenbosch by knocking off top Dutchman Robin Haase 7-6(7), 6-4. Muller, the seventh seed, hit 24 aces to move into the second round of the Ricoh Open.

The left-hander, who made the semi-finals last year, next will face Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who dismissed Canadian Vasek Pospisil 7-6(7), 6-2. Garcia-Lopez leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-1, including a 2009 win on grass at The Queen’s Club. But Muller won their most recent contest in straight sets earlier this year in Sofia.

Frenchman Adrian Mannarino denied Italy’s Andreas Seppi his 300^th career win 6-4, 6-4. The left-hander will face Russian qualifier Daniil Medvedev, who defeated Argentine Horacio Zeballos 6-3, 6-1.

Israel’s Dudi Sela will face top seed David Ferrer in the second round after outlasting American qualifier Dennis Novikov 7-5, 6-7(6), 7-6(5).

Can you make too many first serves?

It seems like a ridiculous question, but the more you dig into it, the more valid it becomes. First serves are the only shot in tennis that do not have a detrimental consequence if missed. It’s a “freebie”.

Is making six out of 10 first serves going to help you win more matches than making seven out of 10? It seems counterintuitive, but like many myths in our sport, numbers help explain what our eyes can only guess about.

Making your first serve has always been thought of as one of the best things you can do to win a match. It’s a balancing act between going for too much and hitting a fault, or not going for it enough to maximise the ultimate first-strike weapon.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of first-serve percentages challenges the myth that getting a very high percentage of first serves in the box is the best thing you can do to be victorious.

The recently completed 2016 Roland Garros is a case in point.

The leading eight players in the first-serve category made between 72 per cent and 80 per cent of their first serves. Common sense tells us that should be a good thing, but six of the eight failed to win a match. Six of the top eight in this specific category also lost in the opening round of the 2015 US Open.

At the 2016 Australian Open, things were very similar. There were 13 players who made between 67 per cent and 75 per cent of their first serves. But only one of those players made it through to the fourth round. Six lost in the second round and the other six all lost in the opening round.

Average First-Serve Percentage At Grand Slams

The current players in the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings produce a variety of first-serve averages based on their individual playing styles but combine to produce an average very similar to the rest of their peers.

First-Serve Percentages of Top 10 Players

Making five out of 10 seems to be clearly not enough.

Making six out of 10 is much closer to the ideal ratio, with the elite level players just a percentage point or two above that. Making seven out of 10 typically means you are not hitting it big enough, although there will certainly be some matches where that is advantageous.

Yes, you can make too many first serves. Overall, too many first serves in the box means consistency is trumping power with the game’s most powerful shot, and the “penalty-free” benefits of the first serve are not being maximised. The metrics identify that right around six out of 10 is where professional players like to be to in order to win the most matches possible.

#NextGen star Taylor Fritz saved one match point as he finished strongly to defeat qualifier Fabrice Martin 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-1 on Tuesday in the first round of the MercedesCup in Stuttgart.

In just his third tour-level match on grass, Fritz rallied from down 5/6 in the second set tie-break to level the match, before breaking serve three times as he raced through the decider, sealing victory in 88 minutes.

The 18-year-old Fritz sets a second-round clash with top seed Roger Federer, who is returning from injury after being forced to miss Roland Garros.

Check Out More #NextGen Features & Videos

German qualifier Florian Mayer upset sixth seed Viktor Troicki 6-4, 7-6(4) in 71 minutes, claiming just his second tour-level win of the season. The former Top 20 player is on the comeback after returning from a torn tendon in his right adductor in Bucharest.

Another qualifier, Radek Stepanek, will face second seed Marin Cilic in the second round after defeating Denis Istomin 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.