Djokovic advances in Japan after doubles exit

Novak Djokovic stepped up his comeback from injury, and made amends for his doubles exit at the Japan Open, by progressing to the second round of the singles on Tuesday.

The top-ranked Serb — attempting to win a title on his tournament debut for the 10th time — beat Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-2 and next faces local wild card entry Go Soeda.

Djokovic and Filip Krajinovic had been knocked out of the doubles by fourth-seeded Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares on Monday. That was Djokovic's first competitive match since retiring with a left-shoulder injury during his fourth-round clash with Stan Wawrinka at the U.S. Open.

"My shoulder is good, I didn't feel any pain in today's match," Djokovic said. "I thought from beginning to end that I played very well, very consistent, high level, good intensity, and plenty of chances on his serve. I was able to step it up in the second set and finished the match well.

"I saw Soeda's match yesterday. Playing at home is always extra motivation, so I'm sure all the Japanese players feel inspired to play their best tennis, and that's something I'm expecting from him tomorrow."

Djokovic held four of his nine games to love and did not give any break-point opportunities in the match. Yet Popyrin had his moments, and it took Djokovic until the ninth game to break. Popyrin led 40-15 before being pegged back to deuce, then saved four break points before succumbing on the fifth. Japanese wild card Taro Daniel caused the biggest upset of the day by beating second-seeded Borna Coric 6-4, 4-6, 76 (5) after a grueling 2 hours, 39 minutes in 30-degree C (86 F) heat on the Colosseum show court.

Lying in wait for Daniel is Jordan Thompson, after the Australian got the better of Juan Ignacio Londero 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Daniel's victory means four of the five Japanese in the main draw made it through to the second round, as qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama needed only 54 minutes to dismantle fourth-seeded Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-2. He next meets Radu Albot, who beat Krajinovic 6-3, 7-5.

Soeda and Yoshihito Nishioka complete the home quartet in the last 16. Reilly Opelka won an allAmerican duel with seventhseeded Taylor Fritz, 6-3, 6-4, to set up a second-round match against Frenchman Gilles Simon, who beat Pablo Andujar 6-4, 6-0.

Canada's Denis Shapovalov won the last match of the evening, 6-4, 6-4 against Miomir Kecmanovic. His next opponent is to be determined, with three first-round matches on Wednesday.

Murray wins 2nd singles match since return from hip surgery

Andy Murray continued his positive return to singles play after hip surgery with a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7) win over 13th-ranked Matteo Berrettini of Italy in the first round of the China Open on Tuesday.

The former top-ranked Murray, who had a hip resurfacing operation in January, fired eight aces and saved five of seven break points to pick up his second tourlevel singles win since returning in August. Murray defeated Tennys Sangren in the opening round of the Zhuhai Championships last week, before losing to eventual champion Alex de Minaur in the second round.

"Last week was a big step for me. Now I just need to try and get the matches, get them consistently, so that I'm used to playing three, four matches in a week," Murray said.

He will next play British compatriot Cameron Norrie, who beat Chile's Cristian Garin on Monday.

Also in Beijing, top-seeded Dominic Thiem defeated Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-1 to reach the second round, while American John Isner upset seventh-seeded Gael Monfils of France 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.

In the women's tournament, topranked Ash Barty advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Yulia Putintseva. The topseeded Australian, who has been nursing a calf injury, received a first-round bye after reaching the Wuhan semifinals last week.

The Roland Garros champion hit 23 winners and seven aces in her first career victory in Beijing.

"I think there were times where it was pretty good and there were times where it was challenging," Barty said. "Overall pretty happy with how it went today, how we were able to get on a roll in the second set a little bit there."

Naomi Osaka of Japan extended her win streak to six as she eased past Andrea Petkovic 6-2, 6-0 in just 59 minutes.

In her second match since winning the Pan Pacific Open in Osaka two weeks ago, the fourthseeded Osaka won 91% of firstserve points while saving the only break point she faced.

Also on Tuesday, seventhseeded Petra Kvitova beat Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-4 while No. 16seeded Caroline Wozniacki had a 6-4, 6-0 straight-set victory over Christina McHale.

Federer, McEnroe push for Laver Cup's place in team tennis

Team events are having quite the resurgence on the men's tennis circuit, with three different competitions scheduled in the next four months. What's still unclear, though, is whether they can all coexist in the long term.

"Something's got to shake out," John McEnroe acknowledged Thursday, ahead of captaining a six-man world team in the annual Laver Cup event.

The three-day Laver Cup, coowned by and starring Roger Federer, started in 2017 while the International Tennis Federation sought a new format for the historic but ailing Davis Cup. It pits a team of European stars against a selection of players from the rest of the world. The revamped Davis Cup arrives in November with 18 nations — though not Federer's Switzerland — playing over seven days in a single city, Madrid, to end the 2019 season.

Another team event launches the 2020 season — the inaugural 24nation ATP Cup played Jan. 3-12 in Australia. Then there's the Tokyo Olympics as well, another addition to an already packed schedule.

Federer has committed to playing at the ATP Cup but hasn't made up his mind yet on the Olympics. He is confident, though, that there is room in the calendar for all three team events.

"Absolutely," Federer said Thursday, at the Europe squad's Laver Cup news conference in Geneva.

"There were places in the past for four different Davis Cup matches," Federer said, recalling the February-April-September-November fixtures he and Stan Wawrinka played to lift the 2014 trophy. "Now it's less than that" for the three separate team tournaments.

Since Switzerland won its first and only Davis Cup title, Federer has only played a single fixture to gain eligibility for the 2016 Olympics. Few expect the 38-yearold Federer to fit a Davis Cup comeback into his selective schedule. He would likely get a wildcard exemption for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, if he decides to play there. McEnroe noted there was no Olympic tennis for most of his career, during which he committed to the Davis Cup more than most peers.

"Davis Cup was an important part of my life and career, a chance to represent your country," he said, adding that the competition founded in 1900 was only recently "on life support."

Then came a flurry of team formats.

"(This) radical change finally took place after way too long," McEnroe said. "Now they have this, what's it called, ATP Cup. So we have three of them when it almost seemed like there was none."

Players need an invitation to be part of the Laver Cup, where they get to be around 1960s great Rod Laver and play with or against Federer.