The ATP World Tour featured three tournaments this week:  a marquee 500 series event on indoor hard courts in Rotterdam, a 250 on indoor hard courts in Memphis, and another 250 on clay in Buenos Aires. Here are some of the best storylines to arise out of early-week action on the tour this week.

Struggles Continue for Mikhail Youzhny and Sam Querrey

World No. 15 Mikhail Youzhny dropped to a record of 1-4 on the ATP Tour this year following an abysmal 6-2 6-2 loss to Igor Sijsling in the first round of Rotterdam. The Russian generated only one break point against Sijsling and was broken four times himself. 

American Sam Querrey played a closer match against the journeyman Alex Bogomolov in Memphis, but he suffered the same fate. Losing 2-6 6-4 7-6(7) to the Russian, Querrey held a match point on his serve in the third-set tiebreak and earlier led by a break in the third set.

Querrey is close to dropping out of the top 60 after once being a top-20 player. He falls to 3-6 this year after losing four straight matches between the Australian Open, Davis Cup, and Memphis. It is noteworthy that both Youzhny and Querrey are former champions at Rotterdam and Memphis, respectively, and their opening losses were at venues where they have historically done well.

Early Upset of the Week: Philipp Kohlschreiber d. Richard Gasquet 7-5 7-5

Kohlschreiber took a big step to getting his game back on track in Rotterdam, winning his second-round clash against Montpellier finalist and world No. 9 Richard Gasquet 7-5 7-5. The German reached the quarterfinals after he rallied from trailing by a break in the second set. Kohlschreiber fired 38 winners in the match.

Dominic Thiem continues his rise

Among the key rising stars who shone at the Australian Open, the young Austrian continues to make a good account for himself. Thiem reached the second round of Rotterdam as a qualifier and gave Andy Murray a very tough match. He should crack the top 100 after beating Montpellier semifinalist Jarkko Nieminen in three sets, firing 15 aces and dropping serve just once to the veteran Finn.

Against Murray, who won 6-4 3-6 6-3, Thiem fought hard in every set. Nearly every service game was competitive for both players in that match, and the young Austrian fought off eight break points while creating seven for himself. Thiem’s backhand was on, and he won the same number of total points as Murray. But the Scotsman broke early in the third set and finished off the match, happy with his escape against a player who continues to improve.

Marin Cilic and Fabio Fognini extend winning streaks

Champions last week in Zagreb and Vina del Mar, respectively, Cilic and Fognini continued to win in Rotterdam and Buenos Aires this week. Cilic extended his winning streak to seven and reached the quarterfinals after upsetting Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round.

Fognini is undefeated on clay in 2014 and has won 22 of his last 23 matches on the surface, dating back to last summer. In 2014, the winning streak stands at eight as he arrived at the quarterfinals of Buenos Aires with wins over Julian Reister and Leonardo Mayer, whom he also defeated in the Vina del Mar final.