The seeds have fallen fast and furiously in Montpellier, Zagreb, and Vina del Mar.  All three of the No. 2 seeds at those tournaments dropped their opening matches.  But those tournament still do not lack intriguing storylines, two of which have come from men who started their weeks in the qualifying draws.

At first, Daniel Evans must have thought that his week would end in the qualifying draw as well.  The 23-year-old from Great Britain fell in the final round of qualifying at the Zagreb tournament.  But Evans entered the main draw anyway as a lucky loser when Radek Stepanek withdrew.  One man's setback became another man's step forward as world No. 147 Evans defeated Jan Hajek and Michael Berrer to reach his first ATP quarterfinal.  The Brit revealed his resilience in the second of those wins, rallying from losing a 6-1 first set and holding his nerve in a third-set tiebreak on Thursday.  His breakthrough in Zagreb extended an excellent week for British tennis after his nation reached the Davis Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1986.

Not a member of the victorious Davis Cup team last weekend, Evans had not emerged until his astonishing run to the third round of the US Open last summer.  At the last major of 2013, he upset Kei Nishikori and Bernard Tomic in results that nobody expected.  The feisty journeyman had not won an ATP main-draw match since then, however, begging the question of whether he would remain a one-hit wonder.  To the delight of British fans, the week in Zagreb may have marked a first step in proving otherwise.

If few fans outside Great Britain had heard of Evans before last year's US Open, few fans outside Japan had heard of another Daniel before this week.  This is Taro Daniel, making his first appearance in an ATP main draw at Vina del Mar.  Ranked world No. 226,  Daniel celebrated his 21st birthday last month and thus stands early in his career trajectory.  His form had quietly improved in recent months, including a Challenger final last fall in Korea.  Daniel also had reached the final round of qualifying at both Doha and the Australian Open.  (Ironically, he fell to Evans at the first of those events.)

Another exit in the final round of qualifying loomed when Daniel lost the first set in that round at Vina del Mar.  But he regrouped to defeat clay specialist Facundo Arguello, and that breakthrough appeared to embolden him this week.  Daniel avenged his loss to Thomaz Bellucci in Australian Open qualifying, and he followed that victory in his first ATP main-draw match with a three-set comeback against Federico Delbonis.  Ranked over 150 places above the Japanese qualifier, Delbonis upset Roger Federer last summer and came within a point of winning an ATP 500 title on clay in Hamburg.    Like Evans, though, Daniel rebounded from a poor first set to ultimately prevail in a third-set tiebreak. 

Much sterner tests lie ahead for both men, who will face the No. 3 seeds in their respective draws.  While Daniel must confront world No. 18 Nicolas Almagro in a Vina del Mar quarterfinal, Evans eyes the surging world No. 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber.  Almagro on clay and Kohlschreiber on an indoor hard court will enter those matches as heavy favorites.  But perhaps these fresh faces from Great Britain and Japan can make their maiden quarterfinals more intriguing than expected.  As much as they have accomplished already, neither of them will want their fairytale weeks to end.