Kevin Anderson and Sam Querrey made improvements on their respective chances of making debut appearances at the Nitto ATP Finals on Tuesday with both posting straight-sets first-round triumphs at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. No. 11 seed Anderson had an equally impressive 6-3, 6-1 victory over last week’s Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships runner-up Adrian Mannarino while No. 10 seed Querrey landed a dominant 6-3, 6-2 result over Japan’s Yuichi Sugita.
Anderson will face Jan-Lennard Struff for a quarter-final berth. The German advanced when compatriot Mischa Zverev retired due to heat exhaustion with Struff leading 3-6, 6-5.
Querrey broke twice on his way to a 4-0 second-set lead and comfortably carried the advantage to the finish line. He brought up three match points with his 10th ace and booked a second-round meeting on his second chance with #NextGenATP compatriot Frances Tiafoe.
Another of the big servers, No. 12 seed John Isner, narrowly prevailed over Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic. Isner saved a match point at with Lajovic serving for the match at 6/5 in the tie-break to close out a 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(6) victory. He will next face Greek #NextGenATP qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Two players’ chances of making a late-season charge for a debut Nitto ATP Finals berth took a blow on Tuesday, however. No. 7 seed Pablo Carreno Busta fell in an all-Spanish second-round encounter to Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 7-5, 7-5.
No. 13 seed Nick Kyrgios retired after dropping the first set to American Steve Johnson. The Australian had opened up a 4/2 lead in the opening set tie-break before Johnson reeled off five of the last six points to take it 7-6(5), before Kygrios called time.
Fresh from making his debut in the Emirates ATP Top 50 Rankings, #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov faded in a three-set defeat to Viktor Troicki. The Serbian finished strongly for a 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-0 result over the 18-year-old wild card.
