For the record, Felix Auger-Aliassime's tour-level career began perfectly. On the very first ball he hit, the 17-year-old cut an ace out wide against Serbia's Filip Krajinovic at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. But Krajinovic, last year's surprise finalist at the Rolex Paris Masters, generally carried over his strong finish to the 2017 season, fighting off the future star of the ATP World Tour 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 to spoil the Canadian's tour-level debut. Auger-Aliassime battled understandable nerves in the beginning. The right-hander had never played a tour-level match before, let alone an ATP World Tour 500 tournament that has also welcomed Stan Wawrinka and Roger Federer, who's chasing No. 1, this week. Surely Auger-Aliassime has walked past...
Gael Monfils needed one hour, five minutes to overcome Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas, 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires on Tuesday. Monfils won 75 per cent of his first serve points, and converted on his two break point opportunities. With the win, Monfils moved to 4-1 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Cuevas. The No. 43-ranked Frenchman will play Dusan Lajovic in the next round. Lajovic was a 7-6(4), 6-1 winner over Argentine qualifier Facundo Bagnis on Monday. [ALSO LIKE] Fifth seed Diego Schwartzman, the highest-seeded Argentine in the singles draw, broke five times to beat Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria. Schwartzman is attempting to become the first homegrown champion in Buenos Aires since David...
Ryan Harrison's start to remember in 2018 continued on Monday at the New York Open. The Louisiana native outplayed compatriot Donald Young 6-3, 7-6(4) to advance to the second round in Long Island. This is the first ATP World Tour tournament on Long Island since 2004 when the tennis took place in August, one week before the US Open. This year’s tournament is being played at the NYCB Live, home of the Nassau Coliseum. Harrison won the 2017 Memphis Open, the former name of this ATP World Tour tournament (d. Basilashvili). “A tricky match... I was serving well early and that was able to get me through a lot of early mistakes and missed opportunities with some early break points,”...
Two-time Argentina Open quarter-finalist Federico Delbonis broke five times to advance to the second round in Buenos Aires on Monday. The 27-year-old left-hander, making his eighth appearance at the Argentina Open, beat Germany's Florian Mayer 7-6(4), 6-4. [ALSO LIKE] Delbonis will next meet Portugal's Gastao Elias or Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, who won his maiden ATP World Tour title at the Ecuador Open in Quito on Sunday. In other action, Delbonis' countryman Guido Pella also moved into the second round, beating countryman Nicolas Kicker 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Serbia's Dusan Lajovic knocked out Argentine qualifier Facundo Bagnis 7-6(4), 6-1; Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez swept wild card Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-3, 6-3; and Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci dropped only three games against...
Alexander Zverev advanced to the second round of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament with a 6-4, 6-3 win over David Ferrer on Monday. The 20-year-old Zverev needed one hour and 24 minutes to dispatch the veteran Spaniard. “It's not easy to play Ferrer, especially in the first round of a tournament,” Zverev said. “This is a tough tournament, and I'm happy with the win.” While Zverev struggled with his serve, he still managed to save nine of 11 break point opportunities. He also converted on five of six break-point opportunities (2/11 for Ferrer). Both committed an uncharacteristic number of unforced errors (Zverev, 26; Ferrer, 31). [ALSO LIKE] “The court is quite quick and the balls are bouncing low. I'm...