Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun advanced to the second round for the Western & Southern Open on Monday, defeating world No. 45 Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan for the first time.
World No. 43 Lu, who turns 31 tomorrow and who lost 7-5, 6-2 to Istomin in the round-of-16 of last year’s BB&T Atlanta Open, served seven aces, saved the only break-point he faced and converted two of three break-point chances to notch a 6-3, 6-4 victory in just 55 minutes.
Lu next faces fourth seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who knocked the Taiwanese No. 1 out of the second round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto last week.
Photo: EPA
Lu, who went down fighting in a 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4 loss to the world No. 5 in 2 hours, 18 minutes in Canada, will be hoping he can improve on that performance this week.
The top eight seeds, including Berdych, had a bye in the first round.
Also on Monday, 11th seed John Isner of the US reached the second round with a relatively easy 6-3, 6-4 win over South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.
The match was just the second in their 10 meetings in which at least one set did not go a tiebreaker.
“That one’s not the norm for us,” said Isner, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal in last year’s tournament. “I thought I played well from the very beginning. I was seeing the ball well. From the first warmup ball, I felt like it was going to be a good night. It helped that Kevin didn’t play as well as he normally plays. A lot of things went well.”
Fifteenth-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini avoided an upset, pulling out a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5) win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, while Gilles Simon earned a second-round match against top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia with a 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Bernard Tomic of Australia.
In the women’s singles, Dominika Cibulkova became the first seeded woman to be ousted after the No. 11 seed lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-3.
Three other seeded women who played on Monday advanced to the second round. Ninth seed Ana Ivanovic came from behind in the second set to beat Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 7-5, while 12th seed Caroline Wozniacki dispatched Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-3 in a match that was interrupted by a late-afternoon storm and 13th seed Flavia Pennetta prevailed over qualifier Chanelle Scheepers 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2.
Ivanovic prevailed despite dealing with lingering back problems, she said.
“I was happy,” the Serbian said. “I was a little bit doubtful going on the court considering [the] last few weeks. I had a little bit [of a] struggle with my back, but I was able to move free, especially in the first set, and I played well. Also, it was tough playing a good friend of mine. It’s never easy. You have to put it aside and try to do the best you can on court.”
Samantha Stosur faces top seed Serena Williams in the second round after defeating Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 7-5.
Earlier in the day, Madison Keys accomplished something Serena could not — beating Alize Cornet.
Keys pulled off a 6-2, 6-4 win over Cornet to advance.
“I don’t have many complaints about today,” the 19-year-old American said. “I definitely played pretty well and stayed in my game for the most part. There’s obviously a couple of things that I still want to work on and have better for next round, but I’m pretty happy with today.”
Cornet, who upset the world No. 1 Serena in the third round at Wimbledon six weeks ago, was playing with an injured left leg that she said started bothering her during her second-round loss to Victoria Azarenka last Tuesday at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
“That’s not the reason I lost, but it didn’t help,” said the Frenchwoman, who lost to Keys earlier this year. “She was very aggressive, hitting all winners.”
Three qualifiers also advanced on Monday. Taylor Townsend outlasted Klara Koukalova 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, while Pauline Parmentier eliminated Casey Dellacqua 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 and Karin Knapp upset wild-card Belinda Bencic 6-2, 7-6 (7/1).
In other women’s singles matches, Kirsten Flipkens defeated qualifier Polona Hercog 6-3, 6-2, while Zhang Shuai beat Heather Watson 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 and Elina Svitolina cruised past Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-2.
In the men’s draw, 16th seed Tommy Robredo survived a first-set tiebreaker to advance to the second round with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 win over wild-card Jack Sock of the US.
Fernando Verdasco needed three sets to eliminate fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
Two other players advanced with their first career wins over their opponents, qualifier Benjamin Becker, whose 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 upset of Ivo Karlovic was the German’s first win in seven matches against Croatian world No. 28, while Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, the German world No. 24’s first victory in three matches against the Frenchman.
Qualifier Marinko Matosevic moved on with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) win over Nicolas Mahut, while Gael Monfils needed three sets to get past world No. 63 Federico Delbonis 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
No. 37 Joao Sousa was tested by qualifier Chase Buchanan before prevailing 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5), while Jerzy Janowicz easily advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Teymuraz Gabashvili.
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