Thu, Aug 22, 2019 page16

• Top seeds reach Winston-Salem Open third round

  • AFP, WASHINGTON
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  Top seed Benoit Paire on Tuesday reached the third round of the ATP Winston-Salem Open, beating Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-3, 7-5.

  France’s Paire, ranked 30th in the world, avenged a loss to India’s Gunneswaran at Indian Wells in March.

  Paire broke Gunneswaran in the penultimate game, then capped the contest with his 14th ace on match point to book a round-of-16 meeting with fellow Frenchman Ugo Humbert, who defeated American Bjorn Fratangelo 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

  After enjoying a first-round bye, Paire was glad to get to work in the heat and humidity of North Carolina as part of his buildup to the US Open, which starts on Monday.

  “Honestly, I like to play before the Slam,” he said. “I did the same in Lyon the week before Roland Garros and I won the tournament and after I made the last 16 at Roland Garros so it was good preparation.”

  Second seed Canadian Denis Shapovalov also advanced, beating American Tennys Sandgren 6-2, 6-4.

  World No. 73 Sandgren was coming off a first-round victory over three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray, who was playing just his second singles match since the Australian Open.

  Sandgren battled back from 0-3 down in the second set, going up a service break before Shapavolov came through with a break in the final game to seal the victory.

  “It was definitely a great win,” said Shapovalov, who had not made it past the second round of an ATP event since Lyon in May.

  “So far, so good,” said Shapovalov, who next faces Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 winner over Australian Alexei Popyrin.

  South Korean Lee Duck-hee’s groundbreaking tournament came to an end with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 loss to third seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.

  Lee had become the first deaf player to win an ATP match with his first-round win over Henri Laaksonen.

  “I’m a little bit disappointed right now,” Lee said. “I had many chances that I didn’t utilize, but it was a great experience overall.”

  BRONX OPEN

  Reuters

  American wildcard Bernarda Pera on Tuesday upset Czech third seed Barbora Strycova 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Bronx Open.

  Strycova, who last month reached the Wimbledon semi-finals, battled for nearly two hours before losing to Pera, who is ranked 37 rungs below her in the WTA rankings.

  “I was more focused on my game and finding that balance that is so important for me to play well,” the 24-year-old said. “It’s finding the balance between being too aggressive and being too passive.”

  Strycova’s poor service game cost her, with a double fault in the first game of the final set opening the door for Pera, and the Czech will have to improve quickly if she is to make an impact at the US Open.

  Pera is next to face another Czech player in fifth seed Katerina Siniakova, who advanced after Russian Anastasia Potapova dropped the opening set 6-0 and retired midway through the second set 3-0 down.

  China’s Zhu Lin also retired, with France’s Alize Cornet moving into the last eight.

  Cornet is to face Italy’s Camila Giorgi, who beat Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) in a match that lasted 2 hours, 41 minutes.
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