Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun made a winning start in the men’s singles with a comfortable straight sets victory over Argentina’s Eduardo Schwank at the Miami ATP Masters and WTA hard court tournament on Thursday.
Lu downed the world No. 55 from Rosario 6-2, 6-2 to set up a second-round clash with 20th seeded Russian Igor Andreev, who received a first-round bye.
Men’s world No. 1 Rafael Nadal also learned who he’ll open his campaign against when Russia’s Teimuraz Gabashvili beat Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to book a meeting with the Spaniard.
PHOTO: EPA
Nadal arrived in Florida seeking his second elite Masters title in as many starts after his triumph in Indian Wells, California, on Sunday.
He, too, opened his season with a Grand Slam victory in Australia and also reached a final in Rotterdam last month.
But as the seeds swing into action, it will be two players seeking to kick start their campaigns that take center stage — Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Federer, the world No. 2 who took six weeks off to nurse his ailing back after falling to Nadal in the Australian Open final, lost in the semi-finals at Indian Wells and remains in search of his first title of the season.
The Swiss second seed will face qualifier Kevin Kim of the US.
Serbia’s Djokovic, seeded third, will play Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic.
Djokovic is trying to bounce back from a disappointing quarter-final exit at Indian Wells, where he was the defending champion, at the hands of Andy Roddick.
Djokovic, who has world No. 4 Andy Murray snapping at his heels in the world rankings, called his sluggish performance in a 6-3, 6-2 loss to the American one of his worst performances.
“I feel good, even though the last match I played in Indian Wells was quite disappointing,” Djokovic said. “It was really one of the worst matches I’ve played in my career on this surface, so I was not happy with the way I performed. But, you know, life goes on. Hopefully now I can get far.”
In other matches on Thursday, Sam Querrey led a quartet of Americans into the second round. Querrey beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-4, 6-3.
US qualifier John Isner beat Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4, 6-4 and American qualifier Amer Delic fired 17 aces in a 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) victory over Belgian Steve Darcis.
Bobby Reynolds of the US failed to get a game in the opening set, but rallied for an 0-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over Juan Ignacio Chela.
In women’s first-round action, Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan won the first set of her first-round match against Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, but lost the next two to crash out 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
American Alexa Glatch made the most of her wild card invitation to book a second-round clash with world No. 1 Serena Williams. Glatch, ranked 124th in the world, defeated Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky 6-4, 6-1 to advance to a meeting with Williams, a five-time Miami champion who claimed her 10th career Grand Slam title at the Australian Open this year.
Argentina’s Gisela Dulko booked a meeting with last year’s runner-up Jelena Jankovic after a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino and Israel’s Shahar Peer advanced to a meeting with Venus Williams with a 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) victory over Belgian wild card Tamaryn Hendler.
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