Taiwanese No. 1 Lu Yen-hsun survived a second-set wobble to advance to the second round of the Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand, yesterday, defeating Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.
World No. 46 Lu saved five of nine break-point chances and converted five of 11 to beat the 59th-ranked Argentine in 1 hour, 44 minutes.
The Taiwanese ninth seed, who reached his first ATP Tour singles final in Auckland last year before losing to John Isner of the US, was the only seed to survive day two, and next faces world No. 61 Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain, who defeated Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-4, 6-3.
Photo: AFP
Sixth seed Santiago Giraldo of Colombia crashed out in a 6-2, 6-3 loss to French qualifier Kenny de Schepper, while seventh seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain was defeated 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 by Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman.
Also advancing to the second round yesterday were wild-card Michael Venus of New Zealand, Alejandro Falla of Colombia, Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, Donald Young of the US and Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely.
In the doubles, Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, the world’s top-ranked doubles combination, suffered a shock 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 11-9 loss to unseeded Andre Begemann of Germany and Robin Haase of the Netherlands in the first round.
Photo: AFP
Lu and his partner Oliver Marach of Austria are due to take on Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany and Austria’s Dominic Thiem today.
At the Sydney International, Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro launched his comeback from a serious wrist injury with a convincing 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) win over Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in the first round of the men’s singles.
The former US Open champion is ranked No. 338 after undergoing surgery on his left wrist last year and missing more than 10 months.
Photo: AFP
He was granted a wild card to enter the main draw in Sydney, where he is the defending champion, but appeared to be fit and sharp in beating 69th-ranked Stakhovsky in 88 minutes. He next faces top seed Fabio Fognini in the second round.
It was del Potro’s second extended layoff with a wrist injury. After capturing his only Grand Slam title at the 2009 US Open, he underwent surgery on his right wrist and was sidelined for eight months.
Australian Bernard Tomic needed only 43 minutes to beat Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-2.
In other men’s first-round matches, seventh seed Jeremy Chardy of France had a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sam Querrey, Canada’s Vasek Pospisil beat Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) and Viktor Troicki of Serbia ousted eighth seed Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-2, 6-3.
In women’s second-round matches, second seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic had a 6-1, 7-5 win over Peng Shuai of China on a day when top seed Simona Halep withdrew from the tournament due to gastroenteritis.
Garbine Muguruza of Spain ousted third seed Agnieszka Radwanska 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, while her compatriot Carla Suarez Navarro beat sixth seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria advanced when Madison Keys retired from their match when trailing 4-1 in the second set.
Barbora Zhalavova Strycova of the Czech Republic ousted local hope, former US Open champion Samantha Stosur, 7-6 (7/1), 6-2.
At the Hobart International, Sloane Stephens of the US, the fifth seed, lost to Heather Watson of Britain 6-3, 6-1.
“I didn’t do much wrong,” Watson said. “I served well, returned well, and didn’t make many unforced errors and stayed aggressive.”
Ninth seed Roberta Vinci of Italy beat Annika Beck of Germany, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, while Japan’s Kurumi Nara had a 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 win over Johanna Larsson of Sweden.
In the doubles, fourth seeds Chan Hao-ching of Taiwan and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic are due to face Kimiko Date-Krumm and Karolina Pliskova in the quarter-finals today after the Japanese-Czech duo defeated Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-0, 7-6 (7/3) yesterday.
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