Second seed Milos Raonic secured a comeback win in a successful debut at the ATP Rotterdam World Tennis event, beating Russian qualifier Alexander Kuznetsov 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 7-5 on Tuesday.
Raonic hammered 19 aces — the last on match point — to reach the second round, in which he faces Italy’s Simone Bolelli.
The Canadian lost the opening set in a tie-breaker before steadying to win in just under two hours.
Photo: EPA
“It can be tough to adapt to match conditions, As a qualifier, Kuznetsov already had two matches on this surface,” Raonic said. “I was behind, but I’m happy with how I fought today.”
Tomas Berdych started with a defeat of Tobias Kamke 6-1, 7-5, winning with 11 aces in just under 90 minutes.
French eighth seed Gilles Simon overcame a slow start to defeat Portugal’s Joao Sousa 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
The French No. 2 was joined in the second round by compatriot Jeremy Chardy, who advanced when another countryman, Julien Benneteau, retired 3-3 with a leg injury.
Simon wore down the resistance of Portugal’s Sousa in just under two-and-a-half hours.
The Frenchman saved eight break points and fired eight aces in a labored victory.
“It was a really difficult match,” said the 19th-ranked winner, who faced a dangerous No. 46 opponent. “I got on top of him in the first set, but he came back to win the set [from 5-2 down].”
Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky reached the second round over Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-2, 7-6 (9/7), while Canadian Vasek Pospisil spent just an hour in a winning debut with a defeat of German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2.
Pospisil, the reigning Wimbledon doubles champion, broke Kohlschreiber three times on the way to his fourth win of the year. The Canadian broke the German twice in the second set in what he called a perfect performance.
“I played a flawless match, I did everything well,” the ATP No. 59 said. “My forehand and return were both working. I didn’t do much wrong today.”
Gael Monfils beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin in a French battle 6-3, 6-2.
Memphis Open
AFP, MEMPHIS, Tennessee
Croatian fifth seed Ivo Karlovic advanced to the second round of the ATP Memphis Open on Tuesday, blasting 23 aces to defeat Slovakian Lukas Lacko 7-6 (9/7), 6-3.
Karlovic, ranked 25th, had won their only prior meeting in the first round at Wimbledon in 2009. The big-serving 35-year-old next faces US qualifier Austin Krajicek, who outlasted Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (10/8).
Also booking a date in the round of 16 was Australian Bernard Tomic, who rallied to oust Dutchman Igor Sijsling 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Tomic, a 22-year-old German-born Aussie ranked 49th in the world, surrendered two service breaks in the opening set, but saved five of six break points over the final two sets while breaking four times, three in the final set.
US qualifier Ryan Harrison reached a second-round matchup with Nishikori by defeating Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/1).
Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun exited in the first round, going down in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 to Samuel Groth of Australia.
Additional reporting by staff writer
BRAZIL OPEN
AP, SAO PAULO, Brazil
Defending champion Federico Delbonis lost to lucky loser Facundo Bagnis 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the first round of the Brazil Open on Tuesday.
Bagnis, ranked 117th in the world, broke service once in the first set and once in the third to win the all-Argentine match at the clay-court tournament in South America’s biggest city.
The 62nd-ranked Delbonis won his first and only ATP title last year in Sao Paulo.
Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, runner-up to Delbonis last year, lost 7-5, 6-4 to Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.
Seventh-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 6-3 win over qualifier Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina.
Argentine Juan Monaco lost to qualifier Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in nearly three hours.
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