Taiwan’s Tseng Chun-hsin on Monday defeated Nick Chappell of the US 6-4, 6-4 at the Los Cabos Open in Mexico, his third victory on the ATP Tour this season.
The 20-year-old won 84 percent of points on his first serve and did not face a break point to advance after 1 hour, 31 minutes.
The Taiwanese, who earlier this season lifted ATP Challenger Tour trophies in Bengaluru, India, and Murcia, Spain, before he made his debut at the French Open, next faces reigning champion Cameron Norris of Britain.
Photo: EPA-EFE
In Washington, three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray of Britain crashed out in the opening round of the Citi Open, falling to Sweden’s Mikael Ymer.
The 35-year-old Scotsman fell to world No. 115 Ymer 7-6 (10/8), 4-6, 6-1 after 2 hours, 50 minutes at the US Open tuneup.
“I’m excited,” said Ymer, who saved four set points in the first set. “A lot left to do, but it’s a very good start of the American swing.”
World No. 50 Murray, the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion, is trying to earn a seeding at the US Open, which he won a decade ago.
“It’s still possible,” Murray said. “I would just need to have a good run in Canada or Cincinnati really. It’s pretty straightforward if I was to make a quarter-final or a semi-final, which right now — after a loss like that — doesn’t seem realistic. I do feel like if I play very well that I could do that, but I’ll need to certainly play better than I did today.”
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, playing her first singles match in nearly a year, was also eliminated in the opening round, falling to Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
“It was nice to have the crowd behind me,” Williams said. “Definitely a great experience. It’s my first match so I didn’t think I played well a lot of the times. Just trying to shake off some rust. That’s just to be expected. All I can do is just play another tournament and play better.”
Williams had not played a WTA singles match since falling to Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei 49 weeks ago in Chicago.
Ymer, who lost his only career ATP final in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in August last year next faces 15th seed Aslan Karatsev.
Ymer won 75 percent of his first-serve points, 49 of 65, and smashed 37 winners past Murray, who made only 25 with 35 unforced errors, five more than Ymer.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep, coming off a Wimbledon semi-final run, beat Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 7-5.
“Always the first round is difficult when you change the surface,” third seed Halep said. “I know it’s going to take time to make the game more solid.”
US top seed Jessica Pegula cruised 6-2, 6-2 over US wild-card Hailey Baptiste.
Britain’s Kyle Edmund made a triumphant return to ATP singles after three knee surgeries and a 20-month layoff by defeating Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki 6-4, 7-6 (10/8).
Edmund next faces British 16th seed Daniel Evans.
“I didn’t find it easy today,” Edmund said. “I hung in there and I got my reward in the end.”
Taiwan’s Wu Tung-lin retired at 3-3 against Alexei Popyrin of Australia.
At the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, California, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Shuko Aoyama of Japan defeated Japanese duo Makoto Ninomiya and Eri Hozumi 7-6 (12/10), 6-4 in the women’s doubles.
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