Great Britain are due to face Belgium on the clay in Ghent soon enough. Some encouraging news is that both Kyle Edmund and James Ward, two of the players expected to support Andy Murray in the singles, both won matches on clay today.
Challenger round-up:
Bratislava: Top seed Lukas Rosol beat Daniel Brands 7-6, 6-3. The Czech won a tiebreak, and broke twice in the second set without dropping serve for the win. Lukas Lacko defeated Mikael Ymer comfortably 6-4, 6-2, and Edouard Roger-Vasselin benefited from Michal Pryzsiezny’s injury to progress to the second round after the Pole retired when down 4-2. Nobert Gombos also progressed, but fifth seed Faraukh Dustov was the biggest casualty, losing in straight sets to qualifier Alexey Vatutin, 6-3, 6-4.
Elias Ymer takes on Rade Stepanek in a blockbuster first round match on Wednesday. They are up second on centre court.
Mouilleron Le Captif: There were even fewer shocks in France, as no seeded players fell. Marco Chiudinelli gave the best effort, taking a set from young Frenchman Lucas Pouille, but fell 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 after just over two hours. There was easier progress for the other seeds, as Marcel Granollers, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Sergiy Stakhovsky, and Marsel Ilhan all won without dropping a set. Vincent Millot did cause a surprise, ignoring a fifty-nine ranking difference to beat Radu Albot 6-7, 6-3, 6-1.
Adrian Mannarino highlights Wednesday, facing qualifier Yannick Reuter in the evening session after Teymuraz Gabashvili plays Gregoire Barrere.
Ortesei: Top seed Ricardas Berankis did eventually progress, but young German Maximilian Marterer pushed him all the way, in a 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 win for Berankis after two hours eleven minutes. Things were a little more straightforward for third seed Rajeev Ram, as he beat Nikola Mektic 6-4, 6-4. German veteran Michael Berrer also progressed, winning two tiebreaks against Kevin Krawietz.
Eight seed Andrea Arnaboldi faces Lorenzi Giustino in an all Italian clash Wednesday, before top seed Ricardas Berankis takes on Ramkumar Ramanathan in the evening session. Mirza Basic and Michael Berrer are also in action.
Buenos Aires: Some early shocks here, but thankfully those of a British disposition were not the victims, but more the beneficiaries. Kyle Edmund beat Andre Ghem 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, whilst Ward defeated Hugo Dellien 2-6, 6-3 6-3. Ward’s path has been made much easier as two seeds from his section fell. Rogerio Dutra Silva’s defeat means that Ward will now face his vanquisher Christian Garin in rd two after Dutra Silva retired after losing the first set 6-3. Maximo Gonzalez also took care of second seed Guido Pella, further assisting in clearing Ward’s draw.
Kobe: Top seed John Millman needed just over an hour to defeat lucky loser Masato Shiga 6-1, 6-1. Omar Jasika also destroyed Hiroki Moriya 6-1, 6-0, as Australia continued to get the better of Japan in Tuesday’s play. Second seed Matt Ebden needed two tiebreaks to beat qualifier Kento Takeuchi 7-6, 7-6.
Wednesday looks particularly exciting in the evening session, as Konstantin Kravchuk will face Omar Jasika, and then John Millman will battle highly-rated teen Duckhee Lee. Prediction winners: Jasika and Millman
Knoxville: Early play in the US saw fifth seed James Duckworth defeat former Wimbledon doubles champion Frederik Nielsen 7-6, 6-4. Mischa Zverev make light work of American wildcard Hunter Reese, 6-1, 6-0, and Dan Evans defeated Daniel Nguyen 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Evans, like Ward and Edmund, will be hoping to play some part in the Davis Cup Final for Great Britain.
John-Patrick Smith vs Taylor Fritz is still to come Tuesday evening US time. Prediction: Fritz
