Of the three first round matches in Delray Beach Monday, two of the three seeds in action progressed, but one fell. Ivo Karlovic was the major victim, as he lost to qualifier John-Patrick Smith 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
The Croatian third seed helped the Aussie’s cause with a number of free points, double-faulting eleven times, as the tallest player on the ATP World Tour had his serve broken three times. The double-faults proved key, as they were split across the two sets that Smith won, five in the first and six in the second. The set that Karlovic won, the second, he produced no double-faults and seven aces. Such was the discomfort that Karlovic’s normally potent weapon was giving him, that Smith was able to break twice in the third and final set.
Adrian Mannarino avoided the same fate as Karlovic, despite also losing the first set. The French eighth seed defeated Malek Jaziri 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, The Tunisian broke twice in the first set, and lost just five points on his own serve to lead by a seemingly dominant margin. But Mannarino came back to win a tough second set, as the seeded player defended three break points successfully, and managed to break on one of his two opportunities. Mannarino then took full control of the match, breaking a clearly disheartened Jaziri three times and winning fourteen of twenty-one of return points, garnering three breaks.
Grigor Dimitrov was also a winner as he beat Israeli Dudi Sela in the only straight sets encounter. The match was relatively one-sided as Dimitrov broke three times, once in the first and twice in the second, whilst giving up no break points in the process for a 6-4, 6-2 win.
The main draw gets started in earnest on Tuesday, with top seed Kevin Anderson, Bernard Tomic, and Taylor Fritz all in action. There is also the long-awaited return to the tour of Juan Martin Del Potro, who takes on Denis Kudla in his first tour level match since playing in the Miami Masters nearly a year ago.
