There were a few shocks to be found on the first day of ply at Indian Wells, as nineteen of a total twenty-four seeds in action won their openers in the Men’s Qualifying Tournament.
Top seed Yuichi Sugita (1) eased past Australian Matt Reid for the loss of just three games, 6-1, 6-2. He will now face Renzo Olivo (17) who struggled in parts against Italy’s Salvatore Caruso, though did eventually win 6-4, 6-7, 6-2.
Austin Krajicek (2) played a particularly erratic match against Brazil’s Caio Zampieri. Things had looked good for the American when he won the first set, dropping just a single game. Zampieri roared back in the second though, breaking three times before both men traded two breaks of serve in the third before Krajicek eventually sealed an unconvincing win 6-1, 2-6, 7-6.
Krajicek’s reward for edging Zampieri is a match with Vicent Millot (16), who defeated Nicolas Meister 7-5, 6-3. The men traded four consecutive breaks of serve midway through the first set before Millot settled, breaking in the penultimate game in the first, and breaking twice without reply in the second.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert got his tournament off to a promising start, winning 6-3, 6-2 against Benjamin Mitchell. The Frenchman broke four times to ensure that he will feature in the second round of qualifying.
Herbert will face another big-serve in that match, as he will face German Mischa Zverev, who dispatched Brazil’s Fernando Romboli 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and four minutes. Zverev broke four times and saved the single break point that Romboli managed to create.
Veteran German Michael Berrer (4), who performed a U-turn on a decision to retire from tennis, is also into the second round, defeating Frenchman Jonathan Eysseric 7-6, 6-2.
That sets up a fascinating encounter with in-form Andrey Rublev (13) who came from a set down to defeat former Top 100 player Somdev Devvarman 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
(5) Tim Smyczek managed an even more remarkable comeback. After taking the first set in a tiebreak against young American Michael Mmoh, Smyczek lost nine of the next twelve games, and found himself down a break and facing more break points. He recovered, broke and eventually won without the need for a third set tiebreak as Mmoh had untimely double-faults.
Smyczek will face another compatriot, Tommy Paul (24) in the qualifying round. Paul defeated Czech Marek Michalicka 7-6, 7-5 after recovering from a break deficit in the first.
(6) John-Patrick Smith was the highest-profile casualty as he fell to Jason Jung 6-3, 6-4. Jung will now face Ryan Harrison (18) after he defeated Matthew Barton 6-3, 6-3.
(7) Go Soeda suffered a shock loss to Marcelo Arevalo, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, and James McGee also fell to (PR) Peter Polansky, the Canadian overturning a two-four tiebreak situation, and then an early break in the second to progress.
(8) Daniel Brands also fell to Ecuador’s Giovanni Lapentti 7-6, 6-3. Lapentti is now the opponent for Jozef Kovalik (20), who defeated Philip Bester 6-4, 6-2.
(9) Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who has enjoyed a decent season so far, edged young American wildcard Ernesto Escobedo 6-2, 1-6, 7-6, and will now face Marco Trungelliti (21) after he beat Connor Smith 6-1, 6-4.
Mitchell Krueger scored a good win as he beat (10) Alejandro Gonzalez 7-6, 6-4. Krueger let slip a 4-0 lead in the second, but recovered to break Gonzalez at the end to reach the second round. Krueger will face countryman Alexander Sarkissian(19) for the right to qualifying after he defeated Sekou Bangoura 6-2, 6-2.
(11) Bjorn Fratangelo made short work of Britain’s Josh Milton, winning 6-2, 6-2, and will now face veteran Radek Stepanek after he beat fellow veteran Victor Hanescu 7-5, 0-6, 6-1.
(12) Dennis Novikov beat the lowest direct acceptance entry Facundo Mena 6-1, 6-0 and will face Noah Rubin (23) after he won 6-4, 6-2 against wildcard Mikhail Ledoviskikh
