Taylor Fritz, Fernando Verdasco and Julien Benneteau won their first round matches of the BB&T Atlanta Open on Tuesday.
The 18 year-old Fritz easily eliminated Wild Card Austin Smith 6-2 6-2 and will play fellow American Bjorn Fratangelo, who dismissed the Dutch Igor Sijsling 6-1 7-6(2).
The Spaniard fifth seed Verdasco, who is playing his first tournament on hard courts since March, faced just two break points in a 7-6(2) 6-4 win on Serbian Dusan Lajovic.
“It was a great atmosphere and I was very happy to play here for the first time,” said Verdasco. “A lot of people [were] cheering for me; it was a pleasure for me and it made me feel really good and I enjoyed playing.”
In the second round he will face off with the Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who beat the Australian qualifier John-Patrick Smith 6-4 6-2.
The biggest upset of the day was made by Argentinian Horacio Zeballos, who battled past sixth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3 6-7(5) 6-4, hitting 14 aces and saving five of the seven break points faced.
Also, Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky was downed by German lucky-loser Tobias Kamke 7-6(7) 7-6(2) in two hours and six minutes of play. Stakhovsky complained about the noise on Grandstand court, where he played. “Just finished the match on the worst court of Atp World Tour” he stated on twitter. “Was surprised nobody was doing barbecue in the corner”.
Atp 250 Atlanta (USA) , Day 2 results:
B.Fratangelo (USA) def I.Sijsling (NED) 6-1 7-6(2)
T.Fritz (USA) def A.Smith (USA) 6-2 6-2
H.Zeballos (ARG) def G.Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 6-3 6-7(5) 6-4
T.Kamke (GER) def S.Stakhovsky (UKR) 7-6(7) 7-6(2)
Y.Nishioka (JPN) def D.Evans (GBR) 6-2 6-7(2) 7-6(4)
F.Verdasco (ESP) def D.Lajovic (SRB) 7-6(2) 6-4
J.Benneteau (FRA) def John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 6-4 6-2
