Taylor Fritz scored a win that could be very important for his season, as the wildcard youngster defeated Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of Indian Wells.
The American broke in the fourth game, and never looked back, securing a further two breaks in the second set. Paire lost only two points on his first serve in the match. However, the Frenchman only landed 45% of his first serves and lost 69% of his second serve points. Fritz took his chances, going three for three on break points and saving the lone break point that Paire created in the first set.
Frit’z season so far has been comparatively underwhelming to his good year last year, where he reached the Memphis final. He will play Marin Cilic in the second round.
In other first round matches from the bottom half of the draw there was an all Russian meeting. Experience trumped youth as veteran Mikhail Youzhny defeated Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-4. Medvedev was clearly ailing from injury or illness during the match.
Former Junior No.1 Jiri Vesely recovered from a poor second set to beat Renzo Olivo 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert was also a first round winner. Unsurprisingly, the big server’s match featured two tiebreaks against Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, with Herbert winning 7-6, 6-7, 6-3. Former Top 10 player Kevin Anderson faced surprise qualifier Federico Gaio in a favourable first round. The tall South African beat the Italian 6-1, 6-4, and will face American Steve Johnson in the second round.
Finally, Britain’s Kyle Edmund faced a player in Gastao Elias whose favoured surface is clay. The end result was therefore was not that surprising, as Edmund powered to a 6-1, 6-3 win. Edmund will face the out-of-form Novak Djokovic in the second round.
