Second seed Grigor Dimitrov beat Yuichi Sugita 6-4 7-6 (7-5) in a hard-fought match after 1 hour and 46 minutes to secure his spot in the second round the ABN AMRO in Rotterdam.
The 2017 ATP Finals champion sealed the first set by 6-4 with his only break on his third chance after a marathon 10th game at deuce.
Sugita earned his first break in the third game of the second set to take a 2-1 lead. As the Japanese player served at 5-4 to force a deciding set, Dimitrov broke back to draw level to 5-5 before setting up a tie-break. The Bulgarian star sealed the tie-break on his second match point.
Dimitrov, who beat Sugita for the third time in their third head-to-head meetings, will face last year’s Paris Bercy Masters 1000 finalist Filip Krajinovic, who edged 17-year-old Felix Auger Aliassime 6-2 3-6 7-5 on Tuesday.
“It was my first match in three weeks, and you’re always a little rusty.” Said Dimitrov, who has recently been hampered by a shoulder problem.
“I was trying to find rhythm. I faced a quality player and I’m happy with how things went for me today — I was pain-free in my shoulder.”
Last year’s finalist David Goffin has dropped just eight games in his first two matches in the tournament. His latest triumph was a 6-1, 6-3, win over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-1 6-3.
Goffin fired nine aces and dropped just one point on his first serve in each set to seal the win in just 55 minutes. The Belgian star broke twice to race out to a 4-0 lead and closed out the opening set with his third break on his third set point in the seventh game.
The Belgian earned his fourth break of the match at deuce in the fourth game to open up a 4-1 lead. Lopez held on his serve in the sixth game at deuce after saving two break points for 2-4 but Goffin held his final two service games at love to close out the match. Goffin will face either Tomas Berdych or Viktor Troicki in the quarter final.
Andrey Rublev broke serve four times after trailing 0-3 in the opening set to beat last week’s Montpellier champion Lucas Pouille 7-5 6-4.
‘’I am of course happy with this victory. Especially when the stands are so well filled so early in the day.’’ Said the world No.34.
Rublev was beaten by Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in the opening round of the qualifying round at last year’s edition. He will take on Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who beat Marius Copil 6-4 6-4.
Robin Haase dropped just six points on serve and did not face any break points in his 6-2 6-2 win over his compatriot Thiemo De Bakker after 54 minutes in an all-Dutch clash.
Finally, Pierre-Hugues Herbert was leading 3-1 when compatriot Richard Gasquet was forced to withdraw from the match just a few days after reaching the final in Montpellier. Herbert will play against Russia’s Danil Medvedev in the second round.
