Fifth seed Sam Querrey has started his bid for a first title of 2018 with a straightforward 6-2, 6-3, win over Mexican wild card entrant Lucas Gómez at the Los Cabos Open.
Querrey, who hasn’t won a trophy since his triumph at the tournament 12 months ago, fired nine aces and lost only two points behind his first serve during the 50-minute match. He also converted all three of his break point opportunities to set up a second round clash with Egor Gerasimov from Belarus. Gerasimov dismissed Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-3, in his opening match.
“I feel like I played well. It’s good to get the first match out of my way, and hopefully just keep playing better and better,” Querrey told atpworldtour.com.
So far this season, Querrey has won 16 out of 29 matches played on the tour in what has been a roller coaster year. A disappointing clay court season saw him win only one match in four tournaments. Known for his speedy serve, he fared better on the grass by reaching the quarter-finals of Queen’s followed by the third round at Wimbledon.
This week Querrey is bidding to reach the semifinals or better at an ATP tournament for the first time since the New York Open in February.
Elsewhere at the tournament, Feliciano Lopez overcame Egyptian qualifier Mohamed Safwat 7-6(3), 6-4. The former finalist hit a total of 12 aces and won 81% of his total service points.
“Surely, one of the things that I did good today was the serve.” Lopez was quoted by abiertoloscabos.com as saying.
“Games like this are difficult because a long time ago, I did not play on such a fast surface and in these different conditions; just last Friday, I was playing a match on clay at 1,500 meters and suddenly today, I’m playing here in tremendous heat, on a different surface
“It was very important to play smart, hold my serve and take advantage of the few opportunities I was going to have- and that is how it was. Despite the big difference in ranking, he played very well too.”
Lopez faces a potentially tricky challenge in the next round against Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie. Norrie is currently ranked 74th in the world, one place adrift of his ranking best. Last week he reached the semi-finals of the Atlanta Open.
Top seed Juan Martin del Potro, who has a first round bye, will get his campaign underway on Wednesday against American qualifier Marcos Giron. Giron defeated El Salvador’s Marcelo Arévalo in straight sets.
