Jan-Lennard Struff beat this year’s Roland Garros semifinalist Marco Cecchinato from Italy 6-3 6-4 in 1 hour and 8 minutes.
Struff broke serve once in each set and saved both break points he faced in the fourth game of the second set. He won two matches on hard court at the same tournament for the first time this season.
In the first set Struff earned a break point in the fourth game and broke Cecchinato to open up a 4-2 lead. The German player held serve on his second deuce to close out the opening set 6-3 in just under 40 minutes, when he was serving for the set in the ninth game. Cecchinato did not convert two break points at 2-1 in the second set. Both players went on serve in the next games until 4-4 when Struff got the break before holding serve at love in the next game to reach the round of 16.
US Next Gen player Taylor Fritz beat Malek Jaziri 6-1 6-4 in 63 minutes in their second head-to-head match in Winston Salem. Fritz, who reached the quarter finals in Winston Salem one year ago, saved all the six break points and converted three of his nine break points. Fritz saved four break points in the first game and converted the fourth break point in the second game, when Jaziri netted a backhand. Fritz got a double break, when Jaziri sent a backhand slice long. The US player closed out the first set with a volley winner in 25 minutes.
Both players went on serve in the first six games of the second set before Jaziri fended off a break point in the seventh game with a service winner. Fritz saved two break points to draw level to 4-4, before breaking serve at 15 in the ninth game to serve out for the match. The US Next Gen player closed out the match in the 10th game to set up a second round match against Filip Krajnovic.
Fritz will make an attempt to reach his second semifinal of the season after Houston.
Tommy Paul never faced a break point to beat Laslo Djere 6-3 7-6 (7-4).
Jaume Munar battled past Brayden Schnur 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-1) setting up a second round match against last year’s ATP Next Gen runner-up Andrey Rublev.
