Top seed Marin Cilic has crashed out in the first round of the Japan Open after falling 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(1), to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.
Cilic, who reached the semifinals of the tournament over the past two years, failed to capitalise on his chances to seal the win. Twice he served for the match in the deciding set, but was broken by some spirited play produced from the world No.56. Then a lacklustre display in the tiebreaker from the former US Open champion guided an aggressive-playing Struff towards the shock win.
“I have to evaluate the match with my team just to analyze a bit the things that I did well, things that I could do a little bit better. I now have five, six days until my next match in Shanghai, so I have time to train and also to mentally get ready,” Cilic said afterwards. “It’s getting to the end of the season and these events are big and you want to be sharp from the first match on. It’s important to just refresh, analyze well and keep going.”
Scoring a win over a top 10 player for only the second time in his career, Struff produced 28 winners to 34 unforced errors. An improvement on Cilic’s tally of 30 and 45. He will play France’s Jeremy Chardy in the second round. 28-year-old Struff has been ranked as high as 44th in the world, but he is yet to win an title on the ATP World Tour.
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Wawrinka, Gasquet march on
Former champion Stan Wawrinka has kick-started his campaign in Tokyo with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-4, win over America’s Taylor Fritz. The Swiss world No.74 was dominant behind his first serve throughout the match. Winning 31 out of his 32 first service points as he successfully fended off two break points. In total, Wawrinka hit 29 winners to only 17 unforced errors.
“I think the level in general [was good]. I think today I was moving well. I think I was serving really well,” Wawrinka said. “On the indoor court, it’s never easy in the first round. But my level is there, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
On Wednesday the former world No.3 faces a potentially tricky test against Denis Shapovalov. The Canadian defeated Hyeon Chung in his first round match yesterday. Should he prevail, it will be the first time Wawrinka has reached back-to-back quarter-finals on the ATP World Tour this season.
“I think he’s a really dangerous player. He’s playing really well. This year he’s improving a lot week by week,” the 33-year-old said of Shapovalov. “He’s young, he’s going for it, so it’s going to be a tough match for me, especially on an indoor court, fast court. He loves it, he loves to go for it, so I’m expecting a really tough battle.”
Richard Gasquet came through a nail-biting opener to overcome qualifier Denis Kudla 7-6(8), 6-3. The eighth seed was leading the match 5-3, but got broken whilst trying to set the set out. Then in the tiebreaker, Gasquet had to save four set points before stealing the lead. In the second set, it was a single break the guided the former top 10 player over the finish line.
“The first set was very tight. I saved many set points. That made the difference in the match,” Gasquet said. “Of course if he won the first set it’s a completely different match, so that’s why I’m really happy to win this one. We did a lot of running, so it was important to me to win this one and I felt more confident in the second set.”
Bidding to win his first ATP title in Asia since the 2007 Mumbai Open, Gasquet could play Nick Kyrgios next. Kyrgios will start his campaign on Wednesday against newly crowned Shenzhen Open champion Yoshihito Nishioka.
Finally, fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas dismissed Taro Daniel 6-1, 6-3.
