Marcos Giron saved the only break point he faced in his 6-2 7-5 win over Denis Shapovalov to reach the second round at the Fayez Sarofim & Co US Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston. Giron won 65% of second-serve points. The US player stopped a three-match losing streak.
Giron broke twice in the first and third games to race out to a 4-2 lead. Shapovalov saved three set points as he was serving to stay in the set in the seventh game. Giron served out on his fourth set point. Giron broke serve in the 11th game and sealed the win on his first match point. Giron set up a second round match against his compatriot J.J Wolf.
Alexandar Kovacevic battled past Thanasi Kokkinakis 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 in the longest first round match in tournament history after 3 hours and 16 minutes
Both players went on serve in the first set. Kovacevic saved two set points in the 12th game. Kovacevic earned an early break point to take a 3-1 lead. Kokkinakis pulled back on serve to draw level to 3-3. Kovacevic won the final four points to claim the first set 7-3. The second set went on serve en route with no breaks to the second tie-break, which started with four consecutive mini-breaks. Kokkinakis won five consecutive points with two mini-breaks to win the second tie-break 7-2.
Kovacevic saved five of the six break points he faced and dropped his serve in the first game of the third set. Kovacevic pulled back on serve in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. The US player closed out the third set 6-4 with his second break in the 10th game.
Kovacevic won 80% of his first serve points and hit 14 aces to set up a set up a second round match against either this year’s Los Cabos champion Jordan Thompson or Wu Yibing.
“I was just trying to get a good performance for my first tournament on clay for this season. That’s what I did and whether I won or lost, I was still happy with my performance today”, said Kovacevic.
Max Purcell battled past Alex Michelsen 7-5 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 after 2 hours and 49 minutes. Michelsen saved two break points in the eighth game of the third set. Purcell earned the decisive break in the 10th game.
James Duckworth beat last year’s Houston semifinalist Gijs Brower 6-3 6-3.