Fernando Verdasco’s bid for a second title in Houston has started with a convincing 6-4, 6-3, win over Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq.
The 2014 champion endured a testing opening encounter at the tournament as he struggled throughout with his first serve, especially in the first set when he achieved a 44% success rate. Despite the troubles, the 32-year-old was able to tame Berlocq after 100 minutes of action on the court.
Verdasco, who defeated Rafael Nadal in this year’s Australian Open, will play seventh seed Marcos Baghdatis in the second round. The Cypriot seed was in impressive form during the first round as he crushed world No.88 Diego Schwartzman 6-0, 6-0. Baghdatis won 100% of his first serve chances and 63% of his second during the brief 48-minute match. It is the first time that a player has won a match without dropping a game at the tournament since 1986.
Tommy Paul grabbed his first win on the ATP World Tour after stunning Italian eighth seed Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-3. The 18-year-old, who is currently ranked 200th in the world, fended off 3/4 break points and converted 4/5 of his own.
“I did a good job of keeping a lot of balls on the court and making first serves,” Paul said after his victory over Lorenzi.
“And it helped that I started strong. I’ve spent a lot of time in the gym recently, so I came in feeling good. I felt pretty comfortable out there today. You know, I really love the clay.”
Last year Paul won the French Open Boys’ title, defeating Taylor Fritz in the final. He was also runner-up at the US Open juniors. In the second round Paul will play another young talent on the ATP Tour, Hyeon Chung.
Sam Querry overcame a bombardment of aces from Reily Opelka to seal a 6-4, 7-6(4), win. The fifth seed produced eight aces during the match compared to his opponents 13. Querrey also had to recover from a 1-3 deficit in the second set to seal the win. Shortly after his win, the fifth seed praised the performance of the 2015 Wimbledon Boys’ champion.
“He’s tough,” said Querry.
“You don’t really get to play (against him). You can go 10 minutes without hitting a forehand. I’ll have to go hit a few balls tomorrow to get back on track. His serve is, I think, consistently faster than Isner’s or Ivo Karlovic’s.”
Elsewhere in Houston, Donald Young knocked out sixth seed Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-3, to grab his fifth main draw win of 2016. Next up for Young will be another American, Tim Smyczek. Smyczek battled past qualifier Nicolas Kicker 6-4, 6-7(5),6-4.
Headliners to start their campaigns on Wednesday
The top contenders for the title in Houston will start their bids on the third day of the tournament. Top seed John Isner will face Denis Kudla. The top seed is at the tournament without a coach after separating with Justin Gimelstob. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Isner said the two men ended their partnership on mutual grounds.
“He’ll always be in my corner and we’ll always remain great friends.” Isner said about Gimelstob.
Second seed Benoit Paire will be hoping for a strong run this week after a lackluster start to 2016. The Frenchman has reached two ATP semi-finals this year, but has also suffered first match losses at five other tournaments. He will kick-off his campaign against Argentina’s Juan Monaco.
Defending champion Jack Sock will be hoping to become the first player since Andre Agassi back in 2003 to win back-to-back titles in Houston. Despite the big expectations, Sock recently told The Houston Chronicle that he is taking things ‘one match at a time’.
“I’m going one match at a time,” Sock said.
“I’m not thinking about the ranking. I’ve been here for almost a week now so I’ve had a chance to get myself ready.”
The defending champion will play Australia’s Matthew Barton on Wednesday.
