David Goffin kicked-off his campaign at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel Open with a clinical 6-1, 6-2, win over France’s Stephane Robert in the first round.
The fifth seed experienced little difficulty during the 55-minute match as he took advantage of his opponents patchy play. During the encounter Robert only managed to get 35% of his first serves in and produced a costly 25 unforced errors.
“I was really solid on my serve, when I needed to, and I am really happy with my performance tonight,” Goffin told atpworldtour.com. “It was close at some points, especially in the middle of the second set, but I was really solid and it was not an easy match. I’ve won a lot of matches in the past couple of weeks and I’m in good shape. The crowd were amazing and it’s really nice to play the night session. The atmosphere on court is really good.”
The Belgian, who hit 18 winners during his first round match, will play either Kyle Edmund or Sam Querrey in the second round.
John Isner became the first seed to crash out in Mexico as his lacklustre start to the season continues. Facing compatriot Steve Johnson, the eighth seed was unable to get a single break point chance. In contrast, Johnson had six opportunities, successfully converting two of them, to book a second round meeting with Ernesto Escobedo.
Since the start of the year, Isner has only managed to win three matches in four tournaments. As a consequence, the American has slipped out of the world’s top 20 and could drop even lower after this week.
Borna Coric breezed past Mexican world No.560 Lucas Gomez 6-1, 6-1. The disparity in experience between the two proved too much for Gomez as Coric won 91% of his first service points and converted five out of six break points to set up a potential showdown with third seed Marin Cilic. Cilic faces Alexandr Dolgopolov in his first match on Tuesday.
