Top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime and Russian Daniil Medvedev have progressed via their first-round ties on the ATP Rotterdam Open.
Auger-Aliassime received his first Tour-level title on the occasion final yr and went from power to power in 2022, successful one other three singles trophies.
The world No.8, seeded third, began his title defence with a convincing 6-2 6-3 defeat of Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego on Tuesday.
“Of course, I was hoping to win and get through, but 6-2 6-3 is a great performance against a player that is tricky like he is … it’s a great way to start the week,” mentioned Auger-Aliassime, who wanted simply 82 minutes to clinch victory and arrange a last-16 assembly with qualifier Gregoire Barrere.
“Of course, the best thing I can do compared to last year is win again, so hopefully I can do that. The draw is really strong, but I’m confident if I can keep playing the way I did today I’ll get my chances.”
Auger-Aliassime is perhaps the reigning champion, however world No.3 Tsitsipas is the match favorite.
Emil Ruusuvuori was no match for Australian Open runner-up, who prevailed 7-5 6-1 and has a 13-1 document for the season.
Tsitsipas, who might face Open Sud de France champion Jannik Sinner within the subsequent spherical, ensured there could be no curse of the highest seed in Rotterdam, the place the favorite had misplaced their first match in two of the final three editions.
On each events (2020 and 2021), that was Medvedev, however the former world No.1 on Tuesday fought from a set right down to beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 4-6 6-2 6-2.
World No.10 Hubert Hurkacz additionally needed to battle towards a Spaniard within the type of Roberto Bautista Agut. The fifth seed wanted three hours to win 7-5 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-4) and tee up an encounter with Grigor Dimitrov.
Alexander Zverev defeated Soonwoo Kwon in straight units to e book his progress, whereas Gijs Brouwer received the higher of Marc-Andrea Huesler.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
