The tennis calendar not often sleeps, and whereas Wimbledon continues to be clearing up after a memorable fortnight the circus has moved on to the US hardcourt circuit the place Australia’s males have made a great begin.
Jordan Thompson and Rinky Hijikata received their first spherical matches on the Hall of Fame Open at Newport, Rhode Island, on Monday as Alex Bolt and Li Tu got here by way of two rounds of qualifying.
Thompson, who went out to eventual finalist Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, brushed apart American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-0 6-1 in little greater than an hour.
In the final 16 he’ll face Britain’s Liam Broady, who made headlines at Wimbledon when he knocked out world No.4 Casper Ruud.
Hijikata was extra examined however nonetheless noticed off Jordan’s Abdullah Shelbayh 6-3 6-4 to arrange a tie towards second seed Adrian Mannarino, of France.
Bolt beat Skander Mansouri, of Tunisia, who’s ranked 158 locations above him at 187, 6-4 6-1 to make the primary draw whereas Tu overcame Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko 6-3 6-2. They are but to seek out out their opening main-draw opponents.
Also collaborating within the Rhode Island occasion are Aleksandar Vukic, who has a bye to the second spherical, Max Purcell and James Duckworth.
Purcell may meet 2018 Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson within the second spherical if he beats Gijs Brouwer of the Netherlands.
Former world No.5 Anderson has come out of retirement having stop in May 2022.
The 37-year-old South African mentioned he gave up tennis resulting from accidents inflicting him bodily and emotional ache however now “felt much better” and needed “to challenge myself again”.
Also within the draw is John Isner, who Anderson famously beat 26-24 within the fifth set within the 2018 Wimbledon semi-final, prompting the event to lastly introduce fifth set tie-breaks.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
