American Mackenzie McDonald breezed past No. 8 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-3, 6-2, in 65 minutes Monday in the first round of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
McDonald won 31 of 39 first-service points (79.5 percent), saved five of six break points and held a 5-0 advantage in aces over Basilashvili.
In the next round McDonald will face Alex de Minaur after the Australian crushed Belgium’s David Goffin 6-0, 6-3. Fourth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland outlasted France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 7-6 (7), while sixth-seeded Cameron Norrie of Great Britain beat Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-2, 6-4.
Argentina Open
No. 5 seed Dusan Lajovic of Serbia saved three match points at 5-4, 40-love and rallied back to beat France’s Benoit Paire 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the opening round in Buenos Aires.
Lajovic’s improbable victory was one of four matches to go the distance Monday. In a battle of Serbs, Miomir Kecmanovic upset No. 8 seed Laslo Djere 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. Argentina’s Federico Coria beat Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco outdueled Bolivian qualifier Hugo Dellien 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Two other Argentines did battle in opening-round action when qualifier Francisco Cerundolo defeated Facundo Bagnis 7-5, 6-2. Bagnis kept the match going by saving nine of 15 break points.
Dallas Open
Eighth-seeded Brandon Nakashima of the United States fired 15 aces and just one double fault en route to a 7-5, 7-6 (3) win over Australia’s John Millman in the first round at Dallas.
Nakashima recorded the only service break of the first set in the final game. Millman led 3-2 in the second-set tiebreaker before Nakashima won the final five points.
In the day’s only other match, South Africa’s Kevin Anderson defeated the United States’ Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4. Anderson racked up 21 aces and one double fault while Querrey had 11 aces and no double faults.
–Field Level Media
