ATP roundup: Wawrinka wins Rotterdam opener

[February 12, 2019]    Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka improved his season match record to just 4-3 with a 7-6 (4), 6-1 win over France's Benoit Paire on Monday in the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament at Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Wawrinka, 33, is currently ranked 68th in the world as he continues his comeback from two knee surgeries. He lost each of his previous two matches, in the second round at the Australian Open last month and in the first round at the Sofia (Bulgaria) Open last week.

Wawrinka won 72 percent of his first-serve points to just 56 percent for Paire.

Other opening-round winners in Rotterdam were ninth-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, Italy's Andreas Seppi and Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin.

The tournament's top two seeds -- No. 1 Kei Nishikori of Japan and No. 2 Karen Khachanov of Russia -- begin play Tuesday, as does No. 4 Milos Raonic of Canada.

Argentina Open

Italian qualifier Lorenzo Sonego pulled off a first-round upset in Buenos Aires, beating sixth-seeded Nicolas Jarry of Chile 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3.

Sonego, a 23-year-old who is ranked 109th in the world, fired seven aces while committing just one double fault. He is playing in just his second ATP Tour-level event of the year, having reached the second round last week in the Cordoba (Argentina) Open.

In other opening-round play, Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Germany's Maximilian Marterer earned straight-set wins over qualifiers while Chile's Christian Garin rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime.

New York Open

American Tennys Sandgren, playing his first match since losing in the opening round of the Australian Open, lost his opening match in Uniondale, N.Y., falling 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-4 to Italy's Paolo Lorenzi.

Sandgren, an Australian Open quarterfinalist in 2018, won his first career singles title at Auckland, New Zealand, last month. Lorenzi, ranked 111th in the world, hadn't won a main-draw ATP Tour match this year.

Seventh-seeded Jordan Thompson of Australia also won in three sets, beating American wild-card entrant Noah Rubin 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-1. Another Aussie, Bernard Tomic, got past Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 6-4, 6-2.

--Field Level Media

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