ATP roundup: Norrie opens with win in Sweden, could meet Nadal

 

[July 16, 2024]  No. 5 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain earned a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Slovakia's Jozef Kovalik in the first round of the Nordea Open on Monday in Bastad, Sweden.

Norrie, eliminated in the third round of Wimbledon earlier this month, hit seven aces and never faced break point against Kovalik. Neither player lost serve in the first set and Norrie trailed the tiebreaker 3-2 before going on a five-point run to win it.

Norrie's next opponent will be the winner between Spanish legend Rafael Nadal and Sweden's Leo Borg.

The only other first-round singles match of the day saw No. 8 seed Pavel Kotov of Russia outlast Chile's Cristian Garin 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-1. Kotov held a 5-1 edge in aces, capitalized on Garin's seven double faults and saved four of five break points.

Hamburg Open

Pedro Martinez of Spain downed Italian sixth seed Matteo Arnaldi 7-6 (4), 6-1 in the opening round in Germany.

Arnaldi fired seven aces and 26 total winners, but committed 17 unforced errors to Martinez's nine. Martinez won 18 of 19 points at the net.

No. 4 seed Francisco Cerundolo beat lucky loser Francisco Comesana 7-5, 6-4 in an all-Argentine battle. Comesana was coming off a first-round Wimbledon upset of sixth seed Andrey Rublev and lost to eventual semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.

Serbia's Laslo Djere beat Belgium's Zizou Bergs 6-3, 7-6 (4), while Italy's Flavio Cobolli, French qualifier Ugo Blanchet, German wild card Maximilian Marterer and Kazakhstan's Alexander Shevchenko all won in three sets.

Swiss Open Gstaad

No. 5 seed Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany had to win a pair of tiebreakers to defeat Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) in the first round in Switzerland.

Struff lost the first three games of the match before rallying to force the first tiebreaker, where he saved three set points to storm back from down 6-3. The second-set tiebreaker was a bit different, as he led 6-2 before winning on his third match points.

No. 7 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy beat French qualifier Titouan Droguet 6-4, 6-3, while Colombia's Daniel Elahi Galan and Swiss wild card Leandro Riedi also advanced in straight sets. Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas took down Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (4), eliminating the former World No. 3 amid his final season on the ATP Tour.

Infosys Hall of Fame Open

Maxime Cressy went the distance with Moldova's Radu Albot before notching a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4) win in two hours and 51 minutes in the opening round in Newport, R.I.

Cressy, whose only win on tour came in Newport in 2022, piled up 14 aces along with 23 double faults. He managed to eke out the third-set tiebreaker despite falling behind 1-0 and 3-2.

No. 6 seed Aleksandar Vukic of Australia topped Hong Kong's Coleman Wong 6-1, 6-2, while Aleksandar Kovacevic was a 7-6 (1), 6-4 winner over France's Harold Mayot.

In the final two matches of the day, wild card Reilly Opelka of the United States ousted Frenchman Constant Lestienne, 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (2), while a meeting between American Zachary Svajda and France's Benoit Paire was suspended at the start of the third set due to darkness.

--Field Level Media

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