Italian Marco Cecchinato outlasted seventh seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina in a lengthy second-set tiebreaker to win 6-3, 7-6 (8) in the first round of the Millennium Estoril Open on Monday in Estoril, Portugal.
Schwartzman saved two match points at 5-6 and 6-7 and moved ahead to 8-7 to serve for the set. Cecchinato responded by winning three points in a row to claim the upset.
Cecchinato saved nine of 12 break points while converting four of his six break-point chances. He also had a 5-2 edge in aces.
In other action, No. 5 seed Sebastian Baez of Argentina got by Radu Albot of Moldova 7-5, 7-6 (3). Fabio Fognini beat qualifier Alessandro Giannessi 6-2, 6-1 in a battle of Italians, and Argentina’s Pedro Cachin beat Taiwan’s Chun-Hsin Tseng 6-4, 6-4.
Grand Prix Hassan II
Hugo Gaston of France rallied from a set down to defeat Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the first round in Marrakech, Morocco.
Gaston fought through Struff’s 12 aces and surged back from down 5-4, 30-0 in the third set by winning the final three games, including nine straight points to end the match.
Francesco Passaro of Italy was also a three-set victor, beating Aslan Karatsev of Russia 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. Australia’s Alexei Popyrin beat Moroccan wild card Younes Lalami Laaroussi 6-3, 6-2, and Spain’s Jaume Munar defeated Moroccan wild card Elliot Benchetrit 6-4, 6-4.
U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship
Wild card Steve Johnson of the U.S. defeated Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-1 in a nearly two-hour match in the round of 32 in Houston.
Bagnis finished with 12 aces to four for Johnson, but the American broke Bagnis’ serve four times in the first-set tiebreaker. Just after the Argentine broke Johnson to pull within 5-4, Johnson broke back to lead 6-4 and create set point. Bagnis held serve for 6-5, but Johnson held as well to win the set.
They traded lopsided wins in the following two sets. Johnson next will meet top-seeded countryman Frances Tiafoe in the round of 16.
Also on Monday, sixth-seeded Jason Kubler of Australia defeated Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, a wild card, in straight sets. Other winners were Gijs Brouwer of the Netherlands, Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia and Denis Kudla of the U.S.
–Field Level Media
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