American 19-year-old Alex Michelsen picked up his first ATP Tour win on clay when he beat German wild card Max Hans Rehberg 7-6 (2), 6-3 in the first round of the BMW Open Monday in Munich.
Michelsen had two aces, saved 4 of 7 break points and converted all four chances to break his opponent, while Rehberg had five double faults without an ace.
No. 6 seed Jack Draper of Great Britain needed three sets to beat Czech foe Vit Kopriva 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. Draper won 75 percent of his first-service points (42 of 56) and broke Kopriva six times in 10 chances.
Spanish qualifier Alejandro Moro Canas dispatched Austria’s Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-4, while German wild card Rudolf Molleker needed just 68 minutes to defeat Italian qualifier Francesco Passaro.
Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell
Playing in his native Spain, wild card Roberto Bautista Agut prevailed after a lengthy second-set tiebreaker, defeating Russia’s Roman Safiullin 6-3, 7-6 (8) in first-round action.
Bautista Agut never faced break point but fell behind 3-1 in the tiebreaker before ripping off four straight points. He failed to convert on his first two match points and had to save Safiullin’s set point at 8-7 before winning two more points to get the job done. It marked Bautista Agut’s 399th career tour-level win.
Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi was tied at 5 in the first set with France’s Arthur Cazaux before Cazaux retired.
Dominican qualifier Nick Hardt rallied past Spanish wild card Martin Landaluce 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Austria’s Sebastian Ofner also needed three sets to take down Russian Pavel Kotov 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Brandon Nakashima, Frenchmen Harold Mayot and Alexandre Muller and Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta and Marco Trungelliti also advanced.
Tiriac Open
No. 5 seed Mariano Navone of Argentina eased past Italy’s Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-3 in the first round in Bucharest, Romania.
Navone’s next opponent will be Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild, who needed three hours and 16 minutes to take down Italian Luca Nardi 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2). Seyboth Wild saved 8 of 9 break points and overcame Nardi saving five match points in the 10th game of the third set.
Argentina’s Federico Coria beat French lucky loser Benjamin Bonzi 6-4, 6-2, and Arthur Rinderknech outlasted Hugo Gaston 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-5 in an all-French affair.
–Field Level Media
