American qualifier Nicolas Moreno De Alboran outlasted Argentine No. 5 seed Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round of the Grand Prix Hassan II on Tuesday in Marrakech, Morocco.
Moreno De Alboran won 44 of his 56 first-service points (79 percent) and saved two of three break points to take down Diaz Acosta. His next opponent will be Belgian qualifier David Goffin, who was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech.
Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, playing on a protected ranking, swiftly upset sixth seed Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-1. Fellow Italian and No. 8 seed Flavio Cobolli beat Jordanian wild card Abdullah Shelbayh 6-1, 6-4.
Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini, India’s Sumit Nagal, Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic and Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena also advanced to the second round.
Millennium Estoril Open
Steady rain washed out Tuesday’s schedule in Estoril, Portugal.
Among the matches now slated for Wednesday include three that were suspended in progress. Notably, Chilean Cristian Garin led Austria’s Jurij Rodionov 7-6 (3), 4-5, 30-30 in a match that began Monday night.
Frenchmen Arthur Fils and Gael Monfils, the fifth and seventh seeds, are among those now scheduled to compete Wednesday.
Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship
Italian Luciano Darderi came to the brink of elimination, but he managed to pull off a 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over American wild card Denis Kudla in a first-round match in Houston.
After dropping the first set, Darderi was down 6-5 in the second before forcing a tiebreaker, where he raced out to a 3-0 edge that he did not relinquish.
Two other matches went the distance on Tuesday, with the United States’ Aleksandar Kovacevic downing Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 7-6 (3), 6-7 (2), 6-4 and No. 8 seed Max Purcell of Australia topping American Alex Michelsen 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4.
No. 6 seed Jordan Thompson and James Duckworth of Australia, No. 7 seed Marcos Giron and wild card Michael Mmoh of the U.S. and Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan also won their matches.
–Field Level Media
