Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan toppled fifth seed Daniel Evans of Great Britain 6-2, 7-6 (3) in first-round action Tuesday at the Eugene Korea Open Tennis Championships in Seoul.
Evans held a 6-3 edge in aces and saved 10 of 14 break points, but Nishioka won 30 of 43 first-service points to hold on for the win.
No. 8 seed Jenson Brooksby outlasted Taiwanese qualifier Tung-Lin Wu 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-0. Brooksby had 11 aces and saved nine of 11 break points.
Soonwoo Kwon defeated qualifier Yunseong Chung 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1 in an all-Korean match, and Taiwan’s Chun-Hsin Tseng advanced after winning his first set 6-4 when Australian opponent Christopher O’Connell retired.
Tel Aviv Watergen Open
Two seeded players lost in three sets Tuesday in first-round action in Israel.
Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry upset No. 6 seed Aslan Karatsev of Russia 6-2, 6-7 (0), 6-4, and Canadian lucky loser Vasek Pospisil beat Dutch eighth seed Tallon Griekspoor 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
No. 5 seed Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands fared better, beating Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-2, 6-3. France’s Arthur Rinderknech rallied to take down Romanian qualifier Marius Copil 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3.
Other winners Tuesday included Israeli qualifier Edan Leshem, British qualifier Liam Broady, American Sebastian Korda and Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori.
Sofia Open
No. 5 seed Holger Rune of Denmark won two tiebreakers to get past Dutch opponent Tim van Rijthoven 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) in the first round in Bulgaria.
Rune saved a set point down 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker, winning his last three points to ensure the match did not require a third set. He coped with van Rijthoven’s nine aces by winning 39 of his 47 first-service points.
No. 8 seed Oscar Otte of Germany beat Swedish qualifier Dragos Nicolae Madaras 6-3, 6-2.
Also victorious Tuesday were Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic, Portugal’s Nuno Borges and French qualifier Ugo Humbert.
–Field Level Media
