Andreas Seppi was the only seeded player to see action on Monday at the Apia International Sydney. American Alex Sarkissian scored the best opening round upset, taking down Simone Bolelli in straight sets.
Seppi Starts 11th Journey in Sydney With Win
Andreas Seppi was able to bounce back in his opening round match at the Apia International Sydney a week after he lost his season opener in Doha. The Italian is seeded fifth in what is his 11th year to participate in this tournament. Seppi found himself down a break early in the opening set at 2-0, but never stopped efforting hard. The Italian 5th seed broke back right away in the third game and would slip into the lead in the 7th game as he converted a second break point in the set. Istomin struggled on first serve the entire match, getting just 50 percent of his serves in during the opening set.
The match looked like it would race to a quick finish when Seppi broke Istomin to start the second set. The Italian would find his own problems with his second serve though as he landed just 48 percent of his first serves. That allowed Istomin to take nine of 15 points played and secure a break back in the 8th game. Istomin would pounce again on poor serving in the 10th game to even the match by taking the second set 6-4. That was the extent of the drama though as Istomin continued to struggle to find the range with his consistency. He landed just 45 percent of his first serves with Seppi taking nine key points in the third set. The Italian broke him early and often en route to a 4-0 lead that he would use to finish the match 6-3 in the third.
Qualifiers Split
Two qualifiers were in action Monday with Alex Sarkissian and Maximillian Marterer in the main draw. Sarkissian had been impressive in qualifying by beating Ernests Gulbis and Lukasz Kubot. He continued his hot run by taking down Italian Simone Bolelli 6-2, 7-6 (5). Sarkissian was a rock on serve with eight aces as he won 72 percent of his service points. Marterer did not have the same luck as the German fell to Pablo Cuevas 6-4, 6-4. Cuevas saved all six of his break points and took 28 of 32 points on his first serve. Marterer was broken once in each set.
Thompson Win Sets Up Tomic Clash
The Australian crowd had plenty to cheer about on Monday with both Jordan Thompson and John Millman in action. Thompson battled Martin Klizan in his first tour level match of the season. The 21-year-old advanced to the second round via retirement as Klizan tapped out with a shoulder injury with the score at 6-2, 4-0 in favor of Thompson. The win for Thompson will see him take on fellow Aussie, top seed Bernard Tomic. Thompson confessed after the match that he's really only seen his countryman from afar, "He's experienced, he's older, he's beaten much better players than I have. He's at a career-high ranking, I think ... his ball control is unbelievable. It'll be a pretty tough match."
The final singles match of the day pitted Australian John Millman against Tommy Robredo. Millman surprisingly was 3-0 against the Spaniard in their careers. Robredo changed that in the opening round with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory. Robredo will take on third seed Viktor Troicki in the next round.
Tuesday's Schedule
A pair of seeds are on the schedule for Tuesday's Sydney slate. 7th seed Leonardo Mayer opens against Teymuraz Gabashvili, while 8th seed Alexandr Dolgopolov is set to start against Thomaz Bellucci. It is also a quick turnaround for Chennai finalist Borna Coric. He is scheduled to play Gilles Muller just two days after losing the Chennai final to Stan Wawrinka. Tuesday also marks the season debut of Mike and Bob Bryan who will start their season against Jonathan Erlich and Colin Fleming as the last match on Show Court 1.