The ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament continued on Tuesday with seven first-round matches in singles and four in doubles. Among the winners were second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and fourth seed Andrey Rublev while eighth seed Stan Wawrinka was knocked out by Karen Khachanov.
Tsitsipas, Rublev reach second round
Tsitsipas improved to 7-1 on the season as he defeated Egor Gerasimov 7-6 (4), 7-5. The Greek hit 31 winners and saved six of eight break points he faced against the world number 76.
After breaking in the fifth game of the match, Tsitsipas watched as Gerasimov broke back and with the set finely poised in a tiebreaker, the world number six won the final three points in the breaker to grab the set.
Tsitsipas then took a 3-1 lead in the second as again Gerasimov immediately broke back, but on match point, the Belarusian missed a backhand volley as the Greek advanced to the second round.
"I had to play more consistently and also what I increased in the [key] moments was the speed of my ball", he said following the victory. "He has a solid game, he was serving well at times.
"Once I put in my head that I needed to fight and I couldn't take any single moment for granted, things changed and I felt the confidence."
Rublev was tested early on by American qualifier Marcos Giron before the Russian pulled away for a 7-6 (1), 6-3 victory. After sweeping through the first set tiebreaker, Rublev won the first three games of the second set to en route to claiming victory in one hour, 16 minutes.
"It was a very tough match against Marcos, a qualifier who already played a couple of matches before", Rublev said as he extended his winning streak in ATP World Tour 500 matches to 16.
Khachanov fired off 31 winners as he defeated Wawrinka, who committed 30 unforced errors, 6-4, 7-5. "To play against Stan, especially in the first round, is always tough", he said.
"I am really happy with the win, but there are always things you can improve upon. Mentally, I feel ready and I am in good shape, so I hope to get some match wins."
Other singles results
Qualifier Jeremy Chardy saved two match points in a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) victory over countryman Ugo Humbert that took two hours, 47 minutes. The Frenchman rallied from 1-4 down in the third set.
Alex de Minaur won 23 of 27 first-serve points on his Rotterdam debut, needing just 67 minutes to dispatch fellow Aussie John Millman 6-1, 6-4.
Hubert Hurkacz struck 17 aces and came from 4-1 down in the second set to knock out Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 7-6 (6). The Pole saved two set points in the second set in the one hour, 47 minute contest.
Finally, Borna Coric saved both break points he faced and won 79 percent of his first serve points in a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over 147th-ranked Dutch wild card Botic Van de Zandschulp.
Mektic/Pavic headline doubles winners
In doubles action, second seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic claimed their 13th win in their last 14 matches with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Dutch wild cards Robin Haase and Matwe Middlekoop.
Third seeds Wesley Koolhof and Lukasz Kubot overcame the Japanese duo of Kei Nishikori and Ben McLachlan 7-5, 3-6, 10-6. Koolhof and Kubot rallied from 0-3 in the first set.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Jan-Lennard Struff edged out Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hurkacz 6-7 (5), 6-3, 10-8 while Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau upset fourth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Marcelo Melo 6-3, 3-6, 11-9.
