ATP Roundup: Carlos Alcaraz survives in Switzerland
World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain survived an early scare to defeat Jack Draper of Great Britain 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the first round of the Swiss Indoors Basel on Monday in Switzerland.
Draper blasted nine aces against Alcaraz, but Alcaraz saved four out of seven break points and converted four out of nine break point chances to progress.
Fourth seeded Marin Cilic from Croatia was less fortunate and lost to French qualifier Arthur Rinderknech 6:4, 3:6, 7:6 (5).
Alexander Bublik from Kazakhstan and Brandon Nakashima from the USA also won their opening games.
First bench open
Fourth-seeded Taylor Fritz hit 21 aces to battle Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka 6-7(4) 7-6(7) 6-3 in the first round in Vienna, Austria.
The American had a total of 59 winners to overcome 39 unforced errors. He won 57 of his 70 first-service points (81 percent), saved four of five break points and rallied 5-4 from behind in the second set tiebreak.
Third seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-1. Rublev had seven aces, saved all three break points he faced and broke Schwartzman’s serve four times.
Croatia’s Borna Coric, Russia’s Karen Khachanov and Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo also won on Monday.