Paul-Henri Mathieu eases through in Gstaad

19 July 2016 09:23

Eighth seed Paul-Henri Mathieu powered his way into the second round of the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open in Gstaad with a comfortable victory over Marco Chiudinelli.

The 34-year-old Frenchman lost just five first service points on the way to a 7-5 6-1 win which sends him into battle with wild card Henri Laaksonen, a 3-6 6-1 7-6( 7/5) victor over Jozef Kavolik.

Robin Haase, who reached the final three years ago, won an all-Dutch contest as he defeated Thiemo de Bakker 6-7 (4/7) 6-3 6-1 to set up a meeting with Argentina's Horacio Zeballas, a straight sets winner over compatriot Agustin Velotti.

Another Argentinian, fifth seed Guido Pella, was a first-round victim as all three sets went to tie-breaks before Russia's Konstantin Kravchuk triumphed 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (9-7) in the third after saving two match points.

Qualifier Tristan Lamasine will face third seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the second round after beating Radu Albot 6-4 6-2, while t here was also a win in two sets for America's Dustin Brown as he saw off Juan Monaco 6-2 7-5.

At the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel, l ocal boy Jurgen Melzer recorded his first ATP World Tour main draw victory in almost a year when he beat Taro Daniel 6-4 7-6 (7/4).

The Austrian, whose previous tour win came at the same venue last year, underwent shoulder surgery in November and had been sidelined for nine months before being handed a wild card for the tournament, in which he now faces a second-round clash with top seed Dominic Thiem.

Melzer's younger brother Gerald also progressed courtesy of a 5-7 7-5 6-4 success over Albert Montanes to set up a showdown with qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili shocked fifth seed Lukas Rosol with a 6-4 7-6 (7/4) victory and will meet Igor Sijsling for a place in the quarter-finals, but sixth seed Dusan Lajovic and eighth seed Jan-Lennard Struff were able to progress with straight-sets wins.

Source: PA