Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan eliminated No. 7 seed Fabian Marozsan of Hungary 6-4, 7-6 (4) in opening-round action at the Gonet Geneva Open on Monday in Switzerland.
Shevchenko led the second set 5-2 when Marozsan charged back. The Hungarian saved a match point in the 10th game before tying the set 5-5. Once they reached the tiebreaker, Shevchenko took a 5-0 lead but nearly squandered it before finishing off his opponent.
Shevchenko, who hit six aces Monday, next will face Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, who defeated Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-3. Austrian qualifier Sebastian Ofner rallied past Australia’s Rinky Hijikata 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Italy’s Flavio Cobolli beat Russia’s Aslan Karatsev 7-5, 6-1.
Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann led Great Britain’s Andy Murray 7-5, 4-1 when rain interrupted the match and postponed it until Tuesday.
Open Parc
No. 6 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina bounced back from a slow start to beat Spanish qualifier Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round in Lyon, France.
Etcheverry saved 7 of 11 break points while converting 6 of 10 opportunities to break his opponent’s serve. Meanwhile, Dominik Koepfer of Germany and Arthur Rinderknech of France moved on in three sets, while Russia’s Pavel Kotov beat Argetina’s Pedro Cachin 6-1, 6-4.
Two other matches were suspended until Tuesday due to rain: Frenchman Hugo Gaston led Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan 7-6 (2), 6-6 (0), and No. 5 seed Frances Tiafoe had a 4-3 edge on Spaniard Jaume Munar.
–Field Level Media
