Finland’s Otto Virtanen brought down No. 5 seed Sebastian Korda 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the first round of the Open 13 Provence on Monday in Marseille, France.
Virtanen, 23, had never beaten an opponent ranked top-30 in the world before defeating the American in two hours and 32 minutes. Virtanen fired 19 aces, saved 6 of 8 break points and broke Korda in the first game of the third set to take control.
No. 7 seed Lorenzo Sonego of Italy fared better than Korda, but he also needed three sets before beating Dutch opponent Botic van de Zandschulp 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic moved past Belgium’s Raphael Collignon 6-3, 6-4.
IEB+ Argentina Open
Thiago Seyboth Wild of Brazil rallied past Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, in first-round action in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Diaz Acosta out-aced Seyboth Wild 10-4 and saved 7 of 11 break points, but Seyboth Wild went up a break in the sixth game of the final set and hung on to defeat the home-crowd favorite.
Dusan Lajovic of Serbia beat Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena 7-6 (8), 7-5, while Serbian qualifier Laslo Djere swept Frenchman Alexandre Muller 6-3, 6-3. In a matchup of Argentine countrymen, Mariano Navone defeated Francisco Comesana 6-4, 6-4.
Delray Beach Open
No. 7 seed Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia won 32 of 37 first-service points (86.5 percent) and defeated Croatia’s Borna Gojo 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round in Florida.
Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, unseeded this week but ranked as highly as No. 8 in his career, also advanced in straight sets with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over American qualifier Zachary Svajda. Lucky loser Ethan Quinn took down qualifier Tristan Boyer 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2) in an all-American battle in three hours and 12 minutes.
No. 6 seed Brandon Nakashima of the United States pulled away from Japanese qualifier James Trotter 7-6 (2), 6-1, and U.S. qualifier Michael Mmoh downed Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko 7-5, 7-6 (5).
–Field Level Media
