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. The final match scheduled for Monday night pitted Argentine countrymen Mariano Navone and Francisco Comesana.
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.
Two matches were on the night slate, with Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko facing Michael Mmoh of the United States and James Trotter of Japan playing No. 6 seed Brandon Nakashima of the U.S.
–Field Level Media
