7/25/2022 8:28:56 PM EST
Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia took down seventh seed Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the first round of the Croatia Open in Umag on Monday.Fognini was the only seeded player in action Monday and could not outlast the 99th-ranked Galan in the two-hour, 43-minute match. Galan saved 11 of 16 break points and benefitted from Fognini's nine double faults.Italian qualifiers Marco Cecchinato and Giulio Zeppieri advanced with three-set victories. Cecchinato was a 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 winner over Croatian wild card Mili Poljicak, and Zeppieri defeated Argentina's Pedro Cachin 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.A pair of Spaniards also advanced. Robert Carballes Baena beat Switzerland's Henri Laaksonen 6-4, 7-5, and Jaume Munar ousted Sweden's Mikael Ymer 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.Generali OpenPortuguese eighth seed Joao Sousa smashed six aces and saved four of five break points to defeat Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva 6-1, 7-5 on the first day of action in Kitzbuhel, Austria.Two Austrian wild cards, playing in their home country, made it to the next round. Filip Misolic beat Brazil's Daniel Dutra da Silva 6-2, 7-6 (6) and Jurij Rodionov bested Hernan Casanova of Argentina 6-4, 6-2.Monday's other winners were Serbia's Dusan Lajovic, the Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka and Peru's Juan Pablo Varillas.Atlanta OpenNo. 8 seed Brandon Nakashima went the distance to defeat Australian Jordan Thompson 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3 in opening-round action in Atlanta.Thompson served a whopping 16 aces and won 53 of 63 first-service points (84.1 percent). Nakashima was stronger on second-service points, winning 13 of 20 (65 percent). Nakashima was the runner-up at last year's Atlanta Open, losing the final to John Isner.Two other Americans didn't fare as well as Nakashima. Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel rallied to beat Sebastian Korda 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, and South Korea's Soonwoo Kwon took down Marcos Giron 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-5 in a match lasting over two hours and 42 minutes.In a duel of Australians, John Millman defeated Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-3.--Field Level Media