Monfils sails through in Cincinnati

After a rain-interrupted day in Cincinnati, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, David Goffin and Feliciano Lopez all progressed, while Stan Wawrinka stood a set down against Jared Donaldson with play suspended.

Published : Aug 17, 2016 13:31 IST

Frenchman Gael Monfils (in picture) was in fine touch against Pablo Carreno Busta.
Frenchman Gael Monfils (in picture) was in fine touch against Pablo Carreno Busta.
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Frenchman Gael Monfils (in picture) was in fine touch against Pablo Carreno Busta.

Despite the weather, there was no fuss for most of the seeds on Tuesday, during the opening round of the ATP Western and Southern Open.

After a rain-interrupted day in Cincinnati, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, David Goffin and Feliciano Lopez all progressed, while Stan Wawrinka stood a set down against Jared Donaldson with play suspended.

Agonisingly for Argentine Juan Monaco, he will have to wait until Wednesday to defeat Ivo Karlovic, sitting at 6-4 5-3.

Others who made it to the second round before play was stopped include Bernard Tomic, Marcos Baghdatis and Fernando Verdasco, who all won in straight sets, along with Americans John Isner and Steve Johnson, and John Millman. 

MONFILS ON THE MONEY

French ninth seed Monfils was in fine touch against Pablo Carreno Busta, comfortably accounting for the Spaniard in a 6-3 6-4 victory.

Carreno Busta came into Cincinnati with good form, going deep into tournaments at Los Cabos and Umag, but put up little resistance against the world number 11.

Monfils' first serve was at 84 per cent for the match, winning the same percentage of those points, while capitalising on three of his five break point opportunities.

Goffin - the 11th seed - was also untroubled against Georgian qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili - firing down 10 aces on the way to a 7-5 6-3 victory, 16th seed Feliciano Lopez recovered from his Los Cabos final loss to crush Mischa Zverev 6-3 6-1, while Gasquet - France's 13th seed - outlasted countryman Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-1.

After reaching the semi-final in Toronto, however, second-seeded Stan Wawrinka has work to do against wildcard Jared Donaldson at 2-6 3-3.

TOMIC TOPS SOUSA

With his past four tournaments resulting in last-16 losses, Australian Tomic got his US Open preparations back on track with a steady 6-4 6-3 win over Joao Sousa.

Despite a 42 per cent first serve rate, Baghdatis saved four of five break points en route to a 7-5 7-5 triumph against Vasek Pospisil, while Verdasco went on from taking out the first set tie-break to defeat compatriot Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.

OLYMPIC CHAMPION MURRAY THE HEADLINE ACT

Fresh from winning gold at Rio 2016, Andy Murray will need to wait for who he faces in the second round, with play between Karlovic and Monaco to resume on Wednesday. Goffin and Tomic are set to face off, and Olympic Games bronze medallist Kei Nishikori will face qualifier Mikhail Youzhny, who defeated wildcard Taylor Fritz.

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