Top-seeded Novak Djokovic recorded eight aces while defeating fellow Serbian Filip Krajinovic 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the opening round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Austria.
Djokovic delivered 39 winners in his first appearance at the event since winning the title in 2007. Home-country favorite Dominic Thiem, the second seed, also prevailed in straight sets, posting a 6-4, 7-5 triumph over Vitaliy Sachko of Ukraine.
In other matches, Chile’s Cristian Garin defeated Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-7 (9), 6-3, and Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov notched a 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory over Russian Karen Khachanov. Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, Great Britain’s Daniel Evans and Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego also advanced.
Astana Open
The Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely fired nine aces while stunning fifth-seeded American Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 7-6 (7) in a first-round match at Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
Sandgren had 13 aces and converted 36 of 43 first-service points in defeat. Vesely next plays Egor Gerasimov after the Belarusian outlasted South Africa’s Lloyd Harris 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (3).
In other matches, Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi defeated Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev 6-3, 1-6, 6-3; Japan’s Yuichi Sugita knocked off Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in a battle of qualifiers; and Finland qualifier Emil Ruusuvuori was a 6-2, 6-0 winner over Kazakhstan wild-card entrant Timofey Skatov.
–Field Level Media
