Seeds Zverev, Khachanov win openers in Beijing

Published by Reuters / Tennismash

Alexander Zverev celebrates his first-round win over Frances Tiafoe at the China Open in Beijing (Getty Images)
Alexander Zverev, Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev were first-round winners at the China Open in Beijing on Monday.

German second seed Alexander Zverev carried his Laver Cup winning form into the China Open as he sailed into the second round with a 6-3 6-2 victory over wildcard Frances Tiafoe in Beijing on Monday.

Zverev, who won the Laver Cup for Team Europe in a thrilling finale last week, fired 10 aces and won 78 per cent of his first service points. He also broke the American three times to wrap up the contest in 70 minutes.

Although Zverev had three double faults, he never dropped serve during the match, with Tiafoe failing to convert one break point.

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Fourth seeded Russian Karen Khachanov also advanced after he saved three set points in the second set tiebreak to beat Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas 6-2 7-6(7).

“I really served well the whole match,” Khachanov told chinaopen.com.

“I had a lot of advantages on that. From the game, the first shot after the serve was quite aggressive. That’s what we’ve been practising, and that’s my game when I play well.”

Andrey Rublev also won in straight sets, beating US Open semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov 6-2 7-5.

The Russian broke Dimitrov twice in both sets to move into the next round in 75 minutes.

Jeremy Chardy’s encounter with Italian Marco Cecchinato went the distance, with the Frenchman coming out on top with a 6-7(7) 6-3 7-6(4) victory in two hours and 21 minutes.

Also advancing to the last 16 were British qualifiers Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie.

Yet their countryman Kyle Edmund was unable to join them, with the former world No.13 upset in a third-set tiebreak by Chinese wildcard Zhang Zhizhen.

Top seed Dominic Thiem is in action on Tuesday when he takes on veteran Frenchman Richard Gasquet while unseeded Andy Murray takes on Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.

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