Young guns were firing at the Citi Open in Washington on Monday, with rising stars Hyeon Chung and Alexander Zverev advancing to the second round.
Chung scored his first ATP World Tour 500 Event win, besting Dudi Sela 6-1, 6-2 in his opening match in Washington. The 19-year-old Korean broke in the opening games of each set and saved the only break point faced during the match, which lasted 57 minutes.
Chung, currently No. 77 in the Emirates ATP World Tour Rankings, will face third seed Marin Cilic in the second round. He reached a career-high of No. 69 in May.
The 18-year-old Zverev beat 19-year-old Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6(1), 6-3 in 1 hour and 31 minutes. The German fired nine aces en route to victory. Zverev, currently ranked No. 96, next faces fifth seed Kevin Anderson.
Meanwhile, Darian King became the first player from Barbados to contest a match on the ATP World Tour. King, a qualifier, fell to Go Soeda 6-2, 6-1 but says he cherished the experience.
“It was great experience for me,” King told ATPWorldTour.com. “First tournament playing at the ATP World Tour level and I won a couple of (qualifying) matches. It was tough to get the ball past Soeda today and I got a little tired, but that happens when you play these tournaments.
“This is big for my country, putting it on the map. It’s a great achievement. It would give a lot of encouragement to the younger kids.”
In other action, American Donald Young defeated wild card Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour and 26 minutes. The World No. 75 saved eight of 10 break points, and broke his German opponent four times.
Earlier, Australian James Duckworth beat American Ryan Harrison 6-1, 7-6(4). The World No. 95 Duckworth struck seven aces and no double faults during the 76-minute match. Harrison converted his opponent on his only break point of the match, but faced break points eight times and dropped his serve on three occasions. It was the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.
In the second round, Duckworth will face second seed Kei Nishikori for the first time. Nishikori, ranked fifth on the Emirates ATP Rankings, had a first-round bye.
Victor Estrella Burgos, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Sunday, came from a set down to defeat 19-year-old Nicolas Jarry 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. The wild card Jarry saved all four break points faced in the first set and closed it out with a late break, but was unable to gain inroads on the Estrella Burgos serve in the following sets.
The Dominican, ranked 51st, went on to win after one hour and 53 minutes and will next take on eighth seed John Isner, who won the BB&T Open in Atlanta last week.
(Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/washington-2015-monday-zverev-chung )
Topics: Alexander Zverev, Atp World Tour, Citi Open, Hyeon Chung, Sports, Tennis News, Washington
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