No. 6 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia bested American challenger Mackenzie McDonald 7-6 (3), 6-3, in the first round of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Monday at Doha, Qatar.
Khachanov served up eight aces to McDonald’s one, saved all three break points he faced and went 2-for-2 in breaking McDonald’s serve. The first-set tiebreak stood at 3-3 with McDonald serving when Khachanov took control and won the final four points.
No. 5 seed Daniel Evans of Great Britain, the only other seeded player in action Monday, dispatched Belarus’ Egor Gerasimov 6-4, 6-4.
Alex Molcan of Slovakia rallied to beat Australian qualifier Christopher O’Connell 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 6-4, in nearly two hours and 36 minutes. Soonwoo Kwon of South Korea and Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands also were first-round victors.
Open 13 Provence
No. 5 seed Ilya Ivashka of Belarus survived a tightly contested first set and defeated Slovakia’s Norbert Gombos 7-6 (5), 6-3, in the first round at Marseilles, France.
Gombos led the first-set tiebreak 5-4 before Ivashka came back and won the last three points. Ivashka broke Gombos’ serve twice and took advantage of his opponent’s five double faults.
Italy’s Stefano Travaglia eked out a 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1) victory over Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen. Frenchman Richard Gasquet got by Sweden’s Mikael Ymer 6-4, 7-5.
–Field Level Media