Fritz, Querrey Win Delray Beach Openers

In a battle of the 19-year-olds, American #NextGenATP member Taylor Fritz saved the lone break point he faced in a 6-4, 6-4 win against Japan’s Akira Santillan at the Delray Beach Open Monday night. Fritz claimed his second tour-level win of the year and next meets the winner of countryman Donald Young and second seed Ivo Karlovic.

On playing Santillan, Fritz said, “We go way back, we’re both born in ’97. So we played juniors together. We’ve played together, practised together. We’re good friends… I definitely went in knowing I’m more experienced, just I’ve played more on tour. I was thinking about that before the match, maybe that could make a difference but I was just focused on playing tennis and I thought I played a really solid match.”

American Sam Querrey began his title defence, holding a 6-2, 2-1 lead when Israeli Dudi Sela retired from their first-round match with a back injury.

The No. 4 seed, making his fifth straight appearance at the tournament, improved his match record in Delray Beach to 14-7. Querrey, currently No. 35 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will face the winner of Jared Donaldson and Mikhail Kukushkin.

Yen-Hsun Lu, 2015 Delray Beach Open quarter-finalist, fought back from a set and 0-3 down to prevail 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 over American Bjorn Fratangelo.

“It was a tough feeling in this moment. I just tried other things. I changed the game plan, trying to come into the net more and put the pressure on him,” said Lu. “In this moment, I had nothing to lose. I just tried to play a different way and see how he reacts. It worked pretty well after that.”

World No. 63 Lu will face 22-year-old Kyle Edmund for the first time. The eighth-seeded Brit, making his debut at Delray Beach, struck five aces and conceded just one break point to post a commanding 6-3, 6-0 victory against France’s Adrian Mannarino.

Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka ended qualifier Kimmer Coppejan’s run with a 6-3, 6-3 win to set-up a match with fifth seed Steve Johnson or wild card Stefan Kozlov.

Tommy Haas, making his comeback following surgery last April, teamed up with Canadian Vasek Pospisil for a 6-4, 6-3 win over Steve Darcis and Adrian Mannarino on the doubles court. 

“Happy to be back out there on the court,” said the 38-year-old Haas. “Obviously that’s the most important thing. I feel sort of fit. A lot of work still to do to play some of my tennis that I would like to play again. But to get out here and play doubles with such a nice guy that Vasek is and a good doubles player as well, it worked out great. And also giving me a chance to play a match before my singles I think is also important, because that’s really what I need.”