Kohlschreiber Off To Hot Start In Sydney

Fifth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber brought his best tennis on Monday at the Apia International Sydney, recording a convincing 6-4, 6-4 win over a tricky opponent in Fabio Fognini.

Kohlschreiber landed 75 per cent of his first serves in the second set and controlled the baseline rallies throughout the match to prevail in one hour and 21 minutes. Next up for him is the winner of the wild card battle between Aussies Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis.

In other first-round matches, Australian qualifier Matthew Barton delighted the local crowd with a 7-6(3), 7-6(5) win over Kyle Edmund. In a match featuring no breaks of serve, Barton saved a set point serving at 4-5 and grabbed the final three points of the contest to prevail in one hour and 43 minutes.

Barton, ranked No. 198 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will look to reach his first ATP World Tour quarter-final when he faces the winner between sixth seed Gilles Muller and Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Daniel Evans recovered from a mid-match lapse to move past qualifier Thiago Monteiro, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. The Brit will now play the winner of the all-Spanish battle between eighth seed Marcel Granollers and Fernando Verdasco.

Paolo Lorenzi survived an epic 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(5) battle against Florian Mayer. Next up for the Italian is third seed and two-time defending champion Viktor Troicki.

Gastao Elias produced the comeback of the day against Aussie qualifier Christopher O’Connell, rallying from down a set and 1-4 to record a 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-1 victory. The Portuguese player is rewarded for his efforts with a clash against top seed Dominic Thiem in the next round.

DOUBLES: The lone doubles match of the day saw Troicki/Nenad Zimonjic win their first-round match 6-3, 6-4 over Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Martin Klizan. They will play the winner between third seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo and Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah