Day 2 of the ATP 500 Rakuten Japan Open kicked off in Tokyo earlier today. It was an eventful day that comprised of some entertaining encounters.
In the pick of the lot, fifth seed Nick Kyrgios was on a mission as he displayed some quality tennis to dethrone Taiwan’s Tseng Chun-hsin in straight sets 6-3 6-1. The Wimbledon runner-up struck 9 aces and broke his opponent’s serve 4 times through the course of the match to sail into the second round.
The shock of the day was US Open runner-up and number one seed Casper Ruud was dispatched in straight sets 6-3 6-3 by Spain’s Jaume Munar. The Spaniard was clinical in his gameplay as he broke the Norwegian’s serve 4 times and despite being broken himself once, battled back to put up a dominant performance to knock out the favorite.
Sixth seeded Aussie Alex de Minaur had a much tougher outing in Tokyo this year as he went down to Korea’s Kwon soon-wo in straight sets 6-3 6-2.
Ninth seeded Croatian Borna Coric was in fine touch as he beat Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis in straight sets 6-4 7-6 (7-4 in the tiebreak). The Australian open doubles champion (with Nick Kyrgios) put up a good challenge but was unable to break his opponent’s morale.
Eighth seeded Dan Evans had to take the hard route as he beat Radu Albot in three sets 6-7 (3-7 in the tiebreak) 6-1 6-4.
India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan who was promoted from qualifying and onto the main draw was up against Rio Noguchi of Japan. Despite a great fight, the Indian lost out in three sets 4-6 6-3 6-7 (1-7 in the tiebreak).
USA’s Mackenzie McDonald had to battle past Kaichi Uchida of Japan in three sets as he won the match 7-6 (7-4 in the tiebreak) 6-7 (2-7 in the tiebreak) 6-3.
In an all Japanese battle, Hiroki Moriya beat his fellow countryman Yuta Shimizu 6-1 6-3.
Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak beat Sho Shimabukuro in straight sets 7-6 (7-2 in the tiebreak) 6-2.
Onto day 3 tomorrow as some of the round of 32 matches still are to be played. Third seed Taylor Fritz will take on James Duckworth. Seventh seed Denis Shapovalov will play against Steve Johnson. Korean Open winner Yoshihito Nishioka is up against Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia.
Image credits: Twitter/atptour
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