Tokyo: Top seed Marin Cilic made quick work of Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, winning 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round of the Japan Open.
The towering Croatian, runner-up to Roger Federer at this year’s Wimbledon, took just 73 minutes to complete a one-sided victory in Tokyo against a player ranked 110 places below him.
World No. 5 Cilic, a former US Open champion, rifled eight aces and totally dominated on serve on a speedy hard court surface that suits his power game.
South African Kevin Anderson, who was beaten by Rafa Nadal in the US Open final last month, also advanced in straight sets, the fifth seed ousting Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-2, 7-6.
And controversial Australian Bernard Tomic recovered from a wobble to beat Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
In other matches, American Ryan Harrison overcame Japan’s Yusuke Takahashi 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 while Frenchman Adrian Mannarino dumped out another local favourite, Go Soeda, 7-5, 7-6.
Meanwhile, women’s World No. 1 Garbine Muguruza fell at the first hurdle at the China Open on Monday, with the Spaniard forced to retire during her first-round match against Czech Barbora Strycova.
Muguruza looked sluggish throughout and was broken in the first game before losing the first set 6-1. She was trailing 2-0 in the second when she decided she could not continue.
“I got a virus in Wuhan and I did not practise in Beijing. I thought an extra day’s rest would help, and didn’t want to pull out,” Muguruza said. “But I couldn’t perform today.”
American qualifier Christina McHale served up another shock when she beat Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-0 to send the US Open champion crashing out in the first round of a tournament for the second week in a row.
Stephens, who is seeded 15th in Beijing, was eliminated in the first round of last week’s Wuhan Open by China’s Wang Qiang.
Peng Shuai had to dig deep to get past American Shelby Rogers, but the Chinese edged out her opponent 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 in an epic match lasting two hours and 48 minutes.
— AFP
