Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland plays a backhand return to Andrey Rublev of Russia (not in photograph) during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan 19, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)
Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori took down sixth seed Daniel Evans of Great Britain 7-5, 6-4 in their first-round match at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Tuesday in Doha.
Ruusuvuori fired seven aces and won 29 of 38 first-service points (76.3 percent), holding on for the victory even as Evans saved six of 10 break points and converted both his opportunities to break Ruusuvuori.
Fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain needed three sets to outlast Hungary's Marton Fucsovics 7-6 (7), 5-7, 6-4 in about three hours and eight minutes. EIghth seed Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands beat Belarus' Ilya Ivashka 6-2, 7-5.
Other winners Tuesday were Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, Soonwoo Kwon of South Korea, Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic and French qualifier Alexandre Muller.
Open 13 Provence
Fifth seed Maxime Cressy smashed 22 aces and fought past French wild card Geoffrey Blancaneaux 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) in the first round in Marseille, France.
First seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain was ahead 6-4, 5-3 over Brazilian wild card Mateus Alves when rain halted play for the night in Rio de Janeiro
Cressy, who also overcame 13 double faults, is a Paris-born American looking to continue his run of strong form in France after reaching the final of the Open Sud de France in Montpellier two weeks ago.
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Sixth seed David Goffin of Belgium beat Slovak qualifier Lukas Klein 6-2, 6-4, and seventh seed Richard Gasquet of France battled past countryman Laurent Lokoli 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (5). Another Frenchman, Gregoire Barrere, upset eighth seed Marc-Andrea Huesler of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2.
Also advancing were Switzerland's Leandro Riedi and Alexander Ritschard and Dutch qualifier Gijs Brouwer.
Rio Open
First seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain was ahead 6-4, 5-3 over Brazilian wild card Mateus Alves when rain halted play for the night in Rio de Janeiro.
Alcaraz, the world No. 2, faced a stiff fight from world No. 556 Alves, who had five aces and saved five of nine break points in his tour-level debut before the suspension. They will finish their match Wednesday evening.
Earlier on Tuesday, British second seed Cameron Norrie took down lucky loser Juan Manuel Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1. The Argentine's older brother, fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo, rallied past Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
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Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia and Juan Pablo Varillas of Peru were also winners Tuesday before the rain arrived. Two other matches were suspended in their second sets and postponed, and three more matches - including matches featuring fifth seed Diego Schwartzman and sixth seed Sebastian Baez, both of Argentina - were also shifted to Wednesday's schedule.
