RENNES, January 21, 2020
Alexey Vatutin celebrated his first match win of the season by reaching the second round of the Open Blot Rennes. The No. 6 seed of the €46,600 ATP Challenger event defeated former World No. 25 Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday evening at Le Liberté in Rennes.
Vatutin opened the year with two losses against US-American Maxime Cressy at the Internationaux BNP Paribas Nouvelle-Calédonie in Nouméa and in the first round of the qualifying to the Australian Open to Slovakia’s Andrej Martin.
In his first match in Brittany, the 27-year-old Russian was in good shape and often found the right answers to fend off Zverev’s attacking serve-and-volley-style. Vatutin broke the German’s serve four times to secure victory in one hour and 22 minutes.
Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram an
The World No. 32 from Moscow will next take on either Polish comeback player Jerzy Janowicz, who is competing his his first tournament since November 2017, or No. 10 seeded Frenchman Constant Lestienne.
“I did it mostly for myself. Wanted to try. Have some fun and enjoy tennis,” 29-year-old Janowicz said after his first-round win over Tomas Machac from the Czech Republic on Monday, quoted by @marekfurjan and translated by @foamaline on Twitter. “I don’t feel a need to succeed anymore. I have a family, a son and I see things differently now. Have I changed? No, just some things have ceased to bother me.
“On the court I had to think what I wanted to do. Previously everything came naturally, it was virtually automatic. Yesterday I had to remind myself how to position myself, where to serve and how to play on a given point.”
Lamasine, Kamke advance
Earlier on Tuesday, Tristan Lamasine booked his spot in the third round of the first ATP Challenger event of the decade held on European soil. The No. 8 seed from France fought past Vit Kopriva from the Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 in one hour and 41 minutes. Next up for Lamasine will be either French wild card entry Kyrian Jacquet or compatriot and 11th favourite Alexandre Muller.
Mixed feelings for the Spanish players, as hard-court specialist Roberto Ortega-Olmedo beat wild card Dan Added of France 7-6(0), 6-3 and No. 7 seed Bernabe Zapata Miralles fell to local favourite Arthur Rinderknech 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(3) after two hours and 13 minutes.
Over in Saint-Gregoire, Tobias Kamke opened his Rennes campaign with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Patrik Niklas-Salmanen from Finland. The No. 13 seed from Germany saved the only break point he faced and capitalized on four of his own six break point chances to advance in 65 minutes. Kamke will next face the winner of Wednesday’s encounter between top seed Sergiy Stakhovsky from the Ukraine and Nino Serdarusic of Croatia.
Following an interesting first-round clash between two teenagers from France, wild card Valentin Royer celebrated his first match win on the ATP Challenger Tour. The 18-year-old battled past 19-year-old Rayane Roumane 7-6(8), 6-3. Royer fired 10 aces and won 71 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after one hour and 31 minutes.
“I’m very happy to win this match, especially since it comes after a difficult period,” said Royer. “I didn’t play my best at Futures tournaments and I was sick, so I’m happy to have found a good level and more confidence.
“I want to thank the French Tennis Federation (FFT), who gave me the chance to play here and to earn some points in order to climb faster in the ATP Ranking. The arena here is superb with a very good atmosphere and a good audience. I like this kind of fast surface.”
Up next for the World No. 816 will be No. 3 seed Danilo Petrovic of Serbia.
RESULTS – JANUARY 21, 2020
Men’s
Singles – Second Round
[6] A. Vatutin (RUS) d M. Zverev (GER) 64 64
A. Rinderknech (FRA) d [7] B. Zapata Miralles (ESP) 63 36 76(3)
[8] T. Lamasine (FRA) d V. Kopriva (CZE) 63 36 60
[12] R. Ortega-Olmedo (ESP) d [WC] D. Added (FRA) 76(0) 63
[13] T. Kamke (GER) d [Alt] P. Niklas-Salminen (FIN) 64 61
First Round
[WC] E. Furness (FRA) d U. Ignatik (BLR) 63 67(2) 64
[Alt] A. Escoffier (FRA) d M. Guinard (FRA) 64 63
[Alt] A. Bega (ITA) d A. Pellegrino (ITA) 26 76(5) 75
[Q] T. Gabashvili (RUS) d M. Eriksson (SWE) 61 63
[WC] V. Royer (FRA) d R. Roumane (FRA) 76(8) 63
[Q] C. Denolly (FRA) d L. Klein (SVK) 62 36 63
Men’s
Doubles – First Round
[2] P. Raja (IND) / A. Shamasdin (CAN) d [WC] Q. Gueydan (FRA) / M. Moysan (FRA) 75 61
D. Petrovic (SRB) / N. Serdarusic (CRO) d [3] R. Galloway (USA) / H. Hach Verdugo (MEX) 76(5) 46 10-8
D. Added (FRA) / A. Olivetti (FRA) d A. Arnaboldi (ITA) / A. Pellegrino (ITA) 36 64 10-6
T. Gabashvili (RUS) / L. Lacko (SVK) d T. Draganja (CRO) / P. Kotov (RUS) 63 76(0)
