STARNBERG, October 27, 2020

Jiri Vesely headlined Tuesday’s first-round action at the Astana Open in Nur-Sultan, the first ATP Tour event held in Kazakhstan, by knocking out No. 5 seed Tennys Sandgren from the United States 6-4, 7-6(7). The 27-year-old from the Czech Republic saved all five break points he faced and capitalized on one of his own four break-point chances to prevail after one hour and 40 minutes.

It would have been tough to get into the third set , happy to finish in 2 sets @jiri_vesely tells @AstanaOpen media team after he upsets fifth @TennysSandgren and Moves into round of 16 to take on #EgorGerasimov . #ATP250AstanaOpen #ATP250Kazakhstan #Tenniskz @atptour pic.twitter.com/lOzCmkicnq

— Astana Open (@AstanaOpen) October 27, 2020

“It was a very tough match, as Tennys has had very good results on hard courts,” said Vesely, in an on-court interview. “He was a tough opponent for the first round, but I’ve been feeling good. I just focused on my serve and waited for my chance. The surface is pretty fast, so it’s difficult to return and I waited for one or two chances in the tie-break. I was a little bit lucky at the end.”

The World No. 66 will next take on Egor Gerasimov of Belarus, the player Vesely beat in the final of the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune, India in February. Gerasimov edged past Lloyd Harris of South Africa 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3) in just over two hours.

Later in the day, Andreas Seppi defeated in-form Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev, a winner of two ATP Challenger tournaments in the Czech Republic this year, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. The Italian wild card entry sent down seven aces and won 74 per cent of his first-service points to advance in one hour and 57 minutes. Seppi will next play either US-American Mackenzie McDonald or No. 6 seed Alexander Bublik from Kazakhstan.

Singles Main  Draw   Round 1 –  Results

[Q] Emil. Ruusuvuori (FIN) d  [WC] Timofey Skatov (KAZ)  6-2,6-0

Yuichi  Sugita (JPN) d  Damir  Dzumhur (BIH)  [Q] 6-1,5-7,6-4

[WC] Andreas Seppi  (ITA)  d [Q] Aslan Karatsev (RUS) 6-3,1-6,6-3

Jiri Vesely (CZE)  d  [5] Tennys Sandgren (USA)  6-4,7-6(7)

Egor  Gerasimov (BLR) d Lloyd. Harris (RSA) 6-3,3-6,7-6(3)

Doubles Round 1

[2] Max Purcell /  Luke Saville ( Aus) bt Andrey Golubev / Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz) 6-4 ,6-4