Eight matches were played on Tuesday as part of the 2016 Atlanta Open’s first round. Here are the results from the seven singles showdowns and the lone doubles match:
Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) defeated No. 6 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4: Zeballos pulled off the biggest upset of Tuesday when the 31-year-old knocked the six seed out of the singles’ draw. Zeballos will play Tobias Kamke in the second round.
Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan) defeated Daniel Evans (Great Britain) 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (4): Nishioka looked to be on his way to a quick match victory before Evans made him earn it in the final two sets. Nishioka faces No. 4 seed Alexandr Dolgolopov in the second round.
Bjorn Fratangelo (USA) defeated Igor Sijsling (Netherlands) 6-1, 7-6 (3): Frantangelo made quick work of Sijsling and survived a match break in the second set to move on. He will take on No. 8 seed Taylor Fritz to the second round.
Julien Benneteau (France) defeated qualifier John-Patrick Smith (Australia) 6-4, 6-2: Benneteau handled Smith in two sets. He is scheduled to play No. 5 seed Fernando Verdasco in the second round.
No. 5 Fernando Verdasco (Spain) defeated Dusan Lajovic (Serbia) 7-6 (2), 6-4: Lajovic threatened a comeback in the second set but ultimately fell short against the 32-year-old Verdasco. Verdasco faces Julien Benneteau in the second round.
Tobias Kamke (Germany) defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) 7-6 (7), 7-6 (2): One of the most competitive matches of the day, Kamke needed two tiebreaks to beat Stakhovsky. Stakhovsky was critical of the court, tweeting, “Just finished the match on the WORST court @ATPWorld Tour . Was surprised nobody was doing barbecue in the corner.” Kamke takes on Horacio Zeballos in the second round.
No. 8 Taylor Fritz (USA) defeated wildcard Austin Smith (USA) 6-2, 6-2: Fritz took care of the former Georgia player in two sets with his powerful serve. The 18-year-old Fritz plays Bjorn Fratangelo in the second round.
Wildcard Christopher Eubanks & Zack Kennedy (USA) defeated Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan) & Thiago Monteiro (Brazil) 3-6, 7-6, 10-8: Eubanks and Kennedy were in trouble in the first set and fought off match point in a tiebreak in the second set. They carried the momentum over to match tiebreak to grab the victory. The duo faces the winner of the match between Andres Molteni and Horacio Zeballos against Robert Lindstedt and Mate Pavic.
