FINLAND’S Otto Virtanen is through to the second round in Marseille after collecting the biggest win of his career. Defeating fifth seed Sebastian Korda, the top ranked Finn came back from a tiebreaker down to surge into the Round of 16 via a 6-7 7-6 6-4 victory in France.

Virtanen hit 51 winners including 19 aces to out-power Korda, while also committing 50 unforced errors. Korda managed 37 and 44 respectively. The Finn won 76 per cent of his first serve points, while Korda managed the 72 per cent, but could only break Virtanen twice compared to the winners’ thrice.

“I couldn’t find rhythm in the first set, he was playing well and didn’t let me have space to play my relaxed tennis,” Virtanen said post-match. “In the second set, I started feeling the ball better, started getting used to the court and started playing much better.

“I tried to be focused on every serve, every point. I tried to return well and put pressure on those games. It worked out really well. The fans are amazing here, it’s nice to have a lot of people watching and cheering for you.”

Virtanen was one of three main draw winners on the day, with seventh seeded Italian Lorenzo Sonego also needing to overcome tricky Dutchman Botic Van de Zandschulp, 6-1 3-6 6-3, while Serbian Hamad Medjedovic knocked off Belgian Raphael Collignon.

Montpellier is one of three ATP250 tournaments taking place at the moment, with both Buenos Aires and Delray Beach getting underway as well. The biggest upset across the globe was American qualifier Michael Mmoh defeating Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko 7-5 7-6 in the latter, while Thiago Seyboth Wild won an all-South American clash against Argentinian Facundo Diaz Acosta in his nation’s capital.

BUENOS AIRES – ATP250 ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

Dusan Lajovic (SRB) defeated Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP) 7-6 7-5
[Q] Laslo Djere (SRB) defeated Alexandre Muller (FRA) 6-3 6-3
Thiago Seyboth Wild (BRA) defeated Facundo Diaz Acosta (ARG) 3-6 6-2 6-3
Mariano Navone (ARG) defeated [WC] Francisco Comesana (ARG) 6-4 6-4

DELRAY BEACH – ATP250 ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[6] Brandon Nakashima (USA) defeated [Q] James Trotter (JPN) 7-6 6-1
[7] Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) defeated Borna Gojo (CRO) 6-4 6-4
Cameron Norrie (GBR) defeated [Q] Zachary Svajda (USA) 7-5 6-4
[Q] Michael Mmoh (USA) defeated Alexander Shevchenko (KAZ) 7-5 7-6
[LL] Ethan Quinn (USA) defeated [Q] Tristan Boyer (USA) 6-2 6-7 7-6

MARSEILLE – ATP250 ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

Otto Virtanen (FIN) defeated [5] Sebastian Korda (USA) 6-7 7-6 6-4
[7] Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) defeated Botic van de Zandschulp (NED) 6-1 3-6 6-3
Hamad Medjedovic (SRB) defeated [ALT] Raphael Collignon (BEL) 6-3 6-4