A COUPLE of ATP Tour up-and-comers have toppled French veterans across both the Delray Beach Open and Open 13 Provence, as we recap what has happened in the first Round of 32 matches at the respective tournaments.

DELRAY BEACH OPEN – DELRAY BEACH, UNITED STATES:

South Korean Soonwoo Kwon turned around a disappointing first set to down seventh seed Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino in three sets. The 22-year-old has been building nicely this year, stunning Milos Raonic in New York last week before going down to eventual winner, Kyle Edmund in the quarter finals in three sets. Given he started his year on the Challenger Tour, Kwon has picked up his game over the last fortnight. In the match against Mannarino, Kwon took two hours to salute, serving seven aces and winning a really strong 63 per cent off his second serve – one per cent more than his first serve. He broke three times to two during the win, and the pair won 50 per cent of the points during the match. The crucial third break for Kwon was enough for him to step up and take out the match.

Kwon now faces American wildcard, Ryan Harrison who defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur 6-3 6-2, while fellow American Mackenzie McDonald defeated Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-2 7-6. It was better news for Uchiyama’s compatriot, Yoshihito Nishioka who defeated fifth seed, John Millman 3-6 6-4 6-2, while American Frances Tiafoe downed Colombian qualifier, Emilio Gomez 7-6 6-2.

Round of 32 Results:

Y. Nishioka (JPN) defeated [5] J. Millman (AUS) 3-6 6-4 6-2
S. Kwon (KOR) defeated [7] A. Mannarino (FRA) 1-6 6-3 6-2
[WC] R. Harrison (USA) defeated D. Dzumhur (BIH) 6-3 6-2
F. Tiafoe (USA) defeated [Q] E. Gomez (COL) 7-6 6-2
M. McDonald (USA) defeated Y. Uchiyama (JPN) 6-2 7-6
[WC] B. Nakashima (USA) defeated J. Vesely (CZE) 7-6 6-1

OPEN 13 PROVENCE – MARSEILLE, FRANCE:

Swedish up-and-comer, Mikael Ymer has won through to the Round of 16 at Marseille by downing home nation veteran, Richard Gasquet in three sets. After winning the first set, Ymer realised he had a fight on his hands against the 33-year-old world number 57, dropping the second set before crucially breaking late in the match to win 6-3 3-6 7-5 in two hours and 22 minutes. Ranked 75th in the world, Ymer showed his skill by defeating Next Gen Finals winner Jannik Sinner in Montpellier a week ago, and took Karen Khachanov to five sets in Round 2 at Melbourne Park, only losing 10-8 in the fifth set tiebreaker. In the win over Gasquet, Ymer served up six aces and won 68 per cent of his first serve points, as well as 52 per cent on his second serve points. He broke four times from seven chances to Gasquet’s three from 10 on his way to victory in what was ultimately a close contest, as Ymer won just four more points than the Frenchman.

In other results, sixth seed Benoit Paire broke his streak of poor form with a win over improving Frenchman, Gregoire Barrere in straight sets, while Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik downed Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-4 7-5.

Round of 32 Results:

[6] B. Paire (FRA) defeated G. Barrere (FRA) 6-4 7-6
M. Ymer (SWE) defeated R. Gasquet (FRA) 6-3 3-6 7-5
A. Bublik (KAZ) defeated M. Fucsovics (HUN) 6-4 7-5