IT was a good day for the top seeds at the Adelaide International yesterday, with six progressing as the tournament begins to heat up. Some had a harder time than others though, such as second seed Nicolas Jarry.

After losing the first set in a tiebreaker to Italian Matteo Arnaldi, he hit back to win the second in identical fashion, before going on to win the third to take the match 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.

Arnaldi served six more aces than Jarry, but also served two more double faults than the Chilean. Although Jarry had the higher first serve percentage, both players won the same percentage of first serve points. Crucially for Jarry, he narrowly saved a higher percentage of the break points he faced.

Jarry’s next opponent is Jiri Lehecka, who also had to battle for the victory but ultimately prevailed over Dusan Lajovic in three sets.

Around the courts, Alexander Bublik was also made to work for this win over Daniel Evans, while Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda and Lorenzo Musetti all had easier days at the office, winning their matches in straight sets.

ASB CLASSIC

In Auckland, the ATP tour’s next generation was on show, continuing to make statements.

This included Ben Shelton, with the tournament’s top seed easily seeing off Hungarian Fabian Marozan 6-3, 6-4.

It was a strong performance from the young American, who smashed 20 aces on his way to victory.

Interestingly though, many of the other stats were pretty even between the pair, including first serve percentage and break points saved.

Shelton’s next opponent is Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, who progressed after defeating the seventh seed Austrian Sebastian Ofner in straight sets.

Meanwhile young Frenchman Arthur Fils’ strong start to the tournament continued, this time dismantling Portugal’s Nuno Borges in straight sets.