CZECH Jiri Vesely has outclassed fifth seed American Tennys Sandgren in an hour and 40 minutes in the first round at the Astana Open in Nur-Saltan, Kazakhstan. The pair fought hard but Vesely’s record on indoor hard courts over the years proved too much, downing the seed 6-4 7-6 to advance through to the Round of 16.

Vesely saved all five break point opportunities whilst breaking for the only time in the match between the big servers, just once from four chances. Both players were dominant on serve with Vesely serving nine aces and winning 72 per cent of his points on both first and second serve, while Sandgren won 84 per cent of his first serve points, but only 46 per cent of his second serve points. There was only five points difference between them in the end, but the Czech made it through in straight sets, winning in a nervous 9-7 second set tiebreaker.

“It was a very tough match, as Tennys has had very good results on hard courts,” Vesely said post-match. “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.”

Vesely now takes on Belarusian Egor Gerasimov, who won just his third main draw match since the ATP Tour’s return in August yesterday, defeating South African Lloyd Harris. He served one less ace (8-9), but won three more points on serve than this opponent in a neck-and-neck three set contest. Gerasimov won 6-3 3-6 7-6. Both player broke three times in the two hours and one minute contest, but it came down to the deciding tiebreaker which the Belarusian took out 7-3. The win actually saw him ironically leapfrog Harris to one spot above the South African, into 81st overall.

Meanwhile Next-Gen talent, Finn Emil Ruusuvuori showed he he a bright future with a dominant 6-2 6-0 smashing of Kazakhstan teenager, Timofey Skatov. The 21-year-old Finn needed just 60 minutes to win 6-2 6-0 over the world 438, serving four aces and only dropping one point on his first serve. He broke six times from 12 chances and won 69 per cent of the overall points in a very one-sided affair. Now Ruusuvuori will go on to take on sixth seed Australian, Jordan Thompson.

In the other results, Japanese qualifier Yugita Sugita and Italian wildcard Andreas Seppi both won through in hard-fought three-set contest. Sugita won 6-1 5-7 6-4 against fellow qualifier Damir Dzumhur, while Seppi stepped up to knock out Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev, 6-3 1-6 6-3 in an hour and 57 minutes on court.

In some bizarre fixturing, the last two Round of 32 match takes place tomorrow at night local time involving the two best Kazakh hopes. Sixth seed Alexander Bublik and American Mackenzie McDonald go head-to-head following an evening clash between Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin and Argentinian Federico Delbonis. Earlier in the day, second seed Miomir Kecmanovic enters the draw against another American in Frances Tiafoe, while Fernando Verdasco takes on fourth seed John Millman. On the other court, seventh seed Tommy Paul faces Macedonian Radu Albot, while Vesely meets Gerasimov.

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