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Patna : World No 133 Go Soeda, 35, Japan, upset World No 37 Jan-Lennard Struff, 29, Germany, in the first round of ATP Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships at Tokyo, Japan, on September 30, 2019. Soeda edged past Struff in a three-set thriller 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 coming from behind.
Struff though hammered 12 Aces in the match to 7 by the Japanese. Soeda won 2 break points to 1 by Struff. Both the players won 3 games each in a row in the match. Both of them also won 64 service points each in the match.
Sixth seed and World No 30 Marin Cilic, 31, Croatia, beat World No 126 Yuichi Sugita, 31, Japan, 6-4, 6-4 in 74 minutes to enter the 2nd round. Cilic fired 5 Aces in the match besides winning two break points. He, however, also committed 4 double faults. Cilic also won 3 games in a row in the match. Cilic will face World No 143 Hyeon Chung, 23, South Korea, in the 2nd round on October 2, 2019. Chung upset World No 54 Lorengo Sonezo, 24, Italy, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 1st round.
World No 77 Yoshihito Nishioka, 24, Japan, beat World No 62 Joao Sousa, 30, Portugal, 7-5, 6-3 to enter the 2nd round. Nishioka won 3 break points in the match to 1 by Sousa. Both the players served 3 Aces each in the match. Nishioka, however, won 4 games in a row in the match 2 by Sousa. The Japanese won 46 service points to 36 by Sousa.
World No 24 Lucas Pouille, 25, France, beat World No 36 Hubert Hurkacz, 22, Poland, 6-4, 6-3 in 74 minutes to advance to the 2nd round. Pouille won 2 break points in the match besides winning 3 games in a row. Pouille fired 4 Aces in the match to 3 by Hurkacz. Pouille will face Nishioka in nthe 2nd round on October 2, 2019.