Raonic, Basilashvili, Shapovalov enter 2nd of ABN AMRO tournament at Rotterdam

Speed Post News Network

Patna : World No 14 in ATP rankings Milos Raonic, 28, Canada, World No 20 Nikoloz Basilashvili, 26, Georgia, World No 25 Denis Shapovalov, 19, Canada, and World No 26 Fernando Verdasco, 35, Spain, entered the second round of ATP ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament at Rotterdam, Netherland, on February 12, 2019. It is a ATP World Tour 500 point tournament.

Raonic beat World No 32 Philipp Kohlschreiber, 35, Germany, in straight sets 7-6, 7-5 in 1 hour 41 minutes in a tough contest in the first round. Raonic hammered 21 Aces in the match to just 2 by Kohlschreiber. Raonic also won a break point besides winning 3 games in a row. Raoni’s winning percentage on both his first and second serve ( 86% & 80 %) was better than that of Kohlschreiber ( 76% & 63%).

Basilashvili beat World No 52 Hyeon Chung, 22, South Korea, in three sets 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 in the first round. Basilashvili fired 15 Aces in the match to 3 by Chung. Basilashvili, however, also committed 10 double faults in the match to none by Chung. Basilashvili won 5 break points while Chung won 4. Chung won 7 games in a row in the match to 5 by Basilashvili. Basilashvili’s winning percentage on both his first and second serve ( 75% & 54%) was better than that of Chung ( 69% & 49%).

Shapovalov beat qualifier Franko Skugor, 31, Croatia, World No 351, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round. Shapovalov fired 7 Aces in the match to 5 by Skugor. Both the players committed one double fault each. Shapovalov won 4 break points to 2 by Skugor. Shapovalov won 6 games in a row in the match to 3 by Skugor.

Verdasco beat World No 45 Matthew Ebden, 31, Australia, 7-5, 6-4 in the round of 32. Ebden fired 7 Aces in the match to 3 by Verdasco. Ebden, however, also committed 3 double faults in the match to none by Verdasco. Verdasco won 3 break points to 1 by Ebden. Verdasco won 4 games in a row during the match to 2 by Ebden.

World No 33 Gael Monfils, 32, France, beat World No 21 David Gofffin, 28, Belgium, 7-6, 7-5 in the first round in 1 hr 46 minutes in the first round. Monfils fired 12 Aces in the match to 2 by Goffin. Monfils won 4 break points to 3 by his rival. Both the players 3 games each in a row in the match.

World No 59 Tomas Berdych, 33, Czech Republic, a wild card entrant, beat qualifier and World No 31 Gilles Simon, 34, France, 7-6, 6-4 in the first round. Berdych won 5 break points to 4 by Simon. Berdych fired 4 Aces in the match to 2 by Simon. Berdych won 6 games in a row to 4 by Simon.

Defending Champion Roger Federer, 37, Switzerland, is not playing the tournament this year.