Shapovalov survives rocky opening round against Kecmanovic at Mexican Open
Auger-Aliassime wins in Dubai and Marino in Monterrey; Nadal out of Indian Wells
Denis Shapovalov has advanced to the second round of the Mexican Open, but it looked early on that he might be bidding "Adios" to the fans watching the men's singles match inside the Arena GNP Seguros.
The native of Richmond Hill, Ont., ranked 30th heading into the ATP Tour 500 series event, defeated Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 6-7, 6-0, 7-5 in a hard-court match that lasted two hours, 13 minutes.
Shapovalov was cruising along in the first set and was up 5-3 before the match was 20 minutes old. But Shapovalov committed several unforced errors and eventually lost 7-4 in the tiebreaker.
Shapovalov shook off the setback, refocused and easily won the second set 6-0. Then, he was a bit shaky in the final set before squeaking past Kecmanovic 7-5.
The Canadian finished with eight aces, seven double faults, 26 unforced errors and was only good on his first serve 55 per cent of the time. He won 12 service games and seven return games.
Shapovalov will next play third-seeded Taylor Fritz of San Diego, Calif., who earlier in the day defeated John Isner of Greensboro, N.C., 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
WATCH | Shapovalov outlasts Kecmanovic en route to 2nd round:
Auger-Aliassime beats Cressy in Dubai
Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime outlasted hard-serving American Maxime Cressy to win a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 opening match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday.
Cressy, a classic serve and volley player, fired 27 aces and committed 25 double faults in a match that lasted just over three hours.
Auger-Aliassime proved more surgical with his serve, landing 13 aces to just one double fault.
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime beats Cressy in Dubai opening round:
Cressy upset the Canadian in their lone previous match, 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(9), 7-6(5) at Wimbledon last June.
"It's not the most common game but that's why he is difficult to play," said Auger-Aliassime. "You never face an opponent like him, he's quite unique. I think he got me last time [because] I was a bit unprepared and I wasn't able to stay as composed as I did today."
"It was unfortunate that it had to go three sets but to be able to break him, finally, for the first time … it was good," Auger-Aliassime said.
The fourth-seeded Canadian next plays Italy's Lorenzo Sonego in the tournament's round of 16. Sonego topped Switzerland's Marc-Andrea Huesler 7-5. 6-4 on Monday.
Marino advances in Monterrey Open after big battle
Rebecca Marino of North Vancouver, B.C., has advanced to the second round of the Monterrey Open, but not without an intense battle.
Marino bounced Fernanda Contreras Gomez of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in a WTA 250 women's singles match on Monday night that took one hour 42 minutes to play.
The 32-year-old Canadian had 11 aces during the intense match compared to her 25-year-old opponent's four.
WATCH | Marino defeats Contreras Gomez at Monterrey Open:
Marino had four double faults, won 55 points with serve and 26 while returning. Both players won 11 games while serving, but Marino won three games while returning compared to only one for Contreras Gomez.
Marino will now face fifth-seeded Lin Zhu of China, who beat Anna Bondar of Hungary 6-4, 7-6(4) earlier in the day.
The hard-court tournament runs until Sunday.
Nadal last played in Australia
Rafael Nadal pulled out of the upcoming hard-court tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami on Tuesday because of the left hip flexor injury that has sidelined him since the Australian Open.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion tweeted about his withdrawals, which were expected but still raise questions about when he will be able to return to action.
"Took my time off, started rehab, gym and physiotherapy as instructed by the doctors," Nadal wrote as part of a thread on Twitter that included videos showing him in the gym. "Getting ready to come back … in the best conditions."
He is a three-time winner and reached the 2022 final at the BNP Paribas Open in California, where the men begin main-draw play on March 8. That will be followed by the Miami Open, another Masters 1000 tournament, where ATP action starts on March 22 and Nadal last competed in 2017. He has never won the title there and is a five-time runner-up, including two losses apiece in finals against rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
After Miami, the men's tennis circuit shifts to the European red clay, leading up to the French Open in late May.
In January at Melbourne Park, the 36-year-old from Spain hurt his hip flexor during a second-round loss to Mackenzie McDonald of the United States.
An MRI exam the next day revealed the extent of the injury. Nadal and his manager said at the time the usual recovery time is about six to eight weeks.
Nadal has lost seven of his past nine matches, dating to a fourth-round defeat at the U.S. Open in September, and the former No. 1-ranked player slid to No. 8 in the ATP standings this week.
With files from The Associated Press
