No. 5 seed Casper Ruud of Norway won 80 percent (40 of 50) of his first-service points in a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory on Monday in the first round of the Mallorca Championships in Spain.
Ruud’s next opponent at the new ATP 250 grass-court event will be American Tennys Sandgren, a 7-6 (3), 7-5 winner over Spain’s Jaume Munar.
Other seeded players in action included No. 6 Karen Khachanov of Russia, who held off French qualifier Lucas Pouille 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-4. Slovakia’s Lukas Klein upended No. 8 Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-4, 7-6 (2).
Also advancing Monday were Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic, Australia’s Jordan Thompson, Italy’s Stefano Travaglia and Frenchmen Adrian Mannarino and Corentin Moutet.
A match between American Sam Querrey and Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena was tied at one set apiece when play was suspended due to darkness.
Viking International Eastbourne
Rain forced the postponement of all first-round matches at the grass-court event in England.
Gael Monfils of France is the No. 1 seed. Last year’s tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
