American seeds went 3-0 Tuesday at the Dallas Open led by veteran John Isner who No. 5 John Isner moved past Chun-Hsin Tseng in two sets 7-6(7-5), 7-6(7-1). The 37-year-old cracked 22 aces in the win, but lamented on his 0-2 start in Australia.
“I would love to win some tennis matches in Australia. It just never happens,” said Isner who resides in Dallas. “I normally play my best at home, in the United States, and this is actually home.
“I’m a homebody and very lucky to, of course, have this tournament here in my backyard. I’m happy to move on. I’ve got to keep improving, and I think I can.”
No. 6 seed J.J. Wolf moved past qualifier Brandon Holt 6-3, 6-3. No. 7 Marcos Giron eliminated Alex Rybakov 6-4, 6-7(1-7), 6-1.
Elsewhere in first round action, Mackenzie McDonald had a comfortable win over Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-3, 6-0. McDonald, ranked No. 59, hit three aces, won 18/27 (67%) first service points, 14/20 (70%) on second serves. Mcdonald broke serve five times. The 39-year-old Verdasco won just 15/33 (45%) of first serve points, 3/13 (23%) on second serves.
No. 8 Adrian Mannarino topped American Steve Johnson in two sets 7-6(8-6), 6-2. Jordan Thompson defeated Denis Kudla 6-1, 7-5. Yibing Wu got by Michael Mmoh 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Radu Albot eliminated Liam Krall in three sets 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Looking at Thursday, feature matches are No. 2 Frances Tiafoe – Mackenzie McDonald in second round play, Yibing Wu – No. 3 Denis Shapovalov, Radu Albot – No. 6 J.J. Wolf, Christopher Eubanks – Oscar Otte, Daniel Altmaier – Zachary Svajda and also Taro Daniel – Emilio Gomez.
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