Australia went a perfect three-from-three at the ATP event in Los Cabos on Monday, with Thanasi Kokkinakis, Matt Ebden and Akira Santillan advancing to the second round.
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Los Cabos: Kokkinakis, Ebden, Santillan through
Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico, 1 August 2017 | Reuters/tennis.com.au
Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis has outlasted tournament No.8 seed Frances Tiafoe to advance to the second round of the Los Cabos Open in Mexico.
The 21-year-old from Adelaide won in straight sets, but had to dig deep before overcoming the American in two tiebreakers with the second going to 10 points.
Kokkinakis’ 7-6(3) 7-6(8) win – during which he saved five set points in the second set – sees him take on the winner of the first-round match between Yasutaka Uchiyama and Peter Polansky.
Only a few minutes before Kokkinakis sealed victory, compatriot Matthew Ebden scored a fine win over American Dennis Novikov.
Ebden lost the first set but then bounced back to win 1-6 6-3 6-3 to set up an encounter with No.4 seed Feliciano Lopez, who received a bye into the next round.
Ebden, a qualifier, has now won nine of his past 10 matches after two weeks ago reaching the ATP final in Newport – also as a qualifier.
Later on Monday, a third Aussie, Akira Santillan, joined his countryman in the last 16 in Mexico.
Santillan, who like Ebden came through two rounds of qualifying, thrashed Russia’s Konstantin Kravchuk 6-0 6-1 in just 36 minutes.
Czech Tomas Berdych (No.1) and American Sam Querrey are the tournament’s top two seeds.
Santillan next faces Berdych.
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