Ruusuvuori saves 2 MPs to deny Coric in Washington

Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori had to dig deep to secure his first hard-court win since February on the opening day of the Mubadala Citi DC Open Monday, saving two match points in the second set before claiming a near-three-hour marathon win over Borna Coric in steamy conditions in Washington, D.C.

The 25-year-old, No. 71 in the PIF ATP Rankings, saved two match points in the second-set tie-break and continued on to claim a 6-7(4), 7-6(8), 6-4 victory in two hours and 58 minutes to capture his first hard-court win since reaching the Doha quarter-finals in February.

Coric dropped 21 aces according to Infosys ATP Stats but conceded the lone break of the match in the fifth game of the third set. Ruusuvuori fended off all five break points he faced to level his Lexus ATP Head2Head with the Croatian at 1-1

A finalist in Hong Kong in the opening week of the season, Ruusuvuori improved to 16-12 on the season and next plays fast-rising Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who is making his first appearance since his stunning run from qualifying to the Wimbledon fourth round.

This forehand rocket ??‍?@EmilRuusuvuori | @mubadalacitidc | #MubadalaCitiDCOpen pic.twitter.com/l71vgrukOY

Denis Shapovalov picked up his first win of the US hardcourt season with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut, who recently made a surprise run to the Wimbledon fourth round.

The left-handed Canadian, who is just six match wins away from reaching 200 career victories, won 15 of 20 points on his opponent's second serve and earned 15 break points during the match, converting five times.

A former Top 10 player, Shapovalov has slipped to No. 139 in the PIF ATP Rankings, but has already claimed 13 wins this season, matching his total wins last season.

The 25-year-old next plays fellow left-hander Adrian Mannarino. The pair split their two meetings in 2017 but have not played since.

[NEWSLETTER FORM]