Frenchman Jeremy Chardy has ousted Australian tennis player Matthew Ebden in the first round of the Mexican Open.
Chardy won 7-5 6-0 in 65 minutes and will next play the winner of Tuesday’s match between Ukranian Alexandr Dolgopolov and eighth-seeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
American Sam Querrey narrowly avoided a major upset with a 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-3 victory over the 646th-ranked local Tigre Hank.
In other first-round results of the hard-court event at the Acapulco Princess complex, Israel’s Dudi Sela also advanced with a commanding 6-1 6-4 victory over Alejandro Falla of Colombia.
Querrey, who came to Mexico after first-round losses in Delray Beach and Memphis, lost the first set against wildcard Hank, but got back into the match with breaks in the first games of the next two sets.
He advanced to the next round, where he will play against the winner of the match between France’s Stephane Robertson and Kevin Anderson, from South Africa.
On the women’s side of the combined ATP-WTA tournament, American Christina McHale defeated Kristina Mladenovic from France 6-4 6-2, seventh-seeded Swiss Stefanie Voegele lost 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 to Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm, while Croatian Aijla Tomljanovic won 6-1 6-3 against Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova.