No. 5 seed Christopher Eubanks fired 10 aces, had a 29-14 edge in receiving winners and saved all four break points he faced as he defeated qualifier Steve Johnson in first-round action at the Dallas Open on Tuesday.
Eubanks, who made a surprise run to the Wimbledon quarterfinals last summer, will face Australia’s James Duckworth in the next round as he seeks consecutive wins for the first time in 2024. Duckworth was a 7-6 (3), 6-1 winner over Zachary Svajda.
Alex Michelsen, 19, outlasted qualifier Tennys Sandgren 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and will face No. 1 seed Frances Tiafoe in the round of 16.
Other winners Tuesday included Michael Mmoh, Marcos Giron, Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, Australia’s Jordan Thompson and Germany’s eighth-seeded Dominik Koepfer.
No. 5 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain rallied past France’s Gregoire Barrere 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to notch his 100th career ATP-level win in the first round in Marseille.
Barrere had a dominant serve, with eight aces and a 40-for-49 first-service win rate (81.6 percent), but Davidovich Fokina saved five of seven break points while breaking Barrere’s serve three times in four chances.
No. 8 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic also dropped his first set before beating Belgian qualifier David Goffin 3-6 7-5, 6-2.
Another Czech player, Tomas Machac, beat British star Andy Murray 7-5, 6-4. Sebastian Korda, China’s Zhizhen Zhang and Frenchmen Hugo Gaston and Arthur Rinderknech were also victorious.
Playing on his home soil in Argentina, Federico Coria upset German fifth seed Daniel Altmaier 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 44 minutes during first-round play in Argentina.
Coria served up five aces with five double faults, while Altmaier suffered six double faults without an ace.
In two all-Argentine battles, qualifier Roman Andres Burruchaga took down Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 and Thiago Agustin Tirante defeated Francisco Comesana 6-1, 7-6 (4). Other winners included Spaniards Roberto Carballes Baena (No. 8 seed) and Bernabe Zapata Miralles, Italian qualifier Luciano Darderi and Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann (No. 7 seed).
