Botic van de Zandschulp breaks Yoshihito Nishioka’s serve five times on Tuesday to advance in St. Petersburg.
Winston-Salem champ Ivashka advances
Botic van de Zandschulp‘s ascent is showing no signs of slowing down.
The US Open quarter-finalist reached the second round of the St. Petersburg Open on Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka. The Dutch qualifier will next play #NextGenATP American Sebastian Korda in an intriguing showdown for a place in the quarter-finals.
Van de Zandschulp has won 14 of his past 17 matches at all levels, and will try to reach his third tour-level quarter-final when he faces Korda for the first time. The 26-year-old broke Nishioka’s serve on five occasions and won 54 per cent of his return points to triumph after one hour and 15 minutes.
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Winston-Salem champion Ilya Ivashka also moved on with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Serbian Laslo Djere. The Belarusian will try to upset top seed Andrey Rublev in the next round.
Second seed Denis Shapovalov learned his opening opponent when Spaniard Pablo Andujar eliminated Argentine Federico Delbonis 6-2, 7-6(1). The Canadian was victorious in their only previous ATP Head2Head clash at the 2019 Australian Open.
American Tommy Paul made a good start in St. Petersburg when he ousted Spaniard Pedro Martinez 6-3, 6-2. The 24-year-old, who will next play countryman Taylor Fritz or Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, is chasing his first ATP Tour title this week.