Australians Bernard Tomic and Thanasi Kokkinakis have both claimed first round wins at the Delray Beach ATP event in Florida on Wednesday.
Following last week’s run into the third round of the Memphis Open where he defeated world No.24 Alexandr Dolgopolov, Tomic continued his good form by dispatching of Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 6-3 6-3.
The world No.46 needed just 51 minutes to power past Jaziri, collecting four break points in the process.
Kokkinakis, a couple of months shy of turning 19, turned his qualifier position into a second round opportunity by defeating Serbian Filip Krajinovic 6-2 6-3 and will now face fourth seed Ivo Karlovic in the next round.
The world No.143 made the most of his 48 percent first serve ins, converting that number into successful points 86 percent of the time.
Aussie veteran Marinko Matosovic also moved into the second round with a 6-4 6-4 upset of American John Isner, breaking a career three-game losing streak to the 2.08-metre giant.
Matosevic broke away in the seventh game of the opening set to take a 5-3 lead before again breaking the tournament’s second seed in the first game of the second set. He held onto the momentum, using a four-point service game to finally wrap up proceedings.
Unfortunately the other Aussies in action on Wednesday weren’t able to share in the wins. Hard-hitting Sam Groth smashed home 15 aces, but fell to Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 while John-Patrick Smith was ousted by South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-3.
In Dubai, Sam Stosur failed to overcome a sick Caroline Wozniacki, losing 4-6 6-1 7-5.
Suffering from flu-like symptoms, the third-seeded Wozniacki scraped past Stosur in a hotly contested deciding set.
“They do say third time lucky, right?” Wozniacki said. “I was hoping for that.”
“I thought I was long gone after that first set. I’m happy to be through and to the next round.”
Casey Dellacqua was also sent packing by Czech Lucie Safarova, 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-4) 7-5.
Photo: Getty Images.
