Del Potro eases past Lacko
Originally published on 02/08/17 00:00
The Argentinian, a three-time winner in the American capital, was not at his fearsome best but he still did enough to overcome the Slovakian in routine fashion and set up a mouth-watering third round clash with Kei Nishikori.
The Japanese booked his spot in the last 16 with a gritty 6-3 4-6 7-6(5) success over home-favourite, Donald Young. It could have been a more straightforward victory for the No.2 seed but he failed to convert any of eight break-point chances in the decider.
Dominic Thiem showed just why he is the top seed as he downed Henri Laaksonen 6-3 6-3 in just 63 minutes. The Austrian powerhouse will take on Kevin Anderson or Malek Jaziri in the third round.
Elsewhere on the grounds, Jack Sock overcame Marius Copil in two tiebreak sets in a rain-interrupted encounter. "He's a very tricky player,” admitted the American after his stop-start victory.
“He's a tough opponent for sure, especially on a court like this. It's a little bit quicker than last week, and he serves cannons. He's not easy to break at all so I'm definitely happy to get through in straights.”
Kyle Edmund maintained his good form as he defeated Hyeon Chung for the concession of just four games in his first match in D.C. There were also opening round victories for Jaziri, Marcos Baghdatis, Jordan Thompson, Dmitry Tursunov and Tennys Sandgren.
At the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, Catherine Bellis thrilled the locals with a 6-3 6-2 triumph over Alize Cornet. “I think I played great,” said the 18-year-old after the match. “I'm a perfectionist and I wanted to play so well in front of you guys, so I'm glad it got a little better in the end.”
The American will be joined in the second round by Caroline Dolehide, Alison Riske, Veronica Cepede Royg and Kateryna Bondarenko. Wimbledon quarter-finalist, Coco Vandeweghe, was required to play just eight games as her opponent, Alja Tomljanovic, retired injured after dropping the first set.
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