Frenchman Lucas Pouille had a superb first round at the Masters 1000, eliminating Andy Murray, former world number one
Lucas Pouille was perfectly successful on Monday entering the Cincinnati Masters 1000 tournament by eliminating Andy Murray. Ten days after his retirement in Washington after a match-marathon ended at 3 am, the Scotsman, former World No. 1 ranked 375th, fell in three sets against the native of Grande-Synthe, 17th world, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.
“I felt good physically,” said Murray, who has three Grand Slam titles, including two at Wimbledon.
First time
“The conditions are fast here. He was a little brighter than me. ”
“I probably did not react so quickly to some strikes I would have wanted,” said the 31-year-old Scotsman.
“Physically well,” reassured the number one tricolor. This is the first time in five contests that Pouille, who remained on a knockout as soon as he entered the running in Toronto, defeated Murray.
“At the level of my game, you have to regain confidence, especially on the field, winning matches like today, and accept that it is not a very good level every day. Try to fight from start to finish, and try to win even by playing moderately. ”
In the next round, Pouille will face Argentine Leonardo Mayer (50th), Michael Mmoh (133).
Richard Gasquet decline
France’s Richard Gasquet, 26th in the world, lost his first appearance against Spain’s Pablo Carreño Busta (13th), 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
The other two French-Spanish duels of the day however turned to the advantage of the French: Benoît Paire has dismissed David Ferrer 6-2, 6-2, while Jeremy Chardy easily beat Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6- 1.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori defeated Russia’s Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-3.
Nice performance for Alizé Cornet
Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk has been reunited in the second round with Roger Federer, seeded number one after Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal, thanks to a win over Portuguese Joao Sousa 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 .
Young Canadian prospect Denis Shapovalov dominated American Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 7-5
American Sam Querrey won the big-server duel against compatriot John Isner 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5).
In the women competition, the French player, Alizé Cornet has signed a good performance by dropping the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, 11th in the world and victorious at Roland Garros in 2017, 1-6, 7-5, 6-0.
Kristina Mladenovic took advantage of Julia Görges’ injury to qualify for the second round, while the Frenchwoman led 6-4, 3-2.
Svetlana Kuznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam winner, hardly dominated Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5).
Victoria Azarenka, who participated for the first time in the tournament since 2015, took over Carla Suarez Navarro 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-4.
The finalist of the last US Open Madison Keys, seeded number 13, eliminated the wild card Bethanie Mattek-Sands 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.
