Baghdatis, Lajovic Among Day One Winners In Winston-Salem

The Winston-Salem Open, 2016 ATP World Tour 250 Tournament of the Year, kicked off on Sunday. In a stacked top quarter of the draw, Marcos Baghdatis moved into the second round following a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Ricardas Berankis. Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic dismissed another Cypriot – wild card Petros Chrysochos 6-2, 6-3 – in just 59 minutes, saving both break points while converting on three of his own.

Baghdatis will next face 16th seed Jiri Vesely, while Lajovic squares off against top seed and last year’s finalist Roberto Bautista Agut. The winners of both encounters will meet in the third round.

In other action, Thiago Monteiro won his second FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting with Alexandr Dolgopolov in less than a month, prevailing 6-3, 6-3. The Brazilian had also defeated the Ukrainian in the Gstaad first round. Joining Monteiro in the second round were Jan-Lennard Struff, a 7-6(3), 7-6(4) winner over Norbert Gombos, and Andrey Kuznetsov, a 7-6, 6-2 winner over Nicolas Kicker.

Kuznetsov will face a tall order in his next match, dueling with third seed and two-time champion John Isner. The American is coming off a semi-final finish at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.