Gaston Battles Past Struff In Marrakech

With the help of a local legend, Hugo Gaston made a winning debut appearance at the Grand Prix Hassan II on Monday in Marrakech.

The Frenchman, who is undergoing a coaching trial with Moroccan former World No. 14 Younes El Aynaoui, defeated Jan-Lennard Struff 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 for his first tour-level victory of 2023.

The 22-year-old Gaston clinched a closely fought contest by sealing the only break of the deciding set in the 11th game. He went on to wrap a two-hour, seven-minute triumph during which both players converted two of four break points.

Gaston will take on top seed Lorenzo Musetti in the second round at the clay-court ATP 250 as he chases his first tour-level quarter-final appearance since last June in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

In other opening-day action at the only ATP Tour event currently held on the African continent, Francesco Passaro also notched his first tour-level win of 2023 by downing former World No. 14 Aslan Karatsev 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. The 22-year-old, a competitor at the 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals, will take on sixth seed Richard Gasquet or Alexandre Muller next.

Jaume Munar enjoyed a straightforward start to his Marrakech campaign. The Spaniard downed home wild card Elliot Benchetrit 6-4, 6-4 to improve to 5-3 in tour-level matches on clay in 2023. The World No. 83, a quarter-finalist in Marrakech in 2019, next plays eighth seed Nicolas Jarry or qualifier Andrea Vavassori.

Alexei Popyrin also disappointed the home fans on Monday by defeating another Moroccan wild card, Younes Lalami Laaroussi, 6-3, 6-2. Popyrin converted five of seven break points he earned in his first clay-court match of the year to set a second-round clash against second seed Daniel Evans.