Anderson Notches Win In Nottingham
Anderson Notches Win In Nottingham
South African looking to jump-start season
Top seed Kevin Anderson advanced to the third round of the Aegon Open Nottingham on Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 win against Ivan Dodig of Croatia. The South African hit 21 aces and never faced a break point in the two-hour and six-minute contest.
The win is just Anderson’s fourth of the season. The 6’8” right-hander has struggled with left knee and right elbow injuries. In October, he reached a career-high No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. But the 30 year old has since fallen to No. 24 and has had to retire from two matches and withdraw altogether from seven tournaments.
Anderson next will face 14th seed Fernando Verdasco, who beat Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. Verdasco is coming off one of his biggest wins of the season last week when he beat World No. 5 Stan Wawrinka at The Queen’s Club in London.
The defending champion at Nottingham is out. Denis Istomin fell in the first round to Bosnian Damir Dzumhur 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-4. Their match resumed on Tuesday at the start of the third set after it was suspended because of darkness on Monday. Last year, Istomin became the first Uzbekistani to win an ATP World Tour event.
Dzumhur also played his second-round match on Tuesday, falling to Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-1, 6-4. Pospisil next will face American Steve Johnson, who beat Aussie John Millman 6-2, 6-2.
Fourth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov dismissed home favourite Kyle Edmund 6-4, 7-6(5). The Ukrainian won 80 per cent of his service points (49/61) and earned the match’s lone break against Edmund, a member of the Next Generation. Dolgopolov next will face 31-year-old Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic, who outlasted Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(2).