Botic Barrage Too Hot For Sousa In Tel Aviv

Botic van de Zandschulp wasted no time settling in Tuesday at the Tel Aviv Watergen Open, where the fifth-seeded Dutchman dispatched Joao Sousa 6-2, 6-3 at the ATP 250 event in Israel.

Van de Zandschulp was particularly dominant on serve in his first ATP Head2Head meeting with four-time Tour titlist Sousa. The Dutchman won 83 per cent (29/35) of points behind his first delivery, while also crushing 28 winners to Sousa’s six as he completed a 81-minute first-round victory.

With the win, van de Zandschulp improved his record in first-round matches in 2022 to 18-6, and 10-2 on hard courts. The Dutchman, who played in his maiden ATP Tour final on the clay in Munich in May, will hope to notch his 37th tour-level win of the season in the second round against Liam Broady. The British qualifier earlier downed Serbian wild card Hamad Medjedovic 7-5, 6-3.

Van de Zandschulp’s triumph was followed by a first-round upset on the centre court in Tel Aviv, where Tomas Martin Etcheverry rallied after losing a one-sided second-set tie-break to complete a 6-2, 6-7(0), 6-4 win against sixth seed Aslan Karatsev. The win against the World No. 39 was the biggest of Etcheverry’s career, and the Argentine’s reward is a second-round clash against Roman Safiullin.

Also on Tuesday, Arthur Rinderknech set a first tour-level meeting with third seed Diego Schwartzman in the second round in Israel. The big-serving Frenchman, a quarter-finalist in Metz last week, prevailed 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 against Romanian qualifier Marius Copil. Emil Ruusuvuori was also a first-round winner, breaking J.J. Wolf’s serve five times in a 6-3, 6-2 win to advance to face one of two Frenchmen ⁠— seventh seed Adrian Mannarino or Constant Lestienne.

The ATP Tour has returned to Tel Aviv for the first time since 1996 this week. The 88-time tour-level titlist Novak Djokovic is the top seed on the Mediterranean Coast, where the Serbian is also competing in the doubles alongside home favourite Jonathan Erlich.