Sousa Debuts In Nice With Win No. 100

No. 5 seed Joao Sousa debuted at the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur with a comeback win on Monday against #NextGen player Quentin Halys of France. The Portuguese, playing at a career-high No. 28 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, won 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 21 minutes against the 19 year old.

Halys, who received a wild card into the main draw, broke Sousa to win the first set, but the Frenchman was broken twice in the second set as Sousa evened their first-round contest. In the third, Sousa broke to go up 2-1 and later served out the set on his first try.

With the successful debut, the 27 year old also celebrated his 100^th tour-level win. Sousa is trying to build on his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final earlier this month at the Mutua Madrid Open. He next will play Victor Estrella Burgos, who won a clay-court title earlier this year at the Ecuador Open Quito.

American qualifier Donald Young earned his second win in as many tries against World No. 34 Fabio Fognini, beating the Italian 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Young, No. 82 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, had won their earlier meeting on hard courts in Vienna in 2012. The 26 year old will face Argentine Guido Pella for the first time in the second round. Pella erased 16 of 18 break points and outlasted Daniil Medvedev 6-1, 6-7(4), 7-6(5).

Diego Schwartzman claimed the battle of 2016 titlists. The TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open champion closed out a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory against Fernando Verdasco, who won the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy last month in Bucharest. The Argentine moves on to face No. 3 seed Kevin Anderson. The World No. 20 is coming back from injuries and has played just seven matches this season. Anderson prevailed in four sets in their earlier meeting at the 2015 Australian Open.

#NextGen player Taylor Fritz won the first main draw clay-court match of his career. Fritz, No. 72 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, dismissed Illya Marchenko of Ukraine 7-6(4), 6-4. The 18 year old, who is the youngest player in the Top 100, hit eight aces and won nearly 80 per cent of his first-serve points to beat the 28-year-old Marchenko. The American faces No. 2 seed Gilles Simon in the second round for the first time.