Anderson, Querrey keep finals hopes on track

Shanghai : Kevin Anderson and Sam Querrey made improvements on their respective chances of making debut appearances at the Nitto ATP Finals yesterday with both posting straight-sets first-round triumphs at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.  Anderson had an impressive 6-3, 6-1 victory over last week’s Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships runner-up Adrian Mannarino while Querrey landed a dominant 6-3, 6-2 result over Japan’s Yuichi Sugita. 

Anderson will face Jan-Lennard Struff for a quarter-final berth. The German advanced when compatriot Mischa Zverev, who was leading 6-3, 5-6, retired due to heat exhaustion.

Querrey broke twice on his way to a 4-0 second-set lead and comfortably carried the advantage to the finish line. He brought up three match points with his 10th ace and two points later booked a second-round meeting with #NextGenATP compatriot Frances Tiafoe.

Another of the big servers, No. 12 seed John Isner, narrowly prevailed over Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic. Isner saved a match point at 5/6 in the third-set tie-break and soon closed out a 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(6) victory. He will next face Greek #NextGenATP qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Two players’ chances of making a late-season charge for a debut Nitto ATP Finals berth took a blow yesterday, however. No. 7 seed Pablo Carreno Busta fell in an all-Spanish second-round encounter to Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 7-5, 7-5. 

Fresh from making his debut in the Emirates ATP Top 50 Rankings, #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov faded in a three-set defeat to Viktor Troicki. The Serbian finished strongly for a 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-0 result over the 18-year-old wild card.