Schwartzman, Lopez cruise

Paris : Diminutive Argentine Diego Schwartzman recorded his 39th match win of a career-best season with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Viktor Troicki of Serbia yesterday to book his place in the Rolex Paris Masters second round.

Schwartzman has a mathematical chance of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November, but his participation would also depend on other results. He will next face ninth-seeded American John Isner.

France’s Adrian Mannarino knocked out 2012 champion David Ferrer of Spain 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 32 minutes. Mannarino will next look to avenge his loss to David Goffin in the recent Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 final. Goffin is next in line to qualify for the season finale, at No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Race To London.

Spain’s Feliciano Lopez saved three of four break points to earn a gritty 7-6(4), 6-3 win over wild card Pierre-Hugues Herbert for a second-round encounter against another Frenchman, No. 17 seed Lucas Pouille, who won his fourth ATP World Tour title on Sunday at the Erste Bank Open 500 .

There were mixed results in the French capital for three players — Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov and Borna Coric — who will compete at next month’s inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, from 7-11 November.

Spain’s Fernando Verdasco came through a hard-court 7-6(1), 7-6(6) victory over Rublev in one hour and 50 minutes. Verdasco saved one set point at 4-5, 30/40 in the first set and converted his fifth match point in the second set. Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas got the better of Khachanov 6-4, 6-2, but Coric hit 10 aces to defeat fellow qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 6-3, 6-4.