French tennis player Terence Atmane turned the tables on Frances Tiafoe Monday, defeating the Washington-area native 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the Mubadala DC Open in Washington. The victory was sweet revenge for Atmane, who had lost to Tiafoe in the first round at Wimbledon earlier this season.
Tiafoe, who entered the tournament as the sixth seed, saw his home-crowd hopes dashed when Atmane broke serve in the second-to-last game of the match and then held on to close it out.
Earlier Monday, third-seeded Taylor Fritz dominated his service games throughout a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Belgium’s Zizou Bergs. Fritz successfully defended all four break points he faced while converting two of his four chances to break Bergs. The California native was competing for the first time since falling to Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Fourth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti advanced in an all-Italian matchup after Matteo Arnaldi retired from the match while trailing 6-0, 3-1. It marked Musetti’s return to competition following injury problems that had sidelined him since early May.
Also moving into the second round were Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic, Japan’s Kei Nishikori, and Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo.
At the Mifel Tennis Open in Los Cabos, Mexico, Australia’s Bernard Tomic put on a dominant display, cruising past Mexico’s Alex Hernandez 6-1, 6-0. Hernandez, a 27-year-old qualifier ranked 498th in the world, managed to hold serve while down 5-0 in the opening set to prevent a complete shutout. Tomic, 33 and ranked 171st, entered the main draw as a lucky loser from qualifying.
In other Los Cabos first-round action, American qualifier Tristan Boyer defeated Canada’s Gabriel Diallo 7-5, 6-2. Evening matches featured fifth-seeded Cameron Norrie of the United Kingdom against Aleksandar Kovacevic, and Hong Kong’s Chak Lam Coleman Wong taking on Darwin Blanch.
