Cilic and Pouille make solid starts in Tokyo
Zverev, Khachanov through to second round in China
Former US Open champion Marin Cilic mowed down local favourite Yuichi Sugita 6-4 6-4 on Monday to reach the second round of the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo.
The 31-year-old, beaten in the first round last year, made no mistakes this time winning 88 per cent of points on his booming first serve and saved the only break point he faced in the 74-minute contest to advance.
Up next for the Croat, who has slipped to 30th in the world rankings as he chases his first title this year, will be the winner of the clash between Chung Hyeon and Italian Lorenzo Sonego.
Fifth-seeded Frenchman Lucas Pouille made short work of Hubert Hurkacz winning 6-4 6-3 to book a spot in the next round where he will face Yoshihito Nishioka, who defeated Joao Sousa 7-5 6-3.
Wild card Go Soeda set up a potential second round meeting with top seed Novak Djokovic by getting past Germany's JanLennard Struff 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3. German second seed Alexander Zverev carried his Laver Cupwinning form into the China Open as he sailed into the second round with a 6-3 6-2 victory over wild card Frances Tiafoe in Beijing on Monday.
Zverev, who won the Laver Cup for Team Europe in a thrilling finale last week, fired 10 aces and won 78 per cent of his first service points. He also broke the American three times to wrap up the contest in 70 minutes.
Although Zverev had three double faults, he never dropped serve during the match, with Tiafoe failing to convert one break point.
Fourth seeded Russian Karen Khachanov advanced after he saved three set points in the second set tiebreak to beat Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas 6-2 7-6(7).
Andrey Rublev also won in straight sets, beating US Open semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov 6-2 7-5. The Russian broke Dimitrov twice in both sets to move into the next round in 75 minutes.