Tiafoe ends slide with first-round victory at Lyon

No. 5 seed Frances Tiafoe got off the schneid by finishing a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Spaniard Jaume Munar in the first round of the Open Parc on Tuesday in Lyon, France.

Tiafoe was on a threematch tour-level losing streak, dropping his openers in Madrid and Rome after losing the final of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships. Against Munar, he rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the first-set tiebreaker and saved 4 of 6 break points in all.

Their match began Monday before being suspended by rain.

No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan needed just 69 minutes to beat Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-4, 6-2 in the Round of 16. Russian Pavel Kotov is also on to the quarterfinals after a 7-6 (8), 6-1 victory over French wild card Alexandre Muller.

Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan nearly double-bageled his Round of 32 opponent, settling for a 6-0, 6-1 win over Germany’s Sebastian Fanselow in 62 minutes. Also advancing out of the first round in straight sets were Italy’s Luciano Darderi, Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild and Frenchmen Hugo Gaston and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

Gonet Geneva Open:

Flavio Cobolli upset No. 4 seed Ben Shelton 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals in Switzerland.

Cobolli held serve throughout the second set before running away with the tiebreaker and breaking Shelton twice in the final set. Cobolli absorbed Shelton’s eight aces and benefited from his opponent committing nine double faults.

The other Round of 16 matchup ended in a walkover, as Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko advanced when Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori withdrew due to illness.

In first-round action, Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic upset British eighth seed Jack Draper 7-6 (6), 6-1. Other winners include No. 6 seed Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann, Canadian wild cards Denis Shapovalov and Americans Alex Michelsen and Nicolas Moreno De Alboran.