China’s No. 1 Zhang Zhizhen, the sixth seed at the Hangzhou Open moved past Kazakhstan qualifier Denis Yevseyey 6-2 1-6 6-4 to reach the second round at the ATP 250 level event which is being staged for the first time.
The 27-year-old, playing on home soil for the first time in nearly a year, managed to control his game to defeat the qualifier after committing 42 unforced errors over the two-hour 4-minute match.
World ranked at 48, he will now face Mattia Bellucci following the Italian’s comfortable 6-3 6-0 victory over Russia’s Asian Karatsev.
Japan’s Yoshito Nishioka also progressed by into the second round after defeating Germany’s Maximilian Marterer 6-4 6-2 in 77-minutes.
The eighth seed, ranked at 54, didn’t face a break point throughout the match but he could be well tested by Marin Cilic, the Croatian former US Open champion, who is making a solid return to the tour following a series of surgeries over the past few years.
Chinese wild card Bu Youchaokete scored his first win on the season by moving past Frenchman Hugo Gaton 7-5 6-3 but now faces the second seeded Karen Khachanov for a place in quarter finals.
Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong, a qualifier, advanced after Chinese wildcard Wu Yibing was forced to retire after the first set. Wu, who became the first Chinese man to win an ATP title last year in Dallas, has struggled with injury issues in the past year and was forced to stop after losing the first set 3-6.
Coleman faces former Next Gen champ Brandon Nakashima of the US, the fourth seed, in round two.
In other action, Bellucci defeated Aslan Karatsev 6-4 6-0, while Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena overcame Frenchman Corentin Moutet 7-6(6) 6-1.
Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama defeated Australian James McCabe 6-4 6-4 and will take on top seed Holger Rune of Denmark, in the second round.
Australian Rinky Hijikata moved past Damir Dzumhur 2-6 7-6(6) 6-2 after two-hour and 31-minutes and is the first player to reach the quarter final having been give a walkover in round two by Fabian Marozsan the seventh seed from Hungary.
And to complete the first round’s results, Kazak’s Alexander Shevchenko downed Argentine qualifier Marco Trungelliu 6-1 6-1.
