The Tour has travelled to the Far East for two ATP 250 level events, as the players prepare for the eighth Masters 1000 starting on the 2nd of October in Shanghai.
The two events are in China and are 958 apart in Chengdu and Hangzhou with Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti topping the seeds in the former while the Dane Holger Rune is favourite in the latter which is making its debut on the men’s professional tour.
There 35-year-old Marin Cilic, a former US Open champion (2014) playing on a wildcard, won his first match in 21 months thanks to a series of injuries, defeating Zachary Svaida in the first round 5-7 6-3 6-0
“It means a lot,” the former world No.3 from Croatia said following his very satisfying victory. “It means a lot for me, for my team who have been with me through this extremely long, boring and difficult period. Two surgeries, lots of recovery, rehab and training. [I’m] just extremely happy that I am healthy, enjoying myself on the court, and physically back to 100 per cent.”
In round two Cilic will take on Yoshihito Nishioka, the 9th seed from Japan, who defeated Germany’s Maximilian Marterer 6-4 6-2.
Earlier in the day, seventh seed Fabian Marozsan from Hungary secured an emphatic 6-0 6-2 win in 70-minutes over Italy’s Luca Nardi The Hungarian has established himself as a persistent threat on hard courts this season and is off to a strong start in Hangzhou with a statement win, overpowering Nardi with a comfortable triumph.
Finally the only other result from the opening day at the inaugural Hangzhou Open, 36-year-old veteran Kazak, Mikhail Kukushkin also rolled back the years to defeat the Italian fifth seed Luciano Darderi 6-3, 6-4.
Meanwhile in Chengdu, only three results have been posted so far and they show Lukas Klein of Slovakia, Japan’s Taro Daniel and Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard as the only players to progress into the second round.
Klein Australia’s Adam Walton 7-6(3) 6-4, while Danile took out the sixth seeded Lorenzo Sonego of Italy 6-4 7-5.
In contrast Perricard was made to fight by the Chinese wildcard Fajing Sun before advancing 6-7(5) 7-5 6-4.
