The Argentinian Mariano Navonewho has not played a tournament since the US Open, made his Japan Open debut with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Italian Luciano Darderi.
In his aim to consolidate his game on a fast surface, Navone (40 ATP) was right in the moments when he needed to take risks and He finished the match with 33 winners, compared to only 14 for his rival (41).
The 23-year-old Argentine faces the final stage of his best season as a professional, in which he played his first two finals, in Bucharest and Rio de Janeiro, and reached number 29 in the world rankings.
His opponent in the round of 16 in Tokyo will come from a cross between Americans Ben Shelton, eighth seed, and Reilly Opelka.
In other matches played today, the second seed, Pole Hubert Hurkacz (8 ATP) defeated American Marcos Giron (47) of 6-4, 6-7 (5) and 6-4; Frenchman Ugo Humbert (19) eliminated Japanese Shintaro Mochizuki (146) 6-1 and 6-2 and the Italian. Mateo Berrettini (45) defeated the Dutch Botic van de Zandschulp (67) 6-3 and 6-4.
Source: La Verdad
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