No. 4 seed David Goffin has reached the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships second round. Belgium's Goffin saw off tricky Feliciano Lopez in Tokyo 7-5 6-1. The Belgian now has two wins and zero losses against Spaniard Lopez.
Both players were tied at 4-4 after the opening eight games of the match. Lopez had two break points in the ninth and one in the 11th game -- but didn't convert. Lopez paid the price for blowing his chances. Goffin realized his second set point on the Spaniard's serve in the 12th to seal the opener.
Goffin then continued his run as he started the second set with a 3-0 lead.
Lopez got on the board in the fourth game to reduce the deficit to 3-1. One more break of serve in the sixth game helped Goffin seal a comfortable win.
Goffin, who was down 5-4 in the first set, won 9-of-10 of the games played in the rest of the match. Goffin fired 12 aces and won 79 of his first serve points during the match. The Belgian broke Lopez three times and saved 4-of-4 of the Spaniard's break point chances. The match came to an end after an hour and 15 minutes of play.
Goffin plays Ebden next
Goffin is set to meet next world No. 139 Matt Ebden in Tokyo. Australian qualifier Ebden surprised big-serving Ivo Karlovic in the Tokyo first-round. Ebden will be eyeing to make a back-to-back surprise and reach the quarter-finals.
Goffin and Ebden will be clashing off for the third time in their respective careers when they meet in Tokyo. The two haven't played against each other since 2013. Previously, Goffin beat Ebden in Kuala Lumpur in 2011 and Brisbane in 2013. No. 4 seed Goffin is the clear favorite to beat qualifier Ebden and reach the quarter-finals.
Schwartzman easily through
No. 8 seed Diego Schwartzman has already reached the Tokyo quarter-finals. Argentina's Schwartzman dominated former top-20 player Bernard Tomic 6-3 6-1. Schwartzman has remained perfect against Tomic. Previously, the Argentine beat the Australian in Istanbul a year ago and this past spring at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Schwartzman converted his first break point of the match for a 3-2 lead. Tomic saved a breakpoint in the seventh not to fall 5-2 down. However, Schwartzman broke Tomic once again in the ninth game to seal a 6-3 first set score.
Schwartzman then got off to a quick 3-0 second set lead. Tomic got on the board in the fourth game finally. That was all from Tomic as Schwartzman won three games in a row to seal a dominant win.
Schwartzman won 85 percent of his first serve points during the match. The No. 8 seed broke Tomic four times and saved the Australian's only break point chance of the match. The Argentine got the job done after just 56 minutes of action. He now awaits the winner of the match between Aleksandr Dolgopolov and Steve Johnson.
