World No. 1 and top seed Rafael Nadal was rusty in his return but bounced back just in time en route to a 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 win over Frenchman Lucas Pouille in the first round Tuesday at the China Open. Nadal trailed 4/6 in the second-set tie-break, but notched four consecutive points to even the match at one set-all. In the decider, Nadal captured his lone break of the match in the 11th game and served out the first-round contest a game later. Nadal extended his match win streak to eight after reeling off seven in a row last month to win his 16th Grand Slam title at the US Open.
Nadal, who won here in 2005, improved his record to 21-5 in Beijing. Nadal will face Karen Khachanov next, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over wild card Di Wu. In their only meeting, Nadal defeated Khachanov at Wimbledon earlier this year.
Dimitrov beats first-round rival
Grigor Dimitrov opened his campaign with a three-set win over Damir Dzumhur in one hour and 54 minutes. With the win, Dimitrov boosted his chances of qualifying for the Emirates ATP Race To London. He is currently No. 6 on the list of participants in the event, which will be held at The O2 in London in November this year. In the second round, Dimitrov will take on wild card Juan Martin del Potro, who ousted Pablo Cuevas, 7-6(4), 6-4.
In other matches, Australian Nick Kyrgios hit 12 aces in his easy 6-1, 6-2 win over Nikoloz Basilashvili in just 56 minutes.
The win moves Kyrgios to a second-round showdown against Mischa Zverev, a 6-3, 7-6(3) winner over Kyle Edmund. Andrey Rublev, for his part, recovered from a set down to beat Jack Sock, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in 89 minutes. Rublev will meet seventh seed and 2011 champion Tomas Berdych, who defeated Jared Donaldson, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.
Johnson stuns second-seed Thiem in Japan
In Tokyo, Steve Johnson dismissed second-seed Dominic Thiem, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, in the first round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017. Johnson needed two hours and 19 minutes to tally his first victory over a Top 10 player since August 2016 when he defeated No. 10-ranked Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
The loss temporarily derailed Thiem’s chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the second consecutive year. He is currently No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Race To London with 3,715 points. Thiem struggled with his backhand throughout the match, allowing Johnson to escape with the biggest victory of his career so far. Johnson will face the winner of the match between Alexandr Dolgopolov and Daniil Medvedev.
