Auckland: Arthur Fils, who had a breakout season last year on the ATP Tour, continued his good run in 2024 with a winning start in the ASB Classic here on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old Frenchman downed his countryman Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-4 as the sixth seed made his debut in this event this week. Fils powered 23 winners, including nine aces as he wrapped up a 69-minute triumph against the 2023 champion.
The only teenager in the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings, Fils was the youngest ATP Tour titlist in 2023 after winning in Lyon last May. The 19-year-old, who also advanced to the championship match at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah in December, now leads Gasquet 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
Fils, a quarterfinalist in Hong Kong last week, will take on Nuno Borges in the second round in Auckland, where Max Purcell, Sebastian Ofner and Roberto Carballes Baena also claimed straight-sets first-round victories on Tuesday.
Purcell downed home wild card Kiranpal Pannu 6-4, 6-4 for his first singles victory of the season. The eighth-seeded Australian will next play Taro Daniel. Ofner defeated another wild card, Denis Shapovalov, 6-4, 6-2. It was Shapovalov’s first competitive match since he reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last July — the Canadian has since been sidelined with a knee injury.
Ofner will take on Carballes Baena next in New Zealand after the World No. 67 prevailed 6-4, 6-3 in an all-Spanish battle with Roberto Bautista Agut.
–IANS
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