ATP roundup: Two seeds fall in Sofia

September 28, 2021

Both seeded players in action lost Monday during the opening round of the ATP Tour’s Sofia (Bulgaria) Open.

Italy’s Gianluca Mager upset sixth-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France 6-3, 6-2, and France’s Benoit Paire knocked off seventh-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-4, 7-5.

Mager had lost his first-round match in three of his past four tournaments, including the U.S. Open. He saved the only break point he faced against Mannarino. Paire, who ended a three-match losing streak that featured an opening-round defeat in New York, finished with an 11-1 advantage in aces against Davidovich Fokina.

In the event’s only other match Monday, Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic topped Bulgarian wild-card entrant Adrian Andreev 7-6 (7), 6-4.

San Diego Open

San Diego native Brandon Nakashima broke serve on the final point of the match to complete a 6-7 (5), 6-1, 7-5 win over Italy’s Fabio Fognini in the first round of his hometown event.

Nakashima, 20, finished with eight aces and just two double faults. Fognini double-faulted nine times and had only one ace.

Another San Diego high school product, 23-year-old Taylor Fritz, downed Italy’s Salvatore Caruso 6-4, 7-6 (2). Elsewhere in the opening round, Russia’s Aslan Karatsev topped Argentina’s Federico Delbonis 6-1, 7-5.

-Field Level Media

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