Monfils, Verdasco advance in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aries, February 14: Gael Monfils and Fernando Verdasco moved into the Argentina Open second round with straight-sets wins on Tuesday (February 13).

Unseeded at the ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires, Monfils was too good for Pablo Cuevas 6-1 6-4 in their first-round clash.

The Frenchman converted all three of his break points against the seventh seed to advance after just 65 minutes.

Verdasco, the eighth seed at the clay-court event, overcame Brazilian Thiago Monteiro 6-2 7-5.

The only other seed in action was Diego Schwartzman, who powered past Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4 6-3.

#MatchPoint 🔥🎾@dieschwartzman 🇦🇷 avanza a los octavos del #ArgentinaOpen tras superar a Andreas #HaiderMaurer 🇦🇹 por 6-4 y 6-3.

Mañana enfrentará no antes de las 18.45 a @BellucciOficial 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/Ak5JJ8cJ7j

— Argentina Open (@ArgentinaOpen) February 14, 2018

Fresh off winning his first ATP World Tour title in Ecuador, Roberto Carballes Baena was downed in the first round, beaten 6-2 6-4 by lucky loser Gastao Elias.

Locals Horacio Zeballos and Leonardo Mayer advanced, the former crushing qualifier Marco Cecchinato 6-1 6-4 and the latter battling past Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-4.

Meanwhile, Aljaz Bedene needed just 62 minutes to beat Jiri Vesely 6-0 6-3.

Source: OPTA