Jason Kubler hit with Fernando Verdasco when he was 14 years outdated. On Monday, they met in ATP Tour motion for the primary time.
The Australian Kubler defeated the previous High 10 star Verdasco 7-6(7), 6-0 to succeed in the second spherical of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.
“It was an honour to play Fernando. I’ve appeared as much as him for a very long time,” Kubler mentioned. “I keep in mind after I was 14 and I acquired to hit with him in my hometown. Ever since then I’ve type of adopted his profession as a result of I felt such as you truly made contact with one of many stars you watch on TV.”
Verdasco, who lifted the Houston trophy in 2014, earned an early break of serve. However Kubler battled again and as soon as he gained the first-set tie-break, he was in a position to surge forward.
“The match was tremendous shut [in the] first set. It was each of our first matches on clay for the 12 months so it’s all the time going to be a bit bit difficult,” Kubler mentioned. “I used to be looking for my toes on the market, possibly made a couple of errors the place I used to be a bit stunned myself. However proud of how the second set went. Hopefully it’s going to be an extended match, so getting units like that’s good.”
The Australian will subsequent play Daniel Elahi Galan, who eradicated Zhang Zhizhen 6-2, 6-3.
Two-time former Houston champion Steve Johnson rallied previous Facundo Bagnis 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-1. The wild card will subsequent problem prime seed Frances Tiafoe.
In different motion Dutchman Gijs Brouwer, a Houston native, ousted American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 6-4. One other American, Denis Kudla clawed previous Aleksandar Vukic 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
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