Britain’s Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans will be looking to reach the third round of the Aegon Open Nottingham on a jam-packed Tuesday, with all 17 singles matches and four doubles ties scheduled to go ahead at the Nottingham Tennis Centre.
British No. 3 Edmund, who reached a career-high ranking of 68 after his quarter-final run at the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club last week, will face Ukrainian fourth seed and last year’s Aegon Open semi-finalist Alexandr Dolgopolov, while British No. 4 Evans will be up third on Centre Court against Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis.
After his 6-4 6-3 win over Czech Lukas Rosol on a rain-interrupted Monday, Edmund said: “He’s a very dangerous player – you don’t know what to expect with him. I played him earlier this year on clay so I knew what his game style was, but grass is very different.
“It was a solid match, I came off feeling very good about my game and how I managed the match.”
Ahead of his match against Dolgopolov, the 21-year-old added: “It will be a tough match. I lost to him in the first round last year at Wimbledon. He’s a very tricky player, not someone who you play regularly in terms of his shot-making. He mixes it up well, slices it a lot, awkward slices.”
Elsewhere top seed Kevin Anderson will begin his campaign against Croat Ivan Dodig, while Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco will take on Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic. Defending champion Denis Istomin and Bosnian Damir Dzumhur will have to play out a final set to decide their first-round tie for the right to play 11-seed Vasek Pospisil, with the score locked at 6-1 6-7(4).
In addition, fifth seed and 2015 Aegon Open runner-up Sam Querrey has an all-American clash with qualifier Ernesto Escobedo first on Court 1, before Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who reached the semi-final stage in the East Midlands last year and is seeded ninth this year, will play Evgeny Donskoy of Russia.
British wildcards James Ward, Brydan Klein and Alex Ward all fell in the first round.
AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM – NOTTINGHAM, GBR
€704,805
19-25 JUNE 2016
RESULTS – JUNE 20, 2016
Men’s Singles – First Round
I. Dodig (CRO) d [PR] J. Benneteau (FRA) 62 63
V. Estrella Burgos (DOM) d R. Ram (USA) 76(7) 67(4) 62
J. Millman (AUS) d T. Bellucci (BRA) 76(4) 26 62
D. Sela (ISR) d [Q] J. Hernych (CZE) 46 63 62
B. Becker (GER) d J. Thompson (AUS) 62 26 64
M. Jaziri (TUN) d [WC] J. Ward (GBR) 61 36 64
J. Vesely (CZE) d H. Zeballos (ARG) 64 63
M. Youzhny (RUS) d T. Gabashvili (RUS) 46 63 63
[Q] F. Dancevic (CAN) d [WC] A. Ward (GBR) 76(3) 67(3) 62
K. Edmund (GBR) d L. Rosol (CZE) 64 63
[Q] E. Escobedo (USA) d D. Schwartzman (ARG) 60 63
[Q] S. Robert (FRA) d [WC] B. Klein (GBR) 75 64
Men’s Doubles – First Round
[3] T. Huey (PHI) / M. Mirnyi (BLR) d M. Pavic (CRO) / M. Venus (NZL) 75 63
N. Monroe (USA) / A. Sitak (NZL) d P. Lorenzi (ITA) / A. Seppi (ITA) 76(5) 76(1)
ORDER OF PLAY – TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2016
CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon
[8] G. Muller (LUX) vs J. Vesely (CZE)
D. Istomin (UZB) vs D. Dzumhur (BIH) 61 67(4) 00
[16] R. Berankis (LTU) vs D. Evans (GBR)
[1] K. Anderson (RSA) vs I. Dodig (CRO)
[Q] S. Robert (FRA) vs [2] P. Cuevas (URU)
COURT 1 start 11:00 am
[5] S. Querrey (USA) vs [Q] E. Escobedo (USA)
E. Donskoy (RUS) vs [9] M. Baghdatis (CYP)
V. Estrella Burgos (DOM) vs [14] F. Verdasco (ESP)
After Suitable Rest – [11] V. Pospisil (CAN) vs D. Istomin (UZB) or D. Dzumhur (BIH)
COURT 2 start 11:00 am
B. Becker (GER) vs [13] G. Pella (ARG)
M. Youzhny (RUS) vs [10] P. Carreno Busta (ESP)
K. Edmund (GBR) vs [4] A. Dolgopolov (UKR)
J. Millman (AUS) vs [6] S. Johnson (USA)
COURT 4 start 11:00 am
[3] J. Sousa (POR) vs D. Sela (ISR)
Not Before 12:00 noon
[12] P. Lorenzi (ITA) vs A. Mannarino (FRA)
M. Jaziri (TUN) vs [7] A. Seppi (ITA)
J. Erlich (ISR) / C. Fleming (GBR) vs [2] D. Inglot (GBR) / D. Nestor (CAN)
COURT 3 start 11:00 am
R. Lindstedt (SWE) / A. Qureshi (PAK) vs J. Knowle (AUT) / M. Matkowski (POL)
S. Gonzalez (MEX) / S. Lipsky (USA) vs [WC] K. Skupski (GBR) / N. Skupski (GBR)
[15] M. Kukushkin (KAZ) vs [Q] F. Dancevic (CAN)
After Suitable Rest – [1] I. Dodig (CRO) / M. Melo (BRA) vs [WC] J. Marray (GBR) / A. Shamasdin (CAN)
The Aegon Open Nottingham
Tickets to the Aegon Open Nottingham ATP event, which starts Saturday, 18 June are available for as little as £10. Please visit the LTA website for more information.
Catch all the Aegon Open Nottingham action and reaction by following the live tournament blog
For information on the hospitality packages on offer at The Aegon Open Nottingham head to the LTA website or contact Elliot Sheasby on aegonopen@lta.org.uk
The Aegon Open Nottingham sees two tournaments take place in June, with the men’s ATP event staged from 18-25 June 2016. Both the WTA and ATP tournaments are an integral part of the British grass-court season, which features 11 international grass-court tournaments in eight venues across the country.
2017 Grass Court Tournament Calendar
Earlier this year the LTA announced exciting changes to the three week 2017 grass court tournament calendar. Nottingham will host a combined men’s and women’s tour-level tournament in the same week for the first time in 44 years. The pre-existing ATP 250 tournament will move back to Eastbourne, merging with the WTA Premier Aegon International to form a combined event (as it was from 2009-2014) featuring the following format: a 28-player main draw men’s event and 48-player main draw for the women staged across nine days. Other changes include a doubling of prize money at the Aegon Trophy Series (ATP Challenger & ITF Women’s Pro Circuit) creating the highest value circuit at this level in world tennis.