Chengdu Open: Shang upends Nishikori in first round

Chinese Juncheng Shang defeated Japanese wildcard Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round of the Chengdu Open at the Sichuan International Tennis Center on Thursday.

Shang saved a total of eight break points and converted three on Nishikori’s serve to complete the match in a little over 100 minutes.

Nishikori, the wildcard, notably saved two match points but the Chinese, who hit five aces and 20 winners, crossed the finish line to advance.

Shang, ranked No 67, will face the winner of the match between Russian Roman Safiullin, the No 8 seed, and Italian Fabio Fognini next.

Chengdu ATP 250, other first-round results (Sichuan International Tennis Center, hard, USD 1.171.655, most recent results first):

• Terence Atmane vs. Adrian Mannarino
• Roman Safiullin vs. Fabio Fognini
• Alexandre Muller vs. Federico Agustin Gomez
• Pavel Kotov vs. Christopher O’Connell
• Yannick Hanfmann vs. Shintaro Mochizuki
• Aleksandar Vukic beat Borna Coric: 3-6, 7-6 (9), 6-4
• Alibek Kachmazov (Q) beat Aleksandar Kovacevic: 6-4, 7-6 (7)
• Yi Zhou (WC) beat Chun-Hsin Tseng: 2-6, 6-1, 3-1 ret.
• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (7) beat Fajing Sun (WC): 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4
• Taro Daniel beat Lorenzo Sonego (6): 6-4, 7-5
• Lukas Klein beat Adam Walton: 7-6 (3), 6-4

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Chengdu Open: Vukic beats Coric in first round

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