Ruud edges Duckworth, books spot in second round in Dallas

Norwegian Casper Ruud, the second seed, won against Australian lucky loser James Duckworth 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the second round of the Dallas Open at the Ford Center at The Star on Wednesday night.

Duckworth was filling in for American Marcos Giron, who was forced to pull out due to injury at the last second. The 33-year-old Aussie, ranked 86, nearly pulled an upset for the ages.

Duckworth had triple break point with Ruud serving at 1-1 in the third but the Norwegian found his best tennis to stave off the rally. He won five consecutive points, and eventually took the final four games of the match to reach the second round.

Ruud, ranked No 5, will play the winner of the match between Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena and American qualifier Michael Mmoh next.

Dallas ATP 500, other first-round results (Ford Center at The Star, hard, USD 2.760.000, most recent results first):

• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Taylor Fritz vs. Arthur Rinderknech
• Reilly Opelka vs. Alexander Shevchenko
• Kei Nishikori vs. Tomas Machac
• Roberto Carballes Baena vs. Michael Mmoh
• Yoshihito Nishioka vs. Brandon Nakashima
• Jaume Munar vs. Yunchaokete Bu
• Ben Shelton (4) beat Aleksandar Vukic: 6-3, 6-3
• Cameron Norrie beat Alex Michelsen (7): 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1
• Tommy Paul (3) beat Jenson Brooksby (WC): 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4
• Ethan Quinn (Q) beat Trevor Svajda (WC): 6-4, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (5) beat Taro Daniel: 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
• Rinky Hijikata beat Adrian Mannarino: 7-5, 6-3
• Matteo Arnaldi (8) beat Christopher Eubanks (Q): 6-3, 6-4
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Brandon Holt (Q): 6-1, 7-5

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