ATP: Gerald Melzer with opening victory in Bastad

Gerald Melzer has won his opening match in Bastad, Sweden. Sebastian Ofner and Jurij Rodionov also made a good start to the week at the ATP-Challenger in Astana/Kazakhstan.

Melzer, currently ranked 115th in the world, easily won the 250cc ATP tournament against French qualifier Corentin Moutet 6:1, 6:1, but the next task will be much more difficult – here Melzer will meet former top ten player Richard Gasquet, who is slowly moving forward again after his injury break and is currently ranked 25th.

At the 125,000 Euro ATP Challenger in Astana, three seeded Sebastian Ofner won in round one against Timur Khabibulin 7-5, 6-1, while Ofner is currently only 207th in the world after he had already dropped out of this year’s Wimbledon tournament qualification – last year he had reached the third main field round. Ofner will now play Khumoyun Sultanov from Uzbekistan.

Rodionov, in 284th place, won 7-5, 6-0 against Belgian Yannick Mertens and now plays against Egor Gerasimov, who is seeded on three Belarusians.