2016-04-20 12:00:00 CEST
Top five seeds place one foot in second round
Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton, pictured here at the Gstaad Major last year, are one step closer to the second round in the Fuzhou Open. Photo credit: Samo Vidic.
The favorites at the Fuzhou Open all made flying starts in their opening two pool fixtures on Wednesday.
Top seeds Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena (USA) didn’t mess around as they put one foot in the second round by romping to two straightforward straight sets victories. It only took the pair little over an hour to see off both Cheng Chen and Lizeng Zhang (CHN) and Austrians Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl.
It was the same story for second seeds Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton of Canada as they blitzed Dollinger/Schümann (GER) 2-0 and repeated the feat later in the day with a thumping victory over Venezuelans Fañe/Henriquez.
There were also two victories from two matches for Americans John Hyden and Tri Bourne who eased to back-to-back 2-0 wins in Pool C, while Latvian duo Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins posted a pair of wins in Pool D to put them in pole position for a place in the second phase.
And to wrap up a comfortable opening day’s play for the fancied top five seeds, Spaniards Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira – last week’s winners in Xiamen – won both of their matches in Pool E.
But if you’re looking for a shock on the opening day of the tournament, then look no further than victory for Russian qualifiers Nikita Liamin and Dmitri Barsouk over 2014 champions Nicolai/Lupo (ITA). The Italians recovered from that set-back to triumph in their second pool match but now face a fight for an automatic place in the second round.
Click here for all the results and fixtures in Fuzhou and remember to keep your eyes peeled on our website for all the latest news from the tour.