Tuesday 23 September 2014 16:56, UK
Andreas Seppi saw off the threat of Argentine Maximo Gonzalez to set up an all-Italian second-round clash at the inaugural Shenzhen Open in China.
Eighth seed Seppi will face the only other Italian in the competition, Simone Bolelli, on centre court on Wednesday after defeating Gonzalez 7-6(7/3) 6-2 in their opening round match on Tuesday.It was less straightforward for Colombian sixth seed Santiago Giraldo, who was forced to rally from a set down to beat home qualifier Bowen Ouyang 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Ouyang smashed four aces en route to a first-set victory, before Giraldo battled back with two breaks of serve in the second and claimed the lone break of the deciding set.
Giraldo will face Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis at the next stage after he beat Belarussian Egor Gerasimov in 7-6(7/3) 6-1.
Luxemburg’s Gilles Muller will face third-seed Richard Gasquet in the Round of 16 after overcoming a second-set slip to beat Swiss counterpart Marco Chiudinelli 6-3 3-6 6-4.
In a gruelling all-Australian showdown Sam Groth, who holds the record for the world's fastest serve at 163.4mph, ousted countryman James Duckworth, 6-3 6-7(5/7) 6-3 after a two-hour hardcourt duel.
Seventh seed Vasek Posposil of Canada eased beyond Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3 6-4 to secure a date with Argentine Juan Monaco in the second round.
Evgeny Donsko became the second, and final, Russian to bow out of the competition after losing 6-1 7-6(7/4) to Slovakian Lukas Lacko, who will lock horns with the winner of the first-round clash between fifth seed Gilles Simon and Ricardas Berankis.
Meanwhile, Viktor Troicki is through after Slovakia’s Martin Klizan was forced to retire with the match standing 5-7 6-1 3-0 in favour of his Serbian opponent.
