Swiss Indoors: Fritz grits out tight opening win over Purcell
Taylor Fritz beat Max Purcell 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4) on Wednesday and will face Russian qualifier Alexander Shevchenko in the next round
American Taylor Fritz, the No 3 seed, won against Australian Max Purcell 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4) to move into the second round of the Swiss Indoors at the Halle Saint-Jacques in Basel on Wednesday afternoon.
The world No 9 did it the hard way in Basel, falling behind 1-5 in the opening set tiebreak and saving two set point en route to the straight sets win. The American now sits at No 9 in the race to Turin, behind Holger Rune who is the defending champion at the Swiss Indoors this week.
Fritz, ranked No 9, will face Russian qualifier Alexander Shevchenko next.
Basel ATP500, other first-round results (Halle Saint-Jacques, EUR 2.196.000, most recent results first):
- Leandro Riedi vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
- Alexander Bublik vs. Casper Ruud
- Ugo Humbert beat Marcos Giron: 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3)
- Alexander Shevchenko beat Stan Wawrinka: 6-3, 7-6 (8)
- Nicolas Jarry (7) beat Adrian Mannarino: 7-6 (6), 6-7 (2), 6-4
- Holger Rune (1) beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 1-6, 7-5, 6-3
- Alex De Minaur (5) beat Diego Schwartzman: 6-4, 6-4
- Hubert Hurkacz (4) beat Dusan Lajovic: 7-6 (2), 6-3
- Dominic Stricker (WC) beat Benjamin Hassan (Q): 7-6 (2), 6-2
- Tallon Griekspoor beat Thiago Seyboth Wild (LL): 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3
- Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Sebastian Korda (8): 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
- Botic van de Zandschulp (Q) beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-2
- Andy Murray beat Yannick Hanfmann: 7-5, 6-4
- Jan-Lennard Struff beat Christopher Eubanks: 7-6 (7), 6-4
- Sebastian Baez beat Christopher O’Connell (Q): 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3