BASEL: Fourth-seeded Milos Raonic hit 12 aces and saved all five break points he faced as he beat Steve Johnson of the United States 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 in the first round of the Swiss Indoors on Tuesday and the Canadian next faces another American, Donald Young.

Mikhail Kukushkin upset third-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3 in almost two and a quarter hours which saw the Australian Open champion’s poor run of form continue having lost his last three matches.

The 84th-ranked Kazakh converted four of his 10 break chances to set up a second-round match with Germany’s Benjamin Becker, who needed just over one hour to breeze past qualifier Gastao Elias of Portugal 6-3, 6-2.

Eighth-seeded Ivo Karlovic had 23 aces as he advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win against Lukas Rosol and next plays Frenchman Kenny De Schepper, who beat Argentina’s Federico Delbonis 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.

Croatia’s Ivan Dodig needed nearly three hours to get the better of Swiss wild card Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4 and next plays seventh-seeded David Goffin of Belgium.

Canada’s Vasek Pospisil needed just under two hours to defeat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 in the late match. The 24-year-old Pospisil next faces fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov or German wild card Alexander Zverev.

ROBREDO OUSTS ISNER IN VALENCIA

VALENCIA: Fifth seed John Isner crashed out of the Valencia Open in the first round to Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 on Tuesday.

Robredo saved five break points to force a first-set tiebreaker, which he dominated and won after the American netted a forehand and got the all-important break in the penultimate game of the match before serving it out for a first win over Isner in four attempts.

Robredo will now face Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu in round two.

Fourth seed Feliciano Lopez had an easier afternoon as he eased past Slovakian Norbert Gombos 6-4, 6-4 in little over an hour to set up a last-16 meeting with fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.

Seventh-seeded Kevin Anderson eliminated Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 to earn a match with Martin Klizan while Spaniard Fernando Verdasco had a tougher time but outlasted Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine ousted eighth-seeded Gilles Simon 6-0, 6-3 with 10 aces, and broke the Frenchman five times. Dolgopolov will now meet another Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, after he brushed aside Tunisian qualifier Malek Jaziri 6-2, 6-1.

And Italy’s Fabio Fognini enjoyed an unusually drama free day as he cruised past Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 6-2.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2014