In the opening round at the China Open, Lucas Pouille brushed aside Yen-Hsun Lu 6-1, 6-2 in 50 minutes to progress to the second round. He awaits the winner of Grigor Dimitrov or Steve Johnson.
Pouille gets off to good start; goes up a set
The first chance of the game went the way of Lu. In just the fourth point, he fired a forehand return from the Pouille serve to bring up the first break point of the match. The Frenchman hit a forehand return to deny Lu and from then on in went on to hold. The Taiwanese then held his serve much more comfortable to get on the scoreboard. In the fourth game, the world number 16 then put Lu under pressure. At 30-15, Lu netted a forehand which presented a break point opportunity to his opponent.
The Frenchman then hit a backhand return from the Lu serve to go 3-1 up. An ace from the 22-year-old saw him consolidate the break and take a healthy 4-1 lead. In the following game, Pouille then gained a double break point chance. After hitting a shot which landed on the baseline, Lu then stooped down low to retrieve but ended up hitting the net. The 33-year-old fired a backhand wide in the very next point as Pouille broke for 5-1. A. big serve from Pouille gave him the opening set, 6-1.
Frenchman grabs a double break; advances to the second round
With the momentum on the Frenchman's side, he took advantage and immediately gained a break point in the opening game of the set. The world number 63 hit a forehand long to gift the break. Pouille consolidated for 2-0 to get off to a great start. Lu then held serve to ease the pressure and get on the board. Just two games later and Pouille would have another chance to break the Lu serve.
With the score at 30-15, Pouille hit a forehand winner crosscourt before going on to break in the very next point for 4-1. An easy hold of serve made it 5-1. The first hold of serve to love went the way of Lu as he then gave Pouille the chance to serve it out, which he did. The Frenchman ran away to a love-40 lead and despite hitting a double-fault, the 22-year-old won the next point to advance to the second round.
Key stats
Lucas Pouille hit nice aces and two doubles faults. On his first serve, he won 80 percent of points while on his second 59 percent winning 10/17 points. He was prolific on return. The Frenchman won 48 percent of first serve returns and 53 on second serve return points. Pouille converted 100 percent of break points (four from four) and saved the only one he faced at the start of the match. Overall he won 62 percent of the matches total points en route to victory.