John Millman is into the second round of the Bett1 Hulks Championship after beating Fernando Verdasco in straight sets 6-4 and 6-2.
Aussie Rules :
The world number 44 got off to a fast start getting break chances in the first game but the Spaniard would save both with two big winners and would manage to hold serve. In the next game, the Madrid native had two breakpoints of his very own but it was the Aussie turn to save them with some great forehand winners.
It stayed on serve until 4-4 when Verdasco was struggling to hold serve and Millman had eight break points in a service game that lasted at least 10 minutes. He would finally break and serve out the first set with a love service game to take it 6-4.
Aussie Dominance :
The Aussie continued his dominance into the second set and won four points off the Spaniard serve forcing him to make errors to take an early 1-0 lead. He held serve and increased his lead to three with a great passing shot on a breakpoint.
He held serve once again and had more chances to break as it was clear the Spaniard serve was deteriorating and broke once more to take a commanding 5-0 lead. The Aussie had a great chance to serve it out but the world number 61 wasn't going away quietly and had three chances to break while also saving a match point in the progress and managed to break with a great passing shot.
Verdasco would hold serve to make it 5-2 and Millman had a second chance to serve it out which he did on his third match point to take it 6-4 and 6-2.
Millman will face the number 1 seed Alexander Zverev on Wednesday.
Day 2 results :
It was another busy day at the Bett 1 Hulks Championship and there were some great matches to watch on a rainy day in Cologne. Oscar Otte who made it to the round of 16 last week beat Dennis Novak 6-3 and 6-2, Novak made it all the way to the quarterfinals last week.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Bosnian qualifier Damir Dzumhur 6-2, and 6-3 while Frenchman Paul Hugues Herbert needed three sets to beat American Tennys Sandgren 6-3, 3-6, and 6-3.
Jannik Sinner of Italy made his debut as well beating James Duckworth in convincing fashion 6-1 and 6-2. After the match, he took the time to talk about how 2020 has been for him.
" it's been a tough year, obviously we are playing tennis but the most important thing is friends and family, it's a messy year especially in Italy in the beginning everything was very bad, I tried to help, it's tough to see the world how it's going on, I think the ATP Tour is doing a good job to make these tournaments happen and playing without fans it's not what we want".