Second-seeded Joachim Johansson, who hasn’t dropped his serve in his past two tournaments, easily beat Adrian Garcia of Chile 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday at the €643 750 Stockholm Open.
The big-serving Swede never faced break point against the unseeded Garcia at the Royal Tennis Hall’s fast Plexipave court.
”I got off to a good start in both sets, then I was able to relax,” said Johansson, a candidate for ATP Newcomer of the Year after beginning the season outside the top 100 and now holding 11th in the rankings.
Last year, Johansson was a wild card in the Swedish capital, where his father, Leif, scored one of the biggest upsets ever by stunning former world number one Stan Smith of the United States in 1971.
This time, the 22-year-old Johansson is among the favourites after a stellar year that includes a quarterfinal win over American Andy Roddick at the US Open.
Johansson, a quarterfinalist last year in Stockholm, is coming off a tough three-set tiebreak loss in the last eight at the Madrid Masters and needs to win his second ATP title on Sunday to stay in the hunt for one of the remaining spots in the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston next month.
Fourth-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany, number five Feliciano Lopez of Spain and Olivier Rochus of Belgium also posted straight-set wins.
Haas, a two-time winner this year, topped qualifier Davide Sanguinetti of Italy 7-6 (5), 6-4. In the US Open this year, Haas needed five sets to beat Sanguinetti.
Lopez was pushed to two close sets by American Jeff Morrison, winning 7-6 (5), 7-5. Lopez has displayed good form recently, winning the ATP tournament in Vienna earlier this month. Morrison made the semifinals in Metz two weeks ago.
Rochus had an easier time against qualifier Johan Settergren of Sweden, winning 6-3, 6-2 in the first centre-court match of the day.
Seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic became the first seeded player to fall, losing to qualifier Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia-Montenegro 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Andre Agassi, who has not played in the Swedish capital since 1994 when the tournament was held across town in the much bigger Globe Arena, is seeded number one. He’ll play Kristof Vliegen of Belgium on Wednesday.
”I played well last week and it feels good to continue here,” said Agassi, who lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Marat Safin of Russia at the Madrid Masters. ”I need to take one match at a time. It’s very simple, if you don’t concentrate on the first one the rest of them won’t matter.”
Agassi lost in the Stockholm Open quarterfinals in 1989 and 1994, and in the second round in his only other start in 1990. They were all played in the Globe Arena.
”It [the Royal Tennis Hall] looks like a great facility for the fans and it seems very intimate,” Agassi said after a workout in the oldest indoor arena on the ATP Tour built for tennis. ”Five thousand people, so I’m sure we’ll have a great environment to compete in. I look forward to experience it.”
The arena, built in the 1930s, and the tournament are filled with great tradition. Past winners include Arthur Ashe, Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Michael Stich, Mats Wilander and John McEnroe.
Former stars such as Jimmy Connors, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall also played the event at the Royal Tennis Hall. — Sapa-AP