Top two seeds Shapovalov and Paire advance at Winston-Salem

Top-seeded Benoit Paire reached the third round of the ATP Winston-Salem Open Tuesday, beating Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-3, 7-5.

France’s Paire, ranked 30th in the world, avenged a loss to India’s Gunneswaran at Indian Wells in March.

Paire broke Gunneswaran in the penultimate game, then capped the contest with his 14th ace on match point to book a round of 16 meeting with fellow Frenchman Ugo Humbert, who defeated American Bjorn Fratangelo 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

After enjoying a first-round bye, Paire was glad to get to work in the heat and humidity of North Carolina as part of his build-up to the US Open, which starts on Monday at Flushing Meadows in New York.

“Honestly, I like to play before the Slam,” he said. “I did the same in Lyon the week before Roland Garros and I won the tournament and after I made the last 16 at Roland Garros so it was good preparation. “I’ll try to do the same -- I’ll try to win a lot of matches here. I think it’s important for me to play before the US Open.”

Second-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov also advanced, beating American Tennys Sandgren 6-2, 6-4.

Sandgren, ranked 73rd in the world, was coming off a first-round victory over three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray, who was playing just his second singles match since the Australian Open as he bids to return to peak form in the wake of career-threatening hip surgery. Sandgren battled back from 0-3 down in the second set — going up a service break before Shapavolov came through with a break in the final game to seal the victory.

“It was definitely a great win,” said Shapovalov, who hadn’t made it past the second round of an ATP event since Lyon in May and, like Paire, said he hoped a strong performance in Winston-Salem would be a springboard into the US Open.

“So far, so good,” said Shapovalov, who next faces Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 winner over Australian Alexei Popyrin.

South Korean Lee Duck-hee’s ground-breaking tournament came to an end with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 loss to third-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.

Lee had become the first deaf player to win an ATP match with his first-round win over Henri Laaksonen.

Meanwhile, American wildcard Bernarda Pera upset Czech third seed Barbora Strycova 3-6 6-2 6-1 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Bronx Open on Tuesday.

Strycova, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last month, battled for nearly two hours before losing to Pera, who is ranked 37 rungs below her in the WTA rankings.

“I was more focused on my game and finding that balance that is so important for me to play well,” the 24-year-old said.

“I think I was just able to find my balance and find the rhythm with my feet in the second set and keep going in the same way in the third.”

Pera saved nine of 12 break points and converted six of her seven opportunities. The American saved four break points in her first two service games alone.

Strycova’s poor service game cost her, with a double fault in the first game of the final set opening the door for Pera, and the Czech will have to improve quickly if she is to make an impact at the U.S. Open, which starts next week. Pera will next face another Czech player in fifth seed Katerina Siniakova, who advanced after her Russian opponent Anastasia Potapova dropped the opening set 6-0 and retired midway through the second set 3-0 down.

Italian Camila Giorgi came through a tough encounter with experienced German Andrea Petkovic, grinding out a 3-6 7-5 7-6 (7-3) success.

Fifth seed Katerina Siniakova was on court for just 48 minutes, leading Anastasia Potapova 6-0 3-0 when the Russian qualifier retired. It was one of two retirements with Zhu Lin also departing while trailing 7-6 (7-5) 4-0 to Alize Cornet.

Agencies