Olympic doubles bronze medalists Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul both won their opening singles matches on Wednesday at the National Bank Open.
The ninth-seeded Fritz defeated Mariano Navone from Argentina with scores of 6-4, 6-1. The 10th-seeded Paul won against Luciano Darderi from Italy, 6-4, 7-6 (2).
“It was a solid match,” Fritz said. “I feel like the level, probably from both of us, went up a bit in the second set. We started playing longer points.”
Fritz will play against American Sebastian Korda in the second round. Korda, who won his second ATP Tour title on Sunday night in Washington, was leading Vasek Pospisil 2-1 in a night match when Pospisil retired due to a back injury.
American players Ben Shelton and Brandon Nakashima also moved on, with Nakashima set to play against Paul in the second round.
Shelton, who is seeded 11th, narrowly won against his doubles partner Alexander Bublik from Kazakhstan, and Nakashima defeated Canadian wild-card Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 7-5.
“I think the consistency in my tennis is improving every week,” Shelton said. “I’m feeling more and more comfortable. I’m starting to feel more comfortable on the court against guys that I’ve had a lot of trouble with before.”
Flavio Cobolli from Italy, who lost to Korda on Sunday in the DC Open final, beat the 14th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime from Canada 6-3, 6-2.
