Fourth seed Alex de Minaur required just 61 minutes to overcome Malek Jaziri of Tunisia on Tuesday at the Antalya Open.
The 21-year-old Australian, who compiled a 13-11 record last season, broke serve five times. De Minaur now faces Bulgarian qualifier Adrian Andreev, who recorded his first ATP Tour match win over Turkish wild card Marsel Ilhan 6-4, 6-3 in 76 minutes.
Read & Watch: De Minaur’s End-Range Shot Tips
Elsewhere, Fabio Fognini joined fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini by beginning 2021 with a win.
Third seed Fognini came through a 6-4, 7-6(4) first-round victory over Czech qualifier Michael Vrbensky in one hour and 39 minutes. Fognini, who broke serve in the third game of each set, saw Vrbensky respond in a competitive second set. The Czech won the first three points of the tie-break.
The 33-year-old will now challenge France’s Jeremy Chardy, who defeated Radu Albot of Moldova 6-3, 6-4 in 80 minutes. Fognini is bidding to capture his first ATP Tour title this week since April 2019 when he clinched the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters crown (d. Lajovic).
Elsewhere, France’s Tristan Lamasine recovered from 3-5 down in the first set and saved one set point at 4-5 in a 7-6(6), 6-2 victory over Egor Gerasimov of Belarus. Lamasine now prepares to meet eighth-seeded Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik in the second round.
New Team Mektic/Pavic Get Off To Winning Start
Top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic battled past Jiri Vesely and Tristan-Samuel Weissborn 6-4, 5-7, 10-6 for a place in the quarter-finals. The new team will next face Nikoloz Basilashvili and Andre Begemann, who were 6-2, 6-3 victors over Turkish wild cards Umut Akkoyun and Mert Naci Turker.
Kazakhstanis Alexander Bublik and Andrey Golubev held their nerve in a tense finale at the end of the day against David Goffin and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Bublik and Golubev recovered from ¼ down in the Match Tie-break and saved one match point at 9/10 en route to a 6-3, 0-6, 12/10 victory.
On Thursday, Goffin saved five match points against Herbert in the singles first round.