Title defender Mahut smoothly to second round

Nicolas Mahut reached the second round of the Ricoh Open. The title defender defeated qualifier Dennis Novikov with 6-3 6-4.

The French stylist just needed a winning return game in every set against the American qualifier. The 35-year-old Mahut must defeat Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy or Yen-Hsun Lu from Taiwan to reach the quarter final.

Aljaz Bedene won his opening round against Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan. The British player came back after losing the first set and won the following two sets with 6-2 6-1.

The eighth seeded Bedene will compete against Ernesto Escobedo or Hyeon Chung in the second round.