Hard-serving Australian Sam Groth and second-seeded Ivo Karlovic won their opening-round matches on Monday at the ATP Tour's Hall of Fame tennis championships.
Croatia's Karlovic hammered 17 aces in defeating American wildcard Robby Ginepri 7-6 (7-2) 6-2, while Groth fired 11 aces in a 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 set win over fifth-seeded Donald Young in the grasscourt tournament.
Both Karlovic and Groth rely heavily on their serves to get the job done. The 2.08m Karlovic held the record for the fastest serve in pro tennis at 251km/h before Groth passed him in 2012 with a 263km/h blast at a tournament in Busan, South Korea.
Groth, of Narrandera in country NSW, moves on to the second round to face Malek Jaziri who beat Ricardas Berankis 7-5 6-3.
Karlovic will play the winner of a match between Farrukh Dustov and Sergiy Stakhovsky.
Also, Steve Johnson breezed past fellow American Clay Thompson 6-1 6-2 and former champion Rajeev Ram moved on with a 6-2 7-5 victory over Aussie Matthew Ebden. Ram was a surprise winner in 2009.
Israeli Dudi Sela defeated Pole Michal Przysiezny 6-1 7-6 (7-2) and Japan's Tatsuma Ito beat American wildcard Mitchell Krueger 7-6 (9-7) 6-1.
The top seed is 2.08m American and two-time champion John Isner, who will open his tournament against qualifier Wayne Odesnik on Tuesday.
Two-time finalist Nicolas Mahut of France overcame former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt in last year's Newport final. Mahut and Hewitt are also scheduled to play on Tuesday.
Share
