Australian Jordan Thompson is into the second round of the Washington Open after a straight-sets victory over Belgian Ruben Bemelmans.
World No.75 Thompson won 6-3 6-2 in the first round of the ATP event in the US capital on Tuesday, setting up a clash with young gun Alexander Zverev.
In other matches, eighth seed Jack Sock overcame a temporary Hawkeye breakdown to beat 90th seed Marius Copil 7-6 7-6.
There was high drama in the match when, at 5-5 and 15-all in the first set, Sock became highly irritated when the technology used to check disputed line calls failed to work after he challenged a call.
Sock looked incredulous when chair umpire Fergus Murphy announced the linesperson's call stood in view of the breakdown.
"I feel very good on that ball being in so that could change the match obviously," Sock said to Murphy, pleading with the chair umpire to overrule the call.
"That's ridiculous," the American continued when Murphy refused to budge. "It's your job to see that and you can't see that."
In the following clash, top seed Dominic Thiem served well for a comfortable 6-3 6-3 win over Henri Laaksonen.
In women's action, top seed Simona Halep overcame a slow start to beat American Sloane Stephens 7-6 6-0 in an uninspiring first-round match.
Halep made 23 unforced errors, but a rusty Stephens committed more than twice that number in only her second event since last August's Rio Olympics.
Stephens, the 2015 champion, made her comeback at Wimbledon recently after being out for nearly a year due to foot surgery.
Stephens said it was still "hard" on the comeback path.
"You don't really know what to expect from yourself. I didn't play badly."
Share

