Egor Gerasimov was the first of the day to win his match. The Belarusian didn't do anything rash. For his first match, he beat the German Yannick Hanfmann, 6-2 6-0 in 53 minutes. His next match, in the second round, will undoubtedly be more complicated, as he will face the number 1 seed of the tournament, the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
The next player to leave the court with the satisfaction of victory was Australian Matthew Ebden. The qualifier - who had come close to being beaten in the first round of qualifying - dominated Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori head to head, 6-2 6-2 in 1 hour and 13 minutes. In the previous round, Ebden was in trouble against the tournament's wild card, Benjamin Bonzi. In a three-set match against the Frenchman, Ebden had to call in the doctor and physio. The Australian is now the first quarter-finalist of the tournament. He is waiting for the result of the match between Khachanov and McDonald to know who will be his opponent for a place in the semis.
Cameron Norrie completed the trio of results. The Briton had to dig deep to get rid of the surprisingly talented Constant Lestienne, 6-4 6-7 6-3 in 2h24. The Frenchman fought hard, but the gap in the ranking (156 places) was felt in the third set. Physically, the native of Amiens was below par and that's what made the difference. Norrie, the last qualifier for the second round, will face Pierre-Hugues Herbert for a place in the Final 8!
