Grigor Dimitrov (pictured) loses to Dusan Lajovic
Third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov is out of the Beijing Open, beaten 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 by Dusan Lajovic in the second round yesterday.
At 4-4 in the deciding set, the 55th-ranked Lajovic, helped by a Dimitrov double-fault, broke the Bulgarian’s serve, then won four consecutive points in his next service game to close out the match in 1 hour, 51 minutes.
Later yesterday, top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro was scheduled to play his second-round match against Karen Khachanov.
In women’s play, Karolina Pliskova advanced to the third round for the third consecutive year with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
The win helped avenge Pliskova’s loss to Sasnovich in their only previous meeting, a straight-set defeat in Tokyo in 2016.
The seventh-seeded Pliskova, who trailed 2-0 in the second set at the National Tennis Stadium before winning four games in a row, has lost in the third round each of the last two years in Beijing. She will next play local wild-card entry Wang Qiang.
Among featured women’s matches, second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki played Petra Martic in the second round and ninth-seeded Sloane Stephens took on Dominika Cibulkova in a third-round match. AP
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