Millman advances, de Minaur crashes in DC
John Millman has advanced to the round of 16 at the ATP Tour event in Washington but Alex de Minaur suffered a surprise loss in his tournament opener.
Millman, the 11th seed, again showed his battling qualities by saving nine break-point opportunities in a 6-2 7-6 (10-8) victory over Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer.
Standing in Millman's way for a place in the quarter-finals is big-serving American eight seed Reilly Opelka.
Third-seeded de Minaur took the first set against Steve Johnson but couldn't maintain his level, going down 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-2.
Having sat out the Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19, the match was de Minaur's first on tour since his first-round exit from Wimbledon in late June.
Top seed Rafael Nadal will make his Washington debut against Jack Sock in the evening's final match.
Spanish great Nadal hasn't played since he lost to Novak Djokovic in the French Open semi-finals on June 11.
In other second-round action, Italian fifth seed Jannik Sinner rolled Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland 6-2 6-4 but sixth-seeded Dan Evans was beaten 7-6 (7-1) 6-0 by young American Brandon Nakashima.
"It was very strange to be back playing. Probably a week, two weeks, a little too early," Evans said, after his first match since testing positive for coronavirus last month and missing the Tokyo Games.
Next for Nakashima at the hardcourt tune-up for the US Open will be Denis Kudla, who beat 10th seed Taylor Fritz 6-4 6-2.
with AP
