Verdasco imposes his consistency against Duckworth

Fernando Verdasco imposed his greatest consistency in the second set tiebreaker and beat the Australian James Duckworth, 6-4 and 7-6 (5) in the first round of ATP 250 from Astana, recently created.

Verdasco saved two set points in the second quarter and after forcing the tiebreaker he went down 4-2, when he managed to concentrate much more than his rival and won five of the last six points to take the victory in 62 minutes. The Spaniard will face in the round of 16 against another Australian, John Millman, fourth seed.

The French Benoit Paire is the main seed in Nur-Sultan, the last of the four new ATP Tour 250 tournaments added to the 2020 calendar following the suspension of the circuit due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Locals Alexander Bublik and Mikhail Kukushkin compete in the event. Four of the eight seeds in Kazakhstan are from Australia or the United States. Aussies John Millman and Jordan Thompson are the fourth and eighth favorites, respectively, while Americans Tennys Sandgren and Tommy Paul are fifth and seventh.