Hangzhou Open: Vallejo wins three-set battle against Cui; seeds advance

Court Ledger

At the Hangzhou Open on Thursday, Paraguay's fifth seed Adolfo Daniel Vallejo produced seven aces and saved all four break points he faced to beat China's Jie Cui 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-4 in a tense first-round match. Cui recovered from a poor first set and took the second-set tiebreak 7-2, but Vallejo regathered and closed the third set 6-4.

Context

The Hangzhou Open is an ATP Tour 250 hard-court event held in Hangzhou, China. First-round matches often feel like a test of nerve, and today's results showed how much serving and tiebreak composure matter on this surface.

Vallejo vs Cui

Vallejo dominated the first set before Cui changed direction on his returns. The second-set tiebreak slipped away from Vallejo, but he held his serve under pressure in the decider and converted the one break opportunity he created. His clean statistics—seven aces and four saved break points—tell a story of composure rather than revenge.

Faria's escape

Portugal's seventh seed Jaime Faria saved two match points during the second-set tiebreak before beating France's Terence Atmane 3-6, 7-6 (9), 6-4. Atmane took the first set and came within two points of victory; Faria's resilience changed the match completely.

Other seeds

Poland's eighth seed Kamil Majchrzak beat Italy's Mattia Bellucci 6-3, 6-4 in 80 minutes. Hungary's sixth seed Fabian Marozsan defeated Australia's Alex Bolt 6-4, 6-2. Poland's fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz recorded 15 aces and did not face a break point in a 6-3, 7-6 (10) win over Kazakhstan's Aleksandr Schevchenko. Canada's seventh seed Denis Shapovalov saved three of four break points to beat Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Other winners

Coleman Wong of Hong Kong, China's Yunchaokete Bu, Japan's Taro Daniel, France's Hugo Gaston, Australia's Rinky Hijikata, Russia's Roman Safiullin, Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili, the United States' Martin Damm, South Africa's Lloyd Harris, Italians Federico Cina and Lorenzo Sonego, and Frenchmen Adrian Mannarino and Alexandre Muller all advanced.

Deeper read

The scorecards may look routine, but today's matches were far from easy for the seeds. Faria saved match points, Schevchenko pushed Hurkacz to a 12-10 tiebreak, and Griekspoor created break chances against Shapovalov. These narrow escapes suggest the field has real depth, even if the highest-ranked names survived.

Looking ahead

Next round will likely be decided by serve efficiency and the ability to convert break points. Those who turned their service games into shields today—Vallejo, Hurkacz and Shapovalov—remain the players to watch as the tournament progresses.