BASTAD, Sweden — Nicolas Almagro upset fifth-seeded Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 in an all-Spanish contest on clay to reach the second round of the Swedish Open on Tuesday.
Almagro, the 2010 Bastad champion and winner of 12 clay-court titles, sealed victory on his third match point.
Sixth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil beat Swedish wild card entrant Elias Ymer 6-4, 6-2, and next faces another Swede, Christian Lindell.
Paul-Henri Mathieu beat seventh-seeded Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 6-3 in an all-French first-round game and next plays Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who easily defeated Marsel Ilhan of Turkey 6-2, 6-0.
In other matches, No. 8 Jerzy Janowicz of Poland took 89 minutes to overcome qualifier Andrea Arnaboldi of Italy 6-4, 7-5. His next match is against Steve Darcis of Belgium, who beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain, 6-4, 6-3.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev hit nine aces in a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3, victory over compatriot qualifier Julian Reister to line up a second round match with No. 4 Juan Monaco of Argentina.
Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain beat Luca Vanni of Italy, 6-4, 6-4.