Qualifier Copil beats sixth-seeded Sousa in European Open

Marius Copil, of Romania. (Lee Jin-man/AP)

ANTWERP, Belgium — Qualifier Marius Copil had nine aces as he upset sixth-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the European Open on Tuesday.

The 198-ranked Romanian also beat the 33rd-ranked Sousa on indoor hard courts in Stockholm, Sweden two years ago.

Copil converted his four break-point chances and next faces Steve Darcis of Belgium or Frenchman Benoit Paire.

In other first-round action, Argentine Diego Schwartzman downed seventh-seeded Nicolas Mahut of France 7-6 (2), 7-5 — with both regularly dropping their serve — and German Jan-Lennard Struff had 11 aces in a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-0 win over Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

Struff and Youzhny conceded a whopping 39 break-point chances between them, with Youzhny dropping his serve eight times.

Slovak qualifier Jozef Kovalik downed Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-3, while Britain’s Kyle Edmund beat Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5) to set up a second-round match against No. 2 David Ferrer of Spain.

Also, Germany’s Florian Mayer broke Spaniard Tommy Robredo’s serve five times to go with seven aces in a 6-2, 6-2 win.

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