Lehecka advances, Sonego saves 2 MPs in Adelaide

Jiri Lehecka wasted little time reaching the second round at the Adelaide International Tuesday, when he moved past Australian qualifier Adam Walton 6-1, 6-3.

The 22-year-old Czech had lost eight of his past nine matches, but was dominant throughout against Walton in the pair's first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, striking 20 winners to advance after 71 minutes.

Lehecka reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in Melbourne last year, with his win against Walton his first on Australian soil since. The seventh seed will next play Dusan Lajovic.

In other action Lorenzo Sonego saved two match points to claw past Yannick Hanfmann 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(9) in a first-round thriller.

The Italian, who has won eight of his past nine opening-round matches, saved match points at 5/6 and 7/8 in the third-set tie-break, eventually advancing after two hours and 55 minutes. Sonego now leads Hanfmann 2-0 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series and will next play third seed Sebastian Korda.

It was a good day for Australia, with Jordan Thompson, Christopher O’Connell and Alex Bolt all reaching the second round at the ATP 250.

Thompson, who defeated Rafael Nadal en route to the semi-finals in Brisbane last week, moved past Argentine qualifier Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 25 minutes. The No. 47 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings will next play fourth-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti.

Bringing the heat 🔥

Aussie @jordanthommmo2 eases into round two of the Adelaide International.@AdelaideTennis | #AdelaideTennis pic.twitter.com/8qmgM0db6j

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 9, 2024

Wild card O’Connell beat French qualifier Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-4 to his first tour-level win on Australian soil since 2022, when he overcame Diego Schwartzman at the Australian Open. O’Connell won 94 per cent (29/31) of his first-serve points. The 29-year-old next meets Alexander Shevchenko.

Qualifier Bolt downed Brazilian lucky loser Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-3, 6-2. He will face top seed Tommy Paul next. Rinky Hijikata was unable to make it four Australians into the second round, however. Daniel Evans overcame the wild card 6-3, 6-4 in the final match of the day in Adelaide.

Evans was playing in his first ATP Tour match since he injured his right calf muscle in October in Vienna. The World No. 40 struck 22 winners, including five aces, according to Infosys Stats as he booked a second-round meeting with Alexander Bublik. The eighth-seeded Kazakhstani earlier defeated James McCabe 6-2, 6-3.

Italian Matteo Arnaldi, who won three ATP Challenger Tour titles in 2023, defeated Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-4, 6-3. The World No. 41 next faces second seed Nicolas Jarry.