J.J. Wolf, the top seed from the United States, easily defeated Jordan Thompson in the first round of the Houston Open with a score of 6-3, 6-2.
On the strength of a rock-solid serving effort, Wolf, the fifth seed at the only clay court tournament on the ATP Tour schedule in the United States, required just 75 minutes to send the Aussie home early.
Wolf put the finishing touches on the match by winning the final five games to easily claim victory while Thompson was unable to generate a single opportunity for a break point during the encounter.
With his 6-0, 6-2 destruction of Ecuador’s Emilio Gomez, seventh seed Marcos Giron gave the American crowd another victory to rejoice for.
The chance for the double-bagel was there for Giron after winning the first 11 games to race out to a 6-0 5-0 lead, but he blew four match points as Gomez showed no quit and secured a break to at least take the match over the 60-minute mark.
Eighth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry prevailed 6-3 6-4 in his all-Argentine clash against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, taking a 3-2 lead in their overall head-to-head meetings after rising 21-year-old Cerundolo took the past two.
Garin wasn't messing around today 😎@Garin_Cris cruises past Dellien 6-3 6-0.@mensclaycourt | #USClay pic.twitter.com/TfCmqvGWsJ
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 5, 2023
German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann booked a second-round matchup against second seed Tommy Paul after a hard-fought 6-4 3-6 6-2 triumph over Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki, while Chile’s Cristian Garin had little resistance in his 6-3 6-0 victory in a South American showdown against Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien.
In the late window, Jack Sock failed to complete the United States clean sweep for the day as he fell 6-2 6-4 to the Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac.