Alex de Minaur’s bid for a US Open seeding was boosted by a first-round win at the ATP Tour’s Cincinnati Masters.
The Australian world No.38 did not face a break point against Italian Marco Cecchinato but still had to fight back from a set down to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-2 in two hours and 13 minutes on Sunday.
“These wins are often the ones that count the most,” De Minaur told reporters.
“To be able to come back from not playing my best tennis and turn it around, I’m really happy to get the win.”
The 20-year-old was the first man to win his way through to the second round and will face wildcard Reilly Opelka or 12th-seeded Croatian Borna Coric in the round of 32.
De Minaur is among three Australians in the main draw in Cincinnati with Washington Open winner Nick Kyrgios to play Italian Lorenzo Sonego in his opener and Jordan Thompson to clash with Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka, with both matches on Monday.
In Sunday’s only other main draw match, 13th-seeded John Isner blasted 27 aces in a 7-6 (7-3) 1-6 7-5 victory over Serbian Dusan Lajovic.
Lajovic shook off the loss of a first-set tiebreaker to dominate the second, earning two breaks of Isner’s fearsome serve.
However, trailing 6-5 in the final set and serving to stay in the match, Lajovic’s own serve failed him as Isner sealed the win to reach the second round.
The event in Cincinnati is the final elite ATP Masters 1000 event before the last grand slam of the year with the seedings for Flushing Meadows to be announced after this week’s action.