Croatian Marin Cilic, third-seeded, on Tuesday beat Australia’s James Duckworth 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) to advance to the second round of the French Open.
Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, blasted 47 winners including 13 aces during the match, which lasted two hours and 13 minutes, reported Efe.
The Croatian world No. 4 is set to play Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, who beat the US’ Tennys Sandgren 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff managed to overcome Evgeny Donskoy of Russia 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 in just one hour and 20 minutes.
Struff’s opponent in the second round is to be the winner of the match between US player Steve Johnson and France’s Adrian Mannarino.