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The 15th seed Sam Querrey scored one of the easiest Masters 1000 wins in his career, ousting young Stefan Kozlov by 6-3 6-0 in 51 minutes for his 59th triumph at Masters 1000 level. Interestingly, they played at s-Hertogenbosch last year as well, and Sam won that one with the exact same result. Today, he lost just 9 points in 8 service games, never facing a break point, and he was all over Kozlov on the return, winning 51% of the return points and creating 9 break points.
Stefan got broken 4 times, staying in touch only in the first 5 games and losing his ground completely after that. Sam found a great rhythm on serve right from the start and he was waiting for a chance on the return patiently, breaking Stefan in game 6 for a 4-2 lead.
From that moment on, the younger American will face big troubles on serve in every game until the end of the match, unable to score some free points or to outplay Querrey from the baseline. He somehow saved 2 set points in game 8 but Sam closed the opening set with another commanding serve in game 9, for a 6-3.
The second set was all about him as he took full control, breaking Stefan on all 3 occasions to raced towards the finish line in some 25 minutes, despite serving at only 44% in the second part of the match. Mischa Zverev improved his score in 2017 to 21-23 after a 6-4 6-4 triumph against Fernando Verdasco in just 68 minutes.
It was a great performance from German, he served at 78% and dropped just 9 points in 10 service games, never facing a break point. He finished the match with 19 winners and just 6 unforced errors, Verdasco was also positive with 21-18 but he had much more troubles to hold in his games, facing 6 break points and losing serve once in each set to end on the losing side.
Verdasco got broken in the very first game of the match when he netted an easy forehand, which is never a good sign, and he had no chance to pull it back until the end of the set. Zverev served well and also covered the net good enough to break rival's rhythm and to keep the points on his racquet.
He clinched the opening set by 6-4 after 31 minutes, hitting 3 service winners and another from a volley in that final game, and he could only hope to continue in the same style in set number 2. There, he broke in the very first game after another forehand error from Fernando and German was now in the great position to bring the match home.
Spaniard couldn't do much on the return and he lost the match in game 10, sending another forehand wide. First round results:
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