Carlos Alcaraz, the world No.3, has withstood a heavy barrage from big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard to win 6-4 6-4 in his opening match at the China Open.
The French Open and Wimbledon champion took both of his break point opportunities, despite the No. 51-ranked Frenchman regularly sending down 140 mph serves.
Mpetshi Perricard won 83 per cent of the points behind his first serve but gave up costly errors at the beginning of each set, which Alcaraz was wily enough to capitalise on.
"The plan was just to put as many returns in as I can," Alcaraz said. "Honestly it wasn't easy. He's a really powerful player. Big serve, big shots from the baseline. So I had to be really focused."
Daniil Medvedev safely navigated a tricky first outing, 6-3 6-4 against French veteran Gael Monfils.
Roman Safiullin, who made the main draw as a lucky loser in qualifying, beat three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka 6-3 6-4 and will face top-ranked Jannik Sinner.
Meanwhile at the Japan Open, second-seeded Hubert Hurkacz lost to US Open semi-finalist Jack Draper 6-4 6-4 in the second round in Tokyo, a day after top-seeded Taylor Fritz and third-seeded Casper Ruud were eliminated.
While Draper and Hurkacz were evenly matched on aces and winners, it was the Polish player's 30 unforced errors, to Draper's 20, that proved costly. Draper will next play Brandon Nakashima or Ugo Humbert in the quarterfinals.
Defending champion Ben Shelton also reached the quarters after defeating Mariano Navone 6-4 6-3. Shelton, along with Fritz, travelled to Japan from the Laver Cup in Berlin, where they represented Team World in a loss to Alcaraz's Team Europe.
Matteo Berrettini took the opening set tiebreak against Arthur Fils, of France, before the Italian retired from the match with an injury.
