Jo-Wilfried Tsonga strikes 13 aces on Stuttgart Open debut

STUTTGART, Germany — Jo-Wilfried Tsonga powered past 2017 semifinalist Mischa Zverev 6-3, 6-0 before rain brought an early end to play at the Stuttgart Open on Monday.

Tsonga struck 13 aces as he wrapped up his debut at the grass-court tournament in under an hour to set up a second-round meeting with the sixth-seeded Milos Raonic or Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin.

Raonic, a Thornhill, Ont., product who lost last year’s final to Roger Federer, is one of three seeded Canadians, alongside Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont. Raonic is making his comeback after missing the clay-court season with a right knee injury.

Shapovalov was due to play Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff but their match was put back to Tuesday due to the rain.

Raonic did win a doubles match on Monday, teaming with Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt to beat Steve Johnson of the United States and Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 7-5. 

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Earlier, Miomir Kecmanovic rallied to beat German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. The 19-year-old Serb will next play Shapovalov or Struff.

Among Tuesday’s other scheduled matches, it’s the fifth-seeded Gael Monfils vs. American Steve Johnson, Auger-Aliassime vs. Ernests Gulbis, and Matteo Berrettini vs. Nick Kyrgios.

The Stuttgart Open made the switch from clay to grass in 2015.

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The Associated Press