Third-seed Sam Querrey made home advantage count as he advanced to the second round of the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Championships in Newport.
The 21 year old, big serving American shrugged off Spain’s Ruben Hidalgo 6-3, 6-2 to clinch victory in 59 minutes. Haven fallen to Marin Cilic in a five-set thriller at Wimbledon, world number 39 Querrey joins the likes of Philipp Petzschner in round two. World number 48 Petzschner, who stumbled in the third round of SW19 against a rejuvenated Lleyton Hewitt, overcame a rain delay to oust Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 6-7, 6-2.
Arnaud Clement’s dismal form continued as he succumbed to American Alex Bogomolov Jr. Having failed at the first-round tour hurdle three successive times, Clement was defeated 6-1, 3-6, 4-6. All eyes are now on number one seed Fabrice Santoro, whose match with Brazilian Flavio Saretta is tied at 3-3, with a rain break halting play. Santoro will be mourning the loss of fellow French player Mathieu Montcourt, who suffered a pulmonary embolism outside his flat. French presence is strong at Newport, with the classy Sebastien Grosjean receiving the final wildcard entry. Grosjean’s career has been hampered by injuries of late, but he still has good grass tournament pedigree. Having reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon twice at the turn of the century, Grosjean proved to be nemesis of Britain’s Tim Henman on several occasions.
