Tomic's poor year continues, Dolgopolov cruises at Indian Wells
Alexandr Dolgopolov was untroubled at Indian Wells as Bernard Tomic's miserable 2017 continued.
Bernard Tomic's poor year continued with a first-round exit at the BNP Paribas Open, while Alexandr Dolgopolov eased through.
Tomic has endured a miserable 2017, and it got no better with a surprise loss to Bjorn Fratangelo at Indian Wells on Thursday.
Dolgopolov enjoyed a straightforward win at the ATP 1000 event, while Fabio Fognini also advanced.
Fratangelo's fellow American wildcards Reilly Opelka and Frances Tiafoe were unable to make the most of their chances.
TERRIBLE TOMIC
Tomic has lost six of his eight matches this year after going down to Fratangelo 6-2 6-2.
The Australian was broken twice in each set, making an exit in just 62 minutes.
The loss was Tomic's second this year against a player ranked outside the top 100, his form having seen him slip to 42nd in the rankings.
DOLGOPOLOV CRUISES
Dolgopolov had lost his previous two meetings with Viktor Troicki, but improved that record with a 6-1 6-4 win.
The Ukrainian served nine aces and broke four times on his way to a surprisingly comfortable success.
FOGNINI COMES BACK AS QUALIFIERS OUTDO WILDCARDS
The unpredictable Fognini recovered from a slow start to reach the second round with a 0-6 7-5 6-4 win against Konstantin Kravchuk.
Opelka, the 210cm American teenager, was beaten by qualifier Peter Gojowczyk 6-4 3-6 6-1.
Another wildcard, Tiafoe, also lost to a qualifier, going down to Dusan Lajovic 6-3 6-3.
Among other winners on Thursday were Adrian Mannarino, Martin Klizan, Paolo Lorenzi and Joao Sousa.