Granollers beats battling Ilkel in Istanbul, Vesely prevails
Cem Ilkel made Marcel Granollers work for his victory in the Istanbul Open, while Jiri Vesely was also a first-round winner.
Marcel Granollers overcame some stubborn resistance from wildcard Cem Ilkel to move into the second round of the Istanbul Open on Tuesday.
Fifth seed Granollers bossed the first set, but was made to work in the second before wrapping up a 6-1 7-6 (11-9) victory against the world number 413.
Spaniard Granollers wasted no time in taking charge as he opened up a 5-0 lead in a one-sided first set.
Turkish outsider Ilkel had the chance to serve for the second set when he broke to lead 5-3, but Granollers broke immediately and then saved three set points in the 10th game.
Ilkel had another set point in a marathon tie-break, but Granollers thwarted him again and eventually prevailed to set up a second-round meeting with Hyeon Chung.
Sixth seed Jiri Vesely is also through to round two courtesy of a 6-3 7-5 victory over Thiemo de Bakker.
Bakker was unable to break the Vesely serve and the unseeded Dutchman fell at the first hurdle after he was broken twice by the 22-year-old Czech.
Teymuraz Gabashvili bowed out with a 6-4 6-2 defeat to Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, while Chung beat Carlos Berlocq and Karen Khachanov got the better of Aljaz Bedene.
Lucas Pouille withdrew from the tournament due to fatigue and is replaced by lucky loser Maximo Gonzalez.