Pavel Kotov defeated Martin Damm Jr. in the first round of qualifying at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, 7-6(4) 6-7(4) 6-3, and advanced to the next qualifying round. The result is reported by api.tennis.
Tie-break exchange
The opening set went to Kotov: 7-6(4). In the second, Damm Jr. responded with the same score in the tie-break: 6-7(4) from Kotov’s perspective. In the deciding set, it did not come down to a tie-break: Pavel closed it out 6-3.
Kotov overcame an opponent with a higher ranking. According to rank.tennis, Pavel is No. 188 with 295 points, while Damm Jr. is No. 99 with 605 points. In qualifying, the American was seeded No. 10.
In his previous qualifying matches in Chengdu, Kotov defeated Luka Castelnuovo 6-7 7-5 7-5, and then lost to Shintaro Mochizuki 5-7 3-6. Damm Jr. came into Shanghai off a loss to Arthur Fils in qualifying at the Japan Open, 6-2 1-6 1-6.