Tipsarevic defeats former finalist Sandgren in clay court

HOUSTON (AP) — Janko Tipsarevic defeated last year’s finalist Tennys Sandgren in the first round of the US Men’s Clay Court Championship on Tuesday.

Tipsarevic, who is back after missing much of the past two seasons with hamstring issues, beat Sandgren 6-1, 7-6 (4).

Sam Querrey, a two-time finalist, began the tournament with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Bjorn Fratangelo.

In other first-round action, Henri Laaksonen defeated Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-4, Jordan Thompson beat Pedja Krstin 7-5, 6-2, Santiago Giraldo defeated Bradley Klahn 6-4, 6-4, Daniel Elahi Galan beat Paolo Lorenzi 7-6 (5), 6-4 and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated Noah Rubin 6(5)-7, 6-3, 6-3.

Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka defeated Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of doubles play.

Other doubles action included Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin’s 7-5, 6-3 win over Pablo Cuevas and Hugo Dellien and Ryan Harrison and Mackenzie McDonald’s 4-6, 6-4, 10-2 victory over Marcelo Arevalo and Jamie Cerretani.

Play continues with the second round on Wednesday.