Sonego breezes into second round in Stuttgart, Gaston through in Netherlands

Lorenzo Sonego eased into the second round of the Stuttgart Open on Monday, while Hugo Gaston enjoyed first-round success at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships.

Sixth seed Sonego was the headline act on Monday in Stuttgart and made light work of Benoit Paire to win 7-5 6-2.

The Italian will next face Jan-Lennard Struff after the German edged out world number 53 Marcos Giron 7-5 5-7 7-6 (10-8).

“It’s my first time here, it’s my first tournament on grass and I’m really happy [with] this match,” Sonego said after defeating Paire.

“It’s never easy to pass from clay to grass, but I enjoy it because if I serve good it is easier for me.”

Struff’s compatriot Oscar Otte was another first-round winner with straight-sets victory over Daniel Altmaier, while Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi breezed past Feliciano Lopez.

In Rosmalen, poor weather wreaked havoc with the schedule but France’s Gaston had little trouble against South Korean Kwon Soon-woo, winning 6-2 6-1 to reach the last 16, and Andreas Seppi battled past Gijs Brouwer in the second round of qualifying.

Seppi will be hoping to make it to the main draw, where world number two Daniil Medvedev is the top seed, with Felix Auger-Aliassime and Taylor Fritz also competing.