Istomin, Hewitt advance in San Jose
Sixth-seeded Denis Istomin advanced to the second round of the SAP Open, beating qualifier Ryan Sweeting 6-3, 6-4 in just over an hour on Tuesday.
Istomin, from Uzbekistan, broke Sweeting's serve early in each set and won 86 per cent of his first serves to maintain the advantage.
Former World No 1 Lleyton Hewitt, looking for his first singles title in nearly three years and his first title on hardcourt in seven years, advanced with a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Blaz Kavcic, who had won the first two meetings between the players.
In other matches, seventh-seeded Marinko Matosevic beat American Jack Sock, 7-6 (5), 6-1; Canadian Vasek Pospisil knocked off Russian Evgeny Donskoy, 7-5, 6-1; and German Benjamin Becker downed American Ryan Harrison, 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-3.
