Tennis News: Infosys Hall of Fame Open-Jack Sock and former champion Steve Johnson winning starts

World No. 95 Steve Johnson advanced to the second after a 7-5, 6-3 victory against Stefan Kozlov. The 32-year-old American fired six aces, won 82% of the points on the first serve and broke his opponent's serve three times. In contrast, Stefan Kozlov won just 68% of the points on the first serve, committed eight double faults and fired no aces.

It was the fourth faceoff between Steve Johnson and Stefan Kozlov this year. The victory of Steve Johnson on the grass court in Newport brought their win-loss record for the season to 2-2.

In a post-match interview, Steve Johnson said, "I thought I played well at the end of sets, but there was a stretch in the middle of both sets. I did not like the way I was playing and executing. But when you are not doing that and you still get a win, that's a good sign."

In the second round, Steve Johnson will face the winner of the first-round clash between Feliciano López of Spain and Jiří Veselý of the Czech Republic.

Jack Sock of America also secured a second-round spot after beating Radu Albot of Moldova 6-1, 7-6(2). The 29-year-old American has not won a tour-level title since winning the Rolex Paris Masters in 2017. He is looking forward to ending his almost five-year-long title drought at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open.

In another first-round match of the day, 2017 semi-finalist Peter Gojowczyk of Germany defeated Ugo Humbert of France, improving his win-loss record at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open to 6-2. He is set to face second seed John Isner in a second-round clash.

Top seeds advance in men's doubles

No. 1 seeds Raven Klaasen and Marcelo Melo secured a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 against the pairing of Serbian twins Ivan Sabanov and Matej Sabanov.

Ramkumar Ramanathan of India and his Australian partner John-Patrick Smith eliminated the second-seeded pairing of Hans Hach Verdugo and Hunter Reese 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 event.