MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) Teenager Taylor Fritz, a promising American, won his opening-round match in the Memphis Open on Tuesday night beating Michael Mmoh 6-3, 6-4.
It was the second ATP World Tour win for the 18-year-old. Fritz relied on 10 aces and solid ground game to move into the second round, where he'll play No. 2 seed Steve Johnson.
The tournament's top four seeds - defending champion Kei Nishikori and Americans Johnson, Donald Young and Sam Querrey - received first-round byes.
Fritz, ranked 145th, rose nearly 1,000 spots in the ATP rankings last year and won for the first time in the U.S.
''It feels good,'' Fritz said. ''I played a really solid match all the way through.''
Fritz finished last year as the world's top-ranked junior and opened the season with a victory at a lower-level Tour event in Australia. He also qualified for the Australian Open, but lost in the opening round to American Jack Sock in five sets.
In other first-round matches Tuesday, No. 7 seed John Millman and No. 8 Damir Dzumhur advanced. Also, Spain's Marcel Granollers beat Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, 6-1, 6-3; Swiss qualifier Henri Laaksonen defeated Australian Matthew Ebden, 6-1, 3-0 (retired) and Ricardas Berankis beat Dudi Sela, 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-5.
Millman advanced with a 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-5 victory over American Austin Krajicek and Dzumhur beat American Tim Smyczek, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
With the win, Millman surpassed his match-win total from a year ago. He went 5-9 in 2015. He is 6-4 after defeating Krajicek.
Millman said he gained confidence behind a strong finish to last season. He opened his year with a third-round finish at the Australian Open. He made the quarterfinals of last week's ATP Tour event in Montpellier, France.
Laaksonen came through last weekend's two-rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw and claim his first ATP Tour-level victory since 2014. The match ended prematurely in the second set when Ebden retired with a left leg injury. Laaksonen plays Querrey, who won 2010 Memphis tournament, in Wednesday's second round.
He said he realized early in the match that Ebden was unable to run effectively from side to side and couldn't get to drop shots.
Laaksonen said playing in qualifying gave him an advantage.
''It helps, it's always easier to start the first round if you've gone through qualifying,'' Laaksonen said. ''You get used to (the speed of) the court and the (condition) of the (tennis) balls. I like the way it is playing.''