Fearnley wins opening Madrid qualifier

Jacob Fearnley came from a set down to defeat Russia’s Pavel Kotov 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 and reach the second round of qualifying for the Madrid Open tennis tournament on Monday.

The Edinburgh-raised player reeled off six consecutive games against the world No 121 but statistics showed there was not much between the players in key areas.

One aspect where Fearnley was superior was in the percentage wins on his second serve – 59% to 42%.

The victory also provided a particularly welcome boost as the Scot sought to put behind him a heavy defeat by world No 7 Alex De Minaur in last week’s Barcelona Open.

Fearnley is seeded No 2 for qualifying and will now play Bolivian Hugo Dellien, the 14th seed who enjoyed a straight sets win over Adrian Mannarino of France this morning. Dellien, 31, is world No 99 though he has been as high as 64.

Fearnley currently ranks 68 approaching the French Open in late May for which he has direct acceptance.