MEMPHIS — Marin Cilic struggled early before finding his rhythm as the top seed ground out a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over friend and Croatian compatriot Ivan Dodig in the first round of the Memphis International Monday. Aside from Cilic, American Rhyne Williams beat countryman Steve Johnson 7-6 6-4 while Poland's Lukasz Kubot outlasted another American, Ryan Harrison, 6-4 6-7 7-6. In the women's draw, the top two seeds, Kirsten Flipkens and Sofia Arvidsson, eased into the second round with straight-sets victories. In the day's final match, eighth-seeded Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic needed less than an hour to dispatch American Courtney Collins 6-3, 6-1. Defending champion second seed Arvidsson of Sweden and top seed Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium advanced to the second round. Arvidsson beat Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova 6-4, 6-4 while Flipkens eliminated 2007 Memphis runner-up Shahar Peer of Israel 6-2, 6-2. Arvidsson, who also won at Memphis in 2006, defeated New Zealand's Marina Erakovic in last year's final. This year, Arvidsson will face Erakovic again in the second round after Erakovic beat Germany's Annika Beck 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4. Next up for Flipkens will be Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko, who defeated US qualifier Maria Sanchez 6-2, 6-4. American Jamie Hampton downed Spanish wild card Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-3 to book a second round date with compatriot Coco Vandeweghe. Bedene stuns Zeballos Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia ruined a homecoming for Horacio Zeballos on Monday, eliminating the Argentine 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the first round of the Copa Claro Tournament at Buenos Aires. Fifth-seeded Zeballos became a national hero just over a week ago when he defeated seven-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal in the final of the VTR Open in Chile. Expectations were high for him playing at home. In other first-round matches, No. 4 seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil was ousted by Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, eighth-seeded Albert Ramos of Spain advanced with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Flavio Cipolla of Italy and Federico Delbonis of Argentina moved on with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Portugal's Joao Sousa. — Agencies
