American qualifier Colton Smith celebrated his 22nd birthday with his first ATP Tour main draw win, beating Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round at Indian Wells on Wednesday.
Smith converted seven of his nine break point opportunities and was serenaded with “Happy Birthday” by fans in the California desert.
Also on Wednesday, Kei Nishikori emerged the victor in a roller-coaster match with Spain’s Jaume Munar to advance 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (3).
The 2014 US Open finalist will face 18-seed Ugo Humbert in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Britain’s Cameron Norrie thrashed Luca Nardi of Italy 6-0, 6-3 in the evening to set up a second-round meeting with No. 23 seed Jiri Lehecka.
Marcos Giron, Roman Safiullin and Tallon Griekspoor were among the other players who advanced to the second round of the Masters 1000 event.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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