Kudla advances to second round of the Memphis Open

Denis Kudla of the United States makes a backhand return. (Andrew Brownbill/AP)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — No. 5 seed Denis Kudla moved into the second round of the Memphis Open with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Rajeev Ram on Monday.

Kudla, seeded in an ATP World Tour event for the first time, broke Ram’s serve to open the second set. The 23-year-old American finished with five aces and did not face a break point.

Kudla, who was born in Ukraine, had a breakout year in 2015. He reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and advanced to the semifinals of Atlanta, a 250 Tour-level event like Memphis.

"It’s great being seeded," Kudla said. "You don’t have to play people like Kei Nishikori in the first round."

Nishikori, the top seed and three-time defending champion, received a first-round bye and won’t play his opening match until Wednesday. He is ranked seventh in the world and is attempting to become the first four-time winner in Memphis since Jimmy Connors in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Steve Johnson is the No. 2 seed, Donald Young is No. 3 and Sam Querrey, a former Memphis champion, is No. 4.

In a battle of qualifiers, Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka beat American Jared Donaldson, 6-3, 6-4. Nishioka, 20, is a rising player in his country who was ranked a career-best 116th earlier this year.

Also advancing into the second round were Mikhail Kukushkin, a 6-4, 7-6 (1) winner over Luca Vanni of Italy and Ilya Marchenko, who defeated sixth-seeded Sam Groth of Australia, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2).

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.