Melbourne, Jan 14 (IANS): Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas defeated Serbia's Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 7-5, 6-1 in round one of the Australian Open here on Monday.
Cuevas, ranked 94 in the ATP singles list, will have the chance to beat his best result at Melbourne Park where he has never reached the third round, when he faces off against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov (20) with whom he maintains a 2-1 disadvantage.
After going down in the first round of the Auckland Open to France's Ugo Humbert, in Melbourne Cuevas managed to get breaks in the most delicate moments of both the first and second sets.
Lajovic, ranked 46 on the ATP list, fell to the Uruguayan who closed the game with a comfortable 6-1 after two hours of play.