CINCINNATI (Ohio) • American 15th seed Sam Querrey cruised into the second round of the Cincinnati Open with a routine 6-3, 6-0 win over compatriot Stefan Kozlov on Monday - on a day when the old guard dominated the younger players.

The 29-year-old Wimbledon semi-finalist was barely tested by his 19-year-old wildcard opponent in the match, dropping only four points on serve and facing not even a single break point.

"Went out there and just kind of put my head down and went to work, and played a really solid match from start to finish. It felt good," said Querrey, who since Wimbledon has won a tournament in Mexico and reached the third round in Montreal.

"I'm just trying to win more matches," he added of his aims for this week.

"I'm playing well. I just want to keep up the game style I'm playing (and) keep up the confidence, and play well here and hopefully continue that through the US Open."

Ivo Karlovic, who at 38 is one of the oldest players on the ATP Tour, enjoyed a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over Czech 24-year-old Jiri Vesely while Italy's Fabio Fognini, 30, held off Russia's 21-year-old Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

In keeping with the trend of veterans beating youngsters, Spain's Feliciano Lopez, 35, also beat 21-year-old South Korean Chung Hyeon 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

Unseeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet enjoyed a 6-4, 6-4 win over John Patrick Smith of Australia to set up a second-round clash today with Rafael Nadal, who is already assured of returning to the top of the world rankings next week for the first time since 2014.

Spain's Fernando Verdasco, 33, however, was not as fortunate as he dropped his first-round encounter 4-6, 4-6 against slightly younger German Mischa Zverev, 29.

REUTERS