ATP roundup: Defending champ Jenson Brooksby loses Houston opener

Jenson Brooksby saw his title defense in the first round of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship come to an end, as he lost 6-4, 6-2 to Mackenzie McDonald on Monday in Houston.

Brooksby, the eighth seed, struggled with his second serve, winning just 6 of 16 points (37.4%). McDonald prevailed on 13 of 19 second-serve points (68.4%).

Four U.S. players have won the clay-court event the past four years, with Brooksby following Ben Shelton (2024), Frances Tiafoe (2023) and Reilly Opelka (2022).

Argentina's Thiago Agustin Tirante routed the United States' Colton Smith 6-0, 6-3.

Also moving into the second round were Australian qualifier Alex Bolt, Paraguay's Adolfo Daniel Vallejo and China's Zhizhen Zhang, all with straight-set wins.

Grand Prix Hassan II

Eighth-seeded Yannick Hanfmann of Germany got the decisive service break on his fourth match point of the game, closing out a 7-6 (6), 6-4 first-round win over the Netherlands' Jesper de Jong in Marrakech, Morocco.

Neither player broke serve in the opening set. Hanfmann got the break through to go up 2-1 in the second before de Jong equalized at 3-3. Hanfmann wound up winning 39 of 43 his first-serve points (90.7%).

The Moroccan wild-card entrants emerged with opening-round victories. Taha Baadi pulled out a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 decision over Australia's Aleksandar Vukic, and Karim Bennani topped France's Quentin Halys 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2.