Australian John-Patrick Smith advances to second round at Van Open

VANCOUVER – Australian John-Patrick Smith needed less than an hour to dispatch eighth seed Alejandro Gonzalez in first-round action at the Odlum Brown Van Open on Monday.

Smith fired 10 aces en route to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over the Colombian in 58 minutes at the ATP Challenger Tour stop.

Karen Khachanov downed Britain’s Liam Broady 6-4, 6-3 and Ruben Bemelmans of Germany topped Portugal’s Gastao Elias 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in other first-round singles play.

Canadian Philip Bester fell 4-6, 6-2, 2-6 to Guido Andreozzi in a qualifying match.

In other qualifying action, Radek Stepanek toppled Dimitar Kutrovsky, Daniel Evans beat Mathias Bourgue 6-4, 6-0, and France’s Maxime Hamou outlasted American Mackenzie McDonald 6-0, 6-3.