MARBELLA/STARNBERG, March 28, 2022
Main draw action of the AnyTech365 Andalucia Open kicked off Monday at the Club de Tenis Puente Romano in Marbella, Spain. World No. 77 and fourth seed of the ATP Challenger Tour 125 tournament Jiri Vesely from the Czech Republic opened his title bid with a hard-fought 6-7(2), 7-6(3), 6-1 first-round win over Russian alternate Andrey Kuznetsov on Court 1.
The 28-year-old lefty, who celebrated his biggest match win by knocking out then-World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships one month ago, struck 10 aces and won 77 per cent of his first-service points to seal victory in two hours and six minutes. Vesely will next take on either Spanish wild card entry Carlos Gimeno Valero or Nobert Gombos from Slovakia.
Hanfmann, Kohlschreiber advance
Two Germans also booked their spots in the second round on the Costa del Sol. On Estadio Manolo Santana, Yannick Hanfmann remained untroubled during his 6-3, 6-0 win over Mario Vilella Martinez from Spain. The 30-year-old Karlsruhe native won 70 per cent of the total point played to advance in only 52 minutes. Hanfmann will next face the winner of the encounter between No. 3 seed and 2019 champion Pablo Andujar of Spain and Italian Andrea Pellegerino.
Philipp Kohlschreiber overcame a bumpy start and needed to go the distance on Court 7 to outlast Czech youngster Jiri Lehecka 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. The 38-year-old from Augsburg broke his rival’s serve six times to prevail after one hour and 33 minutes. Up next for Kohlschreiber, who is competing in his first clay-court tournament of the season, will be a Spaniard – either qualifier Carlos Gomez-Herrera or No. 8 seed Carlos Taberner.
🎟 The ticket to the main draw is their’s! 💪🏼
🇪🇸 Javi Barranco
🇪🇸 Carlos Gomez-Herrera
🇪🇸 Pol Martín Tiffon
🇷🇺 Alexander Shevchenko
🇮🇹 Raúl Brancaccio
🇸🇰 Lukas Klein#andaluciaopen pic.twitter.com/oKmJdBoPXR— AnyTech365 Andalucía Open (@AndaluciaOpen) March 28, 2022
Thiem, Wawrinka to play on Tuesday
Dominic Thiem will make his eagerly-awaited return to the courts on Tuesday. The top seed and current World No. 50 from Austria is taking on Pedro Cachin of Argentina in his Marbella opener. The match is scheduled not before 1:30 p.m. local time.
Stan Wawrinka will also step into action. The Swiss wild card entry will play the second match on Center Court against Elias Ymer of Sweden.
“I’m really happy to be here, I think the week of practice was going well [and] the level is getting better,” Wawrinka stated in a video message.
#1 seed of @AndaluciaOpen in one of his endless practice sessions @PuenteTenis @Marbella @galo_blanco @DomiBucky @domithiem @massunico pic.twitter.com/yZAkIPQmxp
— Brigitte Urban (@brigitte__urban) March 28, 2022
Monday ResultsSingles – First Round[4] J. Vesely (CZE) d [Alt] A. Kuznetsov 67(2) 76(3) 61C. Tseng (TPE) d [7] M. Cecchinato (ITA) 62 67(5) 63P. Kohlschreiber (GER) d J. Lehecka (CZE) 26 62 61Y. Hanfmann (GER) d M. Vilella Martinez (ESP) 63 60
Qualifying – Second Round[1] L. Klein (SVK) d [8] A. Lopez San Martin (ESP) 63 64[2] R. Brancaccio (ITA) d [7] M. Martineau (FRA) 63 60[3] A. Shevchenko d [Alt] J. Haerteis (GER) 63 62[4] J. Barranco Cosano (ESP) d [10] C. Heyman (BEL) 63 64[12] [Alt] C. Gomez-Herrera (ESP) d [5] N. Alvarez Varona (ESP) 64 75[9] P. Martin Tiffon (ESP) d J. Paz (ARG) 63 36 64
