(Above: Juan Carlos Ferrero)
Spain’s Tommy Robredo is on the comeback trail from a thigh injury. Robredo cruised in to the second round at the ATP Studena Croatia Open yesterday beating qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-3 6-2. This is Robredo’s first appearance at the ATP 250 World Tour Tournament in Umag for six year.
Another Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero is also through to the second round after his opponent Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina had to retire due to a right hip injury. The score was 1-1 in the third set when Gonzalez had to give up.
The former world number one Ferrero won the Stuttgart title two weeks ago. He is now facing hometown favourite Ivan Ljubicic who is seeded number three this week.
No. 6 seed Italian Fabio Fognini beat Portugal’s Rui Machado 6-4 6-3 in one hour and 28 minutes. Fellow Italian Andreas Seppi won his first round against Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic 6-4 6-2.
Filippo Volandri, another Italian won against Croatian wildcard Mate Pavic. This was Pavic’s first ATP World Tour match. Volandri won in two straight sets 6-4 6-0.
The finalist from last year Potito Starace had a three sets win over Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker 6-7 (5) 6-2 6-1. Starace is currently ranked number 54 in the world, the Italian’s highest career ranking was in 2007 when he reached number 27. Starace’s opponent in the second round is top seed Juan Ignacio Chela.
Croatian team Marin Cilic and Lovro Zovko had a straight set win over Slovenian team Aljaz Bedene and Andraz Bedene 6-2 6-4. No other doubles matches were completed in Umag yesterday.
SCHEDULE – WEDNESDAY, 27 JULY, 2011 CENTRE COURT start 5:30 pm Ferrero (ESP) vs [3] I Ljubicic (CRO)
Not Before 8:00 PM
F Volandri (ITA) vs [2] A Dolgopolov (UKR)
GRANDSTAND start 5:00 pm A Ramos (ESP) vs [Q] G Naso (ITA)
Not Before 6:30 PM
[5] T Robredo (ESP) vs C Berlocq (ARG)
I Dodig (CRO) / A Veic (CRO) vs [3] D Marrero (ESP) / R Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP)
COURT 1 start 5:00 pm
[1] L Dlouhy (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) vs L Friedl (CZE) / D Skoch (CZE)
[4] D Brown (GER) / M Kohlmann (GER) vs A Seppi (ITA) / S Vagnozzi (ITA)
D Junqueira (ARG) / A Ramos (ESP) vs [2] D Bracciali (ITA) / S Gonzalez (MEX)