Spain’s Carlos Taberner lost a first-set tiebreaker to Francisco Cerundolo, then rallied to pull off a 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-5 upset over the top-seeded Argentinian to highlight Plava Laguna Croatia Open second-round action Wednesday in Umag, Croatia.
Cerundolo reeled off 50 winners compared to Taberner’s 20, but also committed 65 unforced errors that dwarfed Taberner’s 36. Fifth-seeded Mariano Navone of Argentina and eighth-seeded Vit Kopriva of Czechia also dropped second-round matches to the Netherlands’ Jesper De Jong and France’s Titouan Droguet, respectively.
Second-seeded Luciano Darderi of Italy and fourth-seeded Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded straight-set wins. Croatia’s Dino Prizmic won 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 over Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili to advance to a third-round matchup with Darderi.
Mubadala Citi DC Open
On a day when multiple seeds lost in Washington, D.C, top-seeded Taylor Fritz cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic during second-round play Wednesday.
Fritz stacked up 11 aces and saved the only break point he faced. However, fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia, No. 10 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia and No. 16 Lorenzo Sonego of Italy weren’t as fortunate.
Learner Tien took down Rublev 7-5, 6-2, China’s Yibing Wu handled Popyrin 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 and Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi claimed a 7-5, 7-5 win over Sonego to set up a third-round matchup against Fritz.
Seventh-seeded Aussie Alex De Minaur won in straight sets while No. 8 Daniil Medvedev of Russia and No. 11 Jiri Lehecka of Czechia needed three sets to advance.
Generali Open
Top-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan advanced to third-round action with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante on Wednesday in Kitzbuhel, Austria.
Yannick Hanfmann, a 33-year-old German who needed to win two qualifying matches to reach the main draw, knocked out second-seeded Sebastian Baez of Argentina 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. Third-seeded Pedro Martinez Portero and fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut — both of Spain – suffered straight-set losses.
Sixth-seeded Arthur Rinderknech of France is the only other seeded player still alive. He rallied to defeat Slovakia’s Norbert Gombos 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4. Argentina’s Francisco Comesana, the No. 7 seed, and Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, the eighth seed, fell in straight sets.
–Field Level Media
