MAIA, November 27, 2023 (by Dietmar Kaspar)

Alongside the final round of the qualifying, the first main-draw matches were held on Monday at the Maia Open, an ATP Challenger Tour indoor clay-court event in Maia, Portugal, situated in the north of Porto.

In the match of the day, Frenchman Benoit Paire met Duarte Vale from Portugal, who was ranked World No. 14 as a Junior and played college tennis for the University of Florida alongside US-youngster Ben Shelton. Last season, the pair already met in the opening round of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Braga, where the 34-year-old Paire advanced in three sets.

The former World No. 18 dominated the match from the beginning. The Avignon native won 73 per cent of his first-service-points and broke his 24-year-old opponent four times to earn a 6-2, 6-4 victory in 77 minutes.

“It was a good match. I like the conditions to play indoor on clay and I think, it’s the only tournament in the year in this way,” the 130th-ranked Paire stated in the press conference.

“I was in holidays since 10 days without practicing, but I felt confident to start here. I do not feel any pressure. If I win it is great, if I lose I am happy to enjoy more holidays.” About his motivation still to compete on the tour, he said: “I want to come back and play at all the big tournaments on the big courts. I want to battle with the new generation and I need the big crowd to play my best tennis.”

The No. 3 seed will oppose the winner of the all-Portuguese battle between wild card entry Jaime Faria and qualifier Pedro Araujo.

Francisco Rocha stuns Bonadio

Local hero Francisco Rocha, the older brother of youngster Henrique Rocha, delighted the home crowd with a sensational win against World No. 205 Riccardo Bonadio from Italy. The current No. 1040 in the ATP Rankings converted four of his seven break-point chances and dropped only one service game to prevail 6-3, 6-3 in 74 minutes. The Porto-born will next meet either Italian qualifier Andrea Guerrieri or Maxime Janvier from France.

“It was really amazing. I am very fortunate that today my family and my friends were here to support me. I talked to some portuguese friends who played him in the past and they told me about his great backhand-skills especially on clay. I tried to be aggressive with my forehand to get some mistakes from his forehand and I served very well”, the 24-year-old Rocha told Tennis TourTalk and added about the connection with his younger brother: “We push and learn from each other every day, so it is a very positive relationship.”

Dalla Valle beats Geerts

Enrico Dalla Valle continued his great run of form this season. The 25-year-old, who was sidelined from professional tennis for 15 months from March 2021 and climbed up more than 400 positions from the beginning of the season into the Top 300, battled past Michael Geerts from Belgium. The World No. 288 struck 11 aces and broke his 28-year-old opponent three times and lost only two service games to seal a 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1 victory after two hours and 40 minutes. Next up for the Italian will be top seeded Portuguese Nuno Borges or Mohamed Safwat from Egypt.

“I am very happy about my win against a very good opponent,” Dalla Valla said afterwards. “I like the conditions here in Maia, playing indoor on clay.

“I had a lot of problems in the last two years. In January, I started with a new team and the work pays off.”

First-round action of the Maia Open will continue on Tuesday. Play at the Complexo de Tenis da Maia will start at 10:30 a.m. local time with free entry during the whole tournament. For further information, please visit the tournament’s official website.

MONDAY RESULTS

Main Draw – First Round

Benoit Paire (FRA) – Duarte Vale (POR) 6-2, 6-4

Enrico Dalla Valle (ITA) – Michael Geerts (BEL) 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1

Francisco Rocha (POR) – Riccardo Bonadio (ITA) 6-3, 6-3

Qualifying – Final Round

Tom Gentzsch (GER) – Miguel Damas (ESP) 2:6, 6:3, 6:1

Anton Matusevich (GBR) – Stefanos Sakellaridis (GRE) 6:1, 6:2

Karl Friberg (SWE) – Aleksandr Braynin (UKR) 5:7, 6:1, 6:3

Andrea Guerrieri (ITA) – Alexandre Aubriot (FRA) 3:6, 6:2, 6:0