BASTAD, July 16, 2017
The ATP World Tour has returned to Bastad, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Skistar Swedish Open from 16 to 24 July . On a rain interrupted opening Sunday, Calvin Hemery of France headlined qualifying action, when he knocked out eighth seed Kimmer Coppejans from Belgium 6-3, 6-4.
Maximilian Marterer – photo: Brigitte Urban
The 22-year-old Frenchman won 78 per cent of his first service points and broke serve three times to seal victory in one hour and 20 minutes. Hemery will next challenge Maximilian Marterer of Germany, who beat Andre Gorensson from Sweden 6-2, 6-1.
Two time Bastad champion, Tommy Robredo, benefited from the retirement of Mathias Bourgue from France, leading 5-1 in the opening set. The Spanish veteran will next play Arthur de Greef of Belgium, who fought past Swedish wild card entry Fred Simonsson in three sets.
The qualifying will conclude on Monday, when also main draw action is going to start. The top seed of the ATP 250 event, Pablo Carreno-Busta from Spain, receives a bye in the opening round, awaiting the winner of the encounter between Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia and Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.
Second favourite Albert Ramos-Vinolas will either open his title bid against this week’s Bastad Challenger champion Dusan Lajovic of Serbia or Brazilian youngster Thiago Monteiro.
Local favourites, Elias and Mikael Ymer, will also be back in action. Elias opens against former Spanish Top 10-player Fernando Verdasco and younger brother Mikael faces Henri Laaksonen from Switzerland.
