GENEVA, May 19, 2015
Four first round as well as two second round matches were played at the Geneva Open on Tuesday.
Former world number eight Janko Tipsarevic made his fourth main draw appearance since returning to the ATP World Tour last month in Houston. The Serbian missed nearly 18 months from the end of 2013 and all of last year due to a persistent foot injury and has reached the second round in Houston, Bucharest and Munich this season. Tipsarevic received a wild card into last week’s ATP Challenger in Heilbronn but wasn’t able to play due to physical problems. The 30-year-old didn’t feel well in Geneva either and his opponent Denis Istomin took advantage winning 6-0, 6-2 in only 53 minutes. Tipsarevic later withdrew from doubles with Mikhail Youzhny, citing a fever.
Denis Istomin beat Janko Tipsarevic (photo: Geneva Open)
The eighth-seeded Russian was also in singles action losing his second round match 4-6, 4-6 against Santiago Giraldo. The 27-year-old Columbian broke Youzhny’s serve four time to seal victory in one hour and 35 minutes.
Second seed Marin Cilic is also on a comeback trail. The world number ten is playing his sixth tournament of the season since returning from a right shoulder injury. The 26-year-old Croat needed to save one match point in the tie-break of the second set to beat 17-year-old Russian rising star Andrey Rublev, winning 4-6, 7-6, 6-1. Cilic faced some problems with the teenager’s solid baseline game in the early stages of the encounter but found his rhythm in the end, winning 86% of his first service games and closed the match out after one hour and 41 minutes.
Rublev wrote on twitter: “Very disappointing match. Lost to top 10 in the world Marin Cilic 6:4 6:7(7-9) 1:6. Thanks for support Geneva”
Andrey Rublev (photo via twitter @andreyrublev97)
In the remaining three opening round matches two qualifiers were successful. Lukas Rosol rallied back from a set down to overcome Yen-Hsun Lu winning 1-6, 7-6, 7-5 in two hours and two minutes and Adrian Mannarino also had to go the distance beating Carlos Berlocq 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and four minutes.
“I’m happy with this win,” said Mannarino. “Carlos is a great clay-court player and this is an important win. I’m very satisfied and this will give me confidence.”
Federico Delbonis defeated Teymuraz Gabashvili, who just arrived from Samarkand capturing his ninth ATP Challenger title last weekend. The Argentine lost his service only once winning 6-3, 6-4 in 74 minutes.
