MARBELLA, March 26, 2019
The seeded players of the Casino Admiral Trophy in Marbella stepped into second round action on Tuesday at the Puente Romano Tenis Club. Third favourite Jiri Vesely opened his title bid at the ATP Challenger 80 clay-court event with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win over Gian Marco Moroni of Italy.
The World No. 100 from the Czech Republic saved all four break points he faced, capitalizing on all four of his own chances to advance in one hour and 20 minutes. In the third round, Vesely will take on the winner of the encounter between Spanish veteran Daniel Gimeno Traver and Andrea Arnaboldi of Italy.
Pedro Martínez emerged victorious from the all-Spanish affair with Bernabé Zapata Miralles. The No. 10 seed from Valencia was leading 6-2, 1-0 when Zapata Miralles was forced to retire from the match due to a right arm injury. Up next for Martínez will be No. 5 seed Guillermo Garcia-López, who rallied past fellow Spaniard Enrique López Pérez 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. The 35-year-old Albacete native withstood 11 aces, breaking his opponent four times to prevail after two hours and 36 minutes.
This is one of the best matches so far 🙌. After 2:36h of intense battle… @GuillermoGLopez🇪🇸 defeats Enrique López-Pérez🇪🇸 👉 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. Next round: ▶️ @PedroMPortero #CasinoAdmiralTrophy #MarbellaChallenger pic.twitter.com/uL1hxMfM2j
— Casino Admiral Trophy (@casinoadmiralt) 26. März 2019
Later in the evening, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina opened his Marbella campaign with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Italian Federico Gaio. The 19-year-old Spaniard won 52 per cent of the total points played to finish the encounter after two hours and five minutes. No. 15 seeded Davidovich Fokina will next face either compatriot Carlos Taberner or the tournament’s No. 2 Pedro Sousa. Their match was suspended with Taberner leading 3-2 in the final set due to darkness.
