MANERBIO, August 24, 2015

The 39th edition of the € 42,500 ATP Challenger in Manerbio – a town with about 13,000 inhabitants in the province of Brescia – started with the first round on Monday.

Second seed Andrey Kuznetsov opened his campaign, winning 6-2, 6-2 against Antonio Veic. The world number 118 from Russia fired six aces, saved the only break point he faced and capitalized on five of his own to prevail after only 55 minutes.

Kuznetsov will face the winner of the match between the qualifiers Grega Zemlja and Frederic Ferreira Silva.

Italian wild card Federico Gaio advanced to the second round, winning 6-3, 7-6 against Alexis Musialek. The 23-year-old hit 12 aces and won 79% of his first service points to close the match after one hour and 48 minutes.

Salvatore Caruso defeated Dennis Novak, winning 6-4, 6-3. The world number 237 from Italy didn’t face a break point and converted three of his own to end the encounter after 66 minutes.

Rain in Manerbio on Day 1 (photo: youtennis)

Due to bad weather, the match between Riccardo Bellotti and Marco Trungelliti was suspended with the Argentine leading 5-4.

On Tuesday, the remaining first round matches will be played with the tournament’s top seed in action. Spanish world number 104 Daniel Muῆoz de la Nava will take on Adrien Bossel from Switzerland.