IASI, September 14, 2020
In his first appearance on the ATP Challenger Tour, World No. 1105 Cezar Cretu celebrated his first match win. The 19-year-old Romanian wild card entry rallied past Hiroki Moriya of Japan, winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Monday afternoon to reach the second round of the inaugural Concord Iasi Open held at the City Base “Ciric” in Romania’s second-largest city.
Cretu capitalized on five of his 10 break point chances to prevail after two hours and 15 minutes. The teenager will next challenge No. 2 seed Jaume Munar. The World No. 108 from Spain defeated Peter Polansky of Canada 6-4, 6-2 in 79 minutes.
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Earlier in the day, Jurij Rodionov snapped a four-match losing streak in ATP Challenger events to reach the second round of the € 88,520 clay-court tournament. The No. 4 seed from Austria fought past Frenchman Geoffrey Blancaneaux 4-6, 6-1, 7-5. Rodionov converted seven of his 18 break point chances to secure victory in two hours and 19 minutes. The 21-year-old will next take on either Quentin Halys of France or Argentine qualifier Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
In other action, qualifier Kacper Zuk eased past local wild card Nicholas David Ionel by the score of 6-2, 6-0. The 21-year-old Pole, who made his tour-level debut at the ATP Cup in January followed by a semi-final finish at the Challenger event in Calgary, earning his first Top 100 win over Vasek Pospisil along the way, won 64 per cent of the total points played to advance after 69 minutes. Zuk will next take on the winner of the encounter between No. 5 seeded Spaniard Carlos Taberner and his compatriot Nicola Kuhn.
