MARBELLA, April 5, 2021
Two seeded players began their AnyTech365 Andalucia Open campaign, as main draw action kicked off on Monday at the Club de Tenis Puente Romano in Marbella, Spain. Soonwoo Kwon of South Korea had to fight hard to overcome 17-year-old Norwegian wild card entry Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune, who qualified at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open in Santiago and made it into the quarterfinals.
The No. 7 seed from Sangju, who lost to Ilya Ivashka last week at the Miami Open ATP Masters 1000, outpointed his rival 101-99 to secure a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4) victory in two hours and 23 minutes. It marked Kwon’s first tour-level win on clay in his only second match on the dirt.
A first ATP win on clay for Kwon!
The South Korean edges past 17-year-old Rune 6-3 3-6 7-6 to move on at the #AndaluciaOpen pic.twitter.com/NdqOiuDG7w
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 5, 2021
The 23-year-old will next take on the winner of the all-Argentine encounter between Facundo Bagnis and Francisco Cerundolo.
Later in the afternoon on Estadio Manolo Santana, eighth seed Federico Delbonis defeated Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain 7-5, 6-1. The World No. 85 from Argentina converted five of his eight break-point chances to advance after one hour and 40 minutes.
Up next for Delbonis will be Norbert Gombos from Slovakia, who edged past Argentine Juan-Ignacio Londero 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-3 after two hours and 11 minutes.
In other action, Ricardas Berankis also had to go the distance against Frenchman Lucas Pouille. The 30-year-old from Lithuania withstood six aces and broke Pouille’s serve seven times to prevail 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-5 after two hours and 50 minutes. Berankis will next face No. 4 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain.
🙌🏼 Tenemos primer pase a Segunda ronda en el cuadro principal! @berankisr se hace con la victoria ante Lucas Pouille con un 64 67(5) 75
Se enfrentará en la siguiente ronda al español y cuarto cabeza de serie Albert Ramos-Viñolas 🇪🇸#andaluciaopen pic.twitter.com/vljswe17yi
— AnyTech365 Andalucía Open (@AndaluciaOpen) April 5, 2021
Marbella hosts first ATP 250 tournament
The Anytech365 Andalucia Open is a first-time tournament and one of four Spanish events on the ATP Tour. In addition to ATP Masters 1000 Madrid, Barcelona and the first-time event in Mallorca are on the calendar.
Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta is the top seed in the 28-player draw. The World No. 15 is playing in his fourth tournament of the season. He went 2-1 for Spain in the ATP Cup, reached the third at the Australian Open and lost in second round after a first-round bye R bye in Dubai.
No. 2 seed is wild card Fabio Fognini, who is 7-6 on the season. He helped Italy to the final of the ATP Cup with a 2-2 record and reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, falling to Rafael Nadal.
#NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz will try to make an impact in Marbella playing his first-round match on Tuesday against in-form Serbian Nikola Milojevic, who has arrived at the Costa del Sol fresh from winning the Zadar Open ATP Challenger in Croatia. The Belgrade native has qualified for the main draw with wins over Alessandro Giannessi from Italy and Canadian Steven Diez.
“I am excited to play in all the tournaments, especially if they are part of the ATP Tour,” Alcaraz said on Monday. “I am motivated and my goal is to continue learning, gaining experience and competing against the best to see what level I am at and what I have to improve for the future.”
Alcaraz and Milojevic will start on 12 noon local time.
Monday Results
[7] S. Kwon (KOR) d [WC] H. Rune (DEN) 63 36 76(4)
[8] F. Delbonis (ARG) d R. Carballes Baena (ESP) 75 61
R. Berankis (LTU) d L. Pouille (FRA) 64 67(5) 75
N. Gombos (SVK) d J. Londero (ARG) 67(3) 61 63
[WC] D. Marrero (ESP) / A. Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) d [1] S. Gille (BEL) / J. Vliegen (BEL) 46 76(5) 10-8
[2] M. Daniell (NZL) / P. Oswald (AUT) d [WC] F. Lopez (ESP) / M. Lopez (ESP) 61 62
Qualifying – [5] B. Zapata Miralles (ESP) d [1] E. Donskoy (RUS) 61 64
Qualifying – [4] H. Laaksonen (SUI) d [8] L. Giustino (ITA) 75 36 61
Qualifying – [6] N. Milojevic (SRB) d S. Diez (CAN) 75 63
Qualifying – [Alt] M. Vilella Martinez (ESP) d [WC] C. Gomez-Herrera (ESP) 63 36 63
