MAIA/STARNBERG, December 14, 2021
Andrej Martin, top seed of the Maia Open 2, booked his place in the second round of the €44,820 ATP Challenger clay-court event after a hard-fought 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 7-5 victory over Swiss qualifier Damien Wenger on Tuesday afternoon in Northern Portugal.
The World No. 118 from Slovakia sent down five aces and won 70 per cent of his first-service points to advance after two hours and 37 minutes. Martin will next be challenged by Italian qualifier Luca Potenza, who battled past Louis Wessels from Germany 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5) in two hours and 31 minutes.
Home favourite and No. 4 seed Gastao Elias also had to go the distance, rallying from a set down to overcome Ukrainian alternate Oleksii Krutykh 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. The 31-year-old Portuguese converted six of his 17 break-point chances to prevail after two hours and 36 minutes. Up next for Elias will be Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo of Spain.
Gastão Elias books a spot in #MaiaOpen round 2 with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Oleksii Krutykh despite wasting a 4-1 lead in the decisive set. pic.twitter.com/74ma2I06UX
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) December 14, 2021
Romanian youngster Filip Cristian Jianu caused the upset of day by knocking out World No. 221 and third-seeded Frenchman Maxime Janvier 7-6(5), 6-2.
The 20-year-old, who reached the semi-finals of the 2019 Australian Open Junior Championships, won 57 per cent of the total points played to seal victory in one hour and 31 minutes. Jianu will next meet the winner of the encounter between Eduard Esteve Lobato from Spain and Oleg Prihodko from Ukraine.
