GUAYAQUIL/STARNBERG, November 2, 2022
The South American clay-court swing on the ATP Challenger Tour continues this week in Ecuador with the XVIII Challenger Ciudad de Guayaquil Copa Banco Guayaquil presentado por CNT. The $53,120 event is being held at the Anexo Guayaquil Tenis Club. Guayaquil is the second largest city in Ecuador and also the nation’s main port. The city is the capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is located on the west bank of the Guayas River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Guayaquil.
Former World No. 16 Marco Cecchinato, semi-finalist at 2018 Roland-Garros, booked his spot in the main draw with a comfortable 6-0, 6-1 win over Tomas Lipovsek Puches of Argentina in the final round of the qualifying on Tuesday.
The 109th-ranked Italian will take on fellow qualifier Blaise Bicknell of Jamaica.
#ChallengerdeGuayaquil revive los mejores momentos de la victoria de 🇮🇹 Marco Cecchinato para entrar al cuadro principal. pic.twitter.com/rdqpW1ioyl
— Challenger de Guayaquil (@challengye05) November 2, 2022
Main draw action kicks off
Facundo Diaz Acosta from Argentina and eighth-seeded Italian Franco Agamenono are the first two players to advance to the second round. Diaz Acosta defeated Nikola Milojevic of Serbia 7-6(1), 6-2 in one hour and 45 and will next meet the winner of the all-Argentine encounter between top seed Federico Coria and Francisco Comesana.
Agamenone edged past local wild card entry Cayetano March 7-5, 6-1 in one hour and 32 minutes and awaits either Hernan Casanova of Argentina or Jesper de Jong from the Netherlands.
Night session cancelled
Authorities in Ecuador have issued orders to impose a state of exception in the province of Guayas from November 1 following several attacks on law enforcement agents as well as a night curfew. The tournament’s Tuesday night session was cancelled and matches will only be played during day time for the rest of the week.
