SALINAS/STARNBERG, July 26, 2023

Emilio Gomez and Andres Andrade both opened their home campaigns at the Challenger de Salinas Copa Banco Guayaquil with first-round wins. The ATP Challenger Tour 75 hard-court event is being held this week on the hard courts of the the Salinas Golf & Tennis Club.

The tournament’s top seed Gomez defeated Chilean alternate Gonzalo Lama 7-6(4), 6-2 on Tuesday. The World No. 139 saved all nine break-point chances and capitalized on two of his own nine break-point chances to prevail after two hours and 10 minutes.

“Today there was a lot of wind since early in the morning and I think that made everything a little harder,” said Gomez. “The match was close and luckily I was able to play well in the hard moments of my serve and maintain the level.” The 31-year-old will next take on Omar Jasika of Australia.

In the bottom half of the draw, Andrade edged past US-American qualifier Alexander Bernard 6-2, 6-2. The wild card entry struck four aces and won 71 per cent of his first-service points to advance in one hour and 12 minutes. Up next for Andrade will be No. 2 seed Rio Noguchi of Japan.

#ChallengerdeSalinas Copa @BancoGuayaquil 1ra ronda
Highlights @AndyA_98 Andrade ECU a Alexander Bernard USA. pic.twitter.com/7JlvMjYrqz

— Challenger de Salinas (@SalinasOpenEc) July 26, 2023

TUESDAY RESULTS

Singles – First Round 

Emilio Gómez ECU def. Gonzalo Lama CHI 7-6(4), 6-2

Andrés Andrade ECU def. Alexander Bernard USA 6-2, 6-2

Evgeny Donskoy RUS def. Álvaro Guillén ECU 6-4, 2-6, 6-3

Bernard Tomic AUS def. Martín Damm USA  3-6, 6-1, 6-4

Omar Jasika AUS def. Adam Walton AUS  6-4, 6-2

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard FRA def. Mateus Alves BRA 6-3, 6-4

Abdullah Shelbayh JOR def. Tristan Boyer USA  7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-4

Matija Pecotic CRO def. Tristan Schoolkate AUS  7-5, 7-6(7)

Rio Noguchi JPN def. Daniel Vallejo PAR  6-4, 7-5

Philip Sekulic AUS def. Alexander Cozbinov MDA  7-6(6), 6-4