TUNIS, April 17, 2018

No. 3 seed and local favourite Malek Jaziri fell in the opening round of the €75,000 Tunis Open on Tuesday. The World No.85 lost at his home tournament to Jozef Kovalik 6-4, 7-6 in pretty windy conditions.

In the pair’s first meeting, Kovalik converted five of his seven break point opportunities to seal victory in two hours and five minutes. The 25-year-old will next challenge Joao Domingues of Portugal.

Second favourite Nikoloz Basilashvili advanced to the second round with a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 win over Germany’s Tobias Kamke. The World No. 80 and highest ranked player left in the singles draw won 53 per cent of the total points played to prevail after one hour and 27 minutes. Next up for Basilashvili will be #NextGenATP Australian Alexei Popyrin.

No. 6 seed Gastao Elias emerged victorious from the all-Portuguese-affair wilth Goncalo Oliveira 6-2, 6-2. The 27-year-old Lourinha native broke his compatriot six times to finish the encounter in one hour and 15 minutes. Elias will next take on Spanish qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver, who fougth past Austria’s Dennis Novak 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.

With fifth favourite Thomas Fabbiano of Italy another seeded player made it into the round of the last 32. The 28-year-old beat Hungarian qualifier Zsombor Piros 6-2, 7-6. No. 8 Elias Ymer lost to Egor Gerasimov from Belarus 7-5, 6-3.

Photo Gallery (by Brigitte Urban)