Spain’s Carlos Taberner lost a first-set tiebreaker to Francisco Cerundolo, then rallied to pull off a 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-5 upset over the top-seeded Argentinian to highlight Plava Laguna Croatia Open second-round action Wednesday in Umag, Croatia.
Cerundolo reeled off 50 winners compared to Taberner’s 20, but also committed 65 unforced errors that dwarfed Taberner’s 36. Fifth-seeded Mariano Navone of Argentina and eighth-seeded Vit Kopriva of Czechia also dropped second-round matches to the Netherlands’ Jesper De Jong and France’s Titouan Droguet, respectively.
Second-seeded Luciano Darderi of Italy and fourth-seeded Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded straight-set wins. Croatia’s Dino Prizmic won 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 over Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili to advance to a third-round matchup with Darderi.
Mubadala Citi DC Open
On a day when multiple seeds lost in Washington, D.C, top-seeded Taylor Fritz cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic during second-round play Wednesday.
Fritz stacked up 11 aces and saved the only break point he faced. However, fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia, No. 10 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia and No. 16 Lorenzo Sonego of Italy weren’t as fortunate.
Learner Tien took down Rublev 7-5, 6-2, China’s Yibing Wu handled Popyrin 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 and Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi claimed a 7-5, 7-5 win over Sonego to set up a third-round matchup against Fritz.
Seventh-seeded Aussie Alex De Minaur won in straight sets while No. 8 Daniil Medvedev of Russia and No. 11 Jiri Lehecka of Czechia needed three sets to advance.
In evening action, No. 6 Frances Tiafoe, who hails from nearby Hyattsville, Md., outlasted fellow Amercan Aleksander Kovacevic 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. Tiafoe would break serve in the eighth game of the deciding set and held on to advance to the third round. He unleashed seven of his 12 aces in the third set.
No. 9 Flavio Cobolli and No. 12 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, both from Spain, advanced in straight sets.
Generali Open
Top-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan advanced to third-round action with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante on Wednesday in Kitzbuhel, Austria.
Yannick Hanfmann, a 33-year-old German who needed to win two qualifying matches to reach the main draw, knocked out second-seeded Sebastian Baez of Argentina 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. Third-seeded Pedro Martinez Portero and fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut — both of Spain – suffered straight-set losses.
Sixth-seeded Arthur Rinderknech of France is the only other seeded player still alive. He rallied to defeat Slovakia’s Norbert Gombos 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4. Argentina’s Francisco Comesana, the No. 7 seed, and Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, the eighth seed, fell in straight sets.
–Field Level Media
