Carballes Baena Eliminates Defending Champ Cecchinato In Buenos Aires

Roberto Caraballes Baena ended Marco Cecchinato’s Argentina Open title defence in the first round on Tuesday, beating the Italian 6-4, 7-6(3) at the ATP 250 event.

In a repeat of last year’s quarter-final in Buenos Aires, the 26-year-old levelled his ATP Head2Head record against Cecchinato at 1-1 after one hour and 39 minutes. Carballes Baena saved five of six break points to book his place in the second round and record his third victory in five matches in the Argentine capital.

Carballes Baena will attempt to reach his second straight quarter-final in Buenos Aires when he faces eighth seed Casper Ruud. Ruud needed just 72 minutes to win his first-round match on Monday, cruising past Pablo Andujar 6-2, 6-3.

Facundo Bagnis broke Andrej Martin’s serve on four occasions to secure a 6-4, 6-1 win and a place in the second round. The qualifier will meet countryman and second seed Guido Pella for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Fellow qualifier Jozef Kovalik also made it through on Tuesday, saving seven of eight break points en route to a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory against Corentin Moutet. Kovalik will face lucky loser Pedro Sousa in the second round. Sousa needed one hour and 50 minutes to defeat Argentine wild card Facundo Diaz Acosta 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Juan Ignacio Londero delighted the home crowd with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over Slovak qualifier Filip Horansky. The Argentine will look for revenge in the second round when he meets sixth-seeded Serbian Laslo Djere, who held off Argentine wild card Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Djere defeated Londero last week in a three-hour quarter-final marathon at the Cordoba Open.

Seventh-seeded Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas hung tough to defeat local favourite Leonardo Mayer 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Ramos-Vinolas secured the lone break of the deciding set at 5-5 before advancing in two hours and 15 minutes. He’ll take on Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas in the second round and look to improve on his 1-7 record in their ATP Head2Head series.

Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez continued his push towards the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings with a tight 7-6(0), 7-5 victory against Portuguese lucky loser Joao Domingues. Martinez let slip two set points on his serve at 5-3 in the first set, but recovered to prevail in two hours and 15 minutes. Next up for the 22-year-old is third-seeded Serbian Dusan Lajovic.