Almagro Makes Strong Start In Buenos Aires

Former champion Nicolas Almagro made a strong start to his Argentina Open campaign Monday, beating qualifier Albert Montanes 6-3, 6-3 to reach the second round in Buenos Aires.

In the first meeting between the Spaniards since 2011, Almagro claimed just his second match win of the year after firing 11 aces and saving all four break points faced. He dropped just five points on his first serve (25/30).

The 30-year-old Spaniard, who also finished runner-up to David Ferrer in 2012, improved to 26-9 at the event. He has reached the semi-finals the past three years – 2013 (l. to Wawrinka), 2014 (l. to Ferrer), and 2015 (l. to Monaco).

The former World No. 9, who levelled his FedEx ATP Head2Head record with Montanes at 3-3, is playing his first event since falling in second round of the Australian Open (l. to Thiem). He fell in the first round of Chennai (l. to Pavic) in his only other appearance of 2016.

Buenos Aires local Diego Schwartzman got his campaign off to a winning start with an upset of No.7 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. The 23 year old needed two hours and 10 minutes to defeat the Ukrainian and did so on the back of 11 aces, winning 63 per cent of points on his first serve and 65 per cent on his second serve.

Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo posted a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Spaniard Inigo Cervantes in one hour and 27 minutes. Giraldo converted five of 12 break points on his way to the second round.