Bellucci Advances In Munich; Giraldo To Face Thiem

Thomaz Bellucci ended a seven-match losing streak and gained the lead in his Fedex ATP Head2Head rivalry with Mikhail Youzhny on Monday at the BMW Open by FWU AG. Bellucci was up 6-3, 1-0 when Youzhny retired due to illness. The Brazilian now leads their rivalry 4-3.

Bellucci will face Ivan Dodig of Croatia in the second round in Munich. Dodig beat Latvian Ernests Gulbis 7-6(3), 6-2. The Croat landed 71 per cent of his first serves and broke Gulbis three times in the win. Bellucci leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 1-0.

Santiago Giraldo opened up play with a tight two-set victory over wild card Mischa Zverev 7-5, 7-6(5). Giraldo erased three set points while trailing 3-5 in the opening set. Next up for the Colombian is a second-round match against No. 3 seed Dominic Thiem. Giraldo won their only previous meeting in 2014 at the Barcelona Open BancSabadell.

Lukas Rosol extended his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry lead against Denis Istomin by winning 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-6(2). Rosol now leads the rivalry 3-1. The Czech will play either Tunisian Malek Jaziri or #NextGen star Alexander Zverev of Germany in the second round.