Lopez Wins Gstaad Opener; Haase, Sousa Make Early Exits

Eighth seed Feliciano Lopez began his campaign for a second trophy at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad on Tuesday with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Federico Delbonis of Argentina in 89 minutes. The 36-year-old Spaniard, who beat Robin Haase for the 2016 title, will now prepare to meet Spaniard Oriol Roca Batalla or Italian Paolo Lorenzi.

Elsewhere, Croatian lucky loser Viktor Galovic recorded just his second tour-level victory to knock out fifth seed Haase of the Netherlands 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in 88 minutes for a second-round encounter against #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. Haase finished runner-up at the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tournament in 2013 (l. to Youzhny) and 2016 (l. to Lopez).

Facundo Bagnis, an Argentine qualifier, who is currently No. 177 in the ATP Rankings, hit 11 aces and recovered from 1-3 down in the second set to beat sixth-seeded Portuguese Joao Sousa 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 54 minutes. He now awaits the winner of a wild-card clash between Swiss Marc-Andrea Huesler or 2010 champion Nicolas Almagro of Spain.

Did You Know?
Lopez has a 24-10 record at the event, which was first held in 1898.