Sonego, Andujar Made To Work In Sardinia; Cecchinato Saves 1 M.P.
Lorenzo Sonego regrouped after a second-set comeback from fellow Italian Giulio Zeppieri on Tuesday for a place in the Forte Village Sardegna Open second round. Fifth seed Sonego, who won 82 per cent of his first-service points, earned a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory over the 18-year-old wild card in one hour and 40 minutes.
Last week, Sonego reached the Roland Garros fourth round (l. to Schwartzman), having beaten Taylor Fritz 7-6(5), 6-3, 7-6(17) — the longest tie-break in the Grand Slam championship’s history. The 25-year-old, who is competing in Sardinia at a career-high No. 42 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, will now challenge Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.
Elsewhere, Marco Cecchinato lived to fight another day, saving one match point at 6/7 in the second-set tie-break of a 5-7, 7-6(7), 6-2 win over Italian compatriot Gianluca Mager in two hours and 33 minutes. Cecchinato will now meet American Tommy Paul.
[WATCH LIVE 3]Earlier in the day, sixth-seeded Spaniard Pablo Andujar saved two set points in the first set and recovered from 1-3 down in the second set to overcome qualifier Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia 7-5, 7-5 in two hours and three minutes. Andujar saved two set points when Kovalik served at 5-4, 40/30 and Ad-In in the first set.
The 35-year-old Andujar, a winner of four ATP Tour titles from nine clay-court finals, will next face Federico Delbonis, who was solid on serve to edge past Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-5, 7-6(6) in one hour and 57 minutes. Delbonis and Seppi met only last week at the Internazionali di Tennis Emilia Romagna in Parma, with the Argentine winning 6-1, 7-6(6).
Roberto Carballes Baena, who beat Denis Shapovalov 8-6 in the fifth set of their Roland Garros second-round match two weeks ago, came through a match of 10 service breaks mid-afternoon, 7-5, 6-4, over Argentine qualifier Federico Coria in just under two hours. The Spaniard now prepares to meet top seed Fabio Fognini.
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