Travaglia Begins Umag Campaign With Munar Upset
Stefano Travaglia is up and running at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag after toppling sixth seed Jaume Munar 6-3, 7-6(1) at Goran Ivanisevic Stadion on Monday.
Travaglia started the season with a 7-2 record, highlighted by a quarter-final run in Antalya and runner-up finish at a Melbourne ATP 250 (l. to Sinner), but struggled to repeat those results away from Australia. The Italian looks primed for a reset in Croatia, and he improves to a 10-16 record on the season.
The Italian raced out to 4-1 lead in the opening set with a double-break, and never relinquished control of the match. Munar saved two match points at 6-5 in the second set to send them into a tie-break, but he was overpowered when Travaglia reeled off the last five points to clinch the victory in an hour and 53 minutes.
Travaglia will next face Spain’s Carlos Taberner, as the Italian seeks his third quarter-final appearance of the season. Taberner cruised past Croatian wild card Nino Serdarusic 6-2, 6-2.
[WATCH LIVE 1]Also in action in Umag, Radu Albot claimed his first clay-court victory of the year (1-3) after rallying from a set down against Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. The victory also earned the Moldovan a bit of revenge, as the 18-year-old knocked him out of the Nordea Open first round in three sets last week.