Argentine tennis star Sebastian Baez made an impressive return to the Tiriac Open in Bucharest, Romania, cruising past Lithuania’s Vilius Gaubas with a commanding 6-3, 6-1 victory in Tuesday’s Round of 32 competition.
The fifth-seeded Baez, who reached the championship match at this same tournament last year, displayed dominant form by successfully defending all five break point opportunities against him while capitalizing on four of his five chances against Gaubas. The Argentine also excelled at the net, winning six of seven points when he approached.
Baez’s next opponent will be France’s Titouan Droguet, who secured his spot by defeating Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in a three-set thriller, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1.
Tuesday’s action featured 12 matches after Monday’s competition was postponed due to rain. Several other seeded players advanced without dropping a set, including Germany’s Daniel Altmaier (sixth seed), Argentina’s Mariano Navone (seventh seed), and the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp (eighth seed).
Additional winners included Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur, Denmark’s Elmer Moller, Croatia’s Dino Prizmic, Kazakhstan’s Alexander Schevchenko, and three qualifiers: Spain’s Daniel Merida, Slovakia’s Alex Molcan, and Greece’s Stefanos Sakellaridis.
Meanwhile, at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, Morocco, Poland’s fifth-seeded Kamil Majchrzak required three sets to eliminate Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo, winning 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3. Majchrzak was nearly perfect on his first serve, winning 44 of 49 points for an 89.8% success rate.
Peru’s seventh-seeded Ignacio Buse also needed the full three sets to advance, overcoming Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in a marathon three-hour encounter, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-4. Despite committing 47 unforced errors, Buse managed to save six of nine break points to secure the victory.
Other first-round winners in Morocco included France’s Luca Van Assche and Alexandre Muller, Argentina’s Marco Trungelliti and Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Italy’s Mattia Bellucci, and Spain’s Rafael Jodar.
At the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston, Argentina’s sixth-seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry staged a comeback against fellow Argentine qualifier Federico Agustin Gomez, prevailing 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. While Gomez out-hit Etcheverry 30-9 in winners, he also committed 36 unforced errors that proved costly.
American wild card Nishesh Basavareddy also required three sets to advance, defeating Canadian qualifier Liam Draxl 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Four additional matches were scheduled for Tuesday evening in Houston, featuring fifth-seeded Brandon Nakashima against fellow American Martin Damm, and seventh-seeded Alex Michelsen of the United States taking on Coleman Wong from Hong Kong.
